AfricaPress-Tanzania: THE government is designing a national mentorship programme for girls in schools and colleges to prepare them for future leadership roles.
Vice President Samia Suluhu Hassan told a leadership conference organized by the Association of Tanzania Employers (ATE) and the Confederation of Norwegian Enterprises (NHO) in Dar es Salaam yesterday that the initiative aims at giving the girl child confidence at a young age.
Themed “Women in Leadership: Harnessing Female Talent to Create Sustainable Organisations,” the conference featured an awarding ceremony of the 4th, 5th and 6th cohort graduates of the Female Future Program.
VP Samia said the decision to design and roll out the programme is informed by the fact that Tanzania still needs more women in top leadership positions for the country to make strides in various development initiatives.
“Various studies have shown that the more there are women in top leadership positions, the faster the pace of development. We have a number of graduates from the Female Future Program; these can support the implementation of the mentorship programme by educating the young girls what it takes for them to become good leaders,” she said.
A mentorship programme deliberately sets out to create strong, responsible and effective women leaders in various sectors, she stated, urging the PMO Minister of State (Labour, Youth and Employment) Jenister Mhagama to come kip with a better plan on how the programme can be implemented to reach all girls in secondary schools across the country.
“We have to think more on how to support our young girls to become confident and thus deliver the best in the future,” the VP underlined.
To meet the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), the government has been investing in several initiatives and programs including empowering women and advocating gender equality in the formal sector and regarding informal sector occupations, she stated.
“In recent years, women have proven that they are able to bring changes in organizations and other sectors. Unfortunately 60 percent of companies do not meet the 30 percent of women in boards of directors and senior management positions,” she told the audience.
There was a need for the country’s institutions of higher learning to consider coming up with special programs for training and changing the negative mentality that men have towards women.
“We, as parents, should also train our male children to grow up valuing girls and women. We have to tell them that women have the same rights as them,” the VP emphasised, urging ATE to polish up the strategy to be designed and adopted soon.
ATE must ensure that the forthcoming strategy highlights challenges facing gender equality and how to address the root causes of low representation of women in upper positions so as to put more efforts to address them, she stated.
Women in top leadership positions need to invest their efforts at empowering and pulling up young women in schools and colleges on how to become good leaders in the future.
“Those who are in positions of power have to support those in the starting ladder by mentoring them on what to do to attain leadership dreams. Employers should also value women at workplaces, those who are in top positions have to ensure that they listen to women’s challenges and take good care of them,” she urged.
ATE Executive Director Dr Aggrey Mlimuka said the conference was meant to come up with strategies on how to enhance the inclusion of women in leadership positions in the corporate world, putting in place a knowledge base for best practices, and how to increase participation in women leadership in Tanzania.
The focus of discussion was on sharing expertise and examining diverse approaches in mainstreaming gender at workplaces, he affirmed.
Rehema Migambile, the Aviation Commercial Manager at Puma (T) Ltd, a graduate of the Female Future Talent Programme, said the project has given her skills and confidence to deliver the best in work and other areas.
She said the programme has helped a number of women to address gaps of personal development for better productivity at the workplace, including mentorship of female leaders within and outside the alumni forum, which is one of the key areas for discussion.
“If given opportunity and required skills, women can bring positive changes to a company, service institution or any other entity, so we thank ATE for running this programme which has benefited and transformed mindsets of scores of women in leadership positions,” she elaborated.
The Female Future Programme, an initiative by ATE in partnership with NHO was launched by the Vice President in 2016 and it is still the most relevant and successful program shaping women from different sectors especially in industries.
Many are at middle management positions working to be eligible for senior positions and participate in boards of directors, the ATE organiser noted.
