Our Vision
We will do our part in creating a world in which being born a girl does not determine the outcome of your life. A world in which women and girls can use their agency to make decisions about their education, health and livelihoods. A world in which they can thrive and decide their own destiny!
Our Mission
Increasing the power of women and girls by developing capacity for decision making and action
Our Solution
In our training programs, young women and girls learn how to master the art of negotiation to overcome obstacles, achieve their educational goals and become active decision-makers in their communities.
Our mission directly contributes to the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals nº4 “Ensure inclusive and equitable quality education” and nº5 “Achieve gender equality and empower all women and girls”
Our Model
In a comprehensive training program, we recruit and train local college educated women to become Nego’Coaches (negotiation coaches) and role models to adolescent girls. Through partnerships with local schools, they are then able to teach negotiation to Nego’Sisters (teen girls aged 13-16 years old) in a five-session after school program based on four core learning principles: “You - Me - Together - Build”. Through their learning journey, girls strengthen their decision making, elevate their educational and life aspirations, and become active in the development of their communities.
Our Future
Our program began in Bamako, Mali, in 2020 and is now scaling up to reach across Mali and other African countries
The Research
The issue of girls’ education is challenging and complex, and previous interventions have yielded uneven success. Our model is based on groundbreaking research in Zambia led by professors affiliated to the Harvard Business School (Kathleen McGinn, Nava Ashraf, Corinne Low) in conjunction with Innovations for Poverty Action (IPA). It builds an effective case that training girls in better negotiation practices is effective at retaining them in school.
This study shows that advances in adolescent negotiation strategies produce resilience among participating girls, improve rates of school attendance, and contribute to better exam scores and lower youth pregnancy rates. The negotiation training helped girls influence decisions made about their livelihoods by parents and relatives and led to higher levels of educational investment without negatively affecting family relationships.
Our Story
Suadela Founders, Djénéba Gory (left), and Anne Thibault (right)
Meet our founders Djénéba and Anne, whose life experiences began in different banlieues outside Paris. Growing up, they both saw how women’s dreams can get deferred. Each resolved to set high goals for herself—and to bring other women along too.
Djénéba’s story led from university to work in Europe and later, in Africa. There, as a Financial Auditor for humanitarian and development projects, she connected strongly to the potential she saw in so many young women. Djénéba determined to become a true advocate for those whose opportunities have been limited because of gender issues and inequality.
Anne’s journey after university began with music, but soon led to education work in Benin and then to the Poverty Action Lab (J-PAL) in South America. Through this group’s Nobel Prize-winning founder, Anne became passionate about evidence-based interventions that offer impactful results. She also discovered her own vocation for gender justice.
Djénéba and Anne finally met at Harvard, where they kept seeing each other in the same classes. They had their “A-ha!” moment there, when they realized how the power of negotiation could transform young women’s lives.
Today Suadela brings these techniques to adolescent girls and women in Mali. The results are showing great promise, and Djénéba and Anne are energized to scale their program to the wider audience that needs it.
Participant Feedback
“This training has changed me as a person. Being a fighter by nature, I can now see conflicts in a different way. I am proud to work with Suadela to positively impact young girls in my own way.”
Mrs Sanogo
IT Engineer and Coach
“I was lucky enough to discover some very special girls. Each girl has her own story, yet different but sometimes similar to others’. As their coach, I would say that they are the ones who encourage us with their willingness to learn what they are taught and by putting their trust in us. And so for, they remember brilliantly everything we have told them.”
Mrs Maiga
Lawyer and Coach
“I understood the training well, it will be particularly useful for me to avoid arguing with my big sister or my friends. Now I know that I can always leave the negotiating table in case of a disagreement instead of expressing my anger "
Aminata Dembele
Participant, 15
“Through the negotiation training, I understood that, if there is a disagreement, I could use the four-step negotiation process to find win-win solutions. This training changed me, before I avoided subjects of disagreement, now I try to understand the reasons behind a disagreement "
Fanta Traoré
Participant, 13
The Team
Communications Intern
Yujia Gao
Advisors
Cahners-Rabb Professor of Business Administration, Harvard Business School - Her research focuses on the role of gender at work and in negotiations
Kathleen McGinn
Professor at Brandeis University - Executive Committee Member Program On Negotiation (PON) at Harvard Law School
Alain Lempereur
Founder of Moon Negotiation LLC, Kennedy School Negotiation Project Fellow at the Harvard Kennedy School (HKS)
Joan Moon
Trusted CEO Advisor, Coach & Entrepreneur, Podcaster
Dino Cattaneo
PhD in Biophysics - Expert in ICT - Vice-chair of Malian NGO Muso
Aissata Sow Thiam
.
Nego'Instructors
Her current research interests include gender and negotiation, and how emotions impact decision-making in negotiations
Michele Pekar
Tina Robiolle has expertise in designing, managing, and facilitating research and capacity-building programs
Tina Robiolle
Fahimeh ROBIOLLE is an independent consultant, member of the Institute for Research and Teaching on Negotiation (IRENE) since 2002, and lecturer at ESSEC
Fahimeh Robiolle
Nego'Coaches
Our first cohort of Nego’coaches, the Wangaris
Penda Bass
Nassoun Diallo
Aichatou Diourte
Rokia Doumbia
Fatoumata Koita
Adizatou Maiga
Ténin Samake
Sounkoura Sanogo
Mariama A Sidibe
Rachida Toure Ousmane
More Coming soon!
Get in touch if you would like to participate and become a coach to share the power of negotiation!
Partners
In the News
As a response to the lack of access to education for young girls and women in low-income countries, Harvard students Djénéba Gory and Anne Thibault founded Suadela."
BOSTINNO: This Harvard i-lab startup teaches girls and women negotiation skills
by Emma Campbell
Our plan is to implement a larger pilot to train 300 girls, conducting a randomized control trial that will help us rigorously evaluate the impact of our activities in the Malian context."
Harvard Innovation Labs: Venture Story
We’re empowering girls in developing countries by teaching them how to be rock-star negotiators."
Nasdaq: Ladderworks
Cela ne veut pas dire que les femmes sont moins bonnes négociatrices que les hommes, bien au contraire. Ce que montre la recherche, c’est plutôt que les femmes qui négocient sont en quelque sorte pénalisées."
EuropaNova: Interview de Anne Thibault
« L’objectif était, par le biais de la négociation, d’aider les filles à découvrir et à exploiter leur potentiel » Ténin Samaké"
Femmes d'ici: Suadela
