Women's leadership and gender equality: committed community leaders in Mandroseza and Andraisoro
On the 8th and 9th May 2025, the Antananarivo Urban Fabric Initiatives (PUA) team, in collaboration with the CUA, organised a training and awareness-raising session on women's leadership and gender issues. The session brought together around thirty community players from the Mandroseza and Andraisoro neighbourhoods, who had been successful in the PUA's calls for community development projects, at the Espace Le Jardin de Masha.
Strengthening local skills and voices
The aim of this initiative is clear: to promote inclusion and gender equality in the public arena by strengthening the leadership of women and young people in neighbourhood associations. Through practical workshops and thematic discussions over two days, participants were able to explore key issues such as self-confidence, personal assertiveness and assertive communication, as well as gender stereotypes and their impact on civic participation.
The first day, dedicated exclusively to women and young people under the age of 35, created a safe and stimulating space in which to speak out, share experiences and work on leadership. The second day, open to all community leaders, encouraged mixed discussions on gender equality and inter-association collaboration.
Concrete commitments to fairer neighbourhoods
The method used – participatory, interactive, and contextualized – enabled each participant to take ownership of the proposed tools and apply them to their local realities. At the end of the training, the participating associations symbolically signed a neighborhood commitment letter, expressing their intention to take concrete action, particularly through collective projects such as gender-based violence (GBV) prevention or the strengthening of “parent schools.”
This dynamic action, which began as soon as the course was completed, is part of the PUA's wider strategy to make public spaces more inclusive, safe and user-driven.
A momentum to build on
The evaluations conducted at the end of the session show strong support from participants for the content, methodology, and overall approach. The need to continue this type of support was widely expressed. As a result, GRET and the CUA are considering extending these workshops to other neighborhoods , while also supporting the effective implementation of the commitments made.
"Being a leader also means having the ability to deconstruct discriminatory norms and inspire change. These two days have given participants the keys to embodying this role within their communities. – Formateur, Edeny ANDRIAMIZANA