Emerging Leaders
Partners: Karen Women’s Org.(KWO) & Women’s League of Burma (WLB)
Country: Thai-Burma Border
The Emerging Leaders program on the Thai/Burma border provides young refugee women from ethnic minority groups who have fled Burma with the opportunity to further develop their capacity and confidence to become future civil and political leaders. The overall goal of the program is to increase and enhance the participation of young women from Burma in civil and political leadership and decision making by educating, preparing and equipping them with the skills that will enable them to participate more equally in structures which are currently dominated by men. To achieve this, the initial phase of the program was to develop a comprehensive curriculum and provide a training of trainers to strengthen the expertise of the women who facilitate the Emerging Leaders program.
The program is implemented through two separate Emerging Leaders schools. One run by the WLB, a 6 month course located in Chiang Mai, and the other school is run by the KWO in Mae Sariang for 10 months.
Topics covered in the courses include: geopolitics of the region, UN systems and mechanisms, structures and policies, governance and democracy issues, gender and human rights issues, advocacy, public speaking, presentation and media skills.
Project Objectives
- Increase women’s political and social participation and promote their active participation in the movements for democracy, peace and gender equity
- Build the leadership capacity and confidence of young women, and their representation at public forums alongside men
- Raise awareness on the importance of women’s political participation
- Increase the number of feminist politicians by training women to become political leaders
- Develop women’s networking capacities amongst different ethnic groups and women’s organisations working on Burma and women’s issues
This project is funded by The Robert Christie Foundation.
