ChangeMarkers Peer-to-Peer Mentoring Pods are small informal virtual group meetings of 4-6 women working in nutrition and food systems. They provide a safe space to share experiences and lessons learned and allow for reflection. More importantly, they help create a sense of collective agency and connect women in nutrition and food systems. Women within the pods provide each other with peer-to-peer mentorship through in-depth discussions of ongoing leadership challenges. The pods also provide a skill building opportunity on the eight courageous leadership practices outlined in the Manifesto.
The purpose of the pods is to provide peer support for women to navigate leadership challenges and incorporate our eight courageous leadership practices in their spaces of influence to make changes in food and nutrition systems.
During the ChangeMakers Connect Forums, women had an opportunity to engage in small break-out room conversations about topics being addressed in the forum on leadership challenges, how they experience them in various contexts, and share advice and solutions to navigating these challenges. The breakout sessions last for about 15 – 20 minutes at most.
Feedback from the past nine forums attended by over 300 women showed that women enjoyed the breakout sessions, wanted to engage in these sessions for longer periods, and expressed interest to continue meeting in-between forums, hence the emergence of peer-to-peer mentoring pods.
Since 2021, 169 people have participated in peer-mentoring pods. We currently have 15 running pods in the 2024-2025 cycle. To support smooth pod engagements, guidance materials were developed and shared with each pod, such as the Pod Guidance Document, the Topic Bank, and the Courageous Leadership Practices Self-assessment Tool.
Women from all over the world who are navigating leadership at any career level in the food and nutrition system (FNS) space and believe in the principles behind our eight courageous leadership practices detailed in the Manifesto for Leadership. If you want to connect with other women leaders in FNS, share experiences in exercising leadership, and learn from others, this is a place for you.
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