(vibrant music)
- [Presenter] Over the last 20 years,
women have increased their presence and influence
in governments across Africa.
Through its Leadership Forum for Strategic Impact,
Yale University is working to enhance
the knowledge and skills of senior African women leaders
and to build a network of peers
and thought leaders across the continent.
The forum, supported by La Fundacion Mujeres por Africa,
The Women for Africa Foundation and Banco Santander,
aims to amplify the effectiveness and influence
of women in African governments.
- I'm very grateful for all of you
for traveling so far to be with us
for the Leadership Forum for Strategic Impact,
which is Yale's signature partnership
with Banco Santander and the Women for Africa Foundation
to build a network of senior African women
in leadership across the continent.
- [Presenter] Each year, the leadership forum
brings a new group of leaders to Yale.
Groups consist of numerous women
from various countries on the continent.
Its curriculum explores governance and policy topics
important to Africa's social, political,
and economic development.
Public health, environmental sustainability,
gender equality, economic growth, energy politics,
terrorism and national security, and globalization.
- You are women who are smashing glass ceilings.
You are women who are breaking barriers.
You are ministers, you are diplomats.
- [Presenter] The program provides seminar-style
discussion sessions, presentations, and meetings
given by Yale faculty, alumni,
and other subject matter experts or dignitaries,
all part of an intensive, interactive program,
concluding with a trip to Washington, DC,
to meet with leading figures in the US government.
Each year, program participants
join a growing network of African women,
who are working to advance the prospects
of their nations and their continent.
- Well, a diverse group, that we have today,
will give each one of us an opportunity
to share knowledge, an opportunity to share strategies,
an opportunity to realize that
where you are headed is where others have been
and have managed to achieve.
- You're winning elections.
You're members of parliament, you are mayors.
- I think the forum has been very valuable to me.
Because it has given me the opportunity
to meet African female leaders.
We have learned from them, their experiences,
which will help us in Gambia
to push our female agenda forward.
- [Presenter] Past participants in the forum
have included senior government officials
and thought leaders, such as former prime ministers,
ministers for gender and education,
senators, and members of parliament.
- The knowledge that we are getting
from an esteemed university like Yale,
it's very much an eye-opener.
The discussion is remarkable.
The professors that are giving us the lectures
and the questions and the answers
is really an eye-opener for all of us.
And I think most of us agree on this.
Having an academic exposure, political exposure
and networking three combined in one program
is extremely important.
- [Presenter] These women discuss and implement
strategies to help ensure that more women
in Africa rise to positions of leadership
to create an advocacy and training network
for African women's leadership in governance,
and to develop curricula for emerging women leaders.
They work to improve the effectiveness of lobbying
and to develop a new vision
for gender-inclusive education.
- You're entrepreneurs.
You're making democracy work.
So you're part of a network of extraordinary women
who are making a real impact in Africa.
- As high level leaders, we have very little time
to reflect, to examine issues in depth
that are pertinent to our work,
but are not necessarily within
our day-to-day urgent business.
So it's wonderful to have that opportunity
on an individual level to be able to step back,
analyze, think, and discuss with others.
Being able to learn from the professors at Yale,
who have a wide experience,
most of the women here are working
in very challenging environments,
and we are caught up in our day-to-day emergency.
So to be able to have a little bit of time
to sort of step back, reflect, analyze,
is very, very useful to our leadership.