The Leadership Wisdom Initiative (LWI) at Search for Common Ground (SFCG) joined
with the Nairobi Peace Initiative - Africa, Femmes Afrique Solidarité, the Academy for
Educational Development, and Bridges in Organizations to research how best to
support African women in their leadership journeys. Sharing a vision of women leaders
with the skills, resources and self-confidence to take their current and future positions to
new heights of excellence, LWI and its partners convened four consultative workshops
in Kenya, Monrovia and Abidjan and conducted over forty-five qualitative interviews as
well as extensive desktop research.
The research goal was a) to identify current regional barriers to and opportunities for the
inclusion, advancement and continuance of women‘s participation in democratic
decision-making and b) to hear from participants what they need to support their
leadership development.
Overall, the findings in each country were similar, with consistent reports of less access
to education, lower self-confidence, fewer financial resources, and higher
unemployment than their male counterparts across all three countries. As the primary
caregivers, women were also challenged by the need to balance numerous family and
community responsibilities in addition to work. Indeed, cultural and institutional barriers
were consistently cited as primary obstacles to women‘s leadership pursuits. At the
same time, there are more women role models to show the way, especially in Liberia,
and in all three countries there is greater gender awareness at political and societal
levels.
Many women spoke in depth about their needs, for instance for mentorship, the support
of other women, financial support, personal communications skills, and belief in
themselves as next steps in their momentum to a new level of leadership, or as means
to deepen their existing level. In our survey of existing women‘s leadership
development programs, we found that very little exists in the way of formalized support
or training for woman already in leadership positions. The key leadership development
needs identified in our research can be grouped under the four following categories:
Coaching, Leadership Forums & Social Networking, Skills Training, and Mentorship.
Given the gaps in women‘s leadership development in Kenya, Liberia and Côte d‘Ivoire,
and the requests we received for ongoing developmental opportunities, we recommend
the following next steps:
1. Convene women in regular, facilitated forums for mutual support, leadership
development, and solidarity;
2. Provide coaching and mentoring training to interested women so that they
themselves can become coaches and mentors; and
3. Offer extended leadership and conflict management training and training of
trainers