WOMEN’S LEADERSHIP INFLUENCE TRANSFORMING AGRICULTURE PROCESS

WOMEN’S LEADERSHIP INFLUENCETRANSFORMING AGRICULTURE PROCESS

INTRODUCTION • Leadership is an increasingly valued and sought after skill these days. Leadership is a function of wisdom, experience, vision and ability to execute. Leadership has been an extremely popular topic in the business press lately. With the uncertainty in the economy, employees and investors are looking to strong Leaders to provide directions and insight into the future.

HOW TO DEVELOP LEADERSHIP ABILITIES 16 WAYS TO BECOME A GOOD LEADER

YOU ARE THE SCULPTOR • Become sculptor of your own career and life (not a sculpture)take responsibility to your professional development; no one has a greater investment in your success than you. • Especially as a woman, you cannot depend upon the traditional management structure to put you on the path of achievement. It is up to you to protect and direct your career and to develop your own potential. You cannot afford to be passive or to accept roles assigned to you. • Know what you want and why you want and be prepared to take action to make it happen.

KNOW YOUR STRENGHTS • Leadership is fundamentally about character. Knowing your character strengths enables you to find ways to select work environments and work assignments that allow you to express and develop them. Good Leaders develop talent by matching people’s strengths with work tasks. They recognize contributions and celebrate accomplishments. • Start practicing good Leadership by keeping a log of your successes. Record even small wins- this is essential for building your own confidence as well as developing a crucial Leadership competence.

CREATE YOUR VISION • Leaders are vision directed. A leader creates a compelling vision, is committed to this vision, and inspires others to action by aligning their goals with this vision. • Your vision statement is a picture of the future to which you can commit. It expresses your values the contribution you want to make, the way you want to live your life. • Your vision statement is your own personal “WHY” knowing what you’re working toward allows you to plan your professional development as well as to be resilient in the face of obstacles.

A ROLE MODEL • It’s especially helpful for women to form alliances with other women who share their work/life balance values. Ask someone you admire to share her strategies in balancing • Work and family. • It is particularly helpful to identify Leadership role models. Think of the most inspiring leaders in your life and list the attributes that elicited your admiration and respect.

WORK TOWARD EXCELLENCE IN YOUR PRACTICE • Keep in mind the difference between excellence and perfection. Maintaining high standards for your work reflects positive striving. On the other hand, being harshly self-critical for the smallest error will undermine your success. Perfectionism easily leads to micro-management and harsh criticism of others, neither of which are effective leadership behaviors. • The more knowledgeable you are and the better your skills. The more you’ll be a resource to others, • Expertise builds your reputation as a credible and trusted resource, which is essential for attaining leadership roles.

A GOOD “CONNECTOR”. • Know someone who can introduce you to networks that may facilitate your connections to business development opportunities. It is an essential resource.

TAKE INITIATIVE • Leaders create a vision, set goals that embody the vision, inspire action to accomplish the vision, and develop strategic plans which lead to their goals. Forge alliances with people both within and outside your communities who can help you work with the kinds of matters and ways you prefer. • Start on your path to Leadership by Leading yourself.

TAKE RISKS • Developing Leadership skill requires getting out of your comfort zone. Join committees and take a Leadership role. This is an opportunity to develop leadership competencies • As well as develop your visibility. • You stand to lose far more by being invisible than you do by taking risks. In order to break through the stereotypes that keep women from achieving positions of leadership, you will need to appear confident. Speak in a convincing manner, and make your statements strong and powerful. Claim authorship of your ideas. • Be assertive, not aggressive. Manage your emotions when you set limits and make requests. Avoid harsh criticism and always respect the dignity of others. • View mistakes as learning opportunities.

BE OPTIMISTIC • As “purveyor of hopes” leaders must be optimistic. Realistic optimists take control where they can and stop investing energy in things beyond their control. Research revealed that people can learn to think more optimistically and that these changes are enduring.

BE “UN-FUNGIBLE • If you are the only expert or one of the few experts in your area, you’ll be of considerable value for your community. This increases your power to take on Leadership roles.

DEVELOP YOUR SOCIAL INTELLIGENCE • Leadership is interpersonal. Effective Leadership is fundamentally about how you relate to people. It is essential to have a deep understanding of your own values, motives, strengths and limitations. • Practice active listening. Leaders are more persuasive when they can attune their messages to their listeners. • Leadership is about building and empowering teams. Practice creating an atmosphere of collaboration and openness.

BE YOUR OWN ADVOCATE • Self-advocacy is necessary for reaching positions of Leadership. Leaders are able to make their employees feel proud of their contributions. They don’t need to steel the credit for themselves. Gender role stereotypes are an obstacle to women achieving Leadership in any field. Sometimes the only way to get past these stereotypes is to address them directly.

SHOW CONCERN FOR OTHERS • Research indicates that among the most important characteristics of effective leaders are compassion, nurturance, generosity, altruism and empathy. ”Agreeableness” is a social trait and leadership takes place in a social context. Women need to keep this in mind. Often women are urged to “act like men” in working toward leadership positions. Be encouraged to learn that the most effective leaders demonstrate traits most often attributed to women.

MAINTAIN INTEGRITY • Integrity may be the single most important characteristic of competent Leadership. People without integrity may gain power, but they don’t truly lead.

PERSISTENCE • Persistence in the face of adversity is one of the cornerstones of resilience. Stay resolute in your values and goals and remain determined and self-disciplined in your effort to achieve them. • If your goal is to become a leader to help advance women’s rights and reach their advancement, then don’t give-up. Your Leadership is most needed. Leadership is an Interdisciplinary behavior that breaks barriers and close gaps and eliminate gender issues.

To be a good leader, several things need to be realized. Listed below are a few qualities of good Leaders. Good Leadership Strategies

A good leader has an exemplary character. It is of utmost importance that a leader is trustworthy to lead others. A leader needs to be trusted and be known to live their life with honestly and integrity. A good leader “walks the talk” and in doing so earns the right to have responsibility for others. True authority is born from respect for the good character and trustworthiness of the person who leads. • A good leader is enthusiastic about their work or cause and also about their role as leader. People will respond more openly to a person of passion and dedication. Leaders need to be able to be a source of inspiration, and be a motivator towards the required action or cause. Although the responsibilities and roles of a leader may be different, the leader needs to be seen to be part of the team working towards the goal. This kind of leader will not be afraid to roll up their sleeves and get dirty.

A good leader is confident. In order to lead and set direction a leader needs to appear confident as a person and in the leadership role. Such a person inspires confidence in others and draws out the trust and best efforts of the team to complete the task well. A leader who conveys confidence towards the proposed objective inspires the best effort from team members. • A leader also needs to function in an orderly and purposeful manner in situations of uncertainty. People look to the leader during times of uncertainty and unfamiliarity and find reassurance and security when the leader portrays confidence and a positive demeanor.

A good leader is committed to excellence. Second best does not lead to success. The good leader not only maintains high standards, but also is proactive in raising the bar in order to achieve excellence in all areas.

Women Leaders in Africa The battle of women rights in Africa is a battle that has been fought for almost a century. Our great Grand Mothers fought persistently for the rights of women, and today, we have equal rights as men. Due to this fight for women’s rights, women have now been able to take up positions in the work force that were previously occupied by only men. Placing Africa in perspective, there are several women who took up important positions, early into the victory of this fight. Some of the women include the following:

West Africa 1. President Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf, Liberia, She held several high positions before she finally won the presidential election in November 2005. She serves as a great female leader as the position of the president is a very important and highly respected position 2. From 1975-77 Angie Brook-Randolph served as Liberia Assistant Secretary of State of Liberia She lived (1928-2007). Within the course of her life, she worked in so many different fields for her country. She now serves as a role model for many young girls in Liberia. 3. Luzéria Dos Santos Jaló, Guinea Bissau 1986-1995, she worked in several offices of her country’s Ministry of Finance, including the Bureau of Studies, the Department of External Debt, the Department of Budget and Investment, the Revenue Department, and the General Inspection of Finance. She also served as President of the Institute of Women and Children from 1999-2000.

South Africa 4. In 1977-79 Dr. Gwendoline C. Konie, Zambia. She was Ambassador to Denmark, Sweden, Norway, Finland and Iceland 1974-77 and to Belgium, European Union and Germany 1992-99/2000. She was also former Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Tourism and of the Cabinet Office. In 2000 she founded the Social Democratic Party and in the following year she announced her candidacy for presidency. The decision to run for president is a decision that is normally taken by strong willed people irrespective of whether you lose or win. Any woman who runs for presidency should be forever, highly esteemed. It is because of women like Gwendoline that many young women are going into mainly male dominated fields. She helped instill courage in the young generation of girls. 5. Prime minister Luisa Diogo of Mozambique. She served as minister of finance from the year 1994 up until 2004. She was appointed prime minister in February 2004, becoming the first woman to ever hold that position. According to the TIME magazine, which ranked Diogo as one of the top leaders and revolutionaries in the world. She leads a government that was once written off as a failed state but that now posts economic growth rates of an Asian Tiger. 6. The vice president of Zimbabwe JoiceMujuru is a well respected politician in Zimbabwe. She assumed this office as of 6 December 2004. She became the youngest cabinet member in president Mugabe’s cabinet in 1980. She was appointed minister of telecommunications and introduced many innovations to the telecommunications industry in Zimbabwe.

East/Central Africa • Agatha Uwillingiimana was prime minister of Rwanda from 18 July 2010 to 7 April 1994. she gave her life up to save her children during the genocide in Rwanda. She is a true African Female Leader and Hero. • Princess Elizabeth RukidiNyabongo of Toro, Uganda Also known as Elizabeth Bagaya, she was Ambassador-at-Large 1971-1973, to Egypt and Ethiopia1973-74, Minister of Foreign Affairs 1974, Spokesperson for the National Resistance Movement (NRM) in Europe 1980-86, Ambassador to USA 1986-88. In 1989 she refused to be transferred to France. When her brother was reinstalled as King PatricOlimmiKaboyo II in 1993, she officially took the office of Batebe, chief advisor, which she had been installed to in 1966. When died in 1995 she became one of the guardians for hissonIguru IV (b. 1993-). She was Ambassador to Germany 2006-08, the Vatican 2006-07 and Nigeria in 2008. She is daughter of King Sir George David KamurasiRukidi III of Toro (1927-65) and was married to Prince Wilbur Nyabongo, who died in an airplane crash in 1986. 9. Elisabeth Domitien was prime minister of the Central African Republic from 3 January 1975 to 7 April 1976. She publicly denounced president Jean-BedelBokassa’s plans to name himself emperor. Although she was dismissed for that reason and later tried and convicted of covering up extortion during Bokassa administration, she is still remembered by her country has a courageous Female.

North Africa • Princess Lalla Salma of Morroco, as First Lady, is the first to be publicly seen and acknowledged by the Moroccan people. She is seen in public more often than all other First Ladies in Morocco. She is the founder of a cancer prevention association and she has been involved in HIV/AIDS PREVENTION IN Africa. She has traveled for this cause and also to promote women empowerment. • NabihaGueddana is a Tunisian politician Professor of Medicine. She served as secretary of state for social advancement from 1989-1992. She also served as Secretary of state for Women Affairs and the Family from 1992 to 1993. In 1993-94, she was a professor of Preventative and Social Pediatrics, Faculty of Medicine, Tunis. In 1994, she took up the office of President and Director-General of National Office of the Family and Population, Ministry of Health. • Nadia Al-Gindi – she is the best paid Egyptian star, she is known for her amazing belly dancing and clothing. She had her first role in Jamila al-Jaza’iriyya /Jamila the Algerian (1958) and first starring role was in the biography BambaKashar (1974). She usually plays femme fatales and social climbers but later in life played patriotic and courageous heroines.

Middle East • NailaAl Moosawi, she was educated at the Aviation College in Dubai. She is the first Female air traffic controller in the United Arab Emirates. She is also the first Female CEO at the Emirates National Oil Company. • Raniaal Abdullah- she was born in Kuwait. She graduated with a Bachelor’s degree in Business Administration from The American University in Cairo. She worked in the banking and information technology industry. She is Married to King Abdullah of Jordan and has 4 children. She is also involved in charity work especially the Jordan River Children’s Project established in 1995. She is the first Arab woman to launch a child abuse prevention project. She is the President of the Jordan Society for Organ Donation. She is the Head of Jordan Blood Disease Society and International Patron of the Osteoporosis Foundation. She holds an Honorary Doctorate from University of Exeter 2001.

WOMEN’S LEADERSHIP INFLUENCE TRANSFORMING AGRICULTURE PROCESS