THE Embassy of the Republic of Colombia in Jamaica and Grace to Grow Global Mentorship Training Limited (GtG) have signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) to facilitate the advancement of women’s leadership, gender equality, and social inclusion in Jamaica.

Colombia’s Ambassador to Jamaica Emiliana Bernard Stephenson has described the partnership as an important part of the embassy fulfilling one of its mandates — the promotion of women and the integration of a gender perspective into diplomatic and bilateral relations, in keeping with her government’s policy.

“So this programme with Grace to Grow is an opportunity to strengthen the building of women who are out there trying to do something and to increase their capacity to do more. These women in leadership have the potential to transform Jamaica. So they are a very important target to push through this process, and that’s why we as an embassy are interested,” said Bernard Stephenson.

She added that this partnership is the first step to empowering Jamaican women so that they can further advocate for their rights and find their place in society.

According to Bernard Stephenson, Jamaica needs to do more to empower women to claim their rights in society.

She argued that Colombia is more advanced than Jamaica in that area, having passed multiple pieces of legislation to protect women’s rights.

“Colombia is the second country in Latin America, after Chile, to put through what we call a policy of external relations. It means that women in diplomacy have a very important position and also the right to participate. So we are promoting that. So I think we can do a lot. We can cooperate a lot with Jamaica. We can extend our capacity for training women and assessing women,” added Bernard Stephenson.

The ambassador further argued that Jamaica could focus on the implementation of initiatives to promote the inclusion of women in both governmental and grass-roots organisations as all spaces where women’s voices are absent must be accounted for.

She added that an alliance must be formed by local and international organisations to aid and assess the participation of all women in the country.

“I think maybe you have some women in certain positions, but we could give more women the opportunity to be in power. To have, I would say, an instrument of transforming society and be more inclusive… When you include women in certain activities, you are sending a message to society, and you can be assured that that transformation is for real and is for all,” said Bernard Stephenson.

Through the MOU, GtG will host a Leadercast Conference in October and a five-day Leadership and Culture Immersion trip to Colombia’s capital, Bogotá, in December.

The conference will expose Jamaican women to leadership insights through training and workshops, and the trip will allow them to learn Spanish, tour the city, and go sightseeing. The trip to Bogotá will also facilitate a cultural exchange between Colombian and Jamaican women to create an understanding of their different lived realities.

Founder and chief executive officer of GtG Heneka Watkis-Porter said the partnership came about based on the realisation that Jamaican women are “hungry for development”, but many of them are not given the opportunity to undergo it.

According to Watkis-Porter, through the MOU initiatives will be developed that will provide Jamaican women with developmental opportunities through mentorship and support.

“It’s a win for everybody, and I’m really looking forward to the excitement that is going to come from it,” said Watkis-Porter.

“I find that a lot of the women, particularly in the leadership community, are similar to me in that they love to travel and also love personal development. And the type of travel we [women] like sometimes and the personal development, we don’t have the budget for both of them. And so, when given an opportunity to pull away from the everyday things, then it’s an opportunity that women need and would want to capitalise on,” added Watkis-Porter.

— Kevina Rowe