The start of another journey of shining a light on bold women

Dar es Salaam. It is that time of the year when Mwananchi Communications Limited (MCL), through its flagship business brand, The Citizen, dedicates two months to celebrating women’s success stories in leadership. We welcome you to The Citizen Rising Woman Initiative (RW1) 2024 edition under the theme Count Her In, which is in line with the United Nations (UN) tagline for the year.

Today, as we usher in the fourth edition of RWI, The Citizen has been able to tell the success stories of around 200 women from different backgrounds working in different sectors. You can read these stories by visiting risingwoman.org.

This year, we are more excited than ever to continue celebrating and recognising women in leadership positions to give a wider understanding of how they made it to the top, inspire other women, and remind policymakers and employers of the importance of having more women at the top.

For the past three years, through the RWI project, The Citizen has been able to inspire, recognise, celebrate, and promote a culture of mentorship among women.

At the heart of this endeavour is our commitment to help low- to mid-level female leaders face today’s challenges by developing women capable of playing leading roles in public and private institutions and contributing to business growth in a changing, competitive world.

“The Citizen as a media brand is proud to be part of a movement that gives women the opportunities they deserve. We believe in having a diversity of voices in business discussions,” said Bakari Machumu, MCL’s managing director.

He believes the influence of women can make a difference in the country, yet they still face discrimination, pay inequities, and remain a minority in leadership roles.

This project usually runs for two months, and on March 8, during the celebration of International Women’s Day, MCL holds a gala dinner convening about 500 women from the public and private sectors.

Commenting on this year’s edition, Mpoki Thomson, Managing Editor at The Citizen Newspaper, said RWI is elevating new spaces and careers as The Citizen continues to impact more lives through amazing storytelling.

Adding to that, he said, readers will be able to see women from different sectors talk about their journeys to success and the vast opportunities available.

“What we have noted since the inception of RWI three years ago is how it has evolved into a community. We have leveraged rising digital influence and created an online platform known as Rising Woman Online. This has become a safe haven for women to share their success stories and more,” said Mr. Thomson.

The first edition was officiated by Hon. Abdallah Ulega, who was then Minister for Livestock and Fisheries and then Minister of Information, Culture, Arts, and Sports. He congrulated MCL for initiating a campaign to bring about changes in our society. In his speech, he highlighted how the number of women in government has gone up exponentially during the past few years in a deliberate effort to meet gender parity in the advancement of the country’s development endeavours.

He said apart from women who hold a number of key leadership positions, including President, Samia Suluhu Hassan, the then Deputy Speaker, Dr Tulia Ackson, and Zanzibar’s chief secretary, Ms Zena Said, there were a lot of other women in other top leadership positions.

Rising Woman Awards

The symposium on International Women’s Day goes hand-in-hand with awarding institutions promoting gender equality. These are organisations with structures (training, policies, and systems) and programmes in place that promote gender equality at their workplaces, have women representation in management and decision-making processes, and have drawn women to top positions as part of efforts to ensure that more qualified women attain leadership positions.

The Awards provide a framework for organisations from various sectors to be recognised for their efforts in addressing fundamental inequities that hinder women from becoming leaders.