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The Global Women in Management program is CEDPA’s
longest running training program, with thousands of graduates worldwide. The
program responds to today’s development context, which demands greater levels
of management accountability and programmatic results, by providing rigorous
leadership and management training that builds women’s skills to run successful
organizations.
Study after study
has shown that investing in women advances community development. Institutions
including the World Bank have documented how increasing women’s educational
attainment and promoting their equal opportunity in the labor force and public
life can reduce poverty and promote national growth. Investing in women also
greatly enhances the well-being of thier families and their children, who are
more likely to survive and thrive if their mothers are healthy and educated.
For more than 30 years, the Centre for
Development and Population Activities (CEDPA) has trained developing-country
women—and committed men and young people—to advance international development
and change the social and political context that impedes opportunity for women
and girls.
Overview
The Global Women in Management
program brings together women from diverse cultures, countries and regions to
share, examine and adapt best practices worldwide to meet the needs of their
own communities and their countries. The program is designed for mid-career
women from non-governmental, community and faith-based organizations with 8-10
years of experience working at community, sub-national or national levels. The
program, usually four weeks in length, has been offered in multiple languages
and countries including
Working within the
context of participants’ technical and program priorities, the Global Women
in Management program strengthens competencies in project and financial
management, leadership, fundraising and proposal development, strategic
communication, supervision, and advocacy to prepare women leaders to assume
increased responsibilities and accountability in their personal, institutional
and community lives.
CEDPA creates a supportive and
participatory learning environment for the exchange of best practices and
experiences, strategy development and skill building among the participants.
Participants also learn through meetings with international and community-based
organizations working in various development sectors in the U.S, as well as
presentations by international donors and development experts from related
fields.
Major workshop themes include:
Dimensions
of Leadership ~ Participants
assess and strengthen personal and professional leadership traits, distinguish
between leadership and management, and develop strategies for enhancing
leadership skills.
Strategic Communications ~ Participants learn and apply strategic communication techniques to educate, motivate and mobilize communities, decision makers and institutions.
Fundraising
~
Fundraising strategies and plans are developed during the
workshop, and participants learn how to cultivate and sustain donor relations,
design proposal management systems and develop proposals.
Advocacy ~ Participants analyze the policy
environment and elements of policymaking, enhance advocacy skills and develop
strategies for coalition building.
Financial
Management ~
Financial management procedures and tools are examined and applied to ensure
programmatic and institutional transparency and accountability.
Project
Management ~
Participants examine the project management cycle; learn to use project
management processes and tools; and prepare monitoring and evaluation plans.
Partnership
~
Elements and skills for effective partnerships with private and public sectors
are explored, and participants develop strategies for building and sustaining
partnerships.
By the end of the workshop, participants leave
with increased confidence and heightened awareness of their own leadership
styles and management skills; knowledge and tools for improved project and
financial management and supervision; strategies for creating linkages with
donors and private and public sector organizations; and strengthened
communication, advocacy, sustainability and fundraising skills and approaches.
In addition, participants design action plans for personal, institutional and
community level change.
Because CEDPA believes that training should
be seen as the beginning of a long-term process rather than as a one-time
event, the organization continues to support our Global Women in Management
alumni as they move beyond the workshop setting and begin to apply lessons
learned within their communities. Following the workshop, participants embark
on a year-long coaching relationship with experienced CEDPA alumni for a
structured and guided program of personal and professional coaching. CEDPA
provides support throughout the coaching relationship and evaluates the program
and its outcomes at the end of the year.
In addition, CEDPA sustains on-going
relationships with alumni through its alumni Web portal; networking activities
at local, regional and international levels; and professional consultancies.
CEDPA’s field offices also promote and sustain capacity building with our
alumni by targeting small grants to alumni-led organizations when opportunities
arise.
Outcomes
CEDPA documents program results through
post-workshop evaluations, follow-up surveys, and ongoing communication with
our alumni.
The results show that most graduates link
the new confidence and skills gained during the workshop to strengthened
management capacity and often career advancements. For example, a 2005 training
alumna reported: “I was promoted…I now have the chance to make decisions.
Before CEDPA, I was timid in voicing my opinions, but now, with the measurable
successes I have achieved as a result of CEDPA’s training and materials, I have
found the courage to advance and the maturity to accept when I am wrong.”
Strengthened by their training, many
program alumni have risen to top leadership positions in their nations,
becoming cabinet and parliamentary leaders, founders and heads of
non-governmental organizations, political activists and leading journalists.
Participants also
have reported that the training has enabled them to secure additional resources
for their local organizations, strengthening these institutions to reach even
more people within their communities. For example, a participant from
In addition to strengthening individual
women leaders and their institutions, the Global Women in Management
program has had ripple effects throughout the communities where alumni work.
Many alumni have reinvested the skills they gained in the workshop through
trainings for others within their community, targeting program beneficiaries
and staff at other community organizations with trainings to improve advocacy,
communications and leadership skills. With enhanced skills and strengthened
programs, alumni have improved the lives of hundreds of thousands of people
through their work in education, health, the environment and other sectors.
Since 2005, CEDPA’s Global Women in
Management program has been made possible through the generous support of the ExxonMobil Foundation’s Educating Women and Girls
Initiative.
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