Radio Miraya
2687: University of Juba Conducting The Leadership Crucible Progrmme
The University, the School of Public Service at the University will actually be running the leadership crucible for students who are interested in public service and politics. So we wanted to understand more about this leadership program, what it seeks to achieve, and what we're likely to see as the outcome to help us do that. We have joining us right now, Patricia Powers Thompson, who is the founding dean of the School of Public Service, as well as at the University of Dubas. She also has several years of experience in international development, both with government and with the NGO sector. You're welcome, Patricia. Thank you for coming. Thanks so much Lucy. Great to be here. And then we also have Naume Chari T. Ladu, who is a writer and researcher with the South Sudan Women Research Network. She's also a director of Intellect Help Center, a charity organization, and she volunteers at the School of Public Service with this specific program, which is the leadership crucible. Thank you very much for coming, Chari T. Ladu. Thank you. Thank you for having me. All right. So first off, let's understand what is the primary goal for this leadership program? What is it and what's the primary goal, Patricia? Yeah, Lucy, the program's built on the recognition that addressing the country's challenges requires strong leadership, particularly from women who are over half of the population. So developing women leaders is essential to the long-term success of the country, and this is the mission of the leadership crucible. Okay. And in terms of developing leaders, how long has this program been for? And have you already trained some women on this? Yeah, the program has had now three classes of women, but it went into a hiatus during the last round of fighting. So we're now remobilizing it, and we hope that we'll continue to have the success we had with those first couple of classes of students. Okay. And could you briefly just break down what the program addresses and what exactly does one get after assigning up for it? Yeah, it's a year-long program. It's built around a series of workshops that are given two Saturdays a month, and the workshops focus on five goals. First, helping participants see themselves as leaders, which is critically important, particularly for women or prospective women leaders, developing leadership skills, reinforcing the qualities of effective leaders. These are things like honesty, inspiration, courage, building strategies to mitigate the unique problems faced by women leaders in South Sudan, and helping participants begin to build their own professional networks. It also includes a mentoring component, which is very important for young women leaders and alumni who finish the program will be eligible to participate in ongoing programming after they graduate. Okay. You just mentioned the mentoring component, and now may I would like you to just come in there. Why is it important for young girls and women of South Sudan to have a mentor to undergo such a mentorship program? Thank you, Lucy. This is a very important aspect of the program. I'm speaking from a point of experience. As she said, one of the main or some of the main purposes why this training is needed is to help participants to see themselves as leaders. Remember, we are bringing in ladies who are in their third year going to their fourth year and then transitioning to the work field. There's a conflict. You see yourself still as a student, yet you're going into the world to do something, to lead and to own your own business and all that. So there's need for mentorship, and I had this opportunity to have this mentorship through RVI, and I think it's a very necessary aspect component for the women who are graduating from university to see themselves as leaders. And also, there's this aspect of building strategies to mitigate the unique problems faced by women. Women tend to feel like they don't qualify to be leaders, leaders if it's for men. Maybe due to their status, maybe they are pregnant, they're having children and all that, but when you have a mentor as was in my case, who is able to take you through even despite your condition, your situation, that is what we are lacking. And this is what the program is going also to inculcate. You cannot see yourself as a leader unless you're trained in the leadership skills, which the workshop is going to do like honesty, inspiring, courageous, so all those things you get to learn them in the workshop. Okay, and you say you're coming from a place of experience, do you have like a detailed example, just briefly, where this mentorship or this leadership program did change your perspective? Yes, though I have not gone through the workshop directly, the leadership crucible, but I actually met with Patricia. Patricia passed through a mentorship program whereby we were given grants to do research and we were given mentors to take us through. And through that mentorship, we were able to write our research to do it, even if we were not in school, like we were just gathered and then given this opportunity. But through mentorship, we have come up with our researches. As I remember discussing here last time, I did a research on Gulchad blood compensation in Turrit, and through mentorship, I completed it, something which I didn't get to do at the university. Yes, wow, that's very, very interesting there. And just before I come back to you, Patricia, I still announce me in the context of South Sudan, you did mention women and girls seeing leadership as something that is meant for men. How does, how would such a program address gender-specific challenges in the country? First of all, it is not really discriminating against men, but it's trying to bring women to the level where they can see themselves as leaders because everyone is a leader in their own capacity, as long as they have been equipped and invested in with the qualities that are needed in leadership. And everyone who has an influence and women have more influence over a family because they are always present with the children and the relatives, the in-laws. So it builds confidence in the women to stand up to leadership challenges in South Sudan. Okay, and Patricia, in some of your past programs, have you maybe noted some challenges in terms of, as you train the girls and the workshops, have they shared experiences, or have you just seen how difficult it is in terms of cultural norms that hinder them from taking up leadership, attitude and positions? Yeah, you know, we deal with this directly, so we have seen a bit of it in our previous years. I think what Charity mentioned are two very important factors, which is expectations. There's not an expectation that women are going to be leaders, so they don't see themselves as leaders, and also they don't have the confidence you need to effectively be a leader. So we work on them, seeing themselves as leaders, we work on building their confidence, but we also distinguish and train them on two very important things, which are skills, practical skills they can use when they're leaders, and also the qualities of effective leaders. Okay, I think I mentioned before, you know, how do you inspire people? How do you have the courage to act and to make tough decisions? How do you act with integrity and with honesty? So it's both the skills and the qualities of effective leadership. Okay, and thank you for noting those key components of the program. Are there activities that they will engage in to practically practice, to practically do what you are teaching them as part of the program? Thanks for that question, Lucy, because it's really important. Every, as I mentioned, there's two seminars a month on Saturdays, and they're all-day seminars, and probably two-thirds of the time the ladies spend practicing what they've learned in theory, so we introduce something in theory, and then we allow them to practice it. So, for example, managing teams is one of the things that we cover in the program. We talk about the theories and the tools for effectively managing teams, and then the group splits into smaller groups, and one is selected to manage that group, and they're tasked with the problem, and that person has to lead that team into developing a plan to solve that problem. For example, so everything we cover, we start with theory, but we go to practical applications so they can practice what they're learning. Okay, and looking at your past program that you've had, how was the attendance like? It was very good, but that's because it was mandatory, so they are asked to sign a contract at the beginning of the program, saying they're committed to this program, that they're committed to attending on the Saturdays. They're, of course, exceptions for extenuating circumstances, but it's a competitive program, so not everyone that applies is admitted, so everyone that is admitted is taking a slot, and we want to make sure that they are, again, committed themselves and serious, and take the full advantage of the program. And so, how does one apply, and what are the qualifications? You can apply to the School of Public Service, of the University of Juba Customs Campus. Actually, applications are due at the School of Public Service by 4pm on April 8th, 2024. Okay, that's Tuesday. Oh, you can also apply on the website, yeah. Okay, you can also apply on the website at SPS or download it, the form at www.sps-uofjuba.org. Okay, and who is eligible? Yeah, so we have a couple of eligibility requirements. You have to be an undergraduate studying at a university in Juba. There are several universities in Juba, they're all welcome. They have to be entering their fourth year, so in October when the program is well underway, they should be in their fourth year of studies at university. It's a very competitive and selective program, so we're looking for people with a cumulative GPA of 3.0 or higher. And maybe most important of all, they have to be interested in public service and in politics. Okay, again, we're trying to build public sector leaders, so that's the focus of the program. All right, thank you so much for sharing this. And finally, I would just like to ask what strategies are you employing to ensure that they start sustainability in the program, and how do you follow up on those who have been through the program to ensure that they're actually growing and practicing what you've taught them? Yeah, again, great, great questions, Lucy. The program is subsumed in the School of Public Service budget, so it's already built in sustainable. It's going to be staffed by university people at the School of Public Service, as well as by volunteers. But that doesn't mean that we're not very aggressively fundraising, because the more funds we can bring to the program, the stronger it will be, the more mentors we'll be able to bring in, the more events we'll be able to hold, that more will be able to expand the program. So we're getting by with our current resources, but always better to have additional funding. The ongoing programming, I think, is really powerful. It's twofold. It's the mentorship, so we anticipate that the mentors will continue to have a relationship with the students even after the program is finished as a lifelong mentorship. We hope and we found that to be true with our previous classes of ladies. Also, there's ongoing programming, so we find ways to bring in graduates to help with the current class, again, to be guest lecturers, to help with workshops, but also we do customized programs for them based on their requests. So, for instance, we've got a request not too long ago to give women tools for dealing with potential harassment in the workplace, and how they can deal with that in this context. So, that's a special workshop that we would do for graduates after they finish the program. All right, thank you very much. And as we are now concluding, I want to ask, is there a program for alumni of the particular leadership? Do you engage them after? I know you mentioned that Patricia, you did mention that they continue to engage with the students, but do you have a program for them? Do you keep them together? Yeah, yeah. So, yeah, as I mentioned, we have special programming for them at the request kind of just-in-time programming that they drive, customized to their needs now that they're out in the workforce. The mentors, of course, continue to have relationships with them. And then we anticipate that there'll be a network of graduates or an alumni association. You know, these ladies are out doing hard work and not only are doing the day-to-day work of their jobs, but their change agents in the organizations where they work. And that is really tough work, helping to reform organizations to make significant improvements to organizations, starting their own organizations, being involved in politics or parliament. Being a change agent is tough work. So, if you can get a network or an association of graduates who have similar experiences to you with whom you can share ideas, but also share your own experiences and maybe collectively problem-solve, I think that's a really powerful, really powerful resource available to women. So, again, it's a part of the program to plan to do that once we have a new round of graduates. And it'll be that new round of graduates, but we can also bring in our previous graduates now that they've had some nice experiences that they can bring some real value, I think, to the discussion. Okay. Well, thank you so much for coming to talk about this program that Will application starts on Monday and will close by 4 p.m. you did say. And so, right now, I'd like to share your final remarks to the women and girls listening in, but also to the men around them. We actually have a workshop where we talk about, this isn't a woman's issue. It's a national issue and men have to be part of the solution. Again, applications are available now. You can pick them up at the School of Public Service at the University of Duba Custom Campus, or you can download them from the School of Public Service website. They're relatively short. There are two one-page essays, but I think they're pretty straightforward. And they are due no later than this Monday at 4 o'clock. Drop them off at the School of Public Service University of Duba Customs Campus. And we welcome you. Come and join us. We look forward to seeing you. Okay. And Elma, do you have any final remarks? Yeah. Thank you for having me. And I want to encourage all ladies out there to see yourselves as leaders. And if you have the opportunity, grab it and develop your skills and talents. Okay. Thank you so much for coming and all the best with the program.