The Dubai Women Establishment (DWE) has announced that its first Al Emaratia forum for 2009 will focus on women and leadership.

The forum was launched at the Mohammed Bin Rashid Program for Leadership Development (MBRPLD) auditorium yesterday (March 3) as part of the DWE’s UAE women leadership program in partnership with MBRPLD.

Al-Emaratia Forum is an innovative and important forum that aims at empowering working emarati women to discuss challenges and opportunities faced by the public sector from local, regional and global points of view.

Its purpose is to develop and enhance networks that strengthen knowledge, experience and skills in critical strategic cores of leadership and strategy; leadership policy; change leadership and management as well as leadership and effective communication.

“Al-Emaratia Forum is one of our key program components, devised to serve our strategic objectives to produce social and business leaders,” said Maitha Al Shamsi, managing director of DWE.

“Our intention is to develop working women who can participate in high-level governmental projects and serve as agents of change as well as role-model ambassadors for all UAE working women.”

The focus featured a presentation entitled “Half the Sky: Women and Leadership” by guest speaker, Dr Astrid S Tuminez, assistant dean of executive education and director of research at the Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy in Singapore.

Dr Tuminez spoke about the importance of ideas, networks, and values as general foundations of leadership in a rapidly changing and globalised world.

She addressed the challenges that women face as they forge their paths in life and in the work place, and as they seek to become leaders in their own spheres.

She also discussed the issue of finding meaning in work and sustaining one’s energy while managing the demands of leadership inside and outside the home.

As one of their means to enhancing the role of the UAE woman as a driving growth force in the UAE, DWE introduced the UAE Leadership Program: an ongoing initiative that is conducted as a two-year cycle of integrated program components, including Al Emaratia Forum.

Thirty-five participants are selected to participate in the program, comprised of emarati working women - potential leaders - who have passed an evaluation process that involves psychometric assessment with a stringent screening, selection and validation process.

The UAE leadership program’s components are based on four key areas of development:  leadership; management acumen; personal development and technical knowledge.

“UAE women leadership program is the first tailor-made leadership program of its kind in the UAE and the region, incorporating unique, interactive training methods that are sustained over a two-year period,” said Adel Al Shared, executive chairman of MBRLDP.

“As our strategic partners, the objectives of DWE’s UAE women leadership program run parallel with MBRPLD’s strategy to develop leaders with world class skills and expertise, capable of promoting sustainable development in Dubai,” he added.

Three more Al  Emaratia forums scheduled to take place in 2009, a statement said. – TradeArabia News Service