•WELL groomed girls can impact positively on their communities and the nation at large.

By STEPHEN KAPAMBWE –

RUTH (not real name) is an orphan. At the age of 23, the young woman who lives with relatives in Chadiza of Eastern Province, has been forced into marriage on two occasions.
She has lost two children, and is currently struggling to get an education.
After experiencing disturbances in her progression in school, Ruth is doing her Grade Eight.
Like many girls living in outlying communities, Ruth has been forced into failed marriages by her relatives who believe girls are only good enough for the bride price.
In Ruth’s community, education for girls is not a priority. The only mentorship the girls receive is about how to be obedient wives.
In an effort to address negative perceptions that hinder girls and women from exploiting their potential to succeed in life, Alchemy Women in Leadership (AWiL) has made a breakthrough in its vision of expanding its outreach mentorship programmes beyond Lusaka.
AWiL recently mentored over 150 girls in Kitwe during the second edition of the AWiL/UNDP Zambia Girls Leadership Summit which coincided with the 2015 International Day of the Girl Child.
Taking the summit to the Copperbelt was a milestone.
“We are very excited to have reached out to girls outside of Lusaka.
Our vision is to empower more and more girls and women across Zambia because no matter where they are from, Zambian women can impact their communities and organisations,” AWiL Training and Resource Centre Manager Tafadzwa Sasa said.
Tafadzwa disclosed that AWiL is further planning to run its five days girls’ camp meetings in schools in Mansa in Luapula Province and Choma in Southern Province before the end of this year.
She said the need to expand its initiatives beyond Lusaka has been necessitated by variety of hindrances girls and women face which are often entrenched in beliefs, traditions and stereotypes that are peculiar to individual communities.
She said problems faced by girls and women in Lusaka tend to be different from those obtaining in other areas, hence the need for mentorship campaigns to be extended to as many areas as possible.
She gave an example of Kitwe where school girls complained that they were often discouraged from taking ‘difficult courses’.
“We had 124 girls from six schools and other organisations.
“In the Gender and Leadership session, we use a video clip called ‘Like a girl’ and ‘Unstoppable’ which explores the perceptions around the things that girls can do and the stereotypes limiting their
participation in various sectors or sports,” she said.
She said girls identified with the training because most of them had been discouraged from doing sports activities or taking school courses like accounts and pure sciences on account of their sex.
“It was quiet disturbing to hear that girls still face such barriers.
But it was also heart warming to have them share the stories on how some of them had ignored such limitations and were studying the so-called difficult courses in school,” she said.
Tafadzwa said girls everywhere in the world have to fight the stereotypes that make them think they cannot be as successful as boys.
She said AWiL, through its leadership development and mentorship programmes, shows girls real life examples of women who have made it and created a difference in society.
The organisation often works with mentors like former Lusaka Stock Exchange Executive Director Beatrice Nkanza, Deputy Chief Executive Officer for the Centre for Infectious Disease Research in Zambia Dr Izukanji Sikazwe, MTN Zambia General Manager for Corporate Services Mwenzi Mulenga, to mention but a few.
Through these successful women, AWiL demonstrates women’s ability to succeed in their aspirations.
The organisation provides the trainees with skills to plan for their lives and encourages them to relentlessly pursue their dreams until they succeed.
AWIL also mentors young professional women on how they can become leaders.
For example, the organisation last year ran its Aspire Intermediate Leadership Development programme on the Copperbelt where it trained the young professionals and students.
“We also had some more established women come in as mentors. So, having this year’s International Day of the Girl Child in Kitwe was building on this network for Aspires (young women members who are either professionals or students in their last two years of university) and mentors,” Tafadzwa said.
This year’s Copperbelt summit for girls aged 12 to 18 years take participants through adventure based activities and focus group discussions before introducing them to the aspect of gender and leadership. The girls are also taught values and character.
Since inception, AWiL has been dedicated to supporting a higher representation of women in leadership in the work place and broader community.
Working in partnership with the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), AWiL launched its flagship mentorship programme which connects women leaders to aspiring and emerging leaders.
In 2010, AWiL partnered with Government through the Ministry of Commerce Trade and Industry to exploit ways of developing women in business using its mentorship programme.
The organisation has also developed other interventions among which is a scholarship foundation aimed at providing support to girls entering secondary school as well as those going into university.
Founded by Human Resource specialist and consultant Chimango Chikwanda, AWiL – which works with partners like the UNDP – is comprised of successful women who believe in breaking down barriers to the empowerment of women through education and training.
AWiL believes training the girls puts women at an advantage because the girls are the future professionals who would be entering the workplace and community leadership.
“We believe there is no better time than now to sow the seeds of leadership, ambition and confidence to ensure we have a strong grounded generation of women leaders at that time,” Ms Chikwanda said in a recent write up.
Gender inequality and problems associated with advancement of girls and women in Zambia have been issues of concern to both President Edgar Lungu and Vice President Inonge Wina.
This comes in the wake of an alarming increase in cases of sexual crime against females, violence, girls dropping out of school on account of unplanned pregnancies, marrying off of underage girls and social vice.
Touring the newly constructed Mushindamo Girls Technical Secondary School in North Western Province recently, President Lungu, who has become the first Head of State in the history of the country to appoint a female vice president, told journalists that Zambia can only develop if girls are given the same opportunities as boys.
He expressed his commitment to end oppression and suppression of girls in society.
President Lungu took time to encourage school girls and women to get inspiration from Vice President Inonge Wina and excel in whatever they do so that they can contribute to national development.
It is therefore timely for the Government and other stakeholders to partner with organisations like AWiL in order to uplift and safeguard the lives of young girls and women like Ruth who have been forced to abandon their dreams and entitlement to a descent life on account of being born female.
It is also imperative that interventions are not a privilege of beneficiaries in Lusaka only, but should be made accessible countrywide so that school girls and young women in a village can equally get the lifetime opportunity to be inspired by the likes of Ms Wina, Ms Nkanza or indeed Ms Chikwanda.