#ThisIsMyJourney Season 2 | Barbara Mintah Marfo

Barbara Mintah Marfo is from Accra, Ghana and is a Team Lead Manager at Ecobank Ghana Limited. She has over 15 years of Banking experience specifically Branch Operations and Customer Service delivery skills, Customer Service Management and Treasury and Portfolio Management. Barbara is also a Certified Digital Finance Practitioner who was given an opportunity to work as a Team Lead for her Bank’s Artificial Intelligence BOT called Rafiki.

When it comes to the most important systemic issue Barbara wants to address as a Gender Equality Changemaker and the Co-facilitator for the Gender Changer Maker course for Ghana she unpacks that one of her greatest passions is to see the Labor Law in her country change and to have more Gender Equality content. She states that her country’s Health Ministry advocates for Exclusive breastfeeding of all children untill they are six months, but maternity leave is only three months which is contradictory. When she was still studying towards her GEC certification, she was a nursing mother, and this compelled her to ask questions around maternity and the workplace.  Questions such as; Why can’t our maternity leave be more than three months? How do we exclusively breastfeed if we resume work, why aren’t there pumping rooms, no storage places for baby milk? Barbara states that these issues around the period of maternity often hinder the career aspirations of many women in their organisations. She believes that these issues can be addressed in her organisation, and she has started taking the necessary steps to bring this to leadership.

When it comes to the impact Barbara has had on her organisation as a certified Gender Equality Changemaker, she says that she was inspired to become a changemaker due to the belief that no one person can do anything alone and it will always take you inspiring others to make an impact. In the end, being a Changemaker means being someone who is able to inspire others, being able to adapt to the changes around you and being able to become the change you want to see happen.

Barbara has encouraged people around her to enrol for the GEC programme which she believes is such an eye-opener and provides practical skills for people to bring change in their little corners of life. Also, she has encouraged people around her to see things from a gender perspective. For instance, in developing a product, we should look at the people on the project and whether it is gender balance and there will not be any gender biases based on the team on the project.

The Digital Frontiers Institute’s Gender Equality Changemakers Programme is taking the gender equity conversation in Africa to new and exciting places. It calls for people who are brave and willing to take risks: to ask difficult questions and explore new terrains.  The 5-part programme is an immersive learning experience which equips students with the knowledge, tools, attitudes, and practice needed to undertake gender equality change projects, ignite change in their respective organisations, and beyond that.

This season of #ThisIsMyJourney aims to tell the story of each of our Changemakers and how they took the journey to becoming Gender Equality Changemakers. Each of our Changemakers offers incredible insight into the steps they took and how they completed the programme. They each take us on a journey through their determination, vision, and accomplishments.

As Digital Frontiers Institute, we hope that by sharing these stories we celebrate our amazing students while also planting a seed of inspiration in those who want to pursue their own GEC qualifications with us.

Take this journey with us over the next few weeks on our social media pages where we will be sharing a #ThisIsMyJourney story every single week.

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Share your story with us to also be featured in our stories of impact, by following this link.

To learn more about the GEC programme or enrol in our next cohort starting 1 February 2024, follow this link.