As part of its career building initiative for high school and college-level women, Leading Ladies’ Network (LLN) recently launched an elaborate training program to teach beneficiaries how to develop a professional bio and CV/resume. At the maiden training seminar, LLN Founding Director Yawa Hansen-Quao opened by saying that “Selling yourself is an art, and the lack of mastery of this fine art is indeed one of the major reasons why many women do not advance as quickly in their chosen fields of endeavor. It is our hope that through this training program, emerging female leaders like you will gain the confidence and the technical competence required to market your achievements to the world. “

The first batch women to undergo the training were the 2011 fellows of the Moremi Initiative Women’s Leadership Program for Africa (MILEAD). The fellows were recruited from countries across Africa including Ghana, Nigeria, South Africa, Uganda, Ethiopia and Zimbabwe. Through this collaboration with Moremi, LLN introduced beneficiaries to the unique FLAMES leadership model. In written feedback from the program, Landy Miary Andrianaivosoa, a trainee from Madagascar, had the following to say: “The LLN facilitators were excellent, and the training was so hands on that I now have a well written professional bio and resume ready for any job or advancement opportunity that comes my way.”

From August 15-18th, Leading Ladies’ Network teamed FLAMES beneficiaries teamed up with Peace Corp volunteers to host a GLOW camp for 32 young girls recruited from junior high schools across Ghana. Through the 4-day residential camp hosted at the Jinijini Secondary School, participants were educated about nutrition, HIV/AIDS, career planning, and leadership. They also learned practical life skills like how to manage money, bargain, and make new friends. The program was further enhanced by a tree-planting community service activity where the girls were taught how to prepare and transplant seedlings. Over 20 cashew and moringa trees were planted in the Jinijini community through the exercise.

Over 130 female students of the Bolgatanga Polytechnic gathered on May 5, 2011 to experience a new kind of empowerment" - these were the words of student journalist Feasalatu Salifu reporting on LLN's first seminar held at the remote Bolgatanga Polytechnic. The seminar also attracted faculty, staff and administrators who were anxious to learn about the new type of "women's power movement" visiting their campus. In Bolgatanga and other towns across Northern Ghana, women are more often marginalized than their southern counterparts and women's empowerment movements are often stigmatized. Aware of suspciciaons surrounding the issue of women empowerment, LLN Founding Director Yawa Hansen-Quao introduced the FLAMES opportunity and gave brief history about the work of LLN. She ended the session by acknowledging the often antagonistic view that many people have of women’s organizations. "LLN does not believe that we as women are better than men; we believe that women are just as good; and through FLAMES, we hope to nurture the unique gifts of women from places like Bolgatanga. The Dean of Students, Mr. Yakubu Aldani commended LLN for the inviting participation from Bolgatanga and urged interested female students to apply for FLAMES.

Participants took part in team-building activities and training sessions on public speaking and assertiveness. According to a participant Salamatu Faizal, "I have never experienced such a hands-on workshop like this before. Leading Ladies' Network must surely return to Bolgatanga."

The Leading Ladies' Network hosted the first ever Polytechnic Women's Summit on May 11, 2011 under the theme "Powering Possibilities: Nurturing the Leadership Potential of Ghanaian Tertiary-Level Women." The event brought together one hundred participants representing Polytechnic campuses located in each of Ghana's ten geographic regions, and marked the official launch of the pilot phase of the Female Leadership Advancement, Mentoring, and Empowerment Series (FLAMES). Delivering the keynote speech for the summit, The Minister of Women & Children’s Affairs , Hajia Boya Gariba advised participants to “open yourselves up to the possibility of making a difference in this world” In her remarks, LLN Founding Director commented "Each of us has power yet, individual power is not enough; we must unite by supporting each other and dispelling the age-old notion that we as women are our own enemies. Women can, do, and should support each other. It is our goal that our FLAMES network will become living proof of that.”

The Summit also featured a Mentorship Roundtable with accomplished women leaders from the field of business and politics who shared their personal leadership stories and answered participant questions. The event also included a session on building an effective personal image facilitated by Jennifer Agyemang, an accomplished brand consultant and founder of a personal branding and life coaching organization based in Accra. In the words of Sarah Kariyama, a participant from Wa Polytechnic, "I have never attended any summit of this nature before. I felt challenged by the content of the presentation, I was inspired by the group activities and I now recognize I have the potential to become an effective woman leader. I hope to be accepted into the FLAMES program so I can continue to build on what I have gained here today. The Government of Ghana website publicized the event. To read the article, click here

Leading Ladies’ Network was featured at this year’s Ideax Conference as an example of an organization redefining the NGO work through the model of social entrepreneurship in Ghana. Speaking at a question and answer session held during the conference, LLN Founding Director Yawa Hansen-Quao told participants that the key lessons she has learned are the value of patience and perseverance in believing in one’s self, and openness to learn new things. The Ideax Conference is a platform for young entrepreneurs to present their ideas to a panel of venture capitalists, business advisors and potential partners.

On Friday May 20, 2011 LLN Founding Director Yawa Hansen-Quao held talks with Ghana's Minister of Education Betty Mould-Iddrissu, regarding the FLAMES leadership curriculum. The Minister praised LLN for the FLAMES initiative and expressed interest in becoming a mentor within the network.Having personally mentored a number of aspiring female lawyers over the years, she expressed her belief that the role of mentoring cannot be overlooked as we seek to increase the number of women represented in professional fields including politics, law and business. The Minister mandated the Curriculum development division of the Ghana Education Service to work with LLN to jointly promote the FLAMES program on the various tertiary institutional campuses across Ghana.

On April 29, 2011, the Leading Ladies’ Network hosted a public speaking seminar at the Takoradi Polytechnic. The session was facilitated by Yawa Hansen-Quao; Founding Director of Leading Ladies’ Network. Speaking on the reasoning for the seminar, Edith Donkor, the Women’s Commissioner of the Takoradi Polytechnic indicated “many female students this year are aspiring for positions in student government but lack the confidence to stand in front of their peers and present their ideas.

Hence, we felt that as part of our week celebration, it would be prudent to have some training on public speaking. This seminar was very successful and practical and we are working to launch our Leading Ladies’ Club on this campus so that more and more of our women can benefit from the innovative training style of Leading Ladies’ Network.”

Mrs. Frances Betty Fraikue, the Head of the Hospitality Management Department of the Polytechnic and Chairperson for the program, commended Leading Ladies’ Network for their initiative in training women in skills such as public speaking.

On February 9, 2011, Leading Ladies' Network hosted a Leading Ladies' Seminar for women at the University of Cape Coast. This training event featured faculty and students from the Semester At Sea program as guests. The group was led by Ms. Faith Kazmi, the Associate Director of the Women's community center at Stanford University. The seminar focused on professional skills development. Participants were taken through how to create a resume/CV; interview skills and business ettiquette do's and dont's. Jestina Naadu Lamptey, a participant commented: “I have never been this inspired, motivated and encouraged than these last three days of the Leading Ladies’ Seminar. I never thought that young women could come together and help each other out and encourage each other. I have learnt so much and I am very grateful for such opportunity.”

The SAS delegation thanked Leading Ladies'  Network for the invitation and encouraged the group to keep working to close the women's leadership gap that exists in Africa.