Tamale: The Executive Women Network (EWN), which comprises women in senior management and executive roles across the public and private sectors, has launched mentorship guideline materials to groom 500 young girls in the Northern Region.
According to Ghana News Agency, the materials, consisting of a mentorship manual and a journal, are part of the implementation strategy for EWN's flagship project, 'EWN ELLEVATE', which was launched in February 2023. The project is designed to inspire, guide, and equip young girls with the confidence, knowledge, and network needed to take on leadership roles and make informed life choices.
Mrs. Joyce Adjare, a Board Member of EWN, speaking during the launch in Tamale, said the year-long mentorship programme would benefit girls from five second cycle and tertiary institutions in the region. The institutions include Ambariya Senior High School, Dabokpa Technical Institute, Tamale College of Education, and the University for Development Studies (UDS). She explained that the programme would be facilitated by mentors, patrons, coordinators, and volunteers in various institutions.
Mrs. Adjare said the mentors would use the manual as a guide while the girls would use the journals to facilitate their learning experiences across 10 thematic areas, each comprising practical exercises and workshops. The materials covered 10 critical topics including leadership, self-awareness and emotional intelligence, goals setting, career exploration, networking and mentorship, financial literacy and entrepreneurship, health, and wellbeing, communication and presentation skills, personal and professional development, resilience and adaptability.
Mrs. Janet Sunkwa-Mills, Chairperson, Executive Committee of EWN, said the initiative reflected EWN's commitment to nurturing the next generation of female leaders in Ghana. She said: 'Two years ago, we launched EWN ELLEVATE here. Although our core focus as an organization is on executive women leaders, we believe in lifting others as we rise. Supporting the younger generation with our knowledge, competence, and expertise is what this project is all about.' She said EWN was willing to scale up the project to benefit more girls across the country depending on the commitment and response of the participating girls.
Mr. Alhassan Alidu Jnr, Northern Regional Director of Education, whose speech was read on his behalf, commended EWN for the initiative. He urged the girls to remain disciplined to achieve the goals of the project and called on EWN to incorporate menstrual hygiene and reproductive health education into the initiative since they were critical issues affecting girls' education in the region.
Dr. Esther Ekua Amoako, from Centre for Gender and Career Mentorship at UDS, emphasised the importance of mentorship in shaping the lives and career aspirations of young girls and thanked EWN for its commitment to empowering the next generation of female leaders. Hajia Alima Sagito-Saeed, Executive Director of Savannah Women Integrated Development Agency-Ghana, encouraged the girls to take full advantage of the opportunity and dream big, and pursue their goals of becoming responsible and influential women. She emphasised the need for all stakeholders to support the initiative to ensure that more girls were empowered to enhance the overall development of the country.
Miss Mohammed Aisha, a student of Ambariya SHS, expressed her excitement about the programme and her readiness to harness its opportunities to pursue her dream of becoming a legal practitioner and advocating the rights of girls and women.
