Tell us about your time on the Fellowship Programme?

I really enjoyed my time on the Fellowship and got a lot from the experience as a whole.

I’m from the community and voluntary sector: I work for an inter community charity which focuses on everyday peace building and creating opportunities to build strong and sustained cross community relationships. It was great to engage with others from the community sector as well as the business and the political sector throughout the programme. I found it interesting and meaningful to link together, see each other’s points of view and come to understand the experiences, strengths, and challenges ahead of each of us. I feel we all grew and learned together throughout the Fellowship; the relationship side of things was the best part for me and I’m glad to have connected with the other Fellows.

What were the standout moments for you?

I loved our time in Oxford and the learning opportunities the experience provided me. In particular, I benefitted most from the learning and workshops around rethinking leadership, handling change and design thinking; these were key learning topics for me in my own work and enabled me to bring back fresh thinking, creativity and motivation to my organisation. It was also a fantastic opportunity to learn from all the guest speakers throughout the programme.

Did the experience boost your

It was most certainly a confidence boost. The programme helped me unlock my own potential, thoughts, and voice as you learn and grow both personally and professionally. I felt reenergised within my work and was able to bring that energy and fresh outlook back into work as well as the creativity and motivation that comes from it too. That wee boost when returning to work was great!

I think it’s an excellent opportunity for anyone from the political, business, or community sector like me to build those relationships, come to an understanding of each other’s experiences, motivations, and challenges. Sometimes you can just have a kind of insular view of your own sector and can’t see beyond it, so it’s good to get out and engage with others to gain new perspective, challenge your own thinking, and find new ways forward.

I think the relationship side of things, the people and the connections, stand out for me and are a true highlight and benefit of the Fellowship Programme.

How did you find taking part on the Programme while pregnant?

When I was accepted onto the Fellowship Programme I was in the early stages of pregnancy and I thought ‘am I going to be able to do this?’ But I challenged myself and felt it was kind of a ‘if not now then when’ kind of situation. I’m from a sector of passionate, determined women and it was important to me to seize the opportunity and participate whilst representing my organisation and community sector. I also felt it as a great example to set for my child and a great experience we had together before he was even born!

The Centre for Democracy and Peace Building were so accommodating to my needs and fully supported me through it. I’m glad I did it and I hope my son is the first of many Fellowship babies!