SPECIAL REPORT
Leadership to produce strong female leaders through training
in workforce leadership skills; and (3) develop sustainable
alliances between the UNA’s School of Agricultural Sciences,
civil society, and the public and private sector that promote
the emergence of female leaders. The three-year project
was implemented in Paraguay in collaboration with various
partner organizations.
The Women’s Leadership Program in Paraguay
implemented eleven initiatives that were contextualized to
fi t the local reality by addressing the needs of faculty and
students and available resources. It developed new programs
and centers such as the Career Center (Centro de Desarrollo
Laboral); the Mentoring and AgroLeadership programs;
the internship opportunities for students in the agricultural
sciences program; coordination with public and private
organizations; and the partnerships with agricultural high
schools in the rural areas of the country. The partnership
program also provided gender awareness workshops targeting
students and administrators at four agricultural schools in
San Pedro, Belen, Cerrito and Mbaracayú. These schools are
In Paraguay, where women in rural areas earn the lowest
wages, and face greater societal obstacles to attain the
knowledge and skills necessary for the workforce, access
to higher education is a great challenge. Education alone
may not address issues of gender inequality and women’s
empowerment, as two other simultaneous conditions must be
present: “women’s participation and equal opportunity in the
public sphere and women’s diff erential needs in the private
sphere, particularly those concerning reproductive rights,
childcare and the violence they may experience in domestic
settings.” (Stromquist, 2006:154). 14
The WLPP strived to provide leadership and gender
training with the aim of preparing women and men to develop
the skills, knowledge and attitudes to pursue leadership
positions in the communities where they live and work.
The program provided resources for women and indigenous
people to access better opportunities in education, job training
and the workforce. A total of 2,308 people were direct
benefi ciaries of the activities implemented by the Women’s
Leadership Program in Paraguay.
* Author is a Senior Research Associate at the Learning
Systems Institute at the Florida State University in
Tallahassee, Florida. She is an international education and
development specialist.
Girls from the school walk through the forest. Part of their education focuses
on the importance of preservation and reforestation.
managed by Fundación Paraguaya and Fundación Moises
Bertoni. The mentoring program to support female students
and create stronger linkages between the high schools,
universities, and professional associations has been one of
the most eff ective initiatives established by the partnership.
Another success of UF-UNA partnership was the
curricular revision of the fi ve disciplines that make up the
academic programs of the college of agricultural sciences
(Agronomic Engineering, Forest Engineering, Human
Ecology Engineering, Degree in Agricultural Management,
and Environmental Engineering). A concrete achievement was
the development of the gender policy, and the introduction of
the ‘gender’ subject in each of those fi ve disciplines, resulting
in a new elective course: “Gender and Interculturalism,” listed
in the UNA/FCA 2015 Course Catalog.
14
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Empowerment - Theory and Practice’, Swedish International Development
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Malhotra, A. 2003. Conceptualizing and Measuring Women’s
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Ramos, F. (2007). Life’s Structures and the Individual’s Voice: Making
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Stromquist, N. P. (2006) Gender, education and the possibility of transformative knowledge. Compare, 36:2, 145-161.
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