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Impact 3 – Inspiring Women Leaders Despite strategies for parity and global movements supporting women’s empowerment, women’s under-representation in decision-making persists in many organisations and countries. In 2019 the Gender and Inclusive Security Cluster, together with the Geneva Leadership Alliance, expanded collaboration with partners to provide women’s leadership education to over 80 participants from a variety of sectors, and skillsbuilding workshops to over 45 more. In Geneva women working in the multilateral system and in conflictaffected and fragile settings came together to share experiences and explore seven themes that women leaders have to navigate and, through experiential exercises and peer exchange, to develop the mindsets, skillsets and toolsets needed to take up leadership roles. Individual and group coaching provided additional support to enhance the transfer of learning to the workplace and keep the network of participants alive.
After the release of European Union (EU) and UN reports expressing concern about the lack of Kosovan women occupying decision-making positions in municipal, national and regional political negotiations, the EU invited the GCSP to design and deliver a programme for women in politics entitled Confidence, Influence and Effective Leadership. Twelve women participated in a five-day face-to-face course in May, with individual follow-up coaching. Following the positive feedback, the UN Mission in Kosovo invited us back in December to support 15 more women from the political, civil society and media sectors. Women from diverse political and ethnic backgrounds built both skills and strategies, and relationships with one another. The cohort of 27 participants were invited to meet prominent women from EU institutions and the European Women’s Lobby in Brussels in February 2020. They will participate in further workshops on good governance and accountability, with a special focus on gender-responsive and gender-inclusive political processes in Pristina.
Transformative Journeys to Create a Safer World
In Ghana we deepened our partnership with the Women, Peace and Security Institute of the Kofi Annan International Peacekeeping Training Centre (KAIPTC) and co-delivered the first week of a year-long programme supported by GIZ. Sixteen women were selected from over 110 applicants from across the African continent to participate in an extended multisectoral education and mentoring programme to enhance their leadership skills and develop projects to advance the Women, Peace and Security Agenda.
Inspiration to overcome the gendered and security-related challenges that participants face came from within the group itself, inspired by senior mentors who included the second female general to be appointed in the Ghana Armed Forces. Participants from the pilot 2018 course delivered some of the content and the 2019 participants will mentor others and potentially deliver some of the content in the future. Participants also benefitted from mediation, negotiation, conflict analysis and project design training.
| 2019 Annual Report
