A Study: Understanding the bottlenecks to Women and Girls in Leadership and Governance in Africa

1. Introductory Background

In Africa, leadership and Governance spaces and discourses are mostly influenced and taken up by men who in a way seem favoured by culture. On the long-term, the negative aspect to society as a result of this is that learned and experienced women are forced to do much more to access and influence leadership positions and discourse. Once they do, they have to do even more to keep those positions or have their opinions listened to, or on instances even considered. This begs the question; what are the existing spaces for young people to engage? With a critical focus on young women, championing for this requires that young people-led or serving agencies support this narrative in theory and practice.

Effectively, Wellbeing for Women (WBW) - A global outfit working around women's issues appreciates that whilst there are many young people-led or serving agencies, there is no deliberate policy position or action to front-load young women competitively, there are limited professional growth spaces as an affirmative action at organisational level for young female professionals.

Through its "Wa-Wimbi Campaign" WBW envisions that a radical action of transfer of political and financial power to young and professional women strategically provides a more stable, sustainable platform to achieve qualitative and quantitative growth measured on different spheres - local, national, regional, African-wide and globally.

In effect, this study seeks to formulate an advocacy agenda guided by the final report of this study which will be representative of Africa in an effort to kick start, own and drive a conversation aimed at countering the bottlenecks faced by professional young women's progression to leadership and governance spaces in Africa by 2025 directly by young people-led or serving organisations.

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* 1. Is your organisation young people-led or young people-serving?

Young People Led

Young People Serving

Both

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* 2. In which Country is your Organisation based?

Other (Country not in the list)

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* 3. What was/is the nature of your interaction with the Organisation?

Founder

Manager

Field Staff / Community Worker

Office Staff (Program Officer)

Staff in a Funding Organisation

Board Member

Beneficiary (Community Member)

Advisor

Volunteer

Other (please specify)

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* 4. What is the programming focus of your organisation?

Governance and Leadership

Social, Economic and Political Empowerment

Sexual Health and Reproduction

Civic Education, Mobilization and Awareness

Climate Change and Environmental Matters

Policy, Advocacy and Campaigns

Other (please specify)

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* 5. How many people work in your Organisation in total?

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* 6. What percent of your leadership (e.g., Executive Director, Manager or Coordinator and above) are represented by Women in your Organisation?

None

Less than 5%

5%-9%

10% - 19%

20% - 29%

30% - 39%

40% - 49%

More than 50%

Don't know

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* 7. What gender is the head of your organisation?

Male

Female

Other (please specify below if you are comfortable to)

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* 8. How many young women have Executive and Decision Making Posts in your Organisation?

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* 9. Does your Organisation have a Code of Conduct?

Yes

If YES, what does it (Code of Conduct) say about young women in leadership?

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* 10. What is the position of the Code of Conduct in front-loading opportunities to young women?

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* 11. Does your Organisation have a policy provision that binds it (Your Organisation) to commit towards providing an enabling environment for leadership by young women?

Yes

If YES, please name the policy and briefly explain how the Policy supports young women in leadership

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* 12. If yes to question 8 above, were women involved in crafting the policy?

Yes

Not Sure

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* 13. Using any number from 0 to 10, where 0 is the lowest level possible and 10 is the highest possible level, how would you rate the practice of the policy in your organisation over the past 12 months?

	10 Best Level of Policy Practice	9	8	7	6	5	4	3	2	1	0 Worst Level of Policy Practice
.	. 10 Best Level of Policy Practice	. 9	. 8	. 7	. 6	. 5	. 4	. 3	. 2	. 1	. 0 Worst Level of Policy Practice

Kindly, provide a brief explanation to your score above

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* 14. Give past or current examples of how your Organisation provides/has provided more Political, Financial, Technical and Decision making opportunities to young women in your Organisation

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* 15. In your opinion, on a scale of 1 to 10 (with 10 being ‘very satisfactory’ and 1 being 'least satisfactory'), how would you score your Organisation's support to young women’s leadership?