Terms and Conditions for Future Leaders Connect

Future Leaders Connect (the “programme”) is where exceptional young people from around the world will join a long-term network of emerging policy leaders (“Participant(s)”). They will develop their policy making expertise, make valuable connections and gain the skills to have real impact. Together they will virtually discuss major global policy issues with government, think tanks and policy experts, engage with inspiring leaders, meet some of the UK’s leading global institutions, and collaborate to produce innovative policy recommendations. The skills, experience and connections they make through Future Leaders Connect will support them to seize their leadership potential. 

Approximately 50 participants will join a digital training programme for six weeks from 11 October to 19 November 2021.The programme will consist of self guided study, team work and live online sessions. Participants will commit to spending an average of 10 hours per week. The launch of the programme will take place on Monday 11 October and live sessions will be scheduled weekly on a Tuesday and Wednesday at 09.00 – 10.30 GMT.

Entry to the programme is free of charge. The programme is run by the British Council, 1 Redman Place E20 1JQ, United Kingdom.

The programme is open to individuals of the participating countries who meet all the criteria listed below. The participating countries are;

• Egypt

• Ethiopia

• India

• Indonesia

• Kenya

• Malaysia

• Morocco

• Nigeria

• Pakistan

• Poland

• Ukraine

• UK 

• Vietnam

 

To meet the Eligibility Criteria, listed below, participants must;

• Be aged between 25 and 35 years old when the 2021 programme starts

• Be able to speak and understand English (no official qualification is required but you must be able to speak English to IELTS level 7 or equivalent. Please use the link provided to assess your level of English https://takeielts.britishcouncil.org/find-out-about-results/understand-y...

• You must live in one of the participating countries in this case, ‘country you live in’ means the country you live in at the time of applying. You must live in one of the participating countries and have a long-term commitment to that country. Your policy vision for change needs to demonstrate your aims for this country:

o Example 1:  A participant was born in England but lives in Nigeria and will be living in Nigeria for three years. This participant needs to write their policy vision for Nigeria and will be considered a Nigerian applicant

o Example 2: A participant was born in Somalia and has lived in the UK for the last ten years. This participant is therefore considered, for the purpose of this programme to be from the UK and needs to write their policy vision for the UK. 

• Be available to participate and commit to the six-week digital training programme from 11 October to 19 November 2021. The programme is estimated to be a total 60 hours of work with  approximately 10 hours per week. The programme will consist of self guided study, team work and live online sessions. The live sessions will be scheduled on a Tuesday and Wednesday and will be communicated in advance

• To join the programme you will need to have access to a smart device – mobile, tablet or lap top for the duration of the course

• Not be currently employed by or be an immediate family member of the British Council, Guidant Global and the Møller Institute. In this case immediate family member is defined as one's spouse, parents, grandparents, children, grandchildren, siblings and immediate in-laws (mother-in-law, father-in-law, brother-in-law and sister-in-law). Adopted children and stepchildren are also counted as immediate family members

• British Council reserves the right to make any changes to the programme duration, dates and schedule.

Applications will open on Monday 7 June. The closing date will vary by country, depending on the number of applications we receive, with a deadline of 23:59(BST) Sunday 18 July 2021. 

The British Council reserves the right to extend the closing date. Any entry received after the closing date will not be included in the selection process. The British Council accepts no responsibility whatsoever for any technical failure or malfunction or any other problem with any system, server, provider or otherwise that may result in any entry being lost, delayed or not properly registered.

Where possible shortlisted candidates will be notified by the end of July 2021. This notification will be made to the email address provided by the participant when applying for the programme in accordance with section 4 of this document.  In this notification, the British Council will inform each candidate about the outcome of their application and the next steps of the selection process that they should follow.

The programme will be promoted through the Future Leaders Connect website www.britishcouncil.org/future-leaders-connect and the websites and social media of the British Council offices overseas and other parties. To apply, participants must access the application through the application link on the Future Leaders Connect website. Applicants will be guided to the Guidant Global site and should follow these steps in the Chatbot:

1. Provide your contact details 

2. Read and agree to the Terms and Conditions, Consent and Privacy notice 

3. Complete the self-reflection questions on global policy issues and leadership 

4. Answer equality, diversity and inclusion questions (this is not compulsory)

5. Answer the eligibility questions 

6. Successful applicants will be sent the application questions.

7. Answer the application questions on policy and leadership 

8. Answer the professional and academic background questions

9. Submit the application form

Participants are responsible for ensuring they complete the form fully and correctly. Once submitted, there is no option to change or edit the entry.  

Proof of identity and references may be required if you get through to the final selection stage.

Introduction

In most cases the applications will be reviewed by an independent external organization, Guidant Global, using the programme selection criteria determined by the British Council. The external assessors will provide a shortlist of candidates per country to the British Council which will then be forwarded to the relevant British Council country offices for final selection. The use of external assessors will not affect the way your data is handled.

Pre-screening questions

Stage one:

In order for your application to progress you must meet the minimum criteria for this programme; for example your age, living in a country that is part of the programme and holding the required level of proficiency in English language as detailed in section 2 above. You will be asked a series of questions at stage one via a Chatbot on the Guidant Global page to determine if you are eligible for the programme. The chatbot should take approximately five minutes to complete and you are advised to complete it in one attempt, leaving the page or going away from your screen may result in needing to refresh the screen and start the chat again.

You will be asked to make declarations in your application. False declarations may result in your application being rejected. Within this section you will be asked some questions solely for the purposes of monitoring equality and diversity. None of your answers will have any bearing on success at this or future stages of the application.

Stage two:

If you pass stage one, you will be emailed a link to the application form from British Council Future Leaders Connect <impellamtraining@pushbot.com> Please ensure you check any junk or spam folders for the email. You will need to complete the application in one attempt as there is no option to save or come back to it therefore you may wish to prepare your answers in advance. Once submitted, there is no option to edit the entry.

Scoring your application 

Due to the significant volume of applications we expect, we will firstly read and score your response to the questions: 

Question 1: Future Leaders Connect seeks to support members in making their vision for policy change a reality and this vision will be at the core of the learning on the programme. In no more than 300 words, please tell us about the global change (your policy vision) you would like to see happen and how you would use policy making to achieve this.

Top scoring applicants will provide evidence that demonstrates:

1. The change is clearly a policy change, meaning it results in widespread impact through changing or maintaining law or governing practices at governmental level (local, regional, national or international).

2. Clear example of a change that would benefit the country they are applying from

3. Outlines the potential impact/outcome/benefit 

4. Understands why the change is needed, who it would affect and how

5. Suggests their involvement in making the proposed change

If you do not meet the required score/ standard in the above question response, unfortunately your application will not be considered further and your application will be rejected. If you meet the required standard in this question then the panel will go on to review your response to question two:

Question 2: In no more than 300 words, please tell us about a time that you used your leadership skills to achieve a successful outcome, ideally related to policy making. 

Top scoring applicants will provide an example where:  

1 Applicant can demonstrate that they achieved a successful outcome

2 Shows how their involvement led to the impact

3 The outcome or change had scale (significant impact aligned to a demonstrable outcome) 

4 They used influencing skills to inspire others to engage in a project/program/activity/ vision 

5 Took responsibility / accountability for the change, no matter their formal role (e.g. don’t have to be the most senior person involved, but showed leadership) 

Final shortlisting 

Only those who achieve the required score in the above two questions will then progress to the final stage of the shortlisting process where the final two questions (of four) will be reviewed and scored. If you are in the top scoring applications by country, the assessor panel will then consider and score your answers to the below questions:  

Question 3: In no more than 150 words, please provide your biggest achievement in either your professional or voluntary experience, ideally related to policy making. 

Question 4: In no more than 150 words, please tell us about any awards publications or projects which we should take into account.

Final selection in country 

The final selection of successful applicants will be determined through interviews and events. The process may differ slightly in each country. In all cases this will be communicated to participants in advance and selection will be made based on a shared set of criteria. In many cases the final decision will be made by a panel of British Council representatives and possible external stakeholders. All decisions of the panel will be final and binding. We expect that between 2 and 4 successful applicants will be selected by each country. 

Anyone applying for Future Leaders Connect should be aware of the following:

i. Application: your application should be accurate, not omit any facts that are relevant and not be misleading. If we find that there are significant errors or omissions in the information you have supplied to us in the course of your application you will not be offered a place in the programme, or we will terminate your application.

ii. Eligibility criteria: to be eligible to take part, you must meet all criteria listed in section 2.

iii. Selection: the selection process will be fair. No applicant will have, or should seek or accept, any unfair advantage.  No member of the British Council or its partners involved in the process will unfairly promote or disadvantage the interests of any applicant. If we find that you have secured an unfair advantage in the selection process, we reserve the right not to offer you a place or withdraw or terminate your application. If you are shortlisted we may ask you to provide references and documentation to prove your identity. 

iv. Changes of circumstances: if your circumstances change by an event or events that are genuinely beyond your control, or in ways that are generally unexpected, or you change your mind after you are selected, you should contact us immediately. 

v. English language: good written communication skills are an essential requirement and therefore the assessor panel will also consider the use of English language within the assessment of your application.  This will include: if your statement is well written, vocabulary, spelling, grammar, development structure, coherence and general language range. You will need to demonstrate that you have an operational command of the language, though with occasional inaccuracies, inappropriate usage and misunderstandings in some situations but generally you will handle complex language well. 

vi. Anonymity: the assessor panel will review and score your responses to the above application questions on an anonymous basis. This means that they will not know any details from your application. They will score and either progress or reject your application based solely on the responses you provide to the above question/s. The assessor team only have access to the statement provided and will NOT cross reference any other part of your application, for example they will not be able to view or consider any personal details, work history, education or other information provided.

vii. Scoring system: due to a significant variance in application numbers by country the benchmarks and scoring will be applied on a country by country basis and are likely to vary. 

viii. Feedback: we regret that due to the potential volume of applications, we will NOT be able to provide you with feedback on your application this includes the scores that you achieve or any detailed feedback on your application.

ix. Word limits: please take careful note of the word limits by question, as detailed above. We will not read or score any words that exceed the stated limit by question. 

x. Internet connectivity: is essential for applicants joining the digital training. The British Council will offer digital equality screening for those selected to ensure this is possible. 

If you apply to participate in the Future Leaders Connect programme, we will need to collect and process your personal data in order to process your application. We will need to collect certain categories of personal data from you in order to process your application, including:

• Name and email address

• Age range

• Country of residence

• Academic and professional background

We ask you to provide equality, diversity and inclusion (EDI) information, which may include sensitive personal data/special categories of personal data such as:

• Gender

• Information about any disability

• Ethnic background

Submission of equality and diversity information is entirely voluntary. If applicants submit equality and diversity information, it will be collected on a form and separated as soon as possible to preserve anonymity. Equality and diversity information will be used for monitoring of equality purposes to ensure the programme is fully accessible to people of all backgrounds. It will not be used for any other purpose and will not be used as part of the shortlisting and selection process.

Your personal data may also be shared with partner organisations, for example the Møller Institute, Churchill College, University of Cambridge. 

You should read the Future Leaders Connect Privacy Notice, which provides further information about how we will use your personal data. You understand and agree that your personal data will be collected and further processed in accordance with the information described in the Future Leaders Connect Privacy Notice.

You will be asked if you wish to receive further information about Future Leaders Connect including further information about the Future Leaders Connect programme and the British Council global policy mail out by email. If you do agree to receive this information you should read the Future Leaders Connect Privacy Notice. If you do not agree to receive this information, it will not affect the application process. 

The British Council may publish the names, photographs and information about the successful participants on the British Council’s websites, Facebook pages, twitter pages, press releases and in other promotional and marketing material. In addition, in collaboration with the relevant participant, the British Council may write and publish articles, edit participant biographies for consistency and publicly write about the successful participants’ and the impact of the programme on their professional life.  By entering the programme, each participant agrees to the use of their name and image and agrees to co-operate with any such publicity or marketing of the programme.

All rights in the British Council’s name and logo, websites, Facebook pages, Twitter pages, press releases and other promotional and marketing material and all course and examination content and materials (together the “Council’s Materials”) shall remain the exclusive property of the British Council (or its licensors). By participating in the programme, participants agree that they will not use, broadcast, publish, export, exploit, reproduce nor copy part or all of any non-publicly available British Council materials without permission.

The British Council will use its reasonable endeavors to follow the digital programme as advertised. However, the British Council reserves the right to change the programme at short notice (including the guest speakers and the times of their presentations). Please see the terms of use when joining our digital services https://www.britishcouncil.org/terms

The views expressed by external speakers are theirs alone, and do not necessarily represent the views of the British Council. The British Council does not extend or express any warranties or representations as to the quality and/or accuracy of the content of presentations given, or information supplied, by the external speakers.

The British Council will use its reasonable endeavors to ensure that the programme proceeds as advertised, but it reserves the right to cancel at any time. In the unlikely event that the programme is cancelled by the British Council, the British Council accepts no responsibility for costs which may have been incurred by the participants.

As a part of your long-term development we will ask you to stay connected to the Future Leaders Connect network and to the British Council.

You will be asked to make yourself available for any further face to face or online learning opportunities, these opportunities will vary in countries. As well as sharing learning and experience with peers in your country you may be invited to be coaches for new cohort groups and to facilitate/moderate the Future Leaders Connect MOOC. British Council will provide additional training workshops for all opportunities to further your development. 

Our work is based on building meaningful, enduring and respectful relationships across different cultures. We cannot do this without a strong commitment to equality, diversity and inclusion and encourage applications from people of all backgrounds. 

https://www.britishcouncil.org/about-us/our-values/equality-diversity-in...

We aim to create a safe environment in which no adult, consistent with human rights principles and irrespective of any aspect of their identity, including but not limited to age, disability status, economic background, ethnicity, gender, religion or belief, or sexual orientation, will experience harm or exploitation during the course of their contact with us. We will employ ‘house rules’ and we expect successful applicants to adhere to a code of conduct where all Members and parties involved in the programme are treated respectfully. Concerns should be raised with the Programme Manager

Digital equality screening: Members accepted onto the course will take a digital assessment to ensure they are able to take part fully in the programme. There will be a subsistence allowance available to ensure you can take part. 

Discretionary carers award: Members accepted on the course who have caring responsibilities have the option to do a needs assessment. If you will incur extra costs as a result of taking part in the live sessions of the programme, this will be subsidised so you can partake fully.

The British Council may disqualify or refuse to accept the application of any participant which does not meet the eligibility criteria in section 2 or does not otherwise comply with the programme terms and conditions.

These terms and conditions shall be governed by and interpreted in accordance with the laws of England and Wales and the courts of England and Wales shall have exclusive jurisdiction over any disputes or claims (including, without limitation, non-contractual disputes or claims) arising out of or in connection with the programme.

Byparticipatingin thisprogramme,participants are deemedto have accepted these terms and conditions.

 

If any participant wishes to make a complaint, they can do so by email, letter or telephone. Participants are encouraged to submit complaints in writing wherever possible. All complaints should be made within 90 days of the date that the event occurred, or the date that the issue came to a participant’s attention. Participants should refer to the British Council’s Customer Services website https://www.britishcouncil.org/contact/about-customer-services  for further information and contact details.

 

Participants may direct their general inquiries to the programme’s dedicated email address FutureLeadersConnect@britishcouncil.org. Inquiries will be replied to within 5 working days.