The aim of the Network for Global Professionals is to provide opportunities outside of academic studies to develop personally and professionally. This spring, 109 SI scholarship holders from 41 countries joined a self-leadership program by the Swedish Institute, focusing on global health, entrepreneurship, and sustainability. Launched in 2019, the program aims to enhance self-leadership, collaboration, and leadership skills while promoting networking within study areas.
The training takes place during a weekend during which scholarship holders are offered a programme based on experimental learning methods, simulations, reflections and sharing. The sessions are built on theoretical frameworks within leadership, neuroscience and group dynamics, and supported by key notes from experts and practitioners in the specific study areas.
Johanna Lundin, Programme Manager of the Network for Global Professionals:
– The self-leadership programme is very appreciated by our scholarship holders. We want to provide opportunities that allow for scholars to share experiences that hopefully lead to collaborations after the programme. The knowledge and practical tools covered in the programme are meant to provide the scholarship holders with a toolkit they can use in their careers and in making a change in the world.
Afsana at NFGP Self-Leadership Programme on Global Health. Photo: Lieselotte van der Meijs
Afsana is a scholarship holder from Bangladesh. She studies Experimental and Medical Biosciences at Linköping University. Afsana participated in the self-leadership programme on global health, wanting to gain more tools for how she can improve in order to influence the health sector in Bangladesh:
– In Bangladesh I worked in a clinical setting and we have more patients than we could deal with, and at the same time the level of service we were expected to give was very high. I think the work and service distribution in Bangladesh is not very harmonized, the structure needs to be developed so that we can distribute the work better and provide people better care.
When asked what she wanted to gain from the programme, Afsana said:
– Usually when you participate in a programme you only meet people from your university, but here you get to meet people from different universities who are in the same field, but they have different perspectives and different ideas. I think this is a great opportunity to share and learn from each other. In Bangladesh we need stronger leadership in this field because of the many organisational issues. That was why I was interested in learning what I could possibly do or how I can personally develop to work better in this field.
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About the SI Network for Global Professionals
Swedish Institute scholarship holders are included in the SI Network for Global Professionals (NFGP) – a network that aims to build a long lasting relationship between Sweden and our scholarship holders. Here you can more about the Network for Global Professionals and our offer to SI Scholarship holders during their time in Sweden.