Review TechWomen program information regarding coronavirus (COVID-19).

TechWomenTechWomen

TechWomen is an Initiative of the U.S. Department of State's Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs

  • Home
  • Program
    • Overview
    • 2022 Action Plans
    • Professional Development
    • Cultural Exchange
    • Delegation Trips
    • Impact
    • TechWomen Covid-19 Program Information
  • Participants
    • Eligibility and Application
    • The Experience
    • Award Details
    • 2022 Emerging Leader Profiles
  • Mentors
    • Why Mentor With TechWomen?
    • Professional Mentor Overview
    • Cultural Mentor Overview
    • Impact Coach Overview
    • TechWomen Mentor Application
  • Get Involved
    • Host an Emerging Leader
    • Host an Event
    • Other Ways to Get Involved
    • Host companies and partners
  • About Us
    • Who We Are
    • Our Team
    • Program Countries
    • Connect
  • FAQ
    • General
    • Participants
    • Mentors
  • Blog
  • Log In

At Regional Summits, Emerging Leaders further develop their action plans

January 7, 2021 By TechWomen Leave a Comment

Beginning in November, TechWomen 2020-2021 Emerging Leaders transitioned from Professional Interest Groups to action plan teams, working within their country cohorts to brainstorm and develop an action plan that addresses a socioeconomic need in their communities. From creating clean cookstoves powered by sustainable fuel to a mental health network for women facing domestic violence, past Emerging Leader country teams have harnessed the power of technology, innovation and community to create impactful projects that aim to spark change in their communities and beyond. This year, supported by a virtual team of Impact Coaches and a Peer Advisor — a TechWomen fellow who provides in-country, real-time support — Emerging Leader teams spent the month defining their issue statements and collaborating to create a concise action plan statement for their proposed projects.

After a month of the action planning process, it was time for Emerging Leaders, Peer Advisors and Impact Coaches to convene for the 2020 TechWomen Regional Summits to share their progress, workshop their ideas and get inspired by women leaders in the San Francisco Bay Area. At the three regional summits — for country teams in the Middle East and North Africa, Sub-Saharan Africa and Central and South Asia — Emerging Leaders had the opportunity to share out their team’s issue statement as well as their draft solution. Country teams met with Impact Coaches and Peer Advisors in three rotations in order to further refine their plans and create projects that spark maximum impact.

Middle East and North Africa 
The MENA Regional Summit opened with a keynote from Meg Garlinghouse, the head of social impact at LinkedIn. Addressing Emerging Leaders, Meg emphasized the importance of focusing on justice, closing the network gap and breaking the cycle of inequality. “Who you know matters much more than what you know when it comes to getting a job,” Meg explained, sharing that LinkedIn wants to make economic opportunity equitable for every member of the global workforce. “Moving from generosity to justice is a journey,” she said.  

After, in their three breakout sessions, Emerging Leaders met with Impact Coaches and Peer Advisors from other country teams to present their issue statements and draft solutions. There, mentors and Peer Advisors gave feedback and provided additional resources, supporting the Emerging Leaders in optimizing their action plans. In their breakout room, team Morocco presented their project to the Impact Coaches and Peer Advisor from Libya, explaining that girls’ boarding homes in rural Morocco face severe sanitation issues and threaten the health of over 35,000 girls. Their mission is to address the water sanitation challenges while educating girls about waste management; already, they had established a relationship with a home for girls ages 12-18. The Impact Coaches and Peer Advisor followed up with questions, asking the Emerging Leaders how they define success and encouraging them to remain rooted in their mission as the action planning process develops.

Emerging Leaders from the Palestinian Territories presented their initiative that addresses inappropriate media content to the mentors from Lebanon, speaking about harmful media and its effect on children’s mental health. By providing a community-based platform for parents, the team hopes to empower parents and raise awareness on the pervasive issue. Through prompting the Emerging Leaders to work through their barriers to success, the Impact Coaches and Peer Advisor helped the team further iterate, organize and develop their initiative. 

Sub-Saharan Africa 
Nikkia Reveillac, head of research at Twitter, opened up the SSA Regional Summit, delivering an inspiring keynote on being agents of positive change. “I want you to remember this: being a force for good means being a force for the people you ultimately want to serve,” she said. Nikkia also reminded Emerging Leaders to always make their audience a priority, encouraging them to remain “people-obsessed” in order to deliver on their mission and objectives. 
In their breakout room, team Sierra Leone, joined by the Impact Coaches and Peer Advisor from Rwanda, spoke about their mission to reduce the level of malnutrition in their country. By educating mothers on using local and healthy foods, the Emerging Leaders hope to meaningfully address chronic malnutrition in children. “We are the best people to work on the malnutrition project,” they explained. “Our skills and backgrounds are a perfect match.” 

Emerging Leaders from Zimbabwe expanded on their action plan issue statement in their breakout room, 

sharing their initiative that will address water sanitization by cleaning household water with moringa and activated charcoal teabags. In the discussion that followed, Impact Coaches from Sierra Leone encouraged Emerging Leaders to harness the power of their in-country network of fellows to expand their idea, organize a pilot test and find new resources within the country.

Central and South Asia

On the final day of Regional Summits, Emerging Leaders from CSA had the opportunity to hear from TechWomen mentor Roojuta Lalani of Salesforce, who spoke to Salesforce’s president and chief legal officer Amy Weaver in a fireside chat. Amy spoke to Emerging Leaders about her path to leadership, giving advice on finding their own leadership style and how to bring diverse voices into the workforce. “It comes down to women’s voices being heard and women being seen. I try to challenge myself every day — what have I done to have women be seen, and women be heard?” she said.

In their first session that followed, team Kazakhstan spoke to the Impact Coach and Peer Advisor from Tajikistan about the 400 women die each year from domestic violence — a number that has sharply increased during the COVID-19 pandemic. While most efforts are focused on the consequences of violence, the Emerging Leaders hope to center on the root cause, using their platform to empower women and men through education tools. The discussion that followed was focused on ways expand their network and knowledge base, utilizing resources that already exist in other countries to support their own work.


With their project, team Tajikistan hopes to tackle electricity challenges with their impact project, creating special backpacks with solar panels that children can use at night to do homework. Alongside the Impact Coaches from Pakistan, the Emerging Leaders worked through the logistical challenges they may encounter, reviewing cost, viability and ways they can measure their success.

At the conclusion of each summit, Emerging Leaders reconvened in the main room to share their takeaways moving forward. After gaining an international perspective, accessing new resources and problem-solving their challenges, Emerging Leaders were walking away with increased clarity and energy to further develop their action plan projects.


Next up? Pitching! After submitting their finalized solution and social impact statement — and after a month-long break — Emerging Leaders will reconvene to learn the essential elements of delivering an impactful pitch. And, although the spring program will continue in a virtual setting, the knowledge-sharing and commitment to community on display at the Regional Summits served as a reminder of how impact and change can be created, even if we are not physically together.

Be sure to follow along on Twitter as Emerging Leaders continue their TechWomen journey!

Share this:

  • Facebook
  • LinkedIn
  • Twitter
  • Pinterest
  • Email

Filed Under: 2020 Program, Central Asia, Cultural Exchange, Girls Education, IIE, Impact, Mentorship, Middle East and North Africa, Professional Development, Seed Grant, STEM, Sub-Saharan Africa, Technology

Speak Your Mind Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Subscribe to Blog via Email

Enter your email address to subscribe to this blog and receive notifications of new posts by email.

Join 893 other subscribers

Recent Posts

  • 10 Years Later: A Letter to TechWomen
  • TechWomen Pitch Day: A Room Full of Ideas
  • Why is the TechWomen fellowship a remarkable experience?
  • Fellow Lindiwe Matlali is on a Mission to Help Youths Innovate Themselves out of Poverty
  • Weeks Four and Five: Final 10 days of TechWomen Fall 2022 Conclude with Historic Events and Expansion Announcements

Categories

  • 2012 Program
  • 2013 Program
  • 2014 Program
  • 2015 Program
  • 2016 Program
  • 2017 Program
  • 2018 Program
  • 2019 Program
  • 2020 Program
  • 2022 (Fall) Program
  • 2022 program
  • Alumnae
  • Announcements
  • Application Tips
  • Central Asia
  • Conferences
  • Cultural Exchange
  • Delegation Trips
  • Emerging Leader Voices
  • Entrepreneurship
  • Girls Education
  • IIE
  • Impact
  • Lean In
  • Mentor Application
  • Mentoring Girls
  • Mentorship
  • Middle East and North Africa
  • Partnerships
  • Professional Development
  • Scholarship
  • Seed Grant
  • Solar Power
  • STEM
  • Sub-Saharan Africa
  • Technology
  • Uncategorized
  • Washington, D.C.

Archives

  • January 2023
  • December 2022
  • November 2022
  • October 2022
  • September 2022
  • May 2022
  • April 2022
  • March 2022
  • February 2022
  • January 2022
  • November 2021
  • October 2021
  • July 2021
  • June 2021
  • May 2021
  • April 2021
  • March 2021
  • February 2021
  • January 2021
  • December 2020
  • November 2020
  • October 2020
  • September 2020
  • August 2020
  • June 2020
  • May 2020
  • April 2020
  • March 2020
  • February 2020
  • December 2019
  • November 2019
  • September 2019
  • August 2019
  • July 2019
  • June 2019
  • May 2019
  • April 2019
  • March 2019
  • February 2019
  • January 2019
  • December 2018
  • November 2018
  • October 2018
  • September 2018
  • August 2018
  • July 2018
  • June 2018
  • May 2018
  • March 2018
  • February 2018
  • January 2018
  • December 2017
  • November 2017
  • October 2017
  • September 2017
  • August 2017
  • July 2017
  • June 2017
  • May 2017
  • April 2017
  • March 2017
  • February 2017
  • January 2017
  • December 2016
  • November 2016
  • October 2016
  • September 2016
  • August 2016
  • July 2016
  • June 2016
  • March 2016
  • February 2016
  • January 2016
  • December 2015
  • November 2015
  • October 2015
  • September 2015
  • August 2015
  • July 2015
  • June 2015
  • May 2015
  • April 2015
  • March 2015
  • February 2015
  • January 2015
  • December 2014
  • November 2014
  • October 2014
  • September 2014
  • August 2014
  • July 2014
  • June 2014
  • May 2014
  • April 2014
  • March 2014
  • February 2014
  • January 2014
  • December 2013
  • November 2013
  • October 2013
  • September 2013
  • August 2013
  • July 2013
  • June 2013
  • May 2013
  • April 2013
  • February 2013
  • January 2013
  • December 2012
  • November 2012
  • October 2012
  • September 2012
  • August 2012
  • July 2012
  • June 2012
  • May 2012
  • April 2012
  • March 2012
  • February 2012
  • January 2012
  • December 2011
  • November 2011
  • October 2011

Tags

2013 program 2014 program 2015 program Africa Algeria Alumnae application careers central asia Community cultural exchange Cultural Mentor delegation trips Education Egypt emerging leaders emerging women leaders Empowerment Entrepreneurship guest post impact Jordan kazakhstan Leadership MENA Mentees Mentor Mentors mentorship Middle East Morocco nigeria Rwanda San Francisco Silicon Valley State Department STEM technology TechWomen TechWomen Alumni Tunisia U.S. Department of State Women women in tech womenintech

Blogroll

  • DipNote
  • E-Mediat
  • Fulbright mtvU Fellows
  • Fulbright Student Program
  • Gilman Program
  • Ibrahim Leadership and Dialogue Project Blog
  • IIE Opening Minds
  • Parallel Earth
  • TechGirls
  • Women’s Enterprise for Sustainability

CONTACT US | MEDIA | Privacy Policy | Terms and Conditions | Sitemap
Copyright © 2023 TechWomen | Site by MIGHTYminnow

   

Copyright © 2023 · TechWomen on Genesis Framework · WordPress · Log in

 

Loading Comments...