Girls in Leadership Program 2024: Program Highlights!
When ‘Forever First Lady,’ Michelle Obama said “The girls who are educated today will be the leaders of tomorrow”, it seemed like she was speaking of a distant future. However, over the past week, we at LLA have come to realize that the ‘tomorrow’ Michelle spoke about is already here.
We are still buzzing with excitement from the incredible experience of impacting 250 secondary school girls from underrepresented communities in Lagos state during the Girls In Leadership Program 2024.
The Girls in Leadership Program is a leadership development initiative designed to empower girls aged 10 to 17. Aligned with the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals, the program aims to equip young girls with the skills needed to become effective leaders and agents of change. It provides access to mentors who support the girls in setting and achieving their leadership development goals. The program also focuses on creating inclusive and equitable learning opportunities to foster the holistic growth of all participants. Ultimately, the goal is to prepare these young girls to pursue their aspirations and become influential leaders in their communities.
With the first edition held in 2022, this second edition themed ‘Our Voice, Our Future’ was a huge success, with the remarkable support of the Noella Foundation, our #LLA100Women2024, and other amazing partners.
During the program, the girls had an eye-opening learning experience with our fantastic lineup of speakers. The speakers not only delivered engaging and impactful sessions, but also ensured that the girls left the program with transformed mindsets, setting them on the path to becoming leaders, not just in the future, but also now. Here is what Victory Aduayomi, a JSS3 student of Thonyx Immaculate Schools said about the lessons instilled in her.
Oreoluwa Atinmo
Oreoluwa Atinmo, the Marketing director of GB Foods spoke to the girls on the Importance of Building Leadership Skills, Capacity and Vision, highlighting to the girls the skills that make leaders stand out and how to cultivate these skills.
Oluwaseyi Moejoh
Environmental activist and founder of U-Recycle Initiative, Oluwaseyi Moejoh took the girls on step-by-step processes on How To Become A Changemaker for Sustainability and Impact.
Beauty Tukura
To mark the International Day For Menstrual Hygiene, Beauty Tukura, the Reality TV Star and Menstrual Health advocate, addressed the girls on what they needed to know about developing self-confidence and cultivating good menstrual hygiene.
Aderinsola Amobi-Daniel
Our final speaker of the program was Aderinsola Amobi-Daniel, the Programme Coordinator of the leading youth leadership development organization in Africa, LEAP Leadership Institute, and she laid out to the girls how they can be proactive in preparing themselves for leadership, speaking on the topic, Future forward: Preparing Yourself For Leadership.
At Leading Ladies Africa, we firmly believe that in order to bring about change and make an impact in promoting gender-inclusive leadership, communication needs to be a two-way street. While we aimed to educate the girls on becoming high-impact and influential leaders in their society, we also sought to listen to their perspectives on issues that directly affected them.
This is why we designed the second part of the program as a debate competition between the invited schools. The debate competition was divided into two categories: the senior category, where senior students debated on the topic, ‘Why The Government Should Provide Free Sanitary Products to Girls’, and the junior category, where junior students debated on the topic, ‘Why Lagos State Is Ready For A Female Governor’. Both sides of the competition debated in favor of the topics.
To say the competitors of the debate segment did justice to the topics would be a gross understatement. It was a revelation that the younger generation not only have a deep understanding of the existing inequalities, but also a fierce determination to dismantle them entirely. Their arguments were delivered with such articulation, boldness, and sheer passion that it left us speechless – goosebumps and all! You can watch the highlights from the debate competition here.
The winners of the debate each received a full-year scholarship, and the first runner-ups also earned scholarships, reinforcing GILP’s objectives of fostering education as a path to leadership.
A girl should be whatever she wants to be, and several girls shared with us their future aspirations, and special thanks to the Leading Ladies Africa community and the Noella Foundation, our partners for the Girls In Leadership Program.
Remember, the future belongs to those who invest in girls today. Support a girl in your community and shape the future.
You can continue to support our work to empower African women and girls by making a donation here:
Account Name: Leading Ladies Africa Development Initiative
Naira Account Number: 0021882545
Dollar Account Number: 0021882758
Bank: Stanbic IBTC
PS: Our girls also joined the Tshwala Bam challenge! Check it out here!
