It’s time to step up into your own power and potential

In 2011 we partnered with not-for-profit The Hunger Project Australia, and out of that grew the Business Chicks Immersion Program – a fully immersive six-day trip that has proven completely transformative for all involved.

If you’re ready to play a bigger game and step up into your own power and true leadership potential, this is your opportunity. If you have ever wanted to do something that makes a difference, that changes who you are and who you could be, then this is what you need. The process of transformation and leadership starts with your commitment to fundraise or personally invest a minimum of $10,000 to The Hunger Project Australia, which goes directly toward empowering women and men to end global hunger.

Venture on a journey to unlock your creativity, leadership, and entrepreneurialism in tandem with some of the poorest and most marginalised women in the world. Both Business Chicks and The Hunger Project believe in the same thing – supporting and developing women leaders and creating a space for women to connect, stretch and make a difference in the world.

Anyone can be a leader. Your job title plays no part in this. The trip is a very personal journey of discovery that will ignite endless possibility, help you grow, smash your fears – and (we’re not being dramatic when we say) change your life.

Apply now

Join us in Ghana in April 2020

How it works

Your life changing journey begins by completing an application, followed by a pre-trip interview and selection process. You must already be, or join as, a Premium member of Business Chicks to be one of the 20 women selected. You must also have an active membership at the time the trip occurs.

The process of transformation and leadership starts with your commitment to fundraise or personally invest a minimum of $10,000 to The Hunger Project Australia. This is an act of leadership itself, and will have you shift gears and take actions that stretch you big time. You’ll become an expert in having bold and courageous conversations. And reaching your target will make you realise what you’re capable of, but it’s only just the beginning.

Prior to departure, you’ll take part in facilitated webinars and teleconferences to start unpacking important leadership lessons, offer support, and learn about the pillars of The Hunger Project’s work.

You’ll witness the transformation of village women from non-literate, softly-spoken, subjugated individuals to powerful leaders who come to understand that they are the key to ending poverty and hunger for their communities. Through observing the women trained by The Hunger Project and relating the experience back to personal circumstances, new possibilities arise that will have you explore your role and your place in the world.

During the six day program, facilitated workshops will be held on the ground, and connections and relationships are formed in an exquisite and rich tapestry of love, strength and commitment. The essence of The Hunger Project comes alive as you overcome barriers and break through beliefs to what is truly possible when we come together in a shared and transformational way. You’ll be introduced to a new way of helping people that’s sustainable and goes far beyond aid and charity, and the experience is both profound and life enriching.

Interested?

Apply now

Not quite ready to apply, but want to know more? Get in touch here.

The information you need to know

2020 Dates

Arrival: 25 April

Fly into Ghana International Airport and welcome dinner

Program dates: 26 April – 1 May

Including facilitated workshops, field days and village visits

Departure: 1 May

Program close and departure from Ghana International Airport in the evening

Fundraising Target

$10,000 minimum

Additional Costs

$3,500 on-ground costs.
Excludes flights, vaccinations, visas and insurance.

Minimum Age

18 years old.
(younger applicants considered on application)

Included

Accommodation for program dates listed
Airport transfers in Ghana upon program arrival & departure
All group meals as per itinerary
Bottled water and snacks
Private transport throughout Ghana
All workshops and community visits included in itinerary
Celebration dinner
THP Ghana Program Staff including translators
Program facilitator and support staff
Basic first aid kit

Not included

International flights
Travel excursions not listed in itinerary
Travel insurance (compulsory)
Vaccinations (please consult a travel vaccination specialist for up to date information)
Visas
Airport transfers outside the itinerary
Hotel room charges for laundry, phone calls, room service meals and expenditure of a personal nature
Alcoholic beverages

What will this program do for you?

As well as being able to see first-hand how your fundraising can catalyse real change in communities fighting hunger and poverty, the program will also provide you with:

Developing personal and professional leadership:

Fostering courageous conversations and actions
Unleashing the hidden leader in all
Being present and intentional
Clarifying purpose

Embedding personal ownership power of mindset:

- Identifying and challenging unconscious belief systems
- Unlocking personal or professional challenges
- Creating an inspiring vision for your future
- Developing an action plan for achieving your vision

About Ghana

In Ghana, one of West Africa’s most developed nations, less than half of all women have received secondary education and almost a third of the population is living on less than $1.25 a day.*

The capital city of Ghana, Accra, is one of the wealthiest and most modern cities on the continent, and is currently experiencing a period of rapid growth and urbanisation. Although the country’s GDP continues to rise with oil production, gold mining and other industries, the majority of this wealth is not distributed among the population due to high corruption. As a result, most of Ghana’s poor live in rural areas without basic services such as health care and clean water. Small-scale farmers, who are affected most by rural poverty in Ghana, depend on outdated farming tools and lack access to improved seeds and fertilisers to increase crop yields.

Formerly a British colony, in 1957, Ghana (bordered by the Côte D’Ivoire, Burkina Faso and Togo) became the first colonial country in Sub-Saharan Africa to gain its independence. After a period of turbulence, with several military coups, a stable democracy was established in the 1990’s and remains to this day.

THP’s work in Ghana

In Africa, The Hunger Project works to build sustainable community-based programs using the Epicenter Strategy. An epicenter is a dynamic center of community mobilisation and action, as well as an actual facility built by community members. Through the Epicenter Strategy, 5,000-25,000 people are brought together as a cluster of rural villages, giving villages more clout with local government than a single village is likely to have while also increasing a community’s ability to collectively utilise resources. The epicenter building serves as a focal point where the motivation, energies and leadership of the people converge with the resources of local government and non-governmental organisations. Over an eight-year period, an epicenter addresses hunger and poverty and moves along a path toward sustainable self-reliance, at which point it is able to fund its own activities and no longer requires financial investment from The Hunger Project.

There are 45 epicenter communities in Ghana, reaching approximately 494 villages and 324,603 people. The Hunger Project has been working in Ghana since 1995 and is empowering community partners to end their own hunger and poverty. Through its integrated approach to rural development, the Epicenter Strategy, The Hunger Project is working with partners to successfully access the basic services needed to achieve the Millennium Development Goals and lead lives of self-reliance.

Apply now

Not quite ready to apply, but want to know more? Get in touch here.

One of the defining moments in my life came in February 2013, on my first of three trips to India with The Hunger Project. I sat in a small room on a dirt floor in a tiny village called Lahora, three hours out of Jaipur in Rajasthan. I was talking to a woman named Badam Devi, the elected Sarpanch (village leader) – an illiterate agricultural worker from a marginalised community who lowered her veil when she spoke. Yet against all odds and against chronic corruption within the bureaucracy, as well as centuries-old patriarchy and gender inequality, Badam Devi had managed to get roads built in her community for access and safety, pensions for widows who were otherwise denied them, schools built, and kids fed at school (so they would at least get one meal a day).

She had a vision for her community. She had built a succession plan for her tenure through the sponsorship of younger women in her village, she was courageous and determined, and she had followship like nothing I had ever witnessed. She took risks and fought hard for the rights of women and girls in her community.

I was witnessing the rawest but most effective form of leadership I have ever encountered. Because of the training she received by The Hunger Project, her leadership potential had been unlocked. Sitting in front of Badam Devi I suddenly knew that anything was possible for me in my life. I knew I could do better, that I could be better, and that I had an opportunity to unlock my own leadership in a real and tangible way. It changed me and transformed my mindset from one of limitation to one of expansive abundance.

This is just one story out of hundreds that come from a journey with The Hunger Project – and it’s why we’re so proud to partner with them to bring you our Leadership and Immersion Program.