Global Women in Management

The Global Women in Management strengthens women’s management, leadership and technical skills to enhance and bring to scale programs that advance women’s economic opportunities and build the next generation of women business leaders and entrepreneurs. GWIM leverages CEDPA’s 36-year history of women’s leadership programs and responds to the call for interventions that advance women in the economy and give women greater control over economic resources to impact the health and development of their families, communities and nations.

This program is supported by the ExxonMobil Women’s Economic Opportunity Initiative, a global effort launched in 2005 to help women in developing countries fulfill their economic potential and serve as drivers of economic and social change in their communities.

Overview|Support|Eligibility

CEDPA creates a supportive and participatory learning environment for the exchange of best practices and experiences, strategy development and skill building. Working within the context of women’s economic development priorities, GWIM will strengthen competencies in project design and management, financial management, leadership, fundraising, institutional sustainability and advocacy to impact the design and management of projects implemented by the participants and their institutions. Technical training focused on strategies, success factors and opportunities for entrepreneurship; tools and methodologies to improve business efficiency and effectiveness; and successful models and best practices in program areas that increase women’s economic opportunity (micro-credit, village banking, market analysis and marketing, micro-enterprise development, social entrepreneurship, etc.) will enhance the quality and extend the reach of participants’ projects and activities. GWIM also provides opportunities for participants to dialogue with experts from private and public sector organizations that support women’s entrepreneurship and with international donor and implementing organizations working to improve lending, political, legal and socio-cultural environments for women’s greater economic participation.

Major workshop themes include:

• Dimensions of Leadership ~ Participants assess and strengthen personal & professional leadership traits; analyze and apply influencing skills; distinguish leadership and management; develop strategies for enhanced leadership.
• Technical Skills ~ Participants explore tools and methodologies to improve business efficiency and effectiveness; assess and apply lessons learned from women‘s micro-credit, village banking, business development, cooperatives, and social entrepreneurship projects.
• Women’s Entrepreneurship ~ Participants examine challenges, opportunities and strategies; identify success factors, risks and benefits; understand the triple bottom line for business owners.
• Fundraising ~ Participants develop fundraising plans; cultivate and sustain donor relations; strengthen proposal development skills.
• Project Design and Management ~ examine various stages of the project cycle; develop and apply project design and management processes and tools; develop monitoring and evaluation plans.
• Advocacy ~ Participants analyze gender dimensions of policy and legal environments; identify key barriers to women’s economic participation; strengthen advocacy skills; develop strategies for advocacy networks and coalitions.
• Sustainability ~ Participants explore strategies and conditions for establishing business ventures to sustain NGO activities; identify potential for engaging women and women businesses.
• Financial Management ~ Participants examine and apply financial management procedures and tools to ensure transparency and accountability.

Coaching Program

CEDPA is committed to supporting its alumni as they move beyond the workshop setting and begin to apply new skills and knowledge to grow and improve their organizations and programs and build the business and leadership competencies of other women in their communities. Following GWIM, participants are matched with senior CEDPA alumni for a structured and guided yearlong coaching relationship that provides participants with technical guidance and resources for women’s economic interventions as well as professional support for issues related to supervision and staffing, career planning, capacity building, fundraising, etc. CEDPA provides support throughout the coaching experience and evaluates the program and its outcomes at the end of the year. In addition, CEDPA sustains on-going relationships with alumni through its alumni network, participation in international and regional women-focused briefings and presentations, and professional consultancies.

Participants

GWIM is designed for mid-career women from eligible countries  working for civil society organizations—local NGOs, cooperatives, business women’s associations, etc.—that currently implement activities targeting emerging and existing women business leaders and entrepreneurs with skill development, opportunities to start or grow businesses, and access to resources. Investing in the leadership and programmatic abilities of these women managers will in turn strengthen their institutions’ capacity to implement and expand high quality, replicable programs and ultimately empower and equip larger numbers of women to participate in their local economies.