Leadership Drama at Hope House

Another Leadership Workshop started this week, but this time in the Hope House in Cajamarca. We invited 6 village banks to participate ( 3 banks participated in Los Banos in the previous sessions). There was participation from all 6 village banks that were invited: a total of 23 women. This time around I took into consideration the literacy levels of our women and added a new activity to the 1st session - Theater! We (me and my lovely co-workers) introduced the theme of leadership using Sociodramas and asked the women themselves to participate in acting out scenes from repayment bank meetings. We acted out 3 scenes to show the group different types of leadership styles. After the 3rd scene we reflected on how the different leaders reacted to bank problems and what is the best type of leadership we can practice within our own banks. It was a hit. The dramas got the women laughing and participating much more than in the first series of workshop that we did in Los Banos. However, to be fair, we are working with a different group of women this month. The literacy levels are a bit higher in this group, but the group itself is much more active and talkative. And, this made for a excellent workshop.

I received headnods (women agreeing with me), questions and really great comments throughout the workshop. A couple of my favorite moments were :

1) When Juana, president of Amigas por Siempre village bank, asked me during our brainstorming activity, "I have never heard of leadership? What is it?" I replied, "Well, that is why we are here. If I tell you the answer now then you will all leave and the workshop will be done. What do you think it is?" Then a couple minutes later she replied, " Isn't a leader a responsible person who is in charge of a group." BINGO, she answered her own question!

2) Ingrid (our super star computer student) asked me at the end of the session, "Isn't this a capacitation? Because we are learning new stuff. Does that mean we get a certificate at the end?"

During one of our dramas. Elizabeth, our bank promotora, is acting as the authority (president) and different bank women are acting along with her.
We did group work within our village banks, reflecting on a leadership story and what it means to be a leader.

Paz ~ Nora