Leading

When we began our literacy work at WISH, we instinctively included the development of leadership as a part of our program. Empowerment is a key principle in community development and community-based literacy work. At the same time, WISH was just completing a five-year strategic plan that envisioned the participation of sex-trade workers in the planning and decision- making roles of the organization.

Although our goals were clear, there was no road map! So we began with what seemed obvious:

• We supported everything that women wanted to organize – parties, picnics, bingos. Our thought was that you use the same set of skills for organizing a karaoke party as you do for coordinating a health fair, so we started with what motivated women to initiate leadership.
• We reinvented our idea of “follow through”. This is a critical concept for working with homeless, addicted or very poor people whose lives are often swamped by larger forces. Instead of waiting and hoping that someone wouldn’t “drop the ball”, we tried to plan for success. We made it a collective responsibility to keep the ball rolling. For example, two women would take on one job knowing that between the two of them it would be completed. We split work up into small segments. We charted the planning progress of an event on flipchart paper so that it was in the collective memory, not just one woman’s. As facilitators, we tried to read the difference between jumping in and helping out when someone had done their absolute best.
• We acknowledged women’s potential. We never discouraged women from their dreams and we looked for steps, however small, that would send them forward.
• We tried to implement women’s suggestions from the WAG (Women’s Advisory Group) as soon as possible or report back the response from the Board or staff.
• We publicly applauded successes – personal and collective achievements, big and small – to reinforce individual and group efficacy. Powerlessness is such a dominant experience felt by women at WISH and other people living on or close to the street. We knew it was important to support all efforts to create positive change if women were to begin to exercise their power.
• We got out of the way! There are many women at WISH who do not need help with leadership. They are already leaders in other organizations in the community or their skills were developed at other times in their lives. It is important for other women to see and learn from these leaders without interference from staff or instructors.