ACIAR Mentoring Partnership Empowers Women in Laos
In February this year, two women were brought together as a part of the Australian Centre for International Agricultural Research (ACIAR) funded Meryl Williams Fellowship mentoring program. Both from Laos and both working in agricultural research at the National Agriculture and Forestry Research Institute (NAFRI) in Laos, the pair share a common desire to use their expertise to improve food security and livelihoods in their region.
Dr Chanthakhone Boualaphanh is the Deputy Director General of NAFRI and was selected to act as a mentor to Meryl Williams Fellow Dr Phonevilay Sinavong. Together they have taken the notion of teamwork next level and have been busy chalking up successes despite the ubiquitous roadblocks and diversions created by the COVID-19 pandemic.
On June 16th NAFRI celebrated the 65th Anniversary of the Lao Women’s Union, an important organisation with over one million members and constitutional responsibility for the advancement of women’s rights in Laos. With the support of Dr Chanthakhone, Phonevilay coordinated a Women’s Empowerment Seminar as a part of the celebrations. They reached out to another Meryl Williams Fellow also from Laos, Dr Daovy Kongmanila from the National University of Laos and asked her to come on board and help organise.
The seminar was a great success with 93 people in attendance. The audience heard from former Australian Volunteer Geraldine Yam on the topic of women’s protection under the law, learning about The Convention on the Elimination of all Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW), an international treaty adopted in 1979 by the United Nations General Assembly.
Phonevilay and Daovy presented on the topic of etiquette sharing both theory and their own personal experiences regarding the importance of societal norms in Laotian culture and how to successfully navigate them in a professional context.
Daovy told us that
“The event was a good opportunity to share different women’s perspectives. Even though we all perform differently depending upon our specific role and level of responsibility, we share similarities in terms of the challenges we face and the potential we hold. Listening and sharing my own experiences with my colleagues and peers helps us all to develop ourselves and move forward. Working on this wonderful event with Dr Chanthakhone and Phonevilay meant I was able to gain experience in workshop organisation and learn more about how they each approach their duties and women’s empowerment.”
The seminar had such an impact that Phonevilay was given approval to plan several more, to be held at the Ministry of Education and the Ministery of Agriculture and Forestry (MAF) later this year.
Just ten days after the event Dr Chanthakhone was elected President of the Lao Women’s Union (MAF) a role which will allow her to continue to support and guide women working in agriculture research and development in Laos. As President Dr Chanthakhone plans
“to seek for more opportunities and collaborations with other ministries to innovate a specific programme for governmental women staff empowerment.”
Phonevilay has also recently been promoted to the Head of Project Management and Consolidation, Division of Planning and Cooperation at NAFRI. Dr Chanthakhone spoke to us about her mentee saying
“Lanoy (Phonevilay) is hardworking person with creative ideas. I always welcome her to discuss and consult what we can do. Her recent accomplishments are due to the fact that she has been given the opportunity to develop her ideas and plan. Together we have created an enabling environment at NAFRI so that she could take action that develops her own career as well as contributing to other women’s capacity development and the growth of our organisation.”
The mentoring partnerships established by the Meryl Williams Fellowship are proving a successful way in which to build capacity and create new opportunities for the women in the program. Phonevilay says that
“The mentoring partnership has been a mutually supportive and cheerful experience for me. We have been able to utilise one another’s strengths and work towards a common goal. I’ve learnt that by leading from behind you can make great changes and have an impact, you don’t have to be at the top to be an effective leader.”
Likewise, Dr Chanthakhone says
“I am enjoying being a mentor in the Meryl Williams Fellowship. Through our mentoring partnership, we both gain benefits and we learn from each other. Mentors have many experiences to share with mentees; And mentees are still young but they are full of energy. This combination makes our partnership most enjoyable.”
The prestigious Meryl Williams Fellowship is funded by ACIAR and supports female international agricultural researchers and scientists across the Indo-Pacific to improve their leadership and management skills. The Fellowship contributes to more productive and secure food systems in developing countries by providing women with greater access to resources and decision making.
In addition to working with individual women, the Meryl Williams Fellowship program supports the institutions that they work in to identify and address systemic barriers to women’s advancement.
A critical component of the Meryl Williams Fellowships is a mentoring support program, where every Fellow is paired with an experienced mentor in her home country to provide support and guidance as they build management, leadership and professional skills.
Applications for the 2021 intake into the Meryl Williams Fellowship are closing July 31st, 2020. More information is available here.