Facilitators’ Guide Women’s Leadership Skills Training Photo credit: Sarah Msita For Piloting – 2025/26 – GEI Accelerator 1 Citation: Msita, Sarah; Mwakanyamale, Devis; Cole, Steven; Mnyoroka, Kilio; Mbogo, Elvas; Tereba, Theonest; Japhet, Samwel; Joshua, Baraka; Julius, Herman; and Joel, Ramadhan (2025). Facilitator’s Guide for Women’s Leadership Skills Training. CGIAR Gender Equality and Inclusion Accelerator Facilitator’s Guide. Ibadan, Nigeria: IITA. For Piloting – 2025/26 – GEI Accelerator 2 CONTENTS Introduction .......................................................................... 3 Who is the manual for and how can it be used? ................................. 4 Modules at a glance ................................................................ 4 Methodology for the Sessions ..................................................... 5 Module 1: Women’s Participation, Empowerment and Leadership in cassava-based and other agricultural organizations context ................. 6 Session 1. Getting to Know Each Other ........................................... 6 Session 2. Our Journey Together .................................................. 7 Session 3. Barriers to Women’s Participation in Cassava Farmer Organizations Management ....................................................... 8 Session 4. The Four Types of Power in Social Interactions .................... 11 Session 5. Gender Norms and Inequality ........................................ 15 Session 6. Women and Men’s Roles/Responsibilities and Power ............. 19 Session 7. Module Check-out ..................................................... 22 Module 2: Self-Leadership .........................................................23 Session 1. Who and Where Am I? ................................................ 23 Session 2. Self-Awareness and Acceptance ..................................... 25 Session 3. Self-Confidence and Assertiveness .................................. 27 Session 4. My Core Belief: Self-esteem .......................................... 37 Session 5. My Personal SWOT Analysis.......................................... 40 Session 6. My Personal Vision .................................................... 43 Session 7. My Leadership Vision Journey ....................................... 46 Session 8. Module Check-out ..................................................... 48 Module 3: Leading Others ..........................................................49 Session 1. We Meet, We Share, and We Grow Together! ....................... 51 Session 2. A Leader in Agricultural / Cassava-based Organizations Management ....................................................................... 52 Session 3. Team Leading .......................................................... 60 Session 4. Building our Power: Communication ................................ 62 Session 5. Building our Power: Problem Solving ............................... 67 Session 6. Module Check-out ..................................................... 85 Module 4: Empowered Leadership ...............................................86 Session 1: Accountable and Enterprising Leadership .......................... 88 Session 2. Minuting and Record-Keeping ....................................... 96 Session 3. Action Planning ...................................................... 100 Session 4. Monitoring and Evaluation ......................................... 103 Session 5. Revisiting the Journey .............................................. 104 Session 6. Final Reflection – Bringing it Altogether .......................... 106 References ......................................................................... 108 For Piloting – 2025/26 – GEI Accelerator 3 INTRODUCTION This Facilitators’ Guide for Women’s Leadership Training is designed to support practitioners and facilitators in strengthening women’s leadership within agricultural organizations/farmer groups, and community governance structures, particularly in cassava-based agri-food systems in the Kigoma Region of Tanzania. The guide is grounded in the gender-transformative Theory of Change developed under the CGIAR Gender Equality Initiative in collaboration with Nyakitonto Youth for Development Tanzania (NYDT), and builds on the foundational work of the Women’s Leadership and Empowerment Training Manual for Community Natural Resource Governance in Zambia (https://www.gender.gov.zm/wp- content /uploads /2024/04/ Increasing-Womens-Participation-in-Community-Resources-Boards-in-Zambia-Outcomes- and-Lessons-Learned-from-the-Election-process.pdf. It adopts a participatory and practice-oriented approach to advancing women’s agency and influence in agricultural contexts. Despite growing participation of women in farming, women’s leadership in agricultural groups and organizations remains limited, largely due to gendered power relations rooted in social and gender norms that restrict mobility, decision-making authority, and leadership opportunities. One such norm identified by NYDT states: “It is inappropriate for women who work in cassava to lead agricultural groups.” This norm, among others, contributes to development challenges, including limited voice and leadership of women in farmer organizations and other agriculture-related groups. In response, this guide seeks to build leadership skills of women in the cassava agrifood system through interactive training sessions that promote personal reflection, shared learning, and dialogue about lived experiences. The content focuses on two key dimensions of leadership, namely self-leadership, emphasizing self-awareness, confidence, and critical consciousness, and collaborative leadership, which centres on relational skills, dialogue, and the ability to influence within groups and communities. These trainings, complemented by community dialogues on the importance of women’s leadership in agricultural organizations/farmer groups, will enable women to analyze https://www.gender.gov.zm/wp-%20content%20/uploads%20/2024/04/%20Increasing-Womens-Participation-in-Community-Resources-Boards-in-Zambia-Outcomes-and-Lessons-Learned-from-the-Election-process.pdf https://www.gender.gov.zm/wp-%20content%20/uploads%20/2024/04/%20Increasing-Womens-Participation-in-Community-Resources-Boards-in-Zambia-Outcomes-and-Lessons-Learned-from-the-Election-process.pdf https://www.gender.gov.zm/wp-%20content%20/uploads%20/2024/04/%20Increasing-Womens-Participation-in-Community-Resources-Boards-in-Zambia-Outcomes-and-Lessons-Learned-from-the-Election-process.pdf For Piloting – 2025/26 – GEI Accelerator 4 structural barriers, strengthen their leadership capacity, and take on more active roles in the governance and operation of cassava-based farmer organizations and the agricultural sector at large. WHO IS THE MANUAL FOR AND HOW CAN IT BE USED? The guide is intended for use by Village-Based Agricultural Advisors (VBAAs) working with NYDT, who will facilitate training sessions with women in cassava-based organizations. It provides structured session plans, icebreakers, exercises, and discussion prompts to help facilitators: • Conduct interactive leadership training workshops. • Address gender barriers faced by women in agricultural leadership roles. • Enhance self-awareness, confidence, and collaborative leadership skills among participants. MODULES AT A GLANCE This facilitation manual covers the following training modules, each with several sessions: MODULE 1: WOMEN’S PARTICIPATION , EMPOWERMENT AND LEADERSHIP IN CASSAVA PRODUCTION: This session lays the groundwork for the training by promoting a supportive environment where women actors within the cassava value chain can connect and build a sense of belonging. It introduces the training agenda, focusing on self-awareness and social capital as key elements of empowerment. Participants explore the barriers women face in leadership within cassava-based groups and begin their journey of self-discovery and leadership potential. MODULE 2: SELF-LEADERSHIP: This module aims to develop self-awareness and essential personal leadership skills. Through activities like personal SWOT analysis and vision setting, participants learn to lead themselves effectively before leading others. The focus is on building self-confidence, self-worth, and a clear leadership vision, setting the stage for impactful leadership in their communities. For Piloting – 2025/26 – GEI Accelerator 5 MODULE 3: LEADING OTHERS: Participants explore the qualities and skills needed to lead effectively in cassava production and community governance. The module covers teamwork, communication, problem-solving, and decision-making. Emphasizing the importance of women’s leadership, it equips participants to empower others and navigate leadership challenges within their communities. MODULE 4: EMPOWERED LEADERSHIP: This module focuses on the characteristics of effective leadership, such as accountability and transparency. Participants consolidate their learning, revisit their leadership visions, and refine their goals. The module prepares them to pursue their leadership ambitions with confidence, integrating the skills and knowledge gained throughout the training. METHODOLOGY FOR THE SESSIONS The methodology for these sessions is grounded in participatory and interactive learning, drawing heavily on adult learning principles. The approach emphasizes active involvement, reflection, and the practical application of concepts to ensure that participants not only understand the material but also see its relevance to their own lives and leadership roles. It involves group discussions, role plays and simulations, personal reflections, case studies, group work and networking opportunities. For Piloting – 2025/26 – GEI Accelerator 6 MODULE 1: WOMEN’S PARTICIPATION , EMPOWERMENT AND LEADERSHIP IN CASSAVA-BASED AND OTHER AGRICULTURAL ORGANIZATIONS CONTEXT This introductory Session sets the tone for women's leadership and empowerment training. It provides an opportunity for the facilitator to get to know the participants and for the participants to get to know one another. It aims at making participants feel at ease with each other, creating a sense of ‘team building’ and belonging that is intended to deepen over the course of the training and provide a form of social capital for participants post-training. Self-awareness and social capital are critical steps towards the empowerment of women. The Session also introduces participants to the agenda and objectives of the training. It defines a leader and allows for activities and discussions to build an understanding of the barriers women face to becoming leaders, the power they hold to change the status quo, and the opportunities to become a leader in the cassava- based and other agricultural organization context. It helps participants to begin a journey of self-discovery. SESSION 1. GETTING TO KNOW EACH OTHER Purpose: Enable women to get to know each other’s names and a little bit about each other; make participants feel at ease and relaxed and allow time for settling down in training. Duration: 30 minutes Materials: Watch Step-by-step guide on how to run the session Start the training by greeting participants and asking them to pair up with another person they do not know very well and to introduce each other by stating their names and one interesting thing they know and are willing to teach the other person (interesting thing could simply be how to wrap a kitenge, how to dance a traditional dance, or how to light a fire, etc.). Allow them to stand or walk around as they discuss. Stress that they have to listen carefully as they will later be asked to introduce their ‘partner’ to the group and share what they taught them. Allow 10 minutes for interaction. For Piloting – 2025/26 – GEI Accelerator 7 Alternatively, use the exercise of finding people in the room who they have something in common with. (This involves participants walking around the room and asking other participants questions like their birth month, year, shoe size, number in family, number of children, etc.). Once they have found the person they have something in common with, they should pair up and share more about the common thing between or amongst them. Allow 10 minutes of interaction. After 10 minutes, ask the pairs to sit next to their partner and inform them that they will remain in the same sitting position for the rest of the day. Proceed to briefly introduce yourself and invite participants to introduce their partner by saying the partner’s name and the one thing they have learned from them. Give one minute per person. To make the exercise lighthearted and fun, ask some participants to show/demonstrate what they learned, e.g., wrapping a kitenge or singing. Facilitator’s Notes This introductory session is important for establishing rapport with participants and creating an enabling environment for the smooth conduct of training. It is, therefore, important to make this session lighthearted and interesting. If you notice that participants are reluctant to interact and need more time to get to know each other and relax, allow more time for the introductory session or add more ice-breaking activities to the next sessions until you feel the mood is right to dive into the main topics. SESSION 2. OUR JOURNEY TOGETHER Purpose: Build an understanding of the agenda of the training program, establish ground rules and expectations, and provide an opportunity for participants to clarify anything about the training. Duration: 40 minutes Materials: Watch, flipchart, papers, and marker pens, pen and notebooks, masking tape (optional if the group is literate). For Piloting – 2025/26 – GEI Accelerator 8 Step-by-step guide on how to run the session Exercise: Pair and share 1. Start the session by explaining the purpose of the two-part training is to empower women with leadership skills to become effective leaders. Part one of the training will focus on leaders discovering and understanding themselves better. Part two will build on how leaders can lead others and the actions of an empowered leader. 2. In groups, solicit expectations from participants by asking everyone to indicate their expectations from the training. As participants give responses, write them down on a flip chart, and at the end, group the expectations and discuss them as sets of expectations, ensuring that nothing is missed. 3. Proceed to share the objectives of the training and present using slides or flipchart as follows: • To empower women with leadership skills for them to effectively lead in the different spaces they find themselves in agricultural group management. • To build an understanding of the gender barriers faced by women as leaders and develop individual leadership vision, strategies, and skills to pursue their vision. • Establish relationships/networks with other women to exchange experiences and support each other on the leadership journey. SESSION 3. BARRIERS TO WOMEN’S PARTICIPATION IN CASSAVA FARMER ORGANIZATIONS MANAGEMENT Purpose: To raise awareness on the difficulties of women and reflect on the social construct responsible for inequalities between men and women. Duration: 1 hour Materials: Notebook, pen or pencils, flip chart papers. Step-by-step guide on how to run the session 1. Start the session by making a short presentation on cassava production and the role of a community in cassava farmer organization governance. Highlight the structures and statistics on women’s representation and participation at the national and local levels. For Piloting – 2025/26 – GEI Accelerator 9 2. After the presentation, invite participants to identify existing governance structures in agricultural organizations/farmer groups management in their communities. Allow for a discussion on these structures and why they are important. 3. Proceed to present women’s participation and representation in these structures and on barriers to participation. Ask participants to describe the situation in their community and identify the barriers. Allow time to exhaust the discussion on the barriers, ensuring that the gender barriers are highlighted and discussed. 4. Conclude the presentation by sharing the benefits of women’s participation in cassava-based or agricultural-based organizations. After the presentation, give participants a few minutes to highlight what they also see as benefits. EXERCISE: BARRIERS IN MY ROLE 1. Proceed to ask participants to reflect on their role, answer the following questions, and write them down in their notebooks: • What is your position/role in the agricultural group/cassava-based organization? • What are you expected to do? • What barriers do you face? (Your own or those outside of you). 2. First, give 10 minutes for individual reflections, and then ask them to pair up with the next person and share their responses. 3. In groups, allow some participants to share their roles and experiences that affect their work. Allow a short discussion and conclude by explaining that in this training, we will learn about skills that can help women overcome some of these barriers. Facilitator’s Notes It is important that as participants reflect on the barriers they face, they do so in the context of the positions or roles they hold. This helps them understand their leadership role better and will help them as they start to work on their leadership vision. Refer to the text below for some of the challenges and benefits women face in leadership in agricultural groups/ cassava-based organizations management. For Piloting – 2025/26 – GEI Accelerator 10 Barriers to women’s leadership in Cassava-based Organizations: • Male-biased acceptance of leaders. • Social and cultural norms and stereotypes that associate participation in the public sphere with men and discourage women’s participation and leadership. • Lack of support in domestic activities within the household, particularly from male partners/husbands and in-laws. • Lack of formal education, material resources, and personal networks of influence. • Competing priorities of household and caring responsibilities. • Logistical constraints related to the timing and length of meetings. • Lack of knowledge about agricultural organizations/farmer groups management • Lack of confidence. Benefits of women’s participation in leadership roles in Cassava-based organizations: • Allows for a larger pool of citizens to provide input to agricultural group/organization leadership decisions, bringing unique concerns, needs, points of view, and knowledge into discussions. • Improved group/organization performance and greater rule compliance as everyone is on board • Increased adoption of agricultural technologies that improve agricultural productivity. • Increased capacity to manage group conflicts within agricultural organizations/farmer groups. • Better and greater dissemination of information through women’s formal and informal networks, persuading other women in the community to join agricultural organizations/farmer groups. • Pathway for wider empowerment of women in the household and public sphere. Gains in women’s confidence, agency, and voice can lead them to successfully engage in financially lucrative activities and other public leadership roles. For Piloting – 2025/26 – GEI Accelerator 11 SESSION 4. THE FOUR TYPES OF POWER IN SOCIAL INTERACTIONS Purpose: To introduce participants to the different types of power in social relations and stimulate reflection about the importance of power within the self (intrinsic agency). Duration: 40 minutes Materials: Power cards (will be printed and shared during the ToT) Step-by-step guide on how to run the session 1. Start the session by asking participants what they understand about “power” and what they think power is. Ask them to share what images come to mind at the mention of power. As they share, encourage them to use their imagination and explain real-life situations that reflect power. Write down the responses on a flip chart. 2. After several participants have shared their images of power, take out the four photocopied power cards and stick them up (or project) where everyone can see, asking, “How would you describe this type of power?” 3. With each picture, use and expand their responses to briefly explain the four types of power as below. As you explain each power, pause and ask for reflection: • Power over: this is the power one has over others. The most common way power is understood (what comes to mind when people first think of “power”) is force, coercion, domination, and control; it motivates through fear. Often seen as a limited resource that some have, and some do not. (Pause and ask the participants about the power they think they have over others and mention who they think they have power over). • Power to: the potential to do or accomplish something; productive power; motivated by each person’s unique potential and capabilities. (Pause and ask a few participants what potential power they think they have and to accomplish what). • Power with: collaboration to achieve something together; instead of control, it is motivated through respect, mutual support, solidarity, and collaborative decision- making. (Ask volunteers to describe a collaboration that they think gives power). • Power within: a person’s sense of self-awareness and self-worth; it includes the ability to recognize differences and respect others. Power within leads to For Piloting – 2025/26 – GEI Accelerator 12 recognizing power with (working with others collaboratively) and power to (achieve things). 4. In the end, challenge participants to think about which type of power they often use in their relationships and social interaction. Why do they use this type of power? 5. Explain that over the next modules, we will work together on nurturing and developing our “power within” so we can also develop our “power to” and “power with.” Facilitator’s Notes The focus of this session is to help participants understand that to have influence as a leader is to have power; therefore, go over the types of power slowly, and before ending the session, make sure that everyone understands and has had time to reflect on the different types. Your emphasis should be on the power within, which will be referred to in the subsequent session. Power means having the capacity or ability to influence something or someone to change reality. Everyone has power, and power can be positive or negative, depending on how a person uses it. It isn’t just physical strength or authority but rather the capacity to influence someone or something. Summarize the discussion on power using the following key points on each power card picture: Source: https://www.land-links.org/wp- content/uploads/2023/10/Womens- POWER OVER: Power over is the power that one person or group uses to control another person or group. This control might be used directly in the form of violence, such as physical violence or intimidation. It could also be used indirectly, such as through social beliefs and practices that position men as superior to women. Using one’s power over another is an injustice. Fostering a https://www.land-links.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/10/Womens-Empowerment-Training-Manual-Zambia-Final_508.pdf https://www.land-links.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/10/Womens-Empowerment-Training-Manual-Zambia-Final_508.pdf For Piloting – 2025/26 – GEI Accelerator 13 Empowerment-Training-Manual-Zambia- Final_508.pdf balance of power between women and men benefits everyone. Power over can be explained as: a) The most common way power is understood. b) Built on force, coercion, domination, and control, and motivated largely through fear. c) Built on a belief that power is a finite resource – some people have power, and others do not. d) E.g., physically assaulting someone; controlling all income in the household. Source: https://www.land-links.org/wp- content/uploads/2023/10/Womens- Empowerment-Training-Manual-Zambia- Final_508.pdf POWER TO: Power to is the belief, energy, and actions that individuals and groups have and can use to create change. It is drawn from the potential to do or accomplish something, to use one’s unique abilities and knowledge to shape their life or the world around them. It is the power felt when individuals can enjoy the full spectrum of human rights, e.g., being able to build something with our own hands, such as planting a garden to have better food. Source: https://www.land-links.org/wp- content/uploads/2023/10/Womens- POWER WITH: Power with is the power felt when two or more people join to do something together that they could not have done alone. It is shared power that grows out of collaboration and relationships—motivated through respect, mutual support, solidarity, and collaboration. Based on identifying https://www.land-links.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/10/Womens-Empowerment-Training-Manual-Zambia-Final_508.pdf https://www.land-links.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/10/Womens-Empowerment-Training-Manual-Zambia-Final_508.pdf https://www.land-links.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/10/Womens-Empowerment-Training-Manual-Zambia-Final_508.pdf https://www.land-links.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/10/Womens-Empowerment-Training-Manual-Zambia-Final_508.pdf https://www.land-links.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/10/Womens-Empowerment-Training-Manual-Zambia-Final_508.pdf https://www.land-links.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/10/Womens-Empowerment-Training-Manual-Zambia-Final_508.pdf https://www.land-links.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/10/Womens-Empowerment-Training-Manual-Zambia-Final_508.pdf https://www.land-links.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/10/Womens-Empowerment-Training-Manual-Zambia-Final_508.pdf For Piloting – 2025/26 – GEI Accelerator 14 Empowerment-Training-Manual-Zambia- Final_508.pdf commonalities, despite differences and finding ways to work together. Power with includes supporting those in need, those working for change, and those speaking out. It means offering to join power with anyone for positive ends and creating a sense of support in the community. Power also includes asking for help and support, e.g., a husband and wife building a house together or community members coming together to demand action from authorities. Source: https://www.land-links.org/wp- content/uploads/2023/10/Womens- Empowerment-Training-Manual-Zambia- Final_508.pdf POWER WITHIN: Power within is the strength that arises from within oneself. It comes from a person’s sense of self-worth and capacity – knowing one’s strengths and weaknesses, recognizing differences, and respecting others. Power within gives one hope for the future and leads to recognizing “power with” (collaborating with others) and “power to” (achieving things). Power within gives one the ability to recognize abuses of power and start a positive process of change, e.g., deciding to run for a community leadership position, leaving an abusive relationship, and reaching out to help others in need. https://www.land-links.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/10/Womens-Empowerment-Training-Manual-Zambia-Final_508.pdf https://www.land-links.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/10/Womens-Empowerment-Training-Manual-Zambia-Final_508.pdf https://www.land-links.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/10/Womens-Empowerment-Training-Manual-Zambia-Final_508.pdf https://www.land-links.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/10/Womens-Empowerment-Training-Manual-Zambia-Final_508.pdf https://www.land-links.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/10/Womens-Empowerment-Training-Manual-Zambia-Final_508.pdf https://www.land-links.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/10/Womens-Empowerment-Training-Manual-Zambia-Final_508.pdf For Piloting – 2025/26 – GEI Accelerator 15 SESSION 5. GENDER NORMS AND INEQUALITY Purpose: To allow participants to reflect on the differences in how society treats women and men. Duration: 1 hour Materials: Four pieces of paper with the names or pictures of different characters (see below) Step-by-step guide on how to run the session Exercise: Walk of Life 1. Put the four names/pictures of different characters (a man, woman, girl, and boy) on the wall or the floor so they are visible to the entire group (if you don’t have the pictures drawn, ask the participants in small groups to draw out the characters). 2. Ask all participants to gather in a circle and explain that we will make a “walk of life” using four different characters. 3. Separately assign each of the four characters to all the participants and ask them to keep it to themselves and not give any clue or hint as to which character is assigned until you ask them to reveal it. 4. Ask all participants to stand in one corner (allowing ample space for them to walk forward). 5. Explain that you will read out statements, and those who think the statement applies to their character should take one step forward. If not, stay in place. If in doubt, use their best and objective judgment on what they see as more likely to happen. The statements are: • I finished or know I will finish school. • I am not expected to do many household chores; someone else will make sure the family is served food on time. • I am allowed to go out of the house whenever I want without asking permission, so I can attend cassava farming meetings or visit the market • I can freely talk to people that are not in my family about cassava farming and business without much concern about what people will think. • I have time to relax and can be away from home for long periods, to attend training or farmer group meetings related to cassava without others questioning me. • I can go out for a drink with my friends and enjoy my leisure time. For Piloting – 2025/26 – GEI Accelerator 16 • I am confident I can make decisions on the use of family land, including the portion we allocate for cassava cultivation. • I am not worried that I will lose our cassava-producing land or property if my partner dies, because I have legal knowledge and community support on land ownership. • I can easily access land from the community to expand my cassava farming operations, if needed. • I can decide what to plant on our land, including cassava varieties that suit the market and climate. • . I have the freedom to take the cassava harvest to the market and sell it, and use the income to support my family’s needs. • I can decide how to use the money earned from selling cassava without being questioned. • I can easily become a leader for my community and an active member of community decision-making organizations like agricultural organizations/farmer groups, savings and lending groups, environmental committees, helping to advance cassava farming practices and policies. 6. After reading all the statements, group and line participants, those in the front line, and the next until the group behind is also lined up. Ask those on the front line to raise their cards and reveal their character. Do the same for the other lines. 7. Based on the observation, ask participants to look at the characters and see who is ahead in the “walk of life.” Invite thoughts on differences according to gender, age, etc., and facilitate a discussion on what this entails for women and men. 8. Conclude the session by emphasizing that women and men are not treated equally in the Kigoma community, and as age is a factor, girls are even less so. Explain that the socialization process creates a woman's and a man's roles and a patriarchal society in which men dominate the power structure throughout organized society and individual relationships. As a result of these assigned roles and norms, we have an unequal society. As society is not static, roles and norms continue to change over time. For Piloting – 2025/26 – GEI Accelerator 17 Facilitator’s Notes To facilitate this section, define gender in simple terms and bring out the gender roles and social constructs as follows: What is gender? Gender is not synonymous with women; on the contrary, gender refers to the socially constructed roles and responsibilities that society has assigned to a woman or man. These roles shape the relationships between men and women and how these relationships are defined by society, creating assigned roles for women and men. e.g., the cooking role is often assigned to women. How is this assignment of cooking duties done? When a child is born and pronounced to be a girl, you immediately start nurturing the child to become a girl or woman and prepare her for the assigned role of women. This process is called socialization, and what you are doing is building the social construct and creating the role or roles for a woman and a man. A woman and a man are then defined based on their roles. The way you socialize a girl or boy may be common but is not the same for every culture and society; therefore, the construction of roles and responsibilities is different in different societies. Because these roles are determined by society, they are dynamic, specific to one culture of a particular society, and can and do change and evolve over time. Coming back to the cooking example, you may be familiar with the role being for women, but over time, one can observe that men, too, are cooking. Gender roles can be deeply rooted in social values and norms, but these values are also not static. Gender is different from sex, which is defined by the biological makeup of a girl or boy and identifies the biological differences between a woman and a man. A sex role is biologically specific to a certain sex; for example, getting pregnant or giving birth is specific to a woman, and sperm production is specific to a man. Unlike gender, sex roles are universal, meaning they are the same across all cultures and societies, and they never change. Social relations The socialization process places value on socially assigned roles that define rights, entitlements, and responsibilities. For instance, family care is a role assigned to women by society, yet despite being an important role, the value assigned to it is low. Making decisions is largely a role assigned to a man and carries a lot of weight in terms of value. This often For Piloting – 2025/26 – GEI Accelerator 18 results in women and men being valued differently and reinforces the idea that women are inferior and subordinate to men. This is from the power relations borne out of the social construct. The socialization process assigns roles, creates beliefs, and sets norms and entitlements. It apportions greater social, economic, and political power to men than women and allocates restrictions of the same to women more than men. The result is an unequal social relation between women and men that manifests itself in the form of discrimination or inequality. Unequal social relations and power dictate unequal access to resources, claims, responsibilities, decision-making, etc. This is called gender inequality. For Piloting – 2025/26 – GEI Accelerator 19 SESSION 6. WOMEN AND MEN’S ROLES/RESPONSIBILITIES AND POWER Purpose: Build participants’ understanding of gender, and how within and outside this community, gender influences the roles/responsibilities of women and men in society, and the consequences for women, and build on this to reflect on the gender differences and impact on the use of power. Duration: 2 hours Materials: Flip chart paper, colored makers, and four sets of pre-prepared cards of family members Step-by-step guide on how to run the session: Who does what? 1 1. In groups, recap the past session about the different types of power and how each woman needs to work on “power within” to develop that self-awareness and ability to achieve things. 2. Introduce the next session by explaining that the four types of power often affect men and women differently. The relationship between men and women can encompass all different types of power at the same time, at different points, or between different men and women or can be dominated by one type of power. 3. Explain that they will do an exercise to analyze gender and the different challenges men and women face in life. Divide participants into two groups and give them the flip chart paper. Ask one group to represent women and the other to represent men. Ask each group to draw a 24-hour calendar (adapt according to literacy level) listing the main tasks performed by women (for women’s group) and men (for men’s group) within 24 hours in a family setup. Allow them to freely talk about all the activities without restricting them. Give 20 – 30 minutes for this task. 4. Once they have listed the tasks, give participants three colored markers, red, green, and blue/black (adapt colors to what you have available) to highlight the very important tasks with a red dot and the less important ones with a green dot. 1 Adapted from: Feed the Future (2016). Integrating gender and nutrition within agricultural extension services: Who does what? Available at: http://ingenaes.illinois.edu/wp-content/uploads/ING-Activity- Sheet-2016-1-Who-Does-What.pdf http://ingenaes.illinois.edu/wp-content/uploads/ING-Activity-Sheet-2016-1-Who-Does-What.pdf http://ingenaes.illinois.edu/wp-content/uploads/ING-Activity-Sheet-2016-1-Who-Does-What.pdf For Piloting – 2025/26 – GEI Accelerator 20 5. Ask each group to put their calendar on the wall next to each other and ask one representative from each group to present on behalf of the group. 6. After the presentations, facilitate a discussion based on their observations on the workload (15 minutes): • Who, between the two, does more work? • Who performs more tasks at the household level? • Whose activities take up more time during the day? • Whose activities are done every day? • Whose activities bring income to the family? • Who’s likely to have more time for community work and why? • Is the share of the work fair? Who is ahead in the “walk of life”? 7. Ask participants in pairs (with the person seated next to them) to discuss the implications of this on power dynamics. • How does this help one to have power or disadvantage the other to have power? • How does it help or disadvantage participation in leadership roles? 8. Allow a few pairs of participants to share their responses. Conclude the session by emphasizing that the social construct that assigns roles and responsibilities to women and men is responsible for the imbalances in power and that this imbalance can change by learning to share responsibilities. 9. Proceed to introduce the next exercise. Exercise: Who holds power? 1. Introduce the exercise who holds the power for participants to reflect more on the different levels of power people hold in their household and their implications. 2. Cut four identical sets of family members: father, mother, son (teenager), and daughter (teenager). Print or write each family member on a different card/paper. 3. Divide the participants into four groups and give each group one of the character sets. 4. In groups, ask participants to place all the characters in order by power level: from most powerful to least powerful. Provide participants with A4 paper and ask them For Piloting – 2025/26 – GEI Accelerator 21 to draw additional characters if they feel someone important is missing in the ranking (10 minutes). 5. Gather all participants in a semicircle and ask one of the groups to place their order of characters in the center of the circle. Ask other groups to do the same. If there are significant disagreements, open a brief discussion, but there is no need for full agreement (10 minutes). 6. Facilitate a discussion with the whole group about the following questions: (20 min) • What makes one person have more power than the other? Allow participants to respond before giving examples: social roles, ownership and/or control over assets/ resources, sex, age, position in the household, level of education, wealth, social status, physical strength, etc. • How can power change among family members (E.g a husband migrates due to drought, which results to low production of cassava; a wife becomes the breadwinner by engaging in other economic activities like horticulture) What are the implications of a person holding all the power in a home? • What is the benefit of sharing power in a home? How can power be shared within the home? 7. End the exercise by emphasizing that power deposited in one person can be subject to abuse and that gender-based violence is an expression of power whereby one person seeks to dominate another or others. Facilitator’s Notes Inequalities between men and women exist because societies do not take time to consciously think about the differences between the roles of men and women. This is especially in leadership positions in Tanzania, where men mainly dominate because most women are heavily burdened with household chores and the belief and perception that women should not hold leadership roles. Gender Equality is having equal social conditions for men and women (or girls and boys) so that they both can experience a balance of power, opportunities, rewards, equal prospects for realizing their human rights, and the potential to contribute and benefit from participation in agricultural value chains. For Piloting – 2025/26 – GEI Accelerator 22 Gender Equity is a process of being fair to women and men to achieve gender equality – or bridge the gender gap in participation. The gender gap is the difference created over time in participation in agricultural organizations/farmer groups between women and men in terms of levels of representation, access to resources, rights, power, influence, remuneration, and benefits. Achieving gender equity calls for differential treatment between women and men. It is about recognizing the unfairness in the treatment of women to eventually achieve gender equality and to compensate for the historical and social disadvantages that have prevented women and men from sharing a level playing field. It calls for specific measures that address the imbalance. For instance, training women in leadership skills to stand for positions in the agricultural organizations/farmer groups governance system to increase women’s decision-making and achieve gender equality in leadership roles. It recognizes that women are not at the same level of advantage as men to stand and win elections, so women require additional measures to achieve the same opportunities. Equity leads to equality. SESSION 7. MODULE CHECK-OUT Purpose: This exercise aims to provide a closing ritual for the module and gives all participants a final ‘say.’ Duration: 30 minutes Materials: Ball Step-by-step guide on how to run the session 1. Having come to the end of module 1, review the learning covered in this module and summarize key learning points (refer to the summary agenda of the training). 2. Ask participants to stand in a circle. 3. Give participants a chance to share their key learning ideas by going around the circle and allowing each participant to remark. 4. Thank participants, and say that in the next module, we will work together on gaining knowledge and awareness about self, building confidence, and going through your own leadership journey. For Piloting – 2025/26 – GEI Accelerator 23 MODULE 2: SELF-LEADERSHIP The purpose of this module is to raise self-awareness and build personal skills for leaders to effectively lead themselves at personal and relational levels before beginning to lead others. The module is designed to develop participants’ mastery and self-acceptance and foster a sense of self-worth and self-esteem. This will help participants to appreciate the importance of understanding oneself (self-leadership) before embarking on the SESSION 1. WHO AND WHERE AM I? Purpose: Allow participants to reflect on their leadership role, appreciate their position, and reflect on the contribution they can make in their role in agricultural organization leadership. Duration: 45 minutes Materials: Cards and pencil, markers Step-by-step guide on how to run the session 1. Start the session with a recap on the previous session. 2. Ask participants to each take a card and a pencil or marker and find a comfortable space on the floor or at a table. 3. Ask participants to draw a picture of themselves in the middle of the paper. Stress that this is not an art competition and nobody outside this room will see the pictures or hear anything shared in this space. (5 minutes) 4. Ask participants to think about the leadership position they hold in their farmer organization and the role they play or hope/expect to play (e.g., chairperson, secretary, committee chairperson, or vice chairperson). If the group is semi- literate, this can be done by drawing symbols to represent these roles. (Some participants may not be clear about their roles; allow time for them to consult and discuss with others; if they fail to identify, help them identify a role at the family level and what is expected of them in the role). 5. After drawing themselves in the role, ask each participant to describe their role (at the top) and one or two qualities they think they have used in their role (at the For Piloting – 2025/26 – GEI Accelerator 24 bottom), such as “I was patient,’ ‘I was kind,’ ‘I was hard-working,’ ‘I was approachable,’ etc. (5 minutes). 6. In groups, invite each participant to describe their role and share an identified quality/attribute about themselves. 7. The purpose of this exercise was to show that as leaders in cassava-based farmer organizations, each of you has a vital role and responsibility, with something valuable to contribute to the management and success of the organization, no matter your position or level. In many communities, culture and tradition often place power in the hands of men, and as women, we sometimes become our own worst enemies by doubting ourselves and undermining our abilities. This exercise encourages you to realize your worth, especially as you step into leadership roles within your cassava farming community. Recognizing your value will boost your confidence and help you navigate challenges, allowing you to overcome obstacles and contribute meaningfully to the growth of the cassava sector. Close the activity by encouraging each participant to remember their role and responsibilities and the positive attributes they carry in those roles. Inform them that in the next session, you will start to discuss these positive attributes. Facilitator’s Notes Self-awareness includes gaining an understanding of one’s strengths, weaknesses, ideas, thoughts, beliefs, ideals, attitudes, emotions, and motivations. It is the ability to reflect on oneself, including assessing how others perceive one and how others are impacted based on one’s behavior, responses, and conduct. In this session, you are just beginning to give them a chance to gain some insight into self. Greater self-awareness also gives a person greater scope to grow and develop as they face new and greater opportunities and challenges. Self-awareness leads to self-confidence and assertiveness, which come from the trust that one has in one's ability to reach a goal or demonstrate a certain skill. It’s from the belief one has in themselves, trusting they can achieve any task. People who are self-aware and confident may be more willing to take on new challenges as well as take responsibility for their actions or failures. For Piloting – 2025/26 – GEI Accelerator 25 SESSION 2. SELF-AWARENESS AND ACCEPTANCE Purpose: Promote self-awareness and self-acceptance, which are critical steps towards cultivating intrinsic agency or “power within”; Allow participants to interact with each other, fostering trust and feeling comfortable with one another. Duration: 1 hour 30 minutes Materials: Notebook, pens/pencils Step-by-step guide on how to run the session Exercise: Personal Mastery 1. Explain that in this session, we will talk more about ourselves as we go further in our journey of self-discovery. Emphasize that if a person has not mastered herself and is not self-aware, it can be difficult to lead others effectively because they can easily project their shortcomings onto others while failing to deal with their shortcomings in their personal lives. 2. Ask participants to think about the following: • What do they like doing naturally and enjoying in their personal lives? • Why do they like it? • What they see as their weaknesses and reflect on why they see them as weaknesses. 3. Pair them up and ask them to share their responses with each other, encouraging them to listen to one another and understand each other’s likes and weaknesses. Explain that as they discuss, the listener must offer some ideas on how the identified weakness can be turned into a strength. (Allow 20 minutes) 4. Bring all participants to the groups and ask volunteers to share their discussion, including advice on turning a weakness into a strength. For Piloting – 2025/26 – GEI Accelerator 26 Exercise: Myself, my friend2 1. Ask participants to sit comfortably in a circle and explain that we will be focusing on ourselves. Explain that in this next exercise, we will continue to look at ourselves and reflect on the importance of taking care of ourselves and personal growth. Emphasize that this is probably new for most participants; as women, we often think of ourselves in the context of our families or our communities and focus on supporting and strengthening others. We look less at ourselves and how to support or strengthen ourselves. To effectively support others, we need to look at ourselves first. It is often difficult to change others, but we can change ourselves and our reactions to things that happen to us. 2. Ask participants to work individually to think of the following; • The top three things they like about themselves. • One thing that they currently do for themselves on a regular basis (e.g., meeting a friend or relative, attending church, listening to music, having a rest, etc.). • One thing that they would like to do for themselves but don’t. 3. Ask participants to get back into pairs and share these things with one another. (Allow 15 minutes for discussion.) 4. Bring the pairs together to the circle and ask some to share. Conclude by asking participants to reflect on what they discovered during their discussions on how women see themselves. Highlight that because of the burden of family care that women carry, we rarely do things for ourselves. Encourage them to try and do at least one thing for themselves every so often as a way of appreciating themselves more. 2 Adapted from: Global Alliance for Clean Cookstoves. 2016. Empowered Entrepreneur Training Handbook. Available at: https://cleancooking.org/reports-and-tools/empowered-entrepreneur-training- handbook/ https://cleancooking.org/reports-and-tools/empowered-entrepreneur-training-handbook/ https://cleancooking.org/reports-and-tools/empowered-entrepreneur-training-handbook/ For Piloting – 2025/26 – GEI Accelerator 27 Facilitator’s Notes When people have a greater sense of self-awareness, they find it easier to relate with other people. Self-awareness is the ability to examine and understand who we are relative to the world around us. When people become self-aware, they are more inclined to love themselves, accept who they really are, and acknowledge their strengths and weaknesses. This self- awareness allows an individual to appropriately build effective relationships and manage group dynamics better. SESSION 3. SELF-CONFIDENCE AND ASSERTIVENESS Purpose: To empower women with personal self-confidence and assertiveness skills necessary for their journey to become successful farmer organization leaders Duration: 3 hours Materials: Ball (if you do not have a ball, you can create one with rough paper) Step-by-step guide on how to run the session Exercise: Me as a leader? 1. Ask participants to stand in a circle. Explain that we will speak about the leader we are and that the person holding a ball will describe herself using a few words and then pass it on to another person of their choice. It is likely that women have never thought about the leader they are before, so give some examples to help them think of an answer. Examples can be “I plan my day,” “I wake up early,” “I am never late,” and “I show the way.” Encourage them to analyze themselves and not copy from others. Allow a couple of minutes for individual reflection before starting the exercise. 2. Throw the ball at the first person of choice to give an answer, then throw it at any other participant until all the participants have had a chance to define themselves as the leader they are. Stress that there is no right or wrong answer. 3. Bring back participants to the groups and present about self-leadership highlighting the following: • Self-leadership is the ability to lead oneself at personal and public levels. For Piloting – 2025/26 – GEI Accelerator 28 • Self-leadership includes how an individual carries or conducts herself, e.g., being a self- starter, goal-oriented, time management, innovative, hardworking, resourceful, enduring, etc. • Being able to drive self - do things without being asked, pushed, or coerced. 4. After the presentation, ask willing participants to give practical examples from the experience of how “me as a leader” led myself. 5. Conclude by emphasizing that before a person embarks on a journey of leading others, they must lead themselves well first because one can only give what they have. Exercise: My leadership dream! 1. On a vision card, have participants write their names and create a list of their desires for their leadership. Write down the list. (For illiterate participants, the facilitator should provide assistance of writing) 2. Conclude the exercise by asking participants how they felt as they were thinking through the desires (needs and wants) for their leadership. Ask them to identify the emotions that they felt, such as inspired, motivated, inadequate, etc. 3. End by encouraging them that once they visualize their desires, it gives them a chance to know if they are worth or less important and the confidence to work through the important ones and achieve. Exercise: My leadership visualization3 1. Have participants reflect on the initial ideas/dreams they had when they decided to become leaders. Explain that you will now discuss personal growth as a leader. This means having positive aspirations; identifying what you can contribute to and planning how to do so. Further, explain that they will now have some time to reflect on their leadership goals by going through a visualization exercise that will help them think and visualize what they aspire for in their leadership role. 3 Adapted from: Global Alliance for Clean Cookstoves. 2016. Empowered Entrepreneur Training Handbook. Available at: https://cleancooking.org/reports-and-tools/empowered-entrepreneur-training- handbook/ https://cleancooking.org/reports-and-tools/empowered-entrepreneur-training-handbook/ https://cleancooking.org/reports-and-tools/empowered-entrepreneur-training-handbook/ For Piloting – 2025/26 – GEI Accelerator 29 2. Ask participants to sit and get comfortable (individuals can choose to sit or lie on the ground or sit in their chairs). Read from the visualization script below in a relaxed tone, as slow as possible for everyone to follow, and pause after reading to let individuals think about their visions. Script • Take this time to get comfortable and relax. Close your eyes, take a deep breath in through your nose, and slowly breathe out through your mouth. Continue to breathe deeply, slowly, and comfortably, in... and... out... • Feel your muscles beginning to relax. You are beginning to feel warm and relaxed as your muscles become loose and heavy. • Your hands and feet are becoming more relaxed as waves of warmth cover your body. Now you are feeling very deeply relaxed and very comfortable. • In this state of relaxation, think about what your ideal leader would look like. • As you think about this vision of your leader, imagine yourself starting your day feeling excited to begin another day as a community leader. • Allow yourself to feel calm, peaceful, and relaxed. As you think about your leadership role, feel the excitement of having succeeded in becoming a leader. • Picture yourself at a community meeting, speaking with your people and getting their ideas. They love you and listen to you. How does it feel? • Take a deep breath in... Hold this breath for a few seconds and then breathe out slowly. • Imagine you and your family. How do they feel? Proud? • Where is the meeting, where you are interacting with your people? • Take a deep breath in, hold for a few seconds, and exhale. • How do people feel? Why? Picture yourself successfully running and explaining the issues to the people. How do you feel? • Take a deep breath in, hold for a few seconds, and exhale. Now describe the joy you will be able to make out of this success. What benefit do you see for your family? For yourself? • Imagine how others will treat you in the community. How do you see yourself in the community? For Piloting – 2025/26 – GEI Accelerator 30 • See yourself feeling positive and strong. How does it feel to be you? • Is there anything that could make this vision better? Remember, there is no boundary to your thoughts. • Take a deep breath in, hold for a few seconds, and breathe out slowly. • Smile and know you can come back to this vision at any time. Take a deep breath, hold for a few seconds, and breathe out slowly. • Feel yourself becoming more awake and alert. Follow your breath and feel your mind and body reawaken. • Slowly begin opening your eyes as you bring yourself back to alertness. 1. Ask participants to pair up and discuss their experience going through this exercise (5 minutes). 2. Bring the group back together, and have a few individuals describe how this process was for them and what they learned. 3. Ask participants to share in their pairs: • What qualities do I have that can make me a good leader (e.g., I am friendly, I know lots of people in the community, etc.)? • What qualities could I improve (e.g., taking more risks, practicing communicating more, etc.)? 4. In groups, let participants share their experiences (allow 20 minutes) and conclude by emphasizing that to grow in your leadership role, you need to have a personal goal as a leader and pursue it. The more you practice setting goals and working towards achieving them, the more you become positive and confident about your abilities. For Piloting – 2025/26 – GEI Accelerator 31 Exercise: Owning Your Power4 1. Start the exercise by recapping the session on the types of power (with emphasis on power within). Explain to participants that the concept of owning your power will be used in this exercise. 2. Explain further that owning your power is about recognizing that, as individuals, we are the most powerful person in our own lives. We can choose how we want to live our lives. What we do and the life we live is up to us. This belief is about stepping forward to be a powerful person who actively participates in life rather than one who just lets life happen. The power is inside all of us, and by recognizing this, you own the power. 3. Ask participants to share their understanding of “owning your power”? 4. Follow up the discussion with the question, what limiting beliefs come up when you consider the idea of owning your power? 5. Divide participants into two groups and explain that today we will be debunking the limiting beliefs to owning power. Assign one group, the “I believe group,” to come up with a list of the limiting beliefs and share with the other group the “power within group.” Examples of common limiting beliefs may include: My life is not my own; I am weak; I am a woman; I have no power; It will never amount to anything. Ensure that the I believe group comes up with as many limiting beliefs as possible and discusses them exhaustively before presenting. Assign the other group (power within) to deflate the beliefs by coming up with practical and convincing reasons. Let them come up with as many limiting beliefs as possible and debunk them in their discussions (allow them to get the ideas of the beliefs from the I believe group as they discuss). 4 Adapted from: Global Alliance for Clean Cookstoves. 2016. Empowered Entrepreneur Training Handbook. Available at: https://cleancooking.org/reports-and-tools/empowered-entrepreneur-training- handbook/ https://cleancooking.org/reports-and-tools/empowered-entrepreneur-training-handbook/ https://cleancooking.org/reports-and-tools/empowered-entrepreneur-training-handbook/ For Piloting – 2025/26 – GEI Accelerator 32 6. The I believe group should share their beliefs with the other group to come up with the responses, but the other group should not share their responses. They should, however, discuss and come up with the most convincing response. 7. Bring the groups together and ask the two groups to line up facing each other. Explain that power comes from within and the task is to assess how much power we have. Group one will mention the belief (one at a time), and the other group will respond based on power within to debunk or support the belief. After the explanation, the first group will rate the response received on a scale from 1 to 10 (i.e., a score of 10 points indicates that they feel strongly that they own the power to change the belief). In the end, total the score for “power within group.” 8. End the exercise by asking participants to reflect on how they feel about their beliefs and the power they hold to change the beliefs. Allow time to discuss what they have learned. Exercise: Walking in Chimpaye’s Shoes5 1. Explain that in this exercise, we will explore assertiveness and challenge our fears and assumptions about being assertive using role play. 2. Divide the group into three and assign each group a scenario as below: Scenario 1. Chimpaye aspires to become the Cassava Producers’ Association chairperson. Fellow leaders and people intimidate her, but she doesn’t give up. She succeeds despite the intimidation. Scenario 2. Chimpaye aspires to become a chairperson of the Cassava Producers Association. She is intimidated about it, and she gives up. She fails. 5 Adapted from: Global Alliance for Clean Cookstoves. 2016. Empowered Entrepreneur Training Handbook. Available at: https://cleancooking.org/reports-and-tools/empowered-entrepreneur-training- handbook/ https://cleancooking.org/reports-and-tools/empowered-entrepreneur-training-handbook/ https://cleancooking.org/reports-and-tools/empowered-entrepreneur-training-handbook/ For Piloting – 2025/26 – GEI Accelerator 33 Scenario 3: Chimpaye aspires to become chairperson of the Cassava Producers Association, but she is undecided and doesn’t act on it. Elections pass, and she doesn’t attempt to stand; it remains just an idea she keeps talking about. 3. Explain that each group should come up with a role play based on the scenarios. 4. After the role plays, facilitate a discussion: • What made Chimpaye become a leader in scenario 1 and yet fail in scenarios 2 and 3? • What can we learn from the three scenarios? 5. Proceed to explain that we will spend some time “walking in Chimpaye’s shoes.” Explain that you will read through some scenarios Chimpaye encounters, and as a group, they will decide what Chimpaye should do. Ask participants to keep in mind what the costs and benefits are of Chimpaye’s choices as we move through the exercise. Chimpaye and her husband grow cassava and maize. They together own the farm, but Chimpaye refers to her husband on all matters related to the farming activities. She also has a grocery business of her own. Her shop has few ranges of products due to space constraints that also limit how many sales she could make. Chimpaye is part of a women’s savings group, where they pool their resources together to give loans to members. Chimpaye is confident that if she could buy shelves for her shop with a small loan from the savings group, she could offer a wider range of products and improve her sales. Chimpaye proposes the idea to her husband, but he doesn’t think it is a good idea as he worries that if Chimpaye is unable to pay the loan, the burden will fall on him. Ask the group: What does Chimpaye do? A. Chimpaye accepts her husband's answer and does not proceed with the loan. B. Chimpaye explains to her husband how the family could benefit from the potential increased profits from her business. She explains that the customers constantly ask about products she does not have available but could easily add if she had the space to display them. For Piloting – 2025/26 – GEI Accelerator 34 If the group chooses A, say: Chimpaye puts the idea of improving her grocery into the back of her mind. Her shop continues to make some small revenue but struggles to grow due to the limited range of products offered. The grocery eventually closes in a year. (END of Chimpaye’s story, proceed to step 6 below to facilitate a discussion). If the group chooses B, say: Chimpaye goes to her savings group meeting and requests some small funds to expand her grocery's shelves. At first, the group leaders argue that she has not been in business long enough for them to grant the loan. Ask the group: What does Chimpaye do? A. Chimpaye accepts their answer and gives up on expanding her business (END of Chimpaye’s story, proceed to step 10 below to facilitate a discussion). B. Chimpaye speaks with the group leaders and shows them her records of her expenses and revenue. She explains she is confident she can pay back the loan. They reconsider her request and grant her the loan. If the group chooses B, say: A few months later, the grocery store is doing very well, Chimpaye is able to increase the selection of products she sells, and she is able to quickly pay back the loan. That year their farm doesn’t do very well; the additional profit from Chimpaye’s business is used to pay her children’s school fees and buy seeds and fertilizer for their farm. Chimpaye’s husband appreciates the support her business offered to their household during a season when money from farming was small. She now has more of a say when making decisions about their farm and how household income is to be used. 6. Facilitate group discussion around the following questions: A. If the group chose options A and did not make it all the way to the end: quickly explain what alternative choices she could have made to assert herself more and read the final scenario to the group where Chimpaye’s Grocery business and household are thriving. Ask for reflections on these choices. What were the costs For Piloting – 2025/26 – GEI Accelerator 35 of Chimpaye not asserting herself? What were the benefits? What are some other potential benefits to her and her household had she been more assertive? B. If the group made it to the last scenario where Chimpaye’s shop and household are thriving, ask: What would be the cost/missed opportunity if Chimpaye did not speak up when discussing with her husband? What would be the cost/missed opportunity if Chimpaye did not speak up to the group members to convince them that she could repay the loan? Ask for reflections on this. If it has not been said already, explain that being assertive is about not being afraid to stand up for oneself with solid arguments, which can benefit the individual and others. 7. Conclude the session by emphasizing that assertiveness (being confident and standing up for yourself) is about using the power within and is important to realize one’s dreams. As a woman with aspirations, don’t easily give up your aspirations, but be assertive and determined to work through the challenges and achieve your dreams for the benefit of the household and the community. For Piloting – 2025/26 – GEI Accelerator 36 Facilitator’s Notes My leadership dream exercise Visualization is a critical practice in personal mastery. It helps to understand individual wants and helps participants to consider important ideas of what they can realize in their leadership. A vision card helps to build self-confidence to achieve something. Once participants see all their wants in one visual space, they can identify which ones are less critical versus those that are important and motivating. My leadership dream exercise is about helping participants put priorities from their many desires (wants and needs) into practice. To do so, they must realize what their important desires are and choose priorities for their leadership to put on the card. It helps them realize what is valuable rather than having others tell them what to value. When facilitating this exercise, create a leadership dream poster and let each participant post their dreams on it. Assertiveness is an act of communicating one’s opinions, needs, wants, interests, and feelings to others in a non-threatening and non-defensive way. When you know what you want, you can be assertive, but it’s difficult to assert yourself when you don't. Being assertive is not the same as being aggressive. For Piloting – 2025/26 – GEI Accelerator 37 SESSION 4. MY CORE BELIEF: SELF-ESTEEM6 Purpose: Allow participants to reflect on their beliefs about self and practice a simple technique for increasing self-esteem. Duration: 1 hour Materials: A4 paper per participant and pens/pencils Step-by-step guide on how to run the session 1. Start by explaining that knowing your core beliefs (your central ideas about yourself, others, and the world) is the first step to building self-esteem. Building an attitude of self-worth is about taking control of our beliefs and actions (self- responsibility), having higher aspirations, a positive attitude, believing in growth, and owning the power to a better self. 2. Ask each woman to find a comfortable space on the floor or at a table (if at the table, give them a pen and paper). 3. Tell them to roughly draw a picture of themselves in the middle of the paper. (Stress that this is not meant to be an artistic drawing but just a simple picture). Give it 5 minutes. 4. Think of the different roles they play (mother, daughter, spouse, farmer, community leader, etc.) and ask them to add a symbol of the role to the picture or write (2 minutes). 5. Ask each of the participants to show their drawing to each other and ask them to describe their role in the picture and the attributes associated with it using one word, e.g., ‘Am a mother,’ ‘I am patient,’ ‘I am a farmer,’ ‘I am hard-working,’ etc. Give it 10 minutes. 6. Bring everyone in a circle and allow as many as possible to share their role and attribute. 6 Adapted from Global Alliance for Clean Cookstoves. 2016. Empowered Entrepreneur Training Handbook. Available at: https://cleancooking.org/reports-and-tools/empowered-entrepreneur-training- handbook/ https://cleancooking.org/reports-and-tools/empowered-entrepreneur-training-handbook/ https://cleancooking.org/reports-and-tools/empowered-entrepreneur-training-handbook/ For Piloting – 2025/26 – GEI Accelerator 38 7. Then ask the women to go back to the drawing and think of a specific person in their family or circle of friends who they know loves them (parent, spouse, children, friend). Ask them to think about how this person would describe them. Give them 5 minutes. 8. Allow them to pair up with anyone and share, asking whether the loved one would use positive or negative attributes to describe them and why. 9. Bring everyone back in a circle and allow as many as possible to share their views. 10. Explain that the purpose of this exercise was to show that sometimes we are our greatest judge or worst enemy as we often think negative thoughts about ourselves. Realizing your self-worth as you begin any new endeavor, e.g., leading in your community, is important. This can give you confidence and allow you to make it through difficult times. 11. Close the activity by encouraging people to remember their loved one’s positive voice when they experience self-doubt. Facilitator’s Notes Self-esteem- relates to how you think about yourself and the belief you have of your own worth. For example, believing you have what it takes to be a successful leader or feeling worthy of being treated with respect, care, and love. Oftentimes, women are faced with many criticisms from others about their intelligence, looks, or abilities. Sometimes one may not have heard positive things about themselves. These criticisms can shape how one thinks about self. In the exercise, ensure that everyone can create their own positive sense of self (and we don’t have to rely on others to feel valuable or strong). For example, instead of thinking, “I am not good enough,” another way to look at this could be, “I have some good qualities, and the more I learn, the better I get.” Challenge women to develop new, positive mental habits. Having a positive attitude - is about the willingness to focus on the good things in a situation—to find opportunities and constructive solutions in whatever life presents. It is about keeping positive thoughts and not getting held back or distracted by negative thoughts. It is about choosing, moment by moment, to look for the best in people and the best in things around you. By developing positive thinking habits, you may start to notice For Piloting – 2025/26 – GEI Accelerator 39 new opportunities and be generally happier in situations that present themselves. This doesn’t mean that you only think positive thoughts or ignore what is happening because it appears to be negative. This belief is about trying to find a positive way through a situation despite the existing challenges. Encourage women to take responsibility for themselves. Self-responsibility - refers to the belief that we have control over our thoughts and actions. It refers to the idea that we can choose our response to what we experience in the world. For example, when misfortune happens, what do we think? Do we think it is because of our bad luck or something someone else did? If we think about events this way, we often see ourselves as victims of the world or other people. If we focus on ourselves as victims, it can be difficult to change because we may feel hopeless, as if we don’t have control over our lives. Examine how you feel when you don’t see yourself as a victim of your circumstances. This takes individual effort and practice to change. Continual growth through life - is related to accepting that everything in life is always changing. If we want things to always stay the same, we may not easily accept change and will be fighting and resisting life. This can lead to stress and unhappiness. Recognizing that change is always happening and allowing ourselves to accept change, and to even grow from it, can positively impact our lives. We may be more open to opportunities, and we may take advantage of those opportunities. Challenge women to reflect on their life, see what has changed, and recognize that it will continue to change. Encourage them to trust themselves and aspire for higher goals. Owning your power - is about recognizing that we are the most powerful person in our lives. We can choose how we want to live our lives. The work we do and the life we live are up to us. This belief is about stepping forward to be a powerful person who actively participates in life rather than one who just lets life happen. This power is inside all of us. By recognizing this power inside of you, you can take advantage of it and own it. For Piloting – 2025/26 – GEI Accelerator 40 SESSION 5. MY PERSONAL SWOT ANALYSIS Purpose: Analyzing barriers for women leaders; identifying the positive and challenging elements that women face as leaders when engaging in community leadership, their individual strengths and weaknesses, and the available opportunities and threats (SWOT). Duration: 40 minutes Materials: Ball or another similar object to throw Step-by-step guide on how to run the session 1. Start the session by explaining that to develop ourselves as leaders, we need to analyze our strengths and weaknesses, which means conducting a SWOT analysis. A SWOT analysis allows us to objectively assess internal and external factors that may support or hinder us as leaders. Briefly explain what a SWOT analysis stands for using a four-window table as follows: • Draw a table with four windows and write the letters SWOT at the top. In one box, write S, W in the next top box, and O and T in the bottom two boxes. S should be on top of O, and W should be on top of T. • Explain Strengths as internal enablers, things that are within your control. • Explain Weaknesses as internal hindrances, things that are within your control. • Explain Opportunities as external enablers, things that are outside of our control. • Explain Threats as external hindrances, things that are outside of our control. 2. As you explain, give examples as guided in the facilitator’s notes below and ensure everyone understands before proceeding. 3. Proceed to inform the participants that we will play a ball game and think of the positive and challenging things women face in becoming community leaders in natural resources. Encourage them to try to reflect on what has been discussed so far. For Piloting – 2025/26 – GEI Accelerator 41 4. Ask participants to stand in a circle and inform them that we will play a ball game to understand the SWOT. Explain that you will throw the ball to one of the participants, who will then mention the internal strengths and weaknesses (things within your control) and the external opportunities and threats (things outside our control). When you get a ball, mention what you see as S, W, O, T. Explain that starting with opportunities and threats, a participant holding the ball should say out loud one opportunity and then throw the ball to the other person in the circle. The next person should then say a threat before throwing the ball to someone else. After a few rounds, or when participants exhaust their ideas, say we will now play in the same way, but focusing on internal things, i.e., things we can control, positive and negative - strengths and weaknesses. The person holding the ball will say the strength and the next a challenge/weakness. The rules are: • Focus on positive or negative external things that are specific to women’s leadership participation and that are outside of their control. • As the ball is thrown around, participants need to alternate between positive and negative or between opportunities and threats or strengths and weaknesses. • The ball should be thrown to someone who has not yet had a turn. 5. As they state their responses, fill in the S, W, O, and T boxes in the table, writing down the opportunities, threats, strengths, and weaknesses, and if participants can’t think of any or quickly run out, draw out from the examples provided in the facilitator’s notes. If someone says something that is internal, gently ask them whether they think it is something inside us/our control or external, reminding them that we are looking for external elements. If needed, try to ask for a positive that responds to a negative. 6. After participants have exhausted their ideas, conclude by asking participants to see from the SWOT table what they think are the strengths and weaknesses that apply to them as individuals and the opportunities and threats they are likely to meet as they move on in their journey to leadership. For Piloting – 2025/26 – GEI Accelerator 42 Facilitator’s Notes To proactively think and plan for success, it is important for an individual to think critically about the enablers and hindrances. Different tools can be used to analyze enablers and hindrances, but SWOT analysis is one of the simplest tools to use. The acronym SWOT stands for Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats. • Examples of external opportunities: elections every three years, women’s associations, women’s reputation of being less corrupt, institutional support, supportive family, and other women getting involved in the community and being vocal. • Examples of external threats: women are not accepted as leaders by people, are not elected to associations, men do not listen to or respect women’s opinions in associations, women leaders are labeled as uncultured, husbands not allowing women to attend meetings and training, husband not willing to do household or caring work, and family crises (illness or death). • Examples of internal strengths: good at speaking with others, good listener, good at public speaking, brave, prudent, confident, good networks, known and trusted, willing to speak our minds, good at bringing people together, knows a lot about the community, comes from a respected family, and ability to multitask. • Examples of internal weaknesses: being worried about what other people think, fearing new things, doesn’t like to ask for help, preferring to work alone, never led others before, difficulty in being truthful, shyness, and illiteracy. Strengths are the internal things or elements that women possess that would make it easy for them to get into leadership and be successful. The weaknesses are the things or elements that women have or exhibit that would hinder them from becoming leaders. One key thing to remember about strengths and weaknesses is that these elements can be controlled or changed by oneself. For example, women can enroll in adult literacy and change their low literacy levels to being literate. On the other hand, the opportunities and threats are the positives and negatives in the environment that are not directly in our control but could impact one’s aspirations positively or negatively. The opportunities are the enablers in the external environment - for example, for women, these could include the promotion of gender For Piloting – 2025/26 – GEI Accelerator 43 equality. The threats in the environment could include cultural practices that keep women in subordinate positions. SESSION 6. MY PERSONAL VISION Purpose: Allow participants to reflect on their own lives, their history, their present, and where they would like to go in the future. It is the first step in the visioning process that helps participants begin to tackle the concepts of self-responsibility and ‘owning your power.’ Duration: 3 hours Materials: Blank sheet of paper (preferably flipchart) for each participant; colored pens, enough for all participants Step-by-step guide on how to run the session Exercise. Tree of Life 1. Start the exercise by explaining that we will do some practical work to have a foundation for coming up with a vision that resonates with everyone’s leadership aspirations (dreams). The exercise is called the Tree of Life. Explain that for many people, trees represent ‘life,’ and this is why we are using this image today. 2. Give each participant a blank paper and explain that we will draw our own Tree of Life with roots, trunk, fruit, and buds. Offer an example. 3. Ask people to draw the roots - roots represent your history and life experiences. Give five minutes to let each woman draw life experiences (this includes your family, friends, community, and things like schooling, marriage, the birth of a child, key events, etc.). All these past experiences have shaped who you are positively and negatively. 4. Ask participants to move to the tree trunk: the tree trunk represents your life today. Give 5 minutes to draw what you do, who you live with, your work, your family, and your community. 5. Ask participants to move on to the fruit: the fruits represent your biggest achievements (give 5 minutes to draw things you are proud of; it can be tangible or not). For Piloting – 2025/26 – GEI Accelerator 44 6. Ask participants to move on to the buds: the buds represent your hopes and dreams for the future. Give participants 10 minutes to draw their dreams, hopes, and visions for themselves as leaders (Emphasize that here they should focus on their dreams/aspirations as A LEADER). You can also recap the discussion on their role in leadership structure. Source: AI Generated Image 7. In the end, ask women to pair up and share their Tree of Life with each other. Give them 10 minutes to discuss. 8. Ask the women to join you in a circle and invite participants to share reflections about their Tree of Life and this exercise. Ask questions such as which part of the tree was harder to draw. And why? 9. Conclude by stressing that new buds are created and supported by the energy from your roots and trunk. They serve as a basis for the fruit of your life. With more energy, these buds continue to be created, representing all the new things you want to happen in your life. Hence by trying hard as an individual, you can do more and become better and better with each try. For Piloting – 2025/26 – GEI Accelerator 45 Facilitator’s Notes The ROOTS represent life history and experiences. This includes your family, friends, and community. All these experiences shape individuals in both positive and negative ways and their beliefs about the world. These beliefs continue to influence the daily life of an individual. It is important for every participant to recognize how their experiences have shaped their lives and determine how they want to use those past experiences to strengthen their roots and build a stronger future. The TRUNK/STEM represents everything about an individual’s life today: how they think, what they do, who they live with, their work, their family, their community, etc. It is important to become aware of all these aspects of daily life so that participants can continue strengthening themselves. The FRUIT represents your biggest accomplishments. It is important for individuals to recognize and appreciate what has been accomplished in their lives. • The BUDS represent an individual’s hopes and dreams for the future (whether small or large). The new buds are created and supported by the energy that comes from the roots and the trunk. They serve as the basis for the fruit of life. These buds continue to be created, as they represent all the new things one wants to happen in their life. Each new bud represents where growth happens in life. It is important to emphasize to participants that by knowing what one wants and having hopes and dreams, one can shape the future. The clearer an individual is about what they want for the future, the better they can draw from their resources (building upon your roots, trunk, and fruit) to make it happen. The hopes and dreams, the buds in the tree, are affected by what one believes. In fact, what we think about every day is related to what we believe. For example, if I believe that I can be a successful businessperson, then I think about ways I can become a successful businessperson, such as looking for customers or thinking about where to sell my products. These beliefs come from and are affected by history and life experiences, i.e., the roots. When such a person sees successful businesspeople in the community, they get encouraged. For Piloting – 2025/26 – GEI Accelerator 46 SESSION 7. MY LEADERSHIP VISION JOURNEY Purpose: To give participants the opportunity to practice developing their vision for their leadership aspirations, use their strengths, work on their weaknesses, and identify obstacles they are likely to face and opportunities available to them. The participants will come up with a leadership vision, embark on a journey to achieve their aspirations, and reflect on the obstacles and opportunities along the way. Duration: 2 Hours Materials: Colored pens, enough for all participants; flipchart sheets of paper, one per participant; Post-it stickers Step-by-step guide on how to run the session 1. Start the exercise by recapping the discussion on the leadership roles discussed in Module 1. Give participants five minutes to recollect the discussion about their leadership roles and the position they hold. Then ask participants to look at/think of their Tree of Life drawings and choose one bud/aspiration that is most important to them and that they think they can achieve in the short term (about a year). Remind them as they do so to think about personal strengths and weaknesses. 2. Explain to participants that they are now going to plan to start moving toward realizing their dream and aspirations as a leader. Participants must remember that this is their dream: they should discuss and learn but not copy from others. 3. Give each participant a sheet of flipchart paper and ask them to sit comfortably on the floor or at a table. 4. Provide the following instructions to participants step-by-step, waiting for the completion of each step before giving instructions for the next step. As they draw, go around the room to check individual drawings and provide further clarity if need be. Show an example, or draw your own so they understand each step/drawing needed (40 minutes), do not rush the process: For Piloting – 2025/26 – GEI Accelerator 47 Step 1: Draw a large circle at the top right corner of your flipchart and include your aspirations/buds/dreams. This is your future and your vision. Step 2: Draw a second circle at the bottom left corner. This is your present. Draw your current starting situation relevant to your vision, e.g., think of what type of position you have. What do you do? At what level are you? How much influence do you have, etc.? Step 3: Draw two straight lines to link both circles. This represents the road from the present (bottom) to the future (top). Step 4: On one side of the road, draw opportunities, things that can help you achieve your dream/vision. The more opportunities you can think of, the easier it will be to advance (refer to the SWOT and personal analyses they did for themselves). Step 5: Explain that they will face constraints that can drag them down in their journey to their vision. They can be seen as rocks on the road. It is important to foresee and avoid them if possible. Give each participant a stack of Post-it stickers and use one Post-it sticker per drawing; ask participants to draw the most important ‘rocks’ that might stand in the way of them reaching their vision and stick it on their individual flipchart. Encourage participants to be as concrete as possible. Explain that we are adding our rocks with Post-it stickers because we can work to try to remove them. 5. Once everyone has drawn their vision journey, invite 1-2 participants to share their journeys and reflect on their rocks (10 minutes). 6. End the session by emphasizing that the vision journey is an important product of the training and that we have reached a stage where every participant should now be clear about their leadership role, aspirations, and what it takes for them as individuals to increase their self-worth. NOTE: The participants (or facilitator) should keep these vision journey maps and use them to reflect on their progress (they can also bring them back for part two of the training as they will be further refined in the subsequent exercises). For Piloting – 2025/26 – GEI Accelerator 48 Facilitator’s Notes The vision journey helps participants determine their path to achieving their leadership aspirations and reflect on their journey. This may not be perfectly done and completed at this stage, but the aim is not to have a perfect drawing or map but to help participants acquire a visioning skill and use it in their leadership journey. The more they practice visioning, the more they are likely to be focused on achieving their aspirations. The vision journey maps can be revisited in the next training, and participants keep and refer to them in their different visioning processes in their lives. They can also be used in mentoring women leaders. SESSION 8. MODULE CHECK-OUT Purpose: This exercise aims to provide a closing ritual for the module and gives all participants a final ‘say.’ Duration: 30 minutes Materials: Ball Step-by-step guide on how to run the session 1. Ask participants to stand in a circle. 2. Ask everybody to say one final word that summarizes how they feel right now. Provide examples of “happy,” “excited,” and “tired.” Stress that there is no right or wrong word. 3. Throw the ball at one of the participants, and when she responds, she throws it back to you. Throw the ball to the next participant until everyone has shared their word. 4. Thank the participants and say that next time we meet, we will talk about how to continue the leadership journey after the training for individuals before moving on to talk about leading others and the important skills we need to develop to succeed in our community leadership roles. For Piloting – 2025/26 – GEI Accelerator 49 MODULE 3: LEADING OTHERS This Module allows participants to discover the qualities of a good leader and the different styles of leadership and pick up skills necessary to lead others. It enables participants to view themselves as they function in their leadership roles in community resource governance and how they can be more effective in those roles. It addresses specific skills needed to empower women in their journey as successful community leaders. It includes effective communication, negotiation, team building, problem-solving, and decision-making. Module Overview Modules 1 and 2 opened up the discussion on the social and cultural context and the effect on women and stimulated reflection on the importance of power within for individual effectiveness. It sets participants on a journey of self-discovery. Now that individuals know themselves better, they are ready to reflect on how they can lead others. This module allows participants to discover the qualities of a good leader and the different styles of leadership and pick up on skills necessary to lead others. It enables participants to view themselves as they function in their leadership roles in agricultural organization or farmer groups and how they can be more effective in those roles. It addresses specific skills needed to empower women in their journey as successful community leaders. It includes effective communication, negotiation, team building, problem-solving, and decision-making. The module has six sessions: SESSION 1: WE MEET, WE SHARE, AND WE GROW TOGETHER! Purpose: Reflect on the experience for the individual leadership journey after the first part of the training. SESSION 2: A LEADER IN AGRICULTURAL-RELATED GROUPS/ ORGANIZATIONS Purpose: Reflect on the attributes of a successful leader, whether women and men are equally capable of playing this role, and the importance of women’s participation in leadership roles. For Piloting – 2025/26 – GEI Accelerator 50 SESSION 3: TEAM LEADING Purpose: To practice teamwork in leadership and build a sense of value for one another. SESSION 4: BUILDING OUR POWER: Purpose: Communication To equip participants with communication skills necessary for leadership and to practice communication skills of public speaking, active listening, and negotiation. SESSION 5: BUILDING OUR POWER: Purpose: Problem-Solving To reinforce problem-solving skills for leadership: decisiveness, negotiation, managing conflicts, and emotional and social intelligence. SESSION 6: REFLECTION Purpose: This exercise aims to provide a closing ritual for the session and gives all participants a final ‘say.’ For Piloting – 2025/26 – GEI Accelerator 51 SESSION 1. WE MEET, WE SHARE, AND WE GROW TOGETHER! Purpose: Enable participants to welcome one another, check-in, and reflect on the experience for individual leadership journey after the first part of the training. Duration: 1 hour Materials: Watch Step-by-step guide on how to run the session 1. Start the training by greeting participants and giving them 10 minutes to interact with each other and briefly catch up on the leadership experiences. After, ask them to pair up with another person coming from a different area. If they don’t know each other’s name or have forgotten, they can re-introduce each other and share one interesting experience they had in their leadership role. Allow 10 minutes for the pairs to interact. 2. After 10 minutes, ask the pairs to sit next to their partner and inform them that they will remain in the same sitting position for the rest of the day. Brie