Bangalore, December 25; The fifth annual Tibetan Women's Leadership Program (TWLP) commenced today in Bangalore. Organized by the Tibetan Women's Association (TWA), the program gathered 27 young female participants from 10 different colleges and 6 states in India: Tamil Nadu, Hyderbad, Karnataka, Gujurat, Delhi and Himachal Pradesh. The students were enthralled to embark on the intensive five-day leadership training that seeks to empower young Tibetan women and train them to be leaders.Through five days of activities, we aim to create a space for self-expression, reflection and creativity, to facilitate the exploration of different aspects of leadership. The program will inspire participants, increase their awareness of and confidence in their own leadership skills, and encourage them to use these skills in their lives and communities. Activities will be highly interactive and participatory. They will include role plays, participatory workshops, interactive discussions and documentary film showings. Prominent speakers will also share their experiences and understandings of leadership.
The training seeks to give the right impetus to mould the young college-going girls, now novices, as potential future leaders. While the TWA core trainers will handle the topics on Communication Skills, Visualization, Goal Setting, Road to Success, Time Management and Media Training, TWA has also sought professional expertise from two established trainers, Mr. Xavier and Mr. Chandrashekar from Regional Institute for Cooperative Management in Bangalore, to cover the topics Attributes of Leader, Motivation, Personal Effectiveness, Positive Thinking and Team Building. The final day will include a full-day audio-visual practical evaluation of the leadership skills garnered over the past four days of learning. The evening sessions will include documentary film screenings. The evening of 28th December will be dedicated as the Climate Night, and TWA members will share their experiences of attending the COP-15 UN Climate Summit at Copenhagen, as a part of the Tibetan delegation to highlight and accentuate the case of 'Tibet the Third Pole.' Two documentary films related to combating the climate crises will be screened, and the participants and trainers will engage in a climate pledge.
Jigme Yangchen, a participant from Baroda, said that she is here to gain confidence and build the skills that are required of a woman in a leadership position. TWA President Kirti Dolkar Lhamo expressed gratification over the keen interest shown by the young Tibetan women in converging on a learning ground, and stressed the dire need for younger women to carve a niche as leaders with an unfeigned fervor and a renewed conviction.
Tibetan Women's Association is the most powerful Women's Organization in Tibetan History and the only Women's NGO that advocates the human rights for Tibetan women inside Tibet and the empowerment of Tibetan women in exile. This young Tibetan women's leadership training fits in the paradigm of TWA's empowerment goals and the successive trainings also herald the presence of women in the leadership frontier achieving much in both the domestic and international realm. The 5th annual TWLP is a potent milestone in inspiring the young Tibetan women to effectively and successfully tread the path of leadership.
"Its now time for she-roes"
Charlotte Bunch rightly said that "whether there are innately female leadership styles... is not really the right question. It is more important to ask why there has been so little attention paid to women leaders over the years as well as why the styles of leading more often exhibited by women are particularly useful at this critical moment in history."
