Nepal 2010

Leadership Training Nepal 2010 Summary

In October 2010, for the second year running, BEabove Leadership, in partnership with the Bright Futures Foundation and supported by Coaching The Global Village (CGV) and Coaches Care (James Komosinski), traveled to Nepal to teach leadership and peer coaching skills to a women’s microlending cooperative in the foothills of the Himalayas. This year we were also joined by Michael Kithcart, an expert in microlending and International Women’s Leadership to support our 4-day workshop schedule.

SCOPE OF WORK:

BEabove Leadership worked with a group of 25 high potential female leaders from the Jagrit Women’s Microlending Cooperative in Bhotechaur, Nepal. This is an increase from 17 people from 2009. This is a home-grown group of women who recognized the need for cooperative micro-loans, training and support to promote self-sufficiency and self-esteem in the local women in this remote area of Nepal. With some support from The Bright Futures Foundation and a lot of energy and courage, they have grown to over 150 women who pay monthly into the cooperative and have the opportunity to borrow money for candle-making supplies, goats, and other economic opportunities.

BEabove developed and lead workshops that help these leaders gain confidence and skills to promote the cooperative in the local area so that they can gain more involvement from other women. This year we have built on the knowledge and experience they have gained last year and offered an expanded 4-day program that also included goal-setting and specific training that relates to microlending practices.

Using three young Nepali College and high school student as interpreters, BEabove offered four highly experiential one-day workshops:

DAY ONE—Know Yourself

• Defining good Leadership
• Peer Coaching skill: How to ask powerful questions
• What are values? How to choose from values
• The power of who I can be

DAY TWO—Connect, Inspire, Serve

• Leading from light and dark: Taught by participants from 2009
• Challenges of Jagrit Women, day-to-day.
• Powerful Questions practice

DAY THREE – MBA Day

• Vision, Goals, Action, Commitment
• Goal setting
• Accountability Partners

DAY FOUR – The Power of a group

• What makes a powerful group
• Create a group symbol
• Re-creating a new version of “ I am women Hear Me Roar”
• Final Performance, reflection and Action Commitments

Workshops were highly interactive and experiential, utilizing many effective methods of adult learning, including individual and large and small group work, as well as practice of all skills.

Participant Engagement and Feedback

The women were highly engaged and excited to have this kind of training again. They participated fully, offered opinions and engaged in all of the exercises with no hesitation. Our youngest participants was a 5th Grader, 10 participants were from last year, incl. 5 of the main leaders.

We asked the Jagrit Cooperative group leader to hold a meeting with 5 other people from the core leadership group to find out more about the microlending set-up, it’s rules and expectations. This was a highly informative meeting that showed the courage and resourcefulness of the women, as well as the huge impact it has had on the community.

When asked what the main value was of the training, the women said that the idea that they would be more effective as leaders coming from a positive energy state (in our words, above the line) was powerful—this was the consistent main theme when asked what they got out of the four days. They told us that in taking the word out about the cooperative to the local villages, they encountered a lot of negativity, especially from male leaders and husbands. “Now I feel more ready and committed to stay positive even when I am being challenged. I know it will work if I am patient and persistent.”

Other comments about the overall benefit of the training:

• “I feel more valuable as a woman when I hear from my
  sisters their belief in themselves and other women.”
• “I never knew I was a good speaker even if I am nervous!”
• “This is so important to me, I want to change things for
  women in Nepal. This training made me feel stronger in that.”
• “The idea that I am not responsible to fix everyone and
  everything, but only have to do my best, makes me feel less nervous.”
• “I didn’t know that women in the U.S. have some challenges
  like we do.”
• “I feel like it is easier now for me to tell my story and
  not be ashamed. My sisters made me feel like I am important, and that
  my story helped them! I was very surprised at this.”
• “I feel more ready and more committed to keep doing what I
  am doing to help other women. I feel stronger.”
• “I know I can change things and help other people with
  these tools.”

Other Details

1. BEabove raised all funds necessary for travel and other expenses for this trip, including any supplies needed for the workshops.
2. Time spend in preparation for the 4 day training incl. curriculum development as well as the 4-day spent training were donated by the three leaders: Ann Betz, Ursula Pottinga and Michael Kithcart.
3. Bright Futures Foundation (BFF) provided housing in Bhotechaur, a suitable space for the workshops, and a translator for the workshops.
4. Coaching the Global Village donated $1000 and Coaches Care provided $500 which was substantial and generous  funding.

BEabove Leadership was co-created by two life coaches, change management trainers and transformational leaders: Ann Betz, CPCC; and Ursula Pottinga, CPCC. The vision for the organization arose from a shared passion for heart-centered leadership and living with joy, combined with  a deep desire to help others remember their innate capacity to lead and live “above the line.”

Ann Betz, CPCC, has both a passion and a gift for making teachings and theory real, understandable, and powerfully applicable in day-to-day life. A certified coach and experienced trainer, Ann currently leads the Certification Program for the Coaches Training Institute and is on contract as a leadership coach and trainer in Cargill’s High Performance Management Program. Ann is the co-founder (with Ursula) and former executive director of the non-profit organization AmeriCoach, which provided leadership development and training for young leaders engaged in community service. Over the past ten years, Ann has developed numerous workshops on using coaching skills in the workplace, effective leadership, the power of living from love instead of fear, and creativity. She has worked extensively with Fortune 500 companies, non-profit organizations, school districts, and volunteer programs on strategic planning, team building, and leadership. Ann recently relocated to Minneapolis from four years in Costa Rica. Her email is ann.betz@gmail.com.

Ursula Pottinga, CPCC, Everest Hospitality Consulting, believes in the power of possibilities and encourages her clients to create their life from a compelling vision anchored in their strength and passion. A certified coach with 11 years’ experience, Ursula was a successful leader in the hotel industry, working for major hotel chains in Germany, Belgium and England. She is often hired to help individuals and companies manage change and to lead with clarity, communication and compassion in times of pace, complexity and chaos. Ursula is the co-founder (with Ann) of AmeriCoach, and served a term as its executive director and is also a certified Prosperity Guide. Over the past 10
years Ursula has developed trainings on leadership and peer coaching of living from love instead of fear, which is the hallmark of Beabove Leadership. She is one of the founding contributors to Coaching The Global Village and the co-author of  a number of books and e-books. Ursula lives in Central Florida. Her email is upotting@mchsi.com.

Michael Kithcart,  is committed to maximizing the strengths of individuals and teams, executing strategic plans, and making a positive difference in the world by helping people reach their potential.  She’s a results-driven leader with a proven track record of creating order out of chaos, developing and managing teams and departments, generating revenue, and successfully coaching and providing consultation to executives to achieve their goals.

For the past six years, she has been dedicated to expanding her contribution to international development through consulting assignments and volunteer excursions that focus on microfinance, health/water, fair wages and fair trade, capacity building and community development.  She has consulted and worked with international non-government organizations (INGOs) in East and South Africa, Haiti and India.

Michael’s professional experience has also included managing and leading sales divisions, and performance coaching for senior management. She has conducted over 200 training sessions on sales, creative problem solving techniques, and leading through change.   Her work with INGOs has included: conducting field research and developing a strategic plan to provide fair wages and fair trade practices for Pakistani refugees with the founder of a regional NGO in Rajasthan, India; initiating a capacity building project in Malungeni, South Africa to help local women start businesses; and conducting a workshop on small business start-ups in South Africa.  Additionally, she was a Healing Hands for Haiti volunteer in Port au Prince, and was part of the team that developed and coordinated the Healing Hands for Haiti Mediation Summit in Miami.  She can be reached at mkithcart@gmail.com.

For information about BEabove, including an interactive blog, video clips, downloadable mediations, articles and much more, please visit: www.beaboveleadership.com