EWOM Harnessing digital power to mentor women

My experience in enriching my work via connection on the internet motivated me to think beyond myself and explore how other women can too benefit. The Empowering Women through mentoring (EWoM) programme was born. We connect women in Uganda with other women across the world for mentoring via digital i.e. skype, emails and telephone.
Empowering Women through Mentoring (EWoM) is dedicated to empowering women through mentoring. Our Goal is to guide young women achieve their life goals and become leaders.We believe that through empowering women as leaders they can influence improvement in themselves, households and community. Experience shows that women are more successful when they have access to mentors who can help them navigate the ‘unwritten rules.’ EWoM seeks to mentor young women from various backgrounds to achieve their dreams and to implement social change activities that change lives and communities. Young women and girls are looking up to people (mentors) for support: encouragement, motivation, inspiration knowledge and sharing experiences so that they can maximize their potential, develop skills, improve performance, achieve life goals and become the person she wants to be and contribute to bringing about the change she wants to see in her community. Mentoring is a voluntary life time opportunity to touch and transform lives and to nurture responsible women or leaders or independent women and we are proud to have such dedicated women. These young women (mentees) are from Uganda (Kampala, Kumi, Pakwach, and Soroti) between the ages of 15-30 years.

EWoM has developed the following initiatives:
The Young Women Online mentoring Programme: It draws mentors from all over the world especially, USA, Zambia, Bangladesh, UK, Australia and Uganda. We are harnessing the power of the internet to do mentoring through emails, Skype, telephone and letters for girls without internet access that is cost effective.

Women Leadership Mentoring Programme (WLM) This programme is aimed at grooming young women in leadership in their careers (with no exception of grass root leaders). We are helping women achieve success and be real contenders for leadership. Women in leadership positions are paired with young women who want to develop their leadership skills in a particular area. The target is to enroll 15 young women every year and a mentorship goals and schedule developed between the mentor and mentee guided by EWoM. Face to face approach of mentoring is used enhanced by digital power (skype, emails, telephone). EWoM programme is committed to accelerating women’s advancement.

Girls mentoring and sponsorship programme (GMS)
The GMS programme targets the girls from unprivileged families in secondary school especially those in rural areas of Uganda where AWoR operates. One such girl who has benefited is Tino Sebia from Kumi district. She testifies that it is the first time she has been in school without fear of being sent back home for school fees. Thanks to her sponsor Terri from USA. They exchange emails that have also helped Sebia focus and nurture her values.

Girl Group Mentoring (2G) Programme
The 2G mentoring programme is meant to draw women from different spheres of life to come together and share experiences and motivate each other. Successful women will be invited to give their life experience and motivate the young women. This will be done in each of the 5 regions in Uganda. The community library in Kumi will be used as a platform for mobilizing women for development programmes. Having an internet Café is critical to enable women connect with the outside world. www.aliasourroots.com