For us 2020 turned out to be a great year, we managed to somewhat achieve key of our goals despite navigating the COVID-19 pandemic.
For the first time since the launch of the Leadership, Economic and Mentorship Hubs (LEMHs) programme in 2018, TaLI hosted a 10 day leadership training boot camp under the first stage in the one year leadership programme Youth Engaging in Growth (YEG).
Training participants were adolescent girls and young women from different communities with some being university students, young mothers, young women living with HIV while others come from less privileged families thereby making them vulnerable.
A further development of the LEMHs leadership programme was the development of the curriculum which was done with the kind support from Hivos Regional Office Southern Africa
where 23 girls and young women were trained in areas which include Sexual Reproductive Health Rights (SRHR), Environment and Climate Change (ECC), young women in Leadership and Advocacy, Human Rights and Women’s Rights, Gender Based Violence(GBV), Peace Building, Information and Communication Technologies (ICT), Financial Literacy and young women in Leadership and Empowerment. The young women also learnt about intersectionalities that exist across all their rights and how to advocate for these rights with that clarity.
To facilitate these sessions were female leader experts who took turns to come to the campsite spending time with the young women participants. Having facilitators who are successful in the above mentioned thematic areas was of impact to the training as the young women would learn from lived experiences.
The trainings were characterised with full participation of the young women doing group works, presentations and team building activities. A red carpet Cocktail party was hosted on the last night of the boot camp and the young women had the opportunity to network and learn while having fun.
One participant acknowledged that “the 10 days training enlightened me to understand gender inequalities in our society. I realised that from birth, there are so many privileges stripped off for the mere fact that one is born female. Therefore, I have learnt of my rights as a young woman. I am now empowered to protect myself from social injustices directed to me because of my gender. I am ready and empowered to advocate for the rights of other young women in my community”.
Another young woman shared on how she got infected with HIV and other Sexually Transmitted Illnesses (STIs). She encouraged her peers to be responsible saying that sex is a choice but it must be safe. She encouraged correct and consistent use of condoms and abstinence as the best remedy to all STIs. The young woman further mentioned to others that STIs should be treated as soon as they are noticed to avoid extreme damage which might not be cured and that being HIV positive is not the end of life.
As TaLI we celebrate this training as a success were young female leaders have been equipped with skills needed to initiate change in their communities.
Thanks to all our supporters. This training wouldn’t have been possible had it not been the amazing support of the
who is supporting our girls and young women empowerment.