Women and Leadership Program (WLP)
Strengthening Women’s Voice, Leadership, And Participation
Overview
Launched with FOWODE’s founding in 1995, the Women and Leadership Programme (WLP) is FOWODE’s flagship initiative. We equip women with skills, knowledge, and networks to transform public policy and decision-making. FOWODE is building a critical mass of bold, value-driven women leaders across all sectors to contribute towards a sustainable, transformative feminist movement.
FOWODE remains a key player in the women’s movement and is part of a history that opened the way for thousands of women to have a voice in the public arena. We have enhanced the capacities of over 30,000 women leaders to challenge subtle but engrained systems of oppression, leading to increased gender responsive policies, laws and budgets.
WHAT WE DO
Nurture Bold Women Leaders Committed to Gender Transformative Action
FOWODE is building a critical mass of bold, value-driven and transformative women leaders through enhancing their capacities for effective campaign management, legislative engagement and gender responsive policy influence.
FOWODE acknowledges that economic empowerment is a key catalyst to women’s effective participation in decision making and therefore prioritises initiatives that enhance women’s resources.
Our commitment is built on a legacy of institutional impact. As the architects of the women’s caucus model in Uganda, FOWODE continues to champion
this collective approach to power. We foster linkages between our work at the grassroots and advocacy initiatives at all levels
Mentor for Alternative and Transformative Leadership
We believe that it is critical to create a new generation of leaders with the ability to confidently advance gender equality, social justice and to shape agendas. Since 2004, FOWODE has nurtured a new generation of over 1000 bold and value-driven feminist trailblazers through our Alternative and Transformative Leadership Camps.
We are igniting a powerful collective of young leaders and gender justice champions who dare to disrupt the status quo, amplify marginalized voices, and dismantle systems of inequality.
From university activism to parliamentary halls, FOWODE alumni are rewriting Uganda’s future. Our unstoppable alumni are now driving progress in politics, business, academia, and grassroots communities. Majority of the alumni are the policymakers challenging sexist norms, the entrepreneurs uplifting marginalized women, and the community organizers turning advocacy into action.
Check out some our alumni stories here: https://fowode.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/03/THE-GIRL-BRAND.pdf
FOWODE Young Leaders Alumni Association (FYLAA)
To sustain the connections, coordination and strengthen intergenerational mentorship of trainees across the years, the alumni formed the FOWODE Young Leaders Alumni Association (FYLAA). The Association envisions “A transformed society where women and men uphold the ideals of social justice and gender equality”.
With over 200 members, FYLAA is evolving into a movement where pro-women and pro-poor values aren’t just ideals, but the bedrock of transformative change in communities.
Boost Civic Engagement for Gender Equality
FOWODE ignites civic power to nurture a supportive environment for women to thrive in leadership. We engage communities to address patriarchal cultural and traditional stereotypes that inhibit women from achieving their full potential.
Through multimedia campaigns and community networks, we fuel feminist consciousness and activism which has accelerated women’s agency and leadership. To reawaken citizen’s voice and demand for gender responsive governance, FOWODE curates community spaces with organised and informal citizen formations. These spaces have contributed to strengthening democratic processes that centre women’s voice.
We work with selected schools to nurture young girls and boys into champions gender equality.