From July 2024 to December 2025, over 50 grassroots activists from six countries participated in WoMin’s 18-month popular education course, Women Learning Liberation (WLL). WLL became a vital educational space for women from Cameroon, Ivory Coast, Guinea, Madagascar, South Africa and Uganda, supporting their struggle against extractive development projects.
In Guinea, the 10 activists that took part in the course came from three development projects, including a Hyper Dam and a Powerline project. Living within 3 to 5 kilometres from one another, the women built powerful connections where they met and travelled together regularly to attend the WLL sessions.
Deprived of access to formal education, these women are deeply familiar with the violence of patriarchal and colonial systems. For them, learning is not just personal growth; it is an act of resistance against generations of exclusion.
We spoke with Laetitia, the facilitator who led the WLL sessions in Guinea, about how the experience transformed both the participants and her. Laetitia is a feminist organiser working in CECIDE (Centre du Commerce International pour le Développement), our local partner, to fight against inequality and to support marginalised communities in making their voices heard.
What key lesson did you personally draw from facilitating WLL, and how has it impacted your work?
One key lesson I personally took from facilitating WLL is the importance of Popular Education and the idea that leadership is something we build collectively. I learned that it is not about standing in front and delivering knowledge, but about creating a space where women can reflect, share, and find their own solutions.
This has completely changed the way I work. I now focus much more on participatory approaches, using visuals, storytelling, and role-playing. These methods are especially important in our context, where many of the women cannot read or write.
I have seen how these approaches make the sessions more dynamic and inclusive, and how they help women gain confidence in expressing their ideas. Today, the women I work with are more engaged, more willing to speak, and more active in shaping their own projects and initiatives.
In Guinea, some participants faced language barriers, and some were unable to read or write. How did you adapt WLL learning materials to ensure they were accessible and relatable?
When it comes to the situation in Guinea, especially the language barriers and literacy challenges, we had to be very intentional in adapting the WLL materials. We worked a lot with visual tools, such as what we called toolboxes and idea boxes, to make the content easier to understand.
Instead of relying on written materials, we used images, symbols, and practical examples from their daily lives. We also took time to translate key concepts like Patriarchy, Colonialism, and Feminism into local languages such as Susu and Fulani. This required extra effort and preparation before each module, but it was essential.
When women hear and understand these concepts in their own language, they can connect with them much more deeply.
What did you learn from this experience?
From this experience, I learned that accessibility is not just about simplifying content, but about truly meeting people where they are. It requires patience, active listening, and a lot of flexibility. You must be ready to adjust your pace, your methods, and even your expectations. Time management, for example, is very different in these contexts, and it is important to respect that while still guiding the learning process.
But I also learned something very powerful, which is that when women are given the right tools in the right way, they are fully capable of understanding complex ideas and using them.
I remember one participant who later attended a Climate Change workshop in another region. She was able to clearly explain the links between Patriarchy, Extractivism, and the challenges faced by her community. She even spoke on a panel, and the facilitator of that workshop later reached out to express how impressed they were with her level of understanding and confidence. For me, that was a very strong example of the impact of this work.
Overall, the WLL programme has transformed not only the women I work with, but also myself. It has helped me become a more conscious, patient and engaged leader. I have learned how to move from ideas to action, and how to support others in doing the same. It is a continuous learning process, but one that I find is very meaningful and deeply connected to the realities of our communities.
Making learning accessible through Ecofeminist Popular Education
From the experience in Guinea, it became evident that our Ecofeminist Popular Education approach had to center the needs of participants. In every step of the process, from designing to delivering the different sessions, materials had to be adapted to allow for meaningful participation from the women who we intended to support.
As the facilitator, Laetitia played a very important role in listening to and adapting according to participants’ experiences. This meant that she used more visual and interactive methodologies and at times changed pace. The learning space wasn’t hers to shape, but rather a collective space where everyone could learn from one another and contribute to the process.
In doing so, WLL isn’t just denouncing the injustices of colonialism and patriarchy in Africa but also works to create new realities where women can participate in and lead decisions about their communities, giving hope for generations to come.
This blog is part of a series highlighting the work of the Popular Education facilitators that supported this course.
