AYLF Female Students Leader’s Conference

As cultures change, there is increasingly a need for our society to strengthen and encourage the participation of women in all sectors. ‘Women are the largest untapped reservoir’ – Hillary Clinton. Research carried out by Africa Youth Leadership Forum (AYLF) has shown that approximately 28% of University leadership positions are occupied by female students. It is in light of this that Africa Youth Leadership Forum initiated the Female Student Leadership Conference; to empower and support young women aspiring to lead and those already in Leadership positions. We believe that these women will be the pillars that influence our community in the next decades.

Africa Youth Leadership Forum (AYLF) is a collaborative initiative conceptualized and initiated in 2007 by a group of friends in Africa with a dream that African leaders will know how to reconcile relationships, speak the truth without being religious or divisive, see people without labels or stereotypes and ultimately love each other and those whom they lead. Our aim is to nurture a new breed of leaders who will transform the leadership culture in the communities they live in. We achieve this by reaching out to student leaders through mentoring programs set up in Universities across the East African Region.

The Theme: Women in power: Overcoming barriers to support & Mentorship.

Shelley Zalis, a senior contributor at Forbes wrote “one woman alone has power, collectively we have impact” as she made an appeal for women to support each other in her famous “Power of The Pack” Forbes article. Yet achieving collective collaboration among women in leadership remains an uphill task. AYLF Uganda conducted a survey of over 50 female leaders (Current and former Guild presidents, Guild ministers, university staff and administrators) to try and establish attitudes and practices of support and collaboration among female leaders and below is a summary of the findings.

• Many women in power treat each other as competitors. This “Queen Bee” phenomenon is based on the belief that “there’s only room for one female at the top”. This has caused many female leaders who rise to treat others as the “competition” or the “threat” to their very own position. This “fear” creates division making support and mentorship a labored and impossible task.
• Women in senior leadership positions separating themselves from those in junior positions. For reasons ranging from not wanting to identify with the “marginalized” group or simply distrust, statements like “I work better with men” are common among the female leaders we interacted with. Consequently, this hinders the growth of relationships among women in power that could yield collective impact.

Therefore, AYLF has realized that there’s need for women/female leaders to be equipped and encouraged to support and mentor each other right from university as they rise through the leadership ladder of society.

 AYLF has carefully selected senior leaders whose experiences are guaranteed to help female leaders

• Foster a spirit of collaboration rather than competition.
• Learn how to build authentic friendships rather than fear each other. Senior
• Create safe spaces for fellow female leaders to share their challenges in order to grow and flourish together.
• Mentor and support each other and ultimately love one another and those that they lead.
• Take on more leadership roles at the university and after while counting on the support of fellow female leaders.
• Commit to mentoring and supporting each other.

Aspire to balanced success by paying attention to all aspects of life (Social, mental, physical and Spiritual).

decades.