Creating a strong pipeline of capable leaders is very important for national development. It creates a succession line to ensure effective leaders in a country. This means that a society must constantly have trained people who will take it there.
There is no better way to develop great leaders than granting them time, advice, and insight from current great leaders. Leadership mentoring is a tried and trusted method for developing the best leaders of tomorrow.
Therefore, Rose Namayanja Foundation (RNF) mentorship programme provides a forum for setting, discussing and dissecting a path to leadership with someone who has walked that path before. The programme enables leaders to see what great leadership looks like, as young leaders are imparted in soft leadership skills to encourage them and drive them forward.
Learning from doing
Mentoring isn’t just about coffee, chatting, and verbal advice. Great mentors spur proactivity in young leaders, and encourage them to participate in activities, tasks and events which better prepare them to achieve their overarching goals.
They draw these young aspiring leaders out of their comfort zone into more leadership oriented environments and scenarios, and enable them to address certain issues they are encountering in real-life, putting leadership skills into real-life context and real-life practice.
Hon. Rose Namayanja as the example holding up the mirror
It is widely known that one of the best way to test your knowledge of a subject is to teach it. This mantra also applies to mentoring. As a tested leader, Hon. Rose Namayanja comes out to nurture young women and men with leadership skills, supporting engagements that increase their exposure and access to information. She helps shape their desires and aspiration in engaging in political processes meaningfully, through conducting town hall meetings, regional and national advocacy dialogue on youth matters and furthermore, seeks to prepare more young women to run for mainstream political positions through these mentorship and capacity building.
How leadership mentoring levels the playing field
One of the reasons for under representation of certain groups and individuals at the leadership level is that these groups simply don’t have the mentoring, sponsorship, or support networks required to get there.
It’s also harder for them to seek out inspiration in a world where people like them have struggled to blaze that trail in the past. That’s why the RNF seeks to break the status-quo by creating an equalized environment under the principle of equity between women and men through peaceful & transformative means. Hon. Rose Namayanja herself who, against all odds and gender definitions of society, managed to become a reputable leader, is pushing forward the values and principles that stand for equality-equity for all.
When female leaders mentor prospective female leaders, they can speak to what it took to break through the glass ceiling.
Leadership mentoring (and sponsorship) provides underrepresented groups.
