Women’s Leadership for Community Development

Local women leaders are dealing with the big issues of our day, especially in addressing persistent and deep-rooted inequalities.  This online program will provide inspiration for women around the world (Indigenous and non-Indigenous) to enhance their leadership capacities for citizen-led community-driven development and create spaces for social change to occur. The 7-week program will focus on recognizing and celebrating women’s strengths and gifts, assessing leadership models and approaches, exploring feminist movement building in solidarity with others, and include the sharing of tools and frameworks that prioritize justice, equity and inclusion. The course welcomes women of all ages and backgrounds who are able to demonstrate the ways they are currently engaged in local development in their respective countries and committed to sharing their knowledge and gifts with a network of thousands of leaders globally.

Benefits and Learning Objectives

In this course, you will:

• Assess your life and professional experiences as well as your understandings of leadership that inform your motivations,
• Build a leadership profile and workplan to develop your strengths and capacities;
• Learn practical new tools and strategies for moving development forward with inclusive, gender-sensitive programming locally and globally; and
• Network with an inspired group of women to construct approaches that break down gender-oriented barriers and constraints limiting community well-being.

By attending this course your organization will be able to:

• Develop a sound understanding of the way forward for achieving gender equality and advancing women’s leadership, both in terms of opportunities as well as emerging challenges from the your specific contexts;
• Learn about different perspectives of the government, private sector, academia, and the community in your and other contexts and the role each could play going forward;
• Develop strategies for organizational and community–centered responses to the challenges and opportunities including social inclusion and leadership of women, youth, indigenous people, and other historically under-represented groups.

Time Requirement

You should prepare to dedicate six to eight hours per week over the course of 7 weeks.

This course will use blended model of delivery including a combination of weekly live sessions, asynchronous learning activities, and independent work time. Participants are expected to engage with their peers in the online space (both oral and written) to complete course assignments.

Technology Requirement

• Reliable internet access (high speed is recommended)
• Speakers and microphone

Who should take this course?

The strength of this course is in the diversity of women who attend. The mix of ages, nationalities, family responsibilities, education, religions and working lives creates a dynamic context for learning.  Women who are leaders and those who aspire to ignite their leadership potential are welcome.

Fees

Tuition Fees for the course are $1,500CAD. Coady Institute strives to ensure that participants working with marginalized communities around the world have access to its courses. This is made possible through the provision of bursaries that are funded by many individual and institutional donors of the International Centre for Women’s Leadership. Partial bursaries of $1,050CAD are available for international candidates. Those receiving a bursary will be responsible for paying the balance before the designated deadline. Full bursaries are available for First Nations, Métis and Inuit women residing in Canada as well as women from African Nova Scotian communities.