Confidence beams dawned on her mind when she attended a workshop with Resonate, a nonprofit social enterprise in Rwanda that focuses on a critical area often overlooked in social programming: women’s self-confidence.
Pacifique says, “I had many business ideas but I was afraid I wouldn’t make it. After Resonate’s workshop, I now feel confident. I believe in myself. I have even started presenting my business plans to people to fund them.”
Since the workshop, she has also used her newfound confidence to speak up and become a leader in her church. Pacifique’s story mirrors a larger trend of low self-esteem among women and girls, often referred to as the confidence gap.
From gender-based violence to unequal pay, gendered issues are on the forefront of everyone’s lives and minds.
As the world marks International Women’s Day (IWD) today under the theme “Time is Now: Rural and urban activists transforming women’s lives”, we can share some solutions.
The watershed #MeToo movement has become a formidable and long over-due reckoning of sexual assault and harassment around the world. Women are finding their voices and people are finally listening. But in order to see real change, we have to find a way to turn advocacy into action.
{{Activists on the move}}
Resonate is part of a global movement for women’s empowerment, but their solution is one you probably haven’t heard of before. Resonate is pioneering a new approach to human capital development in Rwanda and East Africa.
Through its flagship program, Storytelling for Leadership, Resonate teaches effective communication skills and the use of personal narratives to inspire change (see: Obama). Spinning Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs on its head, Resonate focuses on cultivating women’s self-confidence.
A woman can have a great idea, a micro-loan and support from mentors, but if she does not have the belief in herself, she’ll never actually start the business. Resonate’s workshops give women the confidence they need to leverage their skills to start a business, or run for village council, or advocate for a promotion – and reach their full potential.
Resonate was founded in 2013 by Ayla Schlosser and Solange Impanoyimana. Ayla first learned about the Storytelling for Leadership framework through her work in community organising in the U.S. She decided to shift its application from political campaigns and issue-organising to another means of effecting change: women’s empowerment. She chose to pilot this approach in Rwanda, where despite having 64% female Parliamentarians, and a high-level support for gender equality, such efforts have yet to fully materialise at the local level.
Upon arriving in Rwanda, she met her Co-Founder Solange Impanoyimana. Drawing from psychology, storytelling for business, and Rwandan storytelling tradition, they adapted the principles of community organising and created a curriculum to fit the East African context.
Resonate has expanded beyond Rwanda to work in Uganda, Kenya, and Tanzania, and trained over 4,000 women and girls. The results have been remarkable. A randomised survey of Resonate’s participants in 2017 showed that 45% had taken on new leadership roles, 38% had started businesses, and 24% had gotten a new job or promotion.
One such woman is Priscilla, who previously refused to speak up because she didn’t believe that her ideas would be hear or even be useful.
“Attending Resonate’s training helped me understand that I am a valuable person and that my thoughts can be valuable… That confidence helps me progress as a woman, as a mother, as an artisan, and as a leader,” recalls Priscilla.
She ran for and was elected to her village council and is a leader in her community today.
On the occasion of IWD 2018, Resonate’s Operations Director Ms. Claire Uwineza says the NGO is committed to taking its approach even further through its Training of Facilitator’s model. In collaboration with the SPRING Accelerator, funded by USAID, DFID, DFAT, and the Nike Foundation, this indirect delivery model will allow other organisations to easily integrate Resonate’s curriculum into their programs.
This approach ensures that women and girls will have both the hard and soft skills to improve their lives and communities. Resonate is currently piloting the Training of Facilitator’s program and will be launching it this year.
This is just the start for Resonate. For better and for worse, the work for gender equality is ongoing. From marches around the world to the #MeToo movement, empowered women using their voices continue to be effective agents of change. And nobody says it better than Oprah, who recently reminded the world that “Speaking your truth is the most powerful tool we all have.”
Marked annually on 8th March, International Women’s Day is a time to reflect on progress made, to call for change and to celebrate acts of courage and determination by ordinary women who have played an extraordinary role in the history of their countries and communities.
{Author {{Ms. Megan Madeira}} is Resonate’s Communications and Development Fellow through Princeton in Africa.}
Leave a Reply