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Published: 02 Oct 2024 650 views
WomenLift Health is expanding into the Southern Africa region and is inviting applications for its inaugural cohort of women leaders to join the Southern Africa Signature Leadership Journey.
This 12-month, fully-funded program empowers women to explore their authentic leadership through vulnerability and self-reflection. Participants will build inclusive and diverse networks that foster belonging, learn strategies to enhance their voice, presence, and influence, and receive support from peers, mentors, and coaches. The Leadership Journey equips participants with contextualised tools and frameworks to address individual, organisational, and societal challenges that women leaders in global health face today.
Our Signature Leadership Journey is a transformative learning experience that brings together mid- to senior-career women from various disciplines and sectors in health. It aims to instill the mindset shift needed to address the complex challenges of global public health issues today.
This program is particularly suited for women leaders who value diversity, equity, and inclusion; who recognise the importance of integrating diverse perspectives into policy and practice; and who are eager to expand their leadership presence and influence while paying it forward to others in their organisations.
Covid Considerations: The program currently includes two in-person residencies and monthly virtual touchpoints. However, due to the unpredictability of Covid-19 and other health emergencies, the program may transition to a fully virtual format if necessary.
Hybrid Learning
Learning Touchpoints are facilitated, virtual and in-person group sessions. Cohort members explore leadership frameworks, research & tools in highly interactive learning touchpoints and workshop-style sessions focused on dynamic practice. The touchpoints focus on personal & professional growth, relevant topics and priorities for health leadership, as well as their Leadership Projects. These sessions allow the cohort to share with and learn from each other.
Virtual Mentorship
Effective women leaders are championed by a network of strong supports, including that of mentors. We identify senior-level leaders from different backgrounds, health sectors, and disciplines to serve as mentors to the cohort. Mentoring groups, comprised of several cohort members and one mentor, are grouped based on complementary backgrounds and professional trajectory. Cohort members will be able to rely on their mentor as a technical and career resource during the Journey.
Virtual Coaching
Having a personal leadership coach is critical in helping navigate change and adapting to new challenges on the path towards leadership roles.
Cohort members are paired with an executive coach who works one-on-one with them to build on their strengths and address areas for growth. Leadership style assessments, including a “360-rater evaluation”, will inform these conversations and enhance each participant’s understanding of their own leadership skills. With this gift of feedback and support from their coach, participants can decide which leadership competencies to focus on, paving the road for them to be a more powerful and effective leader.
The combination of mentors and coaches is powerful as women prepare for the next level of their career, providing both professional connections and transformational leadership guidance.
In-Person Sessions
The ‘Leadership Immersion’ is a 3-day experiential convening that takes place a few months into the Journey. Through dynamic discussions and hands-on exercises, cohort members enhance their skills, apply them to real-world examples, and reflect on lessons learned. A series of powerful conversations will complement the instruction, featuring eminent figures in global health who have led transformational change.
The 2-day ‘Leadership Lift-Off’ event at the end of the Journey celebrates the cohort’s growth as they ‘lift off’ to a new phase of their leadership. Cohort members will reflect on their leadership evolution through the course of the year and present their Leadership Projects to their peers as well as other global health audiences.
Achieving today’s complex global health goals requires greater and more diverse leadership talent across sectors and countries. And yet women are an untapped talent pool, representing 70% of the health workforce but only 25% of executive positions and 5% of CEO-level positions. WomenLift Health will work with partners around the world to accelerate the advancement of talented women into senior leadership by investing in mid-career women and influencing the environments in which they live and work. WomenLift Health is about action – action taken by women, men, organizati... continue reading
| Application Deadline | 22 Nov 2024 |
| Country to study | Angola, Botswana, Lesotho, Malawi, Mozambique, Namibia, South Africa, Zambia, Zimbabwe |
| Type | Training |
| Course to study | View courses |
| Sponsor | WomenLift Health |
| Gender | Women |
If accepted, you will be required to attend each virtual and in-person learning residency* as detailed in the 2025 Calendar and to complete the deliverables associated with the Leadership Project. The JourneyPLUS sessions are optional to attend.
The time commitment for the required Leadership Journey activities (all virtual touchpoints and inter-session activities) ranges from 8 to 10 hours each month, except for the months of the in-person residencies. This estimate does not include the time required for the design, planning, and implementation phases of your Leadership Project, so please consider that in your decision to participate in the program.
There is no cost to participate if you are selected. All program costs, including travel and lodging, are covered.
Please ensure you have access to a computer and the Internet in order to attend the virtual touchpoints. Proficiency in English is expected as all sessions will be conducted in English.
You will also be asked to complete a “360-rater evaluation” and other leadership style assessments, which will inform your understanding of your leadership strengths and growth areas. The 360-rater evaluation will involve soliciting feedback from your boss, peers, direct reports, and others.
While the following are not technical requirements, our hope is that you will bring your drive, passion, and commitment to the program, engage actively with your peers, mentors, and coaches, and take full advantage of the resources provided. As our approach involves human-centered design, we will ask you to evaluate your experience and contribute ideas for how to enhance the Leadership Journey for future cohorts. One of the most important takeaways of this Journey are the relationships you form during this year. As many of our alumnae would say, “Behind every successful woman is an amazing group chat.”
You are eligible for consideration if you meet all of the following criteria:
We require participants to be living in the CAT (+/-1 hour) time zones for at least 75% of the program as we believe time zone compatibility is essential to your ability to participate at the touchpoints and to engage with your peers within and outside of the sessions. WomenLift Health is committed to selecting diverse cohort members, representing different sectors (public, private, academia, NGO, philanthropy), disciplines, and cultural backgrounds, etc
Should you have any questions related to the above, and more especially whether you meet the criteria or not, please do not hesitate to contact us at [email protected] and we will respond for any clarification.
For more details visit: WomenLift Health website.
