WOMEN LEADERS IN NICARAGUA / MUJERES LIDERES EN NICARAGUA

A Leadership Workshop For Emerging Women Leaders in Nicaragua

The VOICE (Validating Our Initiatives and Creating Equality) Project is a twelve month Leadership Training Project focused on building human capital in women, organized by Wisconsin/Nicaragua Partners of the Americas, Inc. (W/NP), a 501c3 volunteer organization. W/NP works to foster people-to-people relationships and build cross-cultural ties between citizens of Wisconsin and Nicaragua. W/NP works with a partner organization, Compañeros de las Americas, Nicaragua/Wisconsin (CN/W).   

The goal of the VOICE project is to empower economically disadvantaged women in Nicaragua and help them develop leadership skills, initiative, and to gain self-sufficiency. As women gain self-esteem and new leadership skills, they learn to stand up for their beliefs and their rights. Through leadership, women gain “voice.” The thirty participants of VOICE will receive tools for leadership development and self expression via formal and informal training that will empower them to open doors both within their community and ultimately their country.

The first element of the VOICE Project focuses on building human capital, providing ways for the two cultures to help people collaborate on solving a serious social problem. UW-Extension faculty Mary Kluz and Amy Schanhofer, Community Resource Development Educators in Marathon and Monroe Counties, respectively, developed Phase I learning objectives, designed the curriculum and facilitated the workshop.  The workshop was held November 20-22, 2007 in Managua, Nicaragua.

Phase I learning objectives included:

Participants will

• learn about themselves and their leadership strengths
• learn about each other and begin to form a team
• develop leadership skills to use and teach in their home Learning Centers
• learn about organizational structure and process

To reach these goals, the facilitators designed a workshop agenda that initially created an opportunity for the women to share their own stories as a way to open them up to each other and to create a bond among the group as a platform for further progress in the workshops. Further activities in the workshop addressed some of the basic challenges that any emerging leader faces such as working with different personality styles and within conflict situations. The workshop allowed time for a field trip to learning centers so that the women could learn from each other. The workshop was designed to conclude with an opportunity for participants to develop a vision for their communities.

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