Back then…
2013 was a critical year for Joannie Bewa, aged twenty-three then. She was already practicing as a Medical Doctor in her home country- Benin. She had already been serving her community in the areas of reproductive health, HIV/AIDS, women’s leadership and civic participation for the previous five years.
It was this year that she was named one of Africa’s Most Outstanding Emerging Women Leaders by the Moremi Initiative for Women Leadership in Africa and therefore awarded the prestigious MILEAD Fellowship 2013. To kick-start the fellowship, Joannie participated in the residential three-week leadership institute hosted by the Moremi Initiative at the University of Ghana, which includes courses, mentorship sessions, motivation talks and intergenerational dialogues.
Joannie recalls her participation in the Institute enthusiastically. She describes the MILEAD Fellowship as an experience that shaped her as a leader. Like she rightly puts it, it may not have really been the content delivered, ‘what makes the MILEAD Fellowship experience stand out is also in the way in which the institute is delivered’. There is so much room for peer learning and sharing. For Joannie, meeting her peers and learning about the work they are doing in their communities as well across Africa and the Diaspora was key. It broadened her own perspective regarding the scope of her work and challenged her to multiplying efforts in serving her community. The institute was a platform that nurtured her professional aspirations, her passion and even her as a person; edifying the many facets that make her a whole woman. Joannie left the institute nothing short of inspired.
These days…
In 2016, three years later; Joannie still counts the MILEAD Fellowship experience as one of the most significant steps in her leadership journey. Whenever she is called onto advocacy platforms or to onto panels to contribute to critical discussions or every opportunity she gets to rise to the challenge as a leader, she has found her experience and profile as a MILEAD Fellow to be an asset.
Recently, at the just ended Women Deliver’s 4th Global Conference in Copenhagen, Joannie was speaking at various panels. Even at this conference, years later, being a MILEAD Fellow came in handy.
As she puts it, it is like being able to ‘network with other networks’. In the way that theory of six degrees of separation works- that everyone is six or fewer steps away, by way of introduction, from any other person in the world, so that a chain of “a friend of a friend” statements can be made to connect any two people in a maximum of six steps.
At Women Deliver, Joannie was able to connect with a number of other Fellows who were there including Vivian Onano, Kwizera Christelle, Bendu Dorley, Frankline Nadembega and Aissa Laouan Wandarama, Lorato Modongo, Hikmat Baba Dua. Connecting with these Fellows, some of whom were not in her year group at the Fellowship, in turn opened up the opportunity to meet with the people in their extended networks and so on.
Joannie also believes that being a MILEAD Fellow is an important credential and has been a very significant influence to her audience in her advocacy roles. ‘When people know you are a MILEAD Fellow, people lookout for you and are keen to listen to what you have to say’ she adds. In fact, sometimes, it is the very reason why one is invited to participate on a panel discussion at a significant platform such as Women Deliver for example. Actually, the examples are many, at the 60th Session of the United Nations Commission for the Status of Women at the UN Headquarters in March, MILEAD Fellows, by their virtue hosted an intergenerational dialogue on Enhancing Young Women’s Voices for Women’s Empowerment and Sustainable Development with an audience of over 300 delegates.
Joannie’s take home from the Women Deliver Conference was the significance of cross-sectoral approach to advocating for sexual and reproductive health rights and women’s rights and civic participation. Particularly regarding the promotion of women’s rights, she hopes to contribute to bringing various persons and sectors to the table so that it is not just a ‘women’s problem’.
Joannie was recently recognised by Melinda Gates on her blog as one of the six women whom Melinda admires for speaking out and advocating for access to contraception and family planning for women. Joannie has also been nominated for the 120 under 40 New Generation of Family Planning leaders.
About MILEAD
The MILEAD Fellowship program identifies young African women with potential and passion for transformational leadership roles and prepares them through rigorous training to take such roles. Each year Moremi Initiative identifies a cadre of 25 extraordinary young African women between the ages of 19-25. Candidates are drawn from every region in Africa and the Diaspora through highly competitive processes and according to criteria that include demonstrated leadership potential, service to their community, and commitment to women’s empowerment. As such, the resulting team of Fellows comes with diverse social and professional backgrounds. There is currently over 200 Fellows representing 44 Countries in Africa.