Follow the Leader #SheCANLead
This is a Project of the Canadian High Commission in Nigeria that was co-implemented by Girls Voices Initiative in Nigeria in 2018. The High Commission of Canada, in a bid to participate in the global advocacy project with other participating missions across its Africa network, launched the SheCANLead Campaign in Nigeria. The SheCANLead Campaign flows from the initiative called “Follow the Leader” and the idea that the Canadian High Commissioner “shadows” a young female leader in reverse mentorship to showcase the idea that young females can be strong and effective leaders, #SheCanLead.
Girls Voices Initiative was selected to implement the project with engaging activities conducted by remarkable Girl Leaders. The joint events were suitable to help participating organizations to co-create impact while also serving the dual purpose of promoting female empowerment and amplifying the voices of girls on social issues.
The Project objectives included to:
The advocacy project, ‘Follow the Leader’ (#SheCanLead) was designed to host several activities that allowed a young female leader (A Girl Leader from Girls Voices Initiative) to project her leadership qualities while the Canadian High Commissioner followed and ‘shadowed’ her leadership. The activities included:
There were successful achievements from the Project and all the Project events witnessed rich and vibrant attendance, comprising public secondary school girls, out-of-school girls, and adults from government agencies, development partner organizations, diplomatic agencies and local NGOs.
The activities were engaging and received very favourable feedback from participants and the rich online audience that followed the social media post updates about the #SheCANLead Campaign activities. The Live Radio Show recorded rich and engaging feedback from listeners and the call-ins presented strong contributions and feedback on the importance of young people taking on leadership positions in Nigeria, and the positives of the #NotTooYoungToRun Bill to support Nigeria’s youth in leadership.