Beltraide's 3rd "EMPOWER Her" training was held today's and the discussions were led by women. It was an exchange of knowledge, advice and testimonies on how we can get more women to lead and dominate in their fields as professionals. Jomarie Lanza reports:
These women from all across the country from different fields of academia, business, and the service industry, gathered together to participate in BELTRAIDE's 3rd Women Empower Her training, an event designed to build women leadership in Belize, with the help and support of other women as mentors. The Manager for the Belize Training and Employment Center outlined the training:
Sarita Bejerano, Manager of Belize Training and Employment Center
"So today we are presenting on topics such as transformational leadership we are presenting on health and wellness which is very important we also are speaking a bit on mental health, we are also having a panel on financial empowerment, one of the key aspects of women is how can we become financially empowered. Yes we go out to work but what can we do on the side to also get that extra income? We are also talking about what happens after success so we have curated an agenda that covers key topics that we often think are necessary for women to learn and to continuously grow in their roles."
Up to 150 women signed up for the event but they could only accommodate 75 attendees. The Minister of Human Development also spoke with us about why she decided to partake in the event.
Thea Garcia Ramirez, Minister of Human Development
"In Belize we come and they say it is not what you know but who you know and I think that if we were to mentor each other, bring another woman under your wing and show her the ropes the same way the men mentor each other it would really help us, each one bring one, bring a person up, bring another woman up it would really, really help and we would see more faces in leadership spaces even in politics because we would be mentoring somebody else, we would be bringing them into the fold I think it is very important it is one of those things that happens in business happens across the country in different sectors, but the men traditionally mentor each other it is very rare for a man to take a mentee that is a woman. I think that because we have so many women capable women now in positions of leadership we want to encourage them also and to having spaces like this exclusively for women to hone their skills, to you know just be able to learn from each other and from other woman is super important and I wish we could do more of it."
So what are the key takeaways when these women leave today? Bejerano says that they have designed a plan that will enable them to check back in on the attendees and hear about their progress a month or 2 from now.
Sarita Bejerano, Manager of Belize Training and Employment Center
"What are they taking away? Because this is not just one more event this is an event where they are acquiring skills and the idea is to have these skills placed in practice. So we are having them participate and we are also having them leave with an action plan/ vision board so that they can track what are measurable things that they can do and we hope to connect with them after a month or two months to see what they have implemented and what are the things that could have been improved as well so those are some of the actionable things looking at how can they grow, how can they feel confident and how they can sit at tables where they are not welcome and they can speak."
