Empower.

West African women graduate from WM Leadership Certification training

The graduation ceremony included the awarding of continuing education certificates from Andrews University School of Distance Education

West-Central Africa Division (WAD)

[Burkina Faso] What an amazing and inspiring day! We held a graduation ceremony like no other I’ve seen. Seven women from five countries in West Africa graduated from the General Conference Women’s Ministries (GC WM) Leadership Certification training course. Each received a continuing education certificate from Andrews University School of Distance Education and International Partnerships, Michigan, USA.

The women took two years to complete four levels of courses, which includes 40 classes and the minimum 9 of 34 electives. Some of the course topics are in leadership, communication skills, professional appearance, how to study the Bible, prayer, visioning and goal setting, evangelism, discipling and mentoring, and so much more.

West-Central Africa Division is the first division to have such professional graduations. The colors of our gowns are the colors (purple and teal blue) of Seventh-day Adventist women’s ministries globally. I was so impressed by the dignity and formality of the procedure.

Imagine these women—some who may have never finished high school, some with college degrees—all standing side by side as leadership graduates. Imagine these women—empowered and educated to make an impact on their families and their societies.

The graduates will be sharing what they have learned as they lead WM certification training in their own territories. Women in the audience were so inspired by the achievements of these seven, they pledged to continue taking all of the Leadership Certification courses, in order to graduate in 2019 during the huge congress in Ghana planned by West-Central Africa Division. We hope to have 1,000 or more graduates from the 23 countries in this division of the Seventh-day Adventist Church. I can’t wait. God is so amazing!!

Tabitha Kra is the Women’s Ministries director of Eastern Sahel Union Mission with its headquarters in Togo. Omobonike Sessou is the Women’s Ministries director of the West-Central Division with its headquarters in Abidjan, Côte d’Ivoire, one of the five countries (Benin, Burkina Faso, Côte d’Ivoire, Niger, and Togo) within the territory of the Eastern Sahel Union Mission.

Contributed by Heather-Dawn Small, director for General Conference Women’s Ministries

Read about Leadership Certification training in Ghana

Published in Mosaic newsletter, Summer 2018