We are pleased to welcome 13 women leaders from Zambia, Ethiopia, and Ghana, to the Coady graduate network. Last week, they each completed a certificate in Women’s Leadership in Community Development in Lusaka, Zambia as part of Coady’s EMPOWER program.

As part of this program, women leaders work to build their individual leadership skills and learn to better position themselves, and their work, to create positive social change. Over the course of two weeks, the participants learned practical new strategies for moving community development forward with gender sensitive processes. They assessed their life experiences for personal strengths and motivations, built leadership profiles that match their strengths and capacities, and networked with an inspired group of women eager to break down gender-oriented barriers and constraints that hinder women’s progress.