Every year we celebrate the burgeoning impact women have had in areas of society across the globe. This year’s theme is that an “equal world is an enabled world.” These issues are being tackled by many women who are birthing their visions through the Future African Leaders Foundation which is an NGO created by the president of LoveWorld Nation, Pastor Chris Oyakhilome.
Equality is not a women’s issue, but an issue which is essential for economies and communities to thrive. A gender-equal world can be better-off and more cohesive. Pastor Chris has given these young leaders the opportunity to impact their environment and community. Many are looking to encourage women to achieve economic and social freedom.
The Future African Leaders Foundation has many emergent leaders who have the vision to empower women. From educating women about menstrual hygiene to preventing child marriages or encouraging female entrepreneurs FALF has projects to alter the narratives of women. Many are led by women.
A snapshot of female leadership
2019 FALA winner Vera Kissiedu is a young lady from Ghana who has a strong passion for agriculture and aspires to be one of the foremost agricultural entrepreneurs in the world. Vera tackled the challenge of hunger by creating the Feed Africa Fund (FAF), through which she distributes foodstuff to the less-privileged every month. She empowered families to practice backyard farming and fish farming, and this has led to more people being able to grow their own food while creating additional revenue streams.
Vera organized special training sessions for farmers on agricultural innovation which will promote all-year-round farming and maintain high yield. Then, she extended training to more farmers through the “I-gric Online Platform”, through which she trained 100 farmers in different African countries.
She created the “Easy-Connect Farmer App”, which connects farmers to those who want to buy fresh farm produce directly from the farms. She inspired young people to go into agriculture by organizing career development training in secondary schools for over 5,500 participants.
As an advocate for women empowerment, Vera organized workshops geared at raising female agricultural entrepreneurs, and this led to 25 ladies starting up new farms. Vera started Ladies’ Clubs in 2 High Schools where she educates them on breast cancer and the dangers of drug abuse. Over 200 underprivileged girls benefitted from the distribution of free sanitary materials during the 2019 International Day of the Girl-Child.
Prolific partners for change
“The Change Initiative” is headed by 2019 FALA nominee Annette Ewusi. In collaboration with Ambassador Ngassa Merlin and Sir Epie Mabrice, they organized a program entitled VISION BOARD 1.0. The program was aimed at teaching over 60 participants how to bring those visions to fruition and the role vision boards play in bringing forth excellent results.
Empowering women
The Virtuous Teenage Girl Campaign is one of female empowerment. This groundbreaking conference touched on many important topics that underpin the strengthening of the role of women. Her team talked about the teenage girl and her spiritual life, entrepreneurship, peer, her appearance, media, academics teenage girl and her self-esteem. Annette herself lead the lecture on the teenage girl and her emotions.
2018 FALA winner Deliwe Makata from Malawi is passionate about the growth and development of young Africans and their contribution to nation-building. She is the founder of an empowerment organization called ‘Women Inspire’, which has initiated several training programs for growth and development. This will develop the capacity of the women in vulnerable communities by encouraging education, leadership and skill development.
Leading new leaders
Her organization currently operates in Malawi, Kenya, and Ghana, and has reached over 6,000 young women, empowering and building their leadership capacity. There were twelve LDP training programs held in 2018 that enabled Deliwe to instill a mindset of leadership in young girls. The participants are now implementing exceptional leadership measures and tendering solutions to the challenges faced by their communities.
The ‘Big Sister Project’ is another initiative by Deliwe, aimed at addressing human rights advocacy, career building, skill development and leadership for adolescents. This project has run in five secondary schools, reaching over 1,000 girls and will be adopted in other communities.
The strong participation of women in their communities is going to see lives made better. To support the work of the Future African Leaders Foundation kindly click on the link here. On International Women’s Day, we celebrate the contribution of these valiant women to the emancipation and empowerment of women everywhere. We rejoice in the achievements of all women in the community.