Supporting female-led grassroots organisations in Africa

The Kairos Project continues to work with GAGGA in supporting female-led grassroots organisations across Africa with leadership development and capacity building. In 2024, we delivered a leadership program to 18 participants, all from different organisations. The program consisted of 5 Organisational Development Modules (ODM), 2 Peer Learning Labs and Buddy Pair Groups.

The design of our program was driven by the feedback from our previous participants; they wanted spaces to address and resolve the issues that arise from running and scaling small organisations as female leaders. They wanted practical tools and skills to immediately apply to the workplace and work force – which is why there was a resounding request for OD workshops supported by Peer groups for sharing and embedding their new learning.

The five ODM themes were selected by the 2024 participants on a Whatsapp Survey. They chose: 1. Influencing & Persuading 2. Effective Decision Making 3. Strategic Thinking 4. Managing Conflict 5. Continuous Feedback. The two Peer learning groups were woven in between these modules and Buddy Pair groups convened every 6 weeks.

The idea of these learning spaces was to encourage collaboration, sharing and active participation. The facilitation aimed to generate highly interactive sessions where the focus and direction of the discussion were in the hands of the participants. This approach was intentional in order to keep these spaces valuable, meaningful and relevant.

It is clear that these female-led organisations encounter similar challenges and in sharing, there is solidarity, valuable collective intelligence and creative problem solving. Our role, as facilitators, is to provide a safe environment, structured process and timely interventions.

1. 1. 18 female leaders were invited onto our 2024 Leadership Program.
   2. Attendance remained high throughout the program
   3. The five OD Module scored an average of 8.5 out of 10
   4. The two Peer Learning Groups scored an average of 8.4 out of 10.
   5. The Buddy Pair Groups scored an average of 7.4 out of 10.
   6. The qualitative feedback from participants is very positive (see Appendix) and the comments demonstrate key learnings, take-aways, new awareness, fresh thinking, transformation.

OD Modules

1. We got feedback from 14 participants. 4 did not attend any sessions. So 100% of attendees completed the online survey – this is a remarkable result.
2. The average score across all three OD modules was 8.54. This would suggest a positive experience. Also reflects consistent high quality across the classes. A score of 9 or 10 was rated 40 times out of 70 (so over 50%).
3. 10 out of 18 came to all the OD Modules
4. When asked if this learning can be applied, 5 out 14 active participants said “Strongly agree” and 6 said “Agree”, 2 “Neutral”
5. It appears that the last OD Module on Continuous Feedback was rated the highest.

Peer Learning

1. We received feedback from 11 participants on both Peer Learning Labs
2. The average score across the three Peer Learning Labs was 8.41 – this is higher than last year and a positive result for a challenging peer-based environment.
3. 10 participants came to both Peer Learning Labs
4. Rating and attendance remained high even though there was 3 months in between.
5. When participants were asked if they could apply this learning, 5 said “strongly agree” and 6 said “Agree” and 2 said “Neutral”.