The Kofi Annan International Peace Keeping Center (KAIPTC), has ended a month-long Women’s Leadership Development Programme (WLDP) for 61 women leaders and managers from the various security agencies on gender equity.
The training programme with sponsorship from the Federal Government of Germany was to empower the women to develop critical practical skills in self-leadership.
It is also to help them be sensitive and aware of key dynamics when taking decisions across a wide range of contexts as well as circumstances.
The ultimate goal for the women is to become effective, agile and conscious leaders in their organizations.
Mr Moritz Fischer, the Representative of the German Government, affirmed the German Government’s commitment to the programme.
He said gender equity was key to all aspects of society where women and men have equal participation which were more stable, peaceful, prosperous and culturally innovative.
Mr Fischer said for the past decade, Ghana had demonstrated its commitment to equal opportunity and representation of women in all aspects of society.
“We have seen progress in the ‘Women, Peace and Security’ agenda, indeed there are more women than ever working in the security sector, but the representation is not enough-we have not yet reached the finishing line,” he added.
Mr Fischer expressed appreciation to the Commandant of KAIPTC for his continuous support for the impactful programme.
Major General Francis Ofori, the Commandant of KAIPTC, said a review of the programme shows that progress had been achieved, but there were still few women in senior leadership and decision-making positions or having access to such roles.
He said the programme formed part of KAIPTC portfolio and a testimonial to the capability of the institution and its partners to deliver world-class, transformational leadership that prepared women leaders to take up roles.
The Commandant urged participants to go and make the best use of the leadership competencies they had acquired as they returned to their respective organizations.
Maj. Gen. Ofori expressed gratitude to the German Government for their continuous support as well as the facilitators for their invaluable contributions to the programme.
Mrs Patience Baffoe-Bonnie, the Deputy Director of Prisons and Director Health Ghana Prisons Service, on behalf of participants expressed gratitude to KAIPTC and the German Government for the programme, adding that the training came at an opportune time.
She said “the course has been very useful and relevant as far as leadership is concerned, and especially for us as women. The content was excellent and the facilitators were very innovative and interactive”.
Mrs Baffoe-Bonnie urged other participants to impact people wherever they found themselves with the knowledge they have acquired.
She also called for an increase in the number of participants in the coming years to allow all those who matter to take part in future programmes.
The programme, which started in 2019 has so far built the capacity of 100 women leaders in the country.
The second edition of the programme begun in March 2020 and was structured in three phases; the first phase focused on personal leadership and emphasizes on communication, dealing with emotions and the embodiment of leadership.
The second phase – participants were required to complete an online leadership development and decision-making assessment exercise; and the third phase focused on managing and navigating complexity, decision-making, strategic communication and negotiation.
