You are hope!

Fourteen hopeful and ambitious grassroots women are gearing up to take on leadership positions for the betterment of their respective inner-city communities, once they have completed an interactive transformational training programme. These promising trainees will benefit from training in ‘developing the self for leadership; understanding gender and leadership; effective communication; managing conflict; basic research skills; developing training skills; money management and social graces and etiquette.’ The upliftment programme forms part of the Strengthening Women’s Leadership initiative being spearheaded by the Women’s Resource and Outreach Centre, WROC in partnership with the United Nations Democracy Fund, UNDEF and came about following a needs assessment conducted in 2009. The programme has also received tremendous support from the Canadian International Development Agency, CIDA. Following the training period which will equip the 14 trainees to become community facilitators, each of them will in turn be required to train and mentor another 10 grassroots women to, in the same way, rise to the challenge of leadership.

Speaking at the launch of the project recently, Executive Director of the Dispute Resolution Foundation Donna Parchment Brown charged the trainees to remain hopeful about their role and the future. “You are hope… some of you are hopeful because you have children and if you give up hope then you have murdered them, some of us have hope because we have seniors in our lives and we have a responsibility towards them and if we give up hope, we have murdered them,” Mrs. Parchment Brown reasoned with passion. Impressed with the range of areas being covered under the programme, she pointed to the economic and social impact that it will have on women who head families and households. “ We know that more households are female headed than male headed and that more female headed households are in poverty than male headed but today the work that you are doing should help us to shift that” she asserted.

Mrs. Parchment Brown also gave the trainees practical advice on ways in which they could serve their community. “How many of you would like to become a JP?” she questioned, adding that “we have to do what we need to, to ensure that people see us for these opportunities,” she emphasized. She also encouraged the trainees to join a credit union to help build their capacity for accessing financing. Continuing she noted that the initiative will provide a kind of transformation for the women that “recognizes that what you bring to the table can be multiplied for your benefit and the benefit of others.”

Moreover this contribution from grassroots women is often ignored according to Governance Advisor of the United Nations Development Programme UNDP Sonia Gills. She lamented that “women are primarily not recognized for leadership training but these women are key agents of change on the ground.” Addressing the persistent gender imbalance in leadership and decision making, Ms. Gill noted that “here in Jamaica the situation of women still lags behind men both in terms of employed labour and decision making. We know that male authority and power continue to be dominant in gender relations, negatively impacting women’s safety in the homes and in public spaces so WROC is to be highly commended for its work in response to these realities as well as documenting women’s participation in this area of leadership and decision making.” She stressed that the UNDP sees the training of grassroots women “as a key component of the larger move to strengthening women’s leadership in Jamaica. 

For her part Omel Lin McLeary from the Bureau of Women’s Affairs applauded the initiative noting that “the involvement of women in peace building and negotiation is essential and is a key ingredient in nation building.” She added that “achieving the goal of equal participation in leadership will provide a balance to more accurately reflect the composition of our society.” The Bureau of Women’s Affairs representative encouraged the grassroots women to “do well collectively, because you can make a significant contribution in your community including schools and churches.”

The 6-day training which began on January 21 is the first phase of the programme. It will continue for 4 months with a practicum component. This training is the second component under the WROC/UNDEF Strengthening Women’s Leadership Programme. A total of 25 corporate women were trained last year to assume leadership positions on public and private sector boards, at least another 75 women from across the island are to receive training throughout 2010. For more information send your emails to communications@wrocjamaica.org.