Building leadership capacity amongst young Anishinaabe-Kwe through culturally-based activities and creative arts

Abstract

A pilot program was designed to begin to fill a gap by contributing to building leadership capacity of young Nishnaabe Kwe. While this was a small pilot program, the results show promise in building the capacity of young Aboriginal women by engaging them in a culturally based program aimed at building self-esteem as well as knowledge and understanding of Aboriginal identity, culture, and tradition. The literature also supports that many Canadian girls which included Aboriginal girls face gender-specific challenges that may include poor body image, low self-esteem, eating disorders, violence in their lives, poverty, sexism, racism and homophobia (Hein & Holland, 2005).