From January 17-22nd, 2022, IGE’s Center for Women, Faith & Leadership (CWFL) hosted the 2020 and 2021 Hybrid Fellowship Cohorts in Amman, Jordan, for their second week-long leadership development workshop. The five-day workshop focused on three core areas of leadership development: Identity Formation, Practical Skill-building, and Sustainable Leadership/Self-care. Workshop sessions covered a variety of topics including: Religion, Gender & Identity, Overcoming Leadership Challenges, Sharing Your Story For Impact, Helping Skills and Self-compassionate Response, Thought Leadership, Filming Your Story Workshop, Public Speaking, Prayerful Yoga and Meditation, Social Entrepreneurship For Those We Serve, Art Therapy, and Spiritualizing Our Struggles. 

One of the key elements of the CWFL Fellowship program is the Capstone Project where Fellows obtain a micro-grant to address an issue facing vulnerable and marginalized populations in innovative ways. The Capstone Project gives Fellows an opportunity to apply their newly acquired skill set for the benefit of their own leadership development and the vulnerable populations they work on behalf of. The workshop concluded with a formal presentation of each Fellow’s Capstone Research.

In addition to the workshop sessions, Fellows benefited from one of the key pillars of IGE’s approach: relational diplomacy. During their time in Jordan, Fellows met with local relief organizations working in Syrian and Palestinian refugee camps, heard from a Jordanian archeologist about the ancient ruins of Jerash, visited the world wonder of Petra, and spent time at the site of Jesus’ baptism in Bethany. 

Later this month both of our 2020 and 2021 Fellows will graduate from the Fellowship program and join the vast alumni community comprised of 86 women of faith across 32 countries. Applications for our 2022-23 Fellowship Cohorts recently closed and we look forward to welcoming the new cohorts next month!