Guest post by Ayla Schlosser, Founder & Executive Director,
Resonate
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| Ayla in Action: |
In the elections in September of
2013, Rwanda
once again voted in a majority of women to parliament. With women holding
64% of seats, that makes the percentage of female parliamentarians greater than
in any other country in the world. Rwanda’s government promotes women’s
empowerment, even creating a Ministry of Gender and Family Promotion to focus
on these issues specifically.
Despite the huge political gains
for women, Rwanda, like most countries, is still working to close the gap
between women in leadership positions held at a government level, and the skills
and influence that women hold on a community level. For example, many village councils do not
have any female representatives to take part in making decisions for their
community. In order to make progress toward gender equality there are many government
initiatives, aid agencies, nonprofit organizations, and businesses that are working
toward women’s empowerment and skill building.
That is where Resonate comes in.
Resonate empowers women and girls
through storytelling, working with them to build confidence, agency, and
leadership. By partnering with organizations that are focused on women’s skill
building – education, social entrepreneurship, business skills, etc. – Resonate
increases their capacity to develop comprehensive professional skill by
offering a customized training designed to improve personal presentation and
public speaking. Learning to talk about herself confidently and eloquently can
help a woman translate her skills into qualities of leadership, and open the
door for new social and economic opportunity.
Resonate differs from a typical
public speaking course because it is rooted in storytelling. The women who
participate in this course develop a narrative that draws on their past experiences,
and tells a story about how the choices they have made in their lives lead them
to where they are today. Through this process women are asked to open up – to
themselves and to each other – about the challenges they have overcome. They
are asked to identify their areas of strength, and present those strengths
through the story they tell. The curriculum not only asks women to view
themselves as strong and confident, but it helps others see them that way, too.
The first workshop I held in Rwanda
was with a group of 54 female college students who were just weeks away from
graduating. They had been in school together for three years, yet by the end of
the week that we spent together they understood and empathized with each other
on a different level. They knew each other’s fears and they knew each other’s
struggles, and their ability to share those things with one another changed the
dynamic of that group. “I have been in school with my colleagues for many years
now,” said one student in our final discussion of the weeklong workshop. “Always,
I just saw them as students. Now I see that each of them is a strong woman. Her
stories inspire me and help me know that whatever challenge we meet, we have
the opportunity to overcome it.”
The women in that classroom span
ten years in age and grew up all over Rwanda and the Great Lakes Region. They
came from varying socioeconomic backgrounds, and grew up eating different
foods, and even speaking different languages. Through their stories, though,
they were able to see themselves in each other’s shoes.
We cannot view someone as “the
other” once we have acknowledged who they are, and what we have in common with
them. Maya Angelou says, “human beings should understand how other humans feel
no matter where they are, no matter what their language or culture is, no
matter their age, and no matter the age in which they live. If you develop the
art of seeing us as more alike than we are unalike, then all stories are
understandable.” That is part of our work at Resonate. By sharing personal
stories with one another, and allowing those stories to create genuine
connection, we are developing the art of seeing each other as more alike than
unalike.
Rwanda has one of the fastest
growing economies in the region, their rapidly
declining child mortality rate was lauded by Paul Farmer, and they are
making steady progress toward their Rwanda Vision 2020
goals. These are signs of a nation well on the way to redefining itself and
improving the lives of its citizens.
Resonate’s program is designed to
accelerate this forward progress by encouraging women and girls in Rwanda to
advocate for themselves, and to be leaders in their own communities. But it
also asks them to believe in one another. Teaching leadership through
storytelling invites women to know themselves, and through sharing their
stories, to know each other.
I hope that Rwandan women, and
people everywhere, can begin to create a dialogue in which even those with
differing experiences can find commonalities and build solidarity through
storytelling.
Resonate teaches leadership skills to women and girls through a
training program rooted in storytelling. The confidence gained from
developing a personal story, as well as the ability to articulate it
eloquently, are essential tools for emerging female leaders.