The British Council is working to advance gender equality and address leadership gaps. It aims to create dialogue opportunities and promote access for women and girls through collaboration with civil society and higher education partners to enhance their influence over decision-making.
The British Council, in partnership with Clore Social Leadership, is currently offering emerging women leaders in the age group of 24 to 29 years a lifetime opportunity to develop their leadership capacity and skills through an eight-week online, self-access leadership course. The Women in Leadership project offers digital fellowships, training, online networking, mentorship, and collaboration opportunities for young women leaders in South Asia and the UK. It aims to build a network across education, technology, enterprise, arts, and development sectors, providing unique cross-sector collaboration and networking opportunities.
This year (2024) in Bangladesh, 30 emerging women leaders from the Bangladesh Civil Service Women network and 20 young women professionals selected from various backgrounds will be receiving this training. Eight virtual Speed Mentoring Sessions will be organised, engaging prominent and renowned women activists of the country who will share their lifetime experiences with the participants about gender equality, women's empowerment, and social leadership. Eight webinars will also be organised where the participants will be able to share and highlight their learning, insights, experiences, and key achievements of the project. A day-long networking/celebration event (WiL Summit) will be organised in Dhaka in March 2024. Women leaders will engage with policymakers and civil society members through this networking event on crucial thematic issues.
The project model is designed upon the highly successful Leadership for Gender Equality (L4GE) pilot programme which ran during 2020-21 in South Asia. Through this programme, 65 emerging women leaders were supported in Bangladesh (out of 304 in South Asia) to develop their leadership capabilities and skills through a four to eight-week online self-access leadership course.
