MEET MS. MARY KIIO; AN
INNOVATIVE LEADER WITH PURPOSE
Qualities that define her personality as an
African woman of strength
Persistence-
When I believe in something I keep on despite the odds against it. I remember I
once was working in a team of trainers for media where I was the only female
for a few years.Whenever I said anything with regards to women rights, women
voices been heard or empowerment in the team, I was initially treated with skepticism
and was branded a “feminist”. But with time I was able to introduce a training module
into a preexisting training program on conflict sensitive journalism. The
conflict and women module was aimed at increasing the voices of women in media
especially the actors involved in conflict issues and capturing the unique
experiences that women go through during a time of conflict. I was also
involved in developing a strategy on how we could increase the number of women
journalists to the trainings we conducted.
Mary’s AWLI experience
My AWLI experience was mind blowing. From
learning about women’s rights, to leadership and how to conduct myself as a
leader, among many other topics helped me understand so many things I had not
known in the past. In my personal life I have been able to assert myself
whenever challenged on issues on women and her right to be heard and in my
career development I have consistently been involved in various forums where I
have been able to learn a lot on what is going on in women’s movement and in
most cases been able to translate it to the trainings I conduct and also in
telling stories of women especially on their health and safety.
Unique aspects of the AWLI training and lessons
you got from AWLI that have proved particularly effective on improving her work
with women
One
of the unique aspects that was also one of my major lessons was on the
practicality of the sessions. One session I will never forget is the one on how
to be confident when you present yourself in any for a. I was initially a very
shy person and could barely speak out my opinions leave alone even walking to
the front of a room. When I heard about how I could improve on my confidence I
made a conscious decision to try it. It wasn't something that I got immediately;
it took many years for me to build that confidence. The fact that I am now a
trainer and make presentations in front of many participants is something I
don’t think I would have ever achieved if the seeds of how to be confident had
not been instilled in me during the AWLI training.
The AWLI as a MUST for any young woman!
Would you recommend any young woman to this training?
Oh
yes I would. The young woman, if she is anything like me, will go to the
training expecting to be like any other training where many people will come
and talk to us and then leave but the fact that we were able to spend so many
days at the workshop, meant that every trainer had adequate time to share
information and took in many questions from the participants. If you are not as
confident as I was then, the trainers who stayed at least for a few days with
us and were open in their approach gave us the opportunity to have tea, lunch
and ask the questions one has. As one of the organizing officials told me, the
change for various participants happen differently. There are those who when
they leave the training have their lives changed dramatically but there are
some (like me) whose change will come later on but the main thing is that all
of us would be able to associate that change with the training we went through.
“Fuelling” the women’s movement through the years!
The women’s resilience in light of
the opposition they face. Also I think the positive stories of women who have
gone against all odds and made a difference that is attributed to the women’s
movement has gone a long way in giving examples that others can emulate and
galvanized the movement. Every stride made in the women’s movement is
celebrated and lessons learned and adapted to suite the various situations that
other women work at emulating.
New challenges and new opportunities facing African women’s organizing today
The internet /new media/social media
is the way to go in terms of providing new opportunities that women can tap into
in terms of information. I have been involved in mentoring women leaders to
utilize citizen journalism tools in telling the stories that the women’s
movement is facing. However the main challenge that this poses is that women
actors are exposed to is online insecurity as they are cyber bullied , have
their date hacked and face various internet offences. But not all is lost as
there are now tools that can help women protect themselves online.
A message for any young women
interested in political leadership in your Country
“Go for it. But please, please don’t
give room to people to say that they regret having allowed a woman to take up
the position and not making any change as some women have done in politics as
they relax in the throes of leadership. You need to do your best to impact the
change that will keep reminding people why they need more women as political
leaders.”
One thing you should not forget about Mary’s leadership journey;
“That I was able to make a positive
contribution towards a person thinking differently on a certain aspect of their
life and utilizing it. What would be even greater is if this thought/change
would go a step further in impacting their society positively”
AKina Mama wa Afrika (AMwA) is one of the four partner institutes of the African Centers of Excellence (ACE) for Women's Leadership program run by the Institute of International Education (IIE) , Ethiopia Office.
For more on IIE , ACE or AMwA please follow the links below.
www.iie.org/
www.iie.org/en/Programs/ACE-for-Womens-Leadership,
