By Kubepo Saul, Yara Hamed and Melissa Sithole | ShE is Empowered Program Team
Introduction
We are happy to report that ShE is Empowered concluded the 2022 ShE cycle in high spirits. We thank you for your contributions to the ShE is Empowered program. Your valued and appreciated donations totalling $4,685 has contributed to the empowerment of 14 Leaders to successfully complete the program. We have successfully concluded the virtual leadership development component of the program. Our participants' community engagement projects have been completed and finally, we held our 2022 graduation ceremony on 13 December 2022, successfully graduating 14 ShE leaders.
2022 ShE Cohort
The 2022 edition kicked off on the 15th of April 2022, with 20 ShE Leaders aged 15-29 from Rwanda, Malawi, Ghana, Nigeria, Uganda, Sierra Leone, Egypt, Eswatini and Lesotho. Unfortunately, due to non-performance and lack of commitment, 5 ShE Leaders have been dismissed or withdrawn from the program. Our graduation and completion rate is, therefore, at 70% and we hope to improve this in the year 2023.
Staffing and Modules
In regards to staffing, the ShE program is led by a program lead, Qondisa (South Africa), who has gone on sabbatical as of September 2022, and 2 program assistants Kubepo (Botswana) and Yara (Egypt). In light of Qondisa going on sabbatical for 6 months to focus on school, Kubepo was appointed interim program lead.
ShE hosts module sessions twice a month, facilitated by industry professionals and Africa Matters Initiative team members that are knowledgeable about the topics. At the end of each session, links to the video, resources or articles presented in the session were made available to the ShE Leaders for further learning and development. Assignments and evaluations were given and collected from the ShE Leaders at the end of each module, where they were given the opportunity to share their reflections on the module. Following our previous program report,the modules listed below were the remaining modules facilitated for the year:
10. Social Entrepreneurship
11. Community Projects Planning (2)
12. Global Citizenship
13. African Youth Advocacy
14. Community Projects Planning 3 (Challenges & Solutions)
15. Community Projects Execution
Mentorship Program
Our mentorship program has been a success. Although the matching process was delayed at the beginning of the year, our mentors and mentees remained committed and used their arranged meeting times well. ShE Leaders have shared how beneficial their mentors have been towards their personal and professional growth. They were able to receive sound advice around the struggles young women face in the professional sector. Their mentors have provided support that would assist in shaping them into young professionals who can conquer challenges that many AYGW faces in their daily lives.
Community Engagement Project (CEP)
The community engagement project is an essential component of the program, which ensures that the knowledge ShE Leaders gain is disseminated into the community for greater empowerment. Each project is expected to impact at least 50 community members and have a significant impact which can be evaluated. The Leaders and 2 volunteers from their team were provided with free AMI T-Shirts with our slogan, “We are the ones we have been waiting for'' which represents our mandate of leaders being the ones to create change in their communities instead of waiting for that change.
Thanks to your support, our ShE Leaders received $250 seed funding to support their projects. In order to receive their funding, participants were to submit their completed project plans and budgets to ensure that they met the financial compliance of the program output. The total expenditure on community projects was $3,250 in total. By the end of November 2022, 14 Leaders had completed their CEPs and shared some inspiring photos, which can be seen on the AMI social media platforms. The CEPs were able to impact approximately 750 individuals across the leaders' communities.
From the 22nd of November to the 6th of December 2022, we held 3 CEP presentations virtually on Zoom. The presentations allowed our participants to present and share the findings of their projects. Fellow participants were welcome to ask questions and share insight to each others CEPs. All AMI staff were invited and welcomed to attend the online CEP sessions; fortunately, many did attend. These sessions were a very proud moment for the ShE team and the ShE Leaders because it was a culmination of months of hard work accomplished. A total of 13 ShE Leaders shared their CEP presentations throughout the three sessions, and one shared during our closing ceremony.
Graduation Ceremony
The ShE Leaders graduation ceremony took place on Tuesday, 13th December 2022. This was a compelling and emotional event where ShE leaders shared testimonies about their experience in the program, how much it has benefitted them and their community, and the connections they have made with other ShE leaders along the way. Out of the initial 20 participants, 14 ShE leaders graduated from the program for the 2022 cohort. The names and reflective quotes of each ShE Leader were shown in the presentation. They were then inducted as alumni and informed of the possible ways they could continue their relationship with AMI in different capacities. Only the ShE Leaders who had completed both the module and community project requirements by the time of the ceremony were able to graduate. Our keynote speakers were two ShE Leader alumna from the 2020-21 cohort who reflected on their time in the ShE program, shared advice with the Leaders on how to sustain their CEPs and provided an update on their own CEPs.
All the leaders were grateful for the opportunity AMI gave them, specifically regarding the skills and knowledge acquired from the program and the support received from the ShE team in their development to become young leaders, both professionally and personally. All remarks expressing their gratitude were through their post-module evaluations, comments made in sessions and their CEP presentations.
Here is a link to a celebration of our 2022 ShE Cohort Graduation.
Next Steps: 2023 ShE Cohort
2023 She Is Empowered Cohort Applications opened on the 10th of October 2022 and closed on the 7th of November 2022. Applications were received and are currently being reviewed by the ShE Team, AMI staff and external reviewers. Interviews for the selected applicants will be conducted in early January 2023.
Next year, we plan to host our first-ever in-person residential summit, where all the ShE leaders will be invited to our main headquarters in Johannesburg, South Africa, for a 4-day summit. During that week, participants will listen to dynamic keynote speakers, members of the Africa Matters team and past program alumnae who will lead sessions to uplift and encourage ShE Leaders. They will also engage on topics surrounding additional professional and personal development skills. ShE Leaders will also be asked to showcase their projects to their cohort. The residential serves as an opportunity for the ShE leaders to physically network and engage with one another around possible solutions for closing the gender gap and issues in their projects.
Concluding Remarks
We are incredibly grateful to you all for the support, resources and funding you have provided us in both 2021 and 2022. Thanks to GlobalGiving, we have gained more visibility for our program to spread our impact further, introducing new partnerships for the year ahead. We are proud to announce that Ford Motors will be an official partner of Africa Matters to support the ShE is Empowered Program. We are hoping your support will continue in 2023 so that we can continue to provide training and seed funding to young African women and girls so that they can continue to create an impact in their communities through their own innovative ideas.
If you have any questions, concerns or suggestions, please feel free to contact us at she@africamattersinitiative.com
Links:
By Qondisa Sibeko, Kubepo Saul and Yara Hamed | ShE is Empowered Program Team
By Reanne Olivier & Farai Mubaiwa | Co-Founders
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