Girls4Girls Botswana: Female Empowerment From The Grassroots

Girls4Girls Botswana:

FEMALE EMPOWERMENT FROM THE GRASSROOTS

By Lorraine Kinnear

“YOU CAN EASILY JUDGE THE CHARACTER OF A MAN BY HOW HE TREATS THOSE WHO CAN DO NOTHING FOR HIM.” —Malcolm S. Forbes

Lillian Moremi is the true epitome of driving positive change towards women empowerment and youth development. With over ten years of experience in fostering the youth development agenda, her focus is youth leadership and promoting youth employment services in Africa by preparing, orientating, and matching young people for the labour market, facilitating access to sustainable jobs and business opportunities. She leads Career Coaching (Pty) Ltd, a social enterprise she established in 2013 to promote training, skills development, and productivity in the workplace. Some of the cornerstones of Career Coaching are giving career and professional development advice to students, job seekers, and professionals.

Moremi's passion for working with the youth developed when she was still a young girl but it was not until completing her undergraduate degree that she advanced her humanitarian calling by establishing Botswana Student Network to work with young people across Botswana promoting education and academic excellence. Since then she has been part of many movements that have a specific focus on youth development such as Career Coaching, Kgwebo-ya-Monana in collaboration with First National Bank Botswana (FNBB), Now for Them Trust, and most recently, the Girls4Girls (G4G) Botswana programme in collaboration with the United States Embassy.

G4G Botswana is part of a global movement that was established to capacitate leadership skills in young women across the country. The global movement was conceived at the Harvard Kennedy School in 2016 by a group of graduate students from across the globe that recognised a gap in leadership roles led by women, especially in the public sphere. Inspired by each other, they decided to close that gap and today G4G is in over 23 countries globally and boasts well over 2500 mentees supported by more than 1000 mentors.

In Botswana, G4G offers a six-session mentorship program building trust, courageous leadership, the art of communication, negotiation, running public service, ethics, and values in decision making. It brings together insights from key leaders and a global network of women, mobilising a generation of mentors to grow the pipeline of women in leadership.

After attending the Girls4Girls conferences in South Africa, Moremi got inspired to start and facilitate the movement in Botswana. "In 2020 I was invited by a friend, Dr. Matete Madiba who is Director of Department of Student Affairs at the University of Pretoria whom I met in 2017 during a networking session at the Organisation of African Union (OAU) during the Africa Talks Jobs Conference. In 2020, she invited me to talk to the University of Pretoria Girls4Girls Cohort on Public Service and Running for Office.

Upon realising what an eye-opening mentorship programme G4G is, I vouched to introduce the network to Botswana because it was an opportunity not to be missed. Towards the end of 2020, with the support of G4G South Africa and Uganda, we trained 20 mentors in Botswana who started with the pilot of Girls4Girls Botswana in 2021. G4G Botswana has now attracted well over 300 women who form the support system of the future female leader," she narrated.

UNPACKING GIRLS4GIRLS BOTSWANA In its first year, G4G Botswana has had 100 mentees, and 60 mentors graduate from the program which means that they completed the minimum requirement of sessions from their cohort. In 2022, with the support of the U.S. Embassy Botswana, G4G has had cohorts come from Mathangwane JSS, Khakhea JSS, Orapa JSS, Marang JSS, Mogoditshane SSS, Botho University, and Gaborone West. The virtual cohorts included Young Professionals, The Dream Team, and Lion-Hearted. Above and beyond the defined expectation the network offers encouragement for those pursuing business and exchanging skills so successful and profitable businesses can be run from within the network.

MOLDING FUTURE FEMALE LEADERS Author Dianne Mariechild once said, 'A woman is a full circle. Within her is the power to create, nurture and transform,' and by making the girl child aware of her potential, ability, and guide she can thrive to her fullest potential. Mentorship and access to female role models are crucial for the success of the girl child in the community as she can easily adopt the qualities that she sees in others. This is the basis of Girls4Girls, empowering girls to lead in their community and investing in their skills for future success.

BENEFICIARIES OF THE G4G PROGRAMME G4G Botswana supports girls between the ages of 15 to 25 as mentees and young professionals from 25 years and above. Both mentees and mentors must participate in at least 4 sessions out of the 5 sessions to graduate from the cohort. Upon graduation they receive a certificate and mentees join the mentee alumni where they continue to identify opportunities for personal career growth. Mentors continue to participate by starting their cohorts in their respective villages, communities, or workplaces. OPTIMISING GIRL LEADERSHIP Moremi is adamant about continuing her philanthropy work with vigor, she intends on continuing to support and work with various local organisations to raise awareness about the Botswana Constitution Review and getting as many young people to participate in the process. Through this process, she will continue to inspire women and girls to aspire to take up leadership positions and drive social change. "The challenge we are facing is, although women can vote and run for public office in nearly every country, they are still severely underrepresented in legislative bodies, as heads of state, in c-suite and non-profit leadership positions worldwide. I find this as an opportunity to champion because although the gender gap is wide, it is closing slowly but steadily, and we can accelerate this process by mobilising female leaders to inspire and support the next generation to play a greater role in public leadership. This is where my heart is positioned as the Country Team Lead of Girls for Girls Botswana," she added. DRIVING POSITIVE CHANGE Moremi asserts that as a social enterprise they intend to work with other organisations with similar values and ideologies, they will work together for a common goal, which is to achieve gender equality and empower all women and girls as outlined by the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). "As a youth development practitioner, I value collaboration, especially with organisations that are seeking an experienced partner in advancing their community projects; promoting education, entrepreneurship, and employability so that together we can drive positive social change in our communities. In the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic, young people are feeling demoralised because of unemployment, and we should continue to offer them hope," she said.

Girls4Girls is one of many impactful programmes that Moremi has helped drive home. Motivated by the opportunity to advance her passion for youth development she continues to look for various opportunities to grow.