Success Story
Dodoma Girls’ Leadership Conference: Using the Power of Education to Influence
the Lives of Secondary School Girls
April 16 – April 20, 2012
Written by: Melinda Bothe PCV- Kiteto
Female secondary school students are arguably the subgroup of the population who can contribute
the most to the progression of themselves, and of the Tanzanian society as a whole. They are role models
and caretakers to their younger sisters and brothers, as well as future leaders in the community. As potential
mothers, the knowledge they gain will inevitably be transferred down to the next generation. Because of
this position, the current information gap and health issues in Tanzania can be minimized if these women
are provided with the appropriate HIV/AIDS education and life and leadership skills. To take advantage of
this opportunity, a team of 2 District Education Offices, 6 schools, and 10 Peace Corps Volunteers from the
Dodoma and Manyara regions came together to plan and host the first annual Girls’ Leadership Conference
of 2012 in Dodoma town.
According to the 40 participants, chaperones, and facilitators, the conference was an overall
success. On Sunday April, 15th the students and chaperones of 6 schools who arrived at the CCT-Dodoma
began a full of introductions, team-building games, and
icebreakers. The following Monday was day 1 of the
conference which consisted of an opening speech from the
Tanzanian female director of the UN-World Food Program,
educational sessions on HIV transmission and condom
demonstrations. The girls remarked on how fun the
educational sessions were because of the PSI facilitator. The
participants also began to log their thoughts into their
journals and they decorated their envelopes in which the
other girls and facilitators can insert personalized letters and
drawings throughout the week. I believe opening these
envelopes on the last day of the conference was one of
everyone’s favorite parts of the program.
Day 2 was a day devoted to being a woman. We
began with sessions on women’s health and the menstrual
cycle, followed by methods of family planning and pad
making. After lunch we discussed gender roles and the issue
of gender inequality found here in Tanzania, and most
importantly, relationship communication. The sessions were
filled with hands-on learning activities and games along
with highly entertaining ice breakers between each session.
We finished the day with a small khanga fashion show after
dinner.
Day 3 was appropriately themed ‘Be a Leader’ as it
Top picture: Team-building game
Bottom picture: Putting the final touches on their
was filled with leadership and goal-planning sessions. After
letter envelopes
lunch we hosted a career panel which consisted of 3 female
Tanzanian professionals: a lawyer, a university professor, and a
school teacher. I believe this was one of the most successful parts of the conference because not only did it
introduce the girls to an array of career choices, but also because the professionals came from very hard and
impoverished backgrounds. The girls appreciated talking to the panel and the questions continued even into
an hour after the session was scheduled to be finished. After dinner the girls participated in a talent show,
with the chaperones as the judges.
The final day of the conference was dedicated to bringing the information they learned throughout
the week home and back into their schools. The facilitators from each school worked with the girls to plan
an informational schedule to teach their fellow classmates and had them present to us a mock-session on
their topic of choice. The last day was finished with a certification ceremony and a dance party.
Hands-on Menstrual Pad making Session
Student asking the Career Panel a Question
The following day, April 20th , the girls exchanged contacts and hugs and returned home, however,
it wasn’t the last of the accomplishments of the Leadership Conference. The girls from each school went
back as peer leaders to host their own educational sessions to their class mates. For a couple schools the
girls even started their own FEMA club, which meet once a week. The volunteers provided them with the
hand-outs, pad-making supplies, and teaching aids needed to continue the project. The girls themselves
were very happy to have this responsibility:
“Madam, May we have the materials to begin our AIDS presentation during the
morning assembly tomorrow?”
The above is a quote from a form 3 student Khadija Ramadhani at Kiteto Secondary who insisted that they
start the following week. When I remarked on how impressed I was with her ambition, she replied that she
was blessed enough to go to the conference that it is only her duty to teach her friends. It is this
appreciation that I see among many Tanzanian students that confirm the success of a leadership conference;
not only because of the information provided, but simply because of the individual attention and fun the
girls have throughout the event. The benefits can also be factually substantiated by the improvement of an
average of 26% on the pre and post exams given to the participants before and after the conference.
It is our hopes that the Dodoma Girls’ Leadership conference will continue once a year to train a
new group of girls to become peer leaders. The majority of the success can be contributed to the fact that
we had as many Tanzanian facilitators as possible to ensure that the cultural norms were followed and to
eliminate the language barrier. We hope that this set-up will be repeated in the future. Currently, the Peace
Corps volunteers are in the position to plan the conference and to request for funds, but, to ensure
sustainability, it is a major goal of teaching members of the Tanzanian government and schools how a
conference of this magnitude can be accomplished locally and with the same results. The excitement found
in the government members who participated in the planning of this first conference show that this goal is
very reachable.
The above pictures are of mini-conferences hosted at a
primary (left) and secondary (right) school in Mpwapwa.