Boosting women’s leadership and influence
02-03-26
For the sixth time, Danida Fellowship Centre brought together women leaders – this time in Rio – to participate in its Women’s Leadership learning course. Designed to strengthen leadership capacity and drive organisational change, the course offers a rare platform for women leaders to connect, share experiences, and learn across institutions and countries.
By Eva Pindeda Hansen
The room is filled with 26 women. It is morning, and the sun is just streaming into Rio as the week begins. Women leaders from Brazil, Honduras, Mexico, Colombia, Peru and Bolivia’s public institutions in the health, environment and digitalization sectors and from civil society organisations have gathered to attend the learning course Women´s Leadership Latin America. The room hums with anticipation, energy, and curiosity.
It is not every day that women from six different countries across Latin America come together. Even more rarely do they meet to share experiences, inspire one another, and explore and learn about what it truly means to be a woman leader, and be better at it. The atmosphere is a mix of excitement, engagement, and hope for new ideas, skills and connections to take root, with the potential to last far beyond this week.
When the Danish Ambassador, Eva Bisgaard Pedersen, opens the course, she acknowledges the significance of the moment. As a leader herself, she recognises how meaningful it is to see all these women gathered in one room, collectively taking steps to strengthen their leadership.
Eva Bisgaard Pedersen, Danish Ambassador to Brazil
It is Danida Fellowship Centre together with Tana Copenhagen that are behind the course – and it is not the first time it is happening. In fact, it has already been delivered five times, with women leaders from India and countries across African countries participating and completing the programme successfully. 171 in total.
But why is this course offered in the first place?
Achieving a fair gender balance across all levels of an organisation is essential for effectiveness, innovation, and sustainable growth. Yet many institutions worldwide continue to face structural, cultural, and traditional barriers that limit women’s advancement into leadership roles.
The course is therefore designed to support female leaders in strengthening their leadership capacity and driving meaningful organisational change. It is structured around three core modules: Leading self, leading others, and navigating male-dominated organisations.
Hear from the course’s trainers, as give their take and tips for women leaders, on each module.
1.Leading Self
Alice Kerr-Wilson, Trainer
Trainer Alice Kerr-Wilson shares one clear message: leadership starts with you. Women leaders are encouraged to take a closer look at themselves: how they think, how they react under pressure, how they communicate, and what kind of leader they already are.
It begins with understanding your leadership style: some leaders are democratic, they involve others and make decisions together. Some are transformative. Others are autocratic. Each style has strengths, but also limits. Leadership is not one fixed idea, but a range of possibilities.
The next step is awareness. Which style do you naturally use most often? Knowing your default style helps you lead consciously instead of reacting automatically. At the same time, there is no one-size-fits-all approach. Different situations require different styles. Strong leadership means understanding which style is useful, and when.
And finally, leadership grows through practice. Trying out different styles builds flexibility and confidence. It expands your leadership toolbox.
2.Leading Others
Alice Kerr-Wilson & Janeth Rodriguez, Trainers
This module shifts the focus to practical leadership. As trainer Alice Kerr-Wilson and Janeth Rodriguez explain, at its core, leading others it starts with knowing your team.
Ask them how they want to be supported, and adjust your behaviour accordingly. Learn to delegate by identifying who can substitute you and trusting them with responsibility.
Because being a leader is always a learning process. It requires feedback from your team, belief in their strengths, and a willingness to work and grow together.
3.Navigating male-dominated organisations
Karinna Forlenza, Trainer
Navigating male-dominated organisations means to be equipped with strategies to advocate for institutional change. Trainer Karinna Forlenza outlines three clear steps for leading in masculine workplaces.
Start by mapping your organisation. Look at the formal structure, the organisational chart, the CEO, the president, senior leaders. Understand how authority is officially set up.
Then examine the real power flow. Who truly holds influence? Where are the power pockets? Who shapes decisions, even without a top title?
Finally, compare the two and position yourself. Where do you stand in terms of authority, power, and influence? This clarity helps you see what you can do to strengthen your position and upgrade.
Challenges and opportunities
This course, together with its previous ones held in Tanzania and India, also creates space to reflect on the broader challenges and opportunities facing women leaders globally, and this year, across Latin America.
On the final day, trainer Alice Kerr-Wilson returned to what she called the “red thread” connecting participants from six countries – Brazil, Honduras, Mexico, Colombia, Peru and Bolivia. Despite their different contexts, many shared similar experiences: impostor syndrome, self-doubt, and the pressure to overperform in order to constantly prove their legitimacy as leaders.
What is important to know is that these patterns are not individual weaknesses. They are systemic realities shaped by organisational cultures and long-standing power structures.
And this is where opportunity emerges. When women leaders come together to share experiences openly, perspective deepens and confidence strengthens.
Alice Kerr-Wilson, Trainer
Additional text and edits by Elena Adamo and Vibeke Quaade
Go back to our stories
