Living Learning Community for African Women Leadership Development

The Living Learning Community for African Women Leadership Development is a group of African women who come together in a safe place to heal, grow, and develop capacity for engaging in grassroots leadership work for their home contexts. The women are enrolled in master’s degree programs at approved universities in Nairobi in one of the professions (education, finance, communication, etc.). While pursuing their graduate degrees and preparing to work in the professional world, they are living together in community; studying leadership and change theory; and learning how to approach complex problems, how to discern the leadership of the Holy Spirit, and how to promote the kingdom of God, sometimes in the face of daunting challenges.

Patricia Ali, (see photo) the first recipient of the Leadership Development for African Women Scholarships program, assists in the development of the Living Learning Community.

Program Components

1. Scholarship Fund. The scholarship fund allows emerging leaders to enroll in a leadership program within an approved African university, preferably for graduate professional studies and for study in the field to which they sense God’s call (education, communications, business, political science, counseling, etc.).

2. Mentoring Program. Students actively engage in a leadership mentoring program, mentored by a WGM missionary or African leader. The mentoring includes a focus on the student’s ongoing spiritual transformation as well as reflection upon curriculum learning and practical application.

3. Practical Outcome. Students will create and implement a leadership development program in their home country after the educational program is completed. Initiatives may include establishing mentoring programs, designing curricula and academic programs for tertiary settings, creating leadership institutes for particular sectors of society, etc. The goal is for students to use what was learned during their program, creativity, and their own gifts to design, implement, and oversee one such program within the first two years of completing the Leadership Development for African Women Program. Therefore, these women would be reaching out to help many women in rural sub-Saharan Africa.

4. Ongoing Professional Development. It’s important for graduates to continue to learn and grow within a collaborative setting of Christian fellowship and professional expertise. To that end, graduates will conduct and participate in ongoing development opportunities, such as retreats, conferences, forums, workshops, writing circles for publications, etc.