Go! Tanzania Magazine’s Kenan Kalagho caught up with Mrs Scholastica Kimaryo, a renowned expert with various experience in leadership having served with multinational organisations including the UN. Mrs Kimaryo shared with us on what it takes to excel in higher positions of leadership for young women. Here are excerpts;
Qn. You have held various leadership positions with the UN, how was it like being a woman.
During my 41 years as a paid active duty as a national and international civil servant, I served some ten years with national organs of the print media – Uhuru, Mazalendo, The Nationalist, The Daily News & The Sunday News – as well as serving with the United Nations for some three decades. In retrospect, serving with the United Nations Children’s International Emergency Fund (UNICEF) for some 23 years was challenging, often heart-rending due to the suffering of many children from poor communities. However, working under the passionate and inspirational UNICEF Executive Director James P. Grant for 15 years was most rewarding. The late Mr. Grant had a big Vision Mission, Purpose, Strategies and Plans for the world’s children. He worked very creatively to mobilise financial and human resources, as well as national and international political will in galvanising global action in the best interest for children.
On the other hand, working as the UNDP Resident Country Representative and Coordinator of the United Nations System in the countries of my assignment was a completely different kettle of fish. This meant dealing with mediating processes around national and global governance concerns as well as with matters of international development cooperation. More often than not, I found myself engrossed with managing different national and global vested interests, with variable, measurable outcomes. Everything considered, I am grateful to hereby report that in the judgement of the countries which I served, I received very encouraging feedback regarding my modest contribution.
Qn. How was it like being one of the few Women Professionals serving in leadership positions within Tanzania’s Organs of Print Media as well as within the United Nations System?
Let me hereby declare upfront that from the day I was born, it became increasingly clear to me that girls and women in each and every society are treated with prejudice no matter what. So, my most important decision and life commitment has been and continue to be that if I were to get a fighting chance in this world, I would have to make sure I receive the best possible and varied educational qualifications and working experience. That way, my professional prowess, diligence, integrity, character and work performance would always stand me in good stead. It is like training for the Olympics: every aspiring sportsperson knows that they have to be better than the best, in order to stand any chance for winning. So, yes, I have experienced sexism and racism in the workplace. However, those experiences always inspired me to excel at the personal and the professional levels.
Qn. How did you come about Maadili Leadership Solutions and what is it all about?
My upbringing as a Member of the Roman Catholic Church locally, nationally and globally opened many doors for a solid foundation in education, from kindergarten all the way to high school. Once I entered the wider world beyond the confines of Church structures and systems, I immediately noticed that my Roman Catholic belief systems and practices were not always part of the accepted norms for fellow students, teachers, work colleagues, my bosses or political leaders. Whereas my religious beliefs were that things are either right or wrong, black and white, my way or highway, daily life realities showed me that between black and white, there is a whole range of shades of grey. Likewise, between right and wrong, there is a whole ocean of other beliefs, approaches and life possibilities. These realities have created many moral dilemmas throughout my personal and professional life. In the processed, I was forced to navigate these realities in the most possible way, sometimes causing sleepless nights for having had to make important decisions affecting people, in the manner in which the majority opinion, culture or even personal and public vested interests demanded.
In the course of my life, I also noticed that most if not all of us are struggling with similar life contradictions. Each of us, including you and I, have developed different coping strategies to make our lives better. In summary, I can say that we all realise that each one of us will die one day. So, the question before us is always about having to choose: to die on our feet with dignity as stakeholders or to die on our knees as petitioners, always conforming, going along in order to get along, never daring to rock the boat. Because on my Roman Catholic upbringing and also because of my innate desire to always do what is just, I invariably choose the path less travelled, especially because I know from experience that those who take what they feel is the easy way out also burn out, often worse than those of us who take the tough life choices because we believe that this is the path that will lead us to Heaven, to whose pearly gates Saint Peter holds the key, in our understanding.
And yet, during my four decades of working experience as a public service employee and gradually a supervisor, manager and leader of others, it was taboo for anyone to admit that they are experiencing emotional stress and even depression, at work or at home. As such, in all of the leadership training courses that I attended while employed, there was little effort to address emotional wellness challenges arising from work pressures or otherwise. And yet, I could feel the various pressures of work, as well as the question of How to balance those challenges with being a wife, a mother, a well-to-do daughter and sister who has to meet the financial challenges of my own nuclear and extended family. So, suffice it to say that I did everything possible to find ways and means to cope as an employee and all the other roles I played in my private life.
I also promised my Creator that if He was gracious enough to let me retire from the United Nations, alive at age sixty, I would invest a portion of my pension to go back to varsity to study about Mind Body Energy Medicine, for my own holistic healing and wellbeing, as well as for others. Hence the establishment of Maadili Leadership Solutions Academy in January 2011, upon my return for the Chopra Wellness Centre University in San Diego, California, focused on sharing cutting-edge knowledge, skills and tools on “How to Discover and Unleash Your Highest Leadership Potential: Mind Body Spirit. For more information, kindly check us out at https://maadilileadership.co.tz
Qn. From your experience, what does it take for a woman to excel to such high positions.
As I alluded to earlier – and as every Sportsman and Sportswoman playing competitive sports knows – the best way to attain success is to possess the hunger for success, to work on being the most knowledgeable about your profession, to work hard and to practise, practise, practise until your can visualise yourself winning. Any professional, man or woman who expects to attain success by being favoured by their employer is not likely to go very far in life. As they say: “Nothing Succeeds Like Success.”
Qn. How do you ensure that young women aspiring in leadership are nurtured to ensure they reach their dreams in public and international civil service, but also in the private sector?
This is a very important question. The first responsibility for success is that of an individual. So, any young woman aspiring to be nurtured to become a purposeful, competent visionary leader, she must first and foremost commit to excellence, of her own accord. In addition, she must be ready to do the work. As they say: “You Can Take a Thirsty Horse to the River, But You Cannot Force It to Drink.” In fact, a very real example is that, through my Instagram, Facebook, LinkedIn pages as well as the Maadili Website, I have a standing offer to teach and mentor anyone who is interested, to “Know How to Discover and Unleash Their Own Highest Leadership Potential: Mind Body Spirit,” pro bono meaning that I do donate my time and my professional knowledge, skills and tools free of charge. So far, it is rather sad to hereby report that almost ninety nine percent of those who have taken up that free offer have been young men. My question is: where are the young female leaders who wish to be mentored? Does it mean that young women leaders are not or social media? The answer, as they say, is blowing in the wind.
