News

Twenty eight participants from Ghana, Liberia and Nigeria came together in Accra, Ghana on the 15th and 16th of June, 2016, for the Opening Workshop of the UNI Africa Mentoring Program.

The Mentoring Program began in Europe in 2013 to encourage all affiliates to prepare women and young women to take over leadership roles in the future by giving them experience and sharing information. More than 180 women from Europe, Asia and Americas have been working on the program since it first launched in 2013 and thanks to the multiplying character of the program, it is constantly growing.

Tandems made up of Mentees (young women) and Mentors (more experienced women unionists), work together in carrying out union work and activities that will help them both gain more skills and build leaders for the future.

During the two days of the Opening Workshop, the participants engaged in active discussions regarding the program and its objectives, as well as training in organizing women in unions and gender mainstreaming in union work. The roles of the Mentor and the Mentee were clarified as well as the responsibilities they, as tandems, have to report back on their activities as part of the follow up process of the program.

The participants also had the opportunity to meet each other, discuss their objectives, their challenges and share their fears. In a final activity, they were asked to set one activity that would allow them to give start to this program and which would set a guideline for activities to come.

Lively discussions, active participation and lots of energy and motivation from the participants made this new launch a success.