Australia Awards Vanuatu (AAV) was pleased to host another professional development workshop for the alumni network spanning over two days on Thursday 21st and Friday 22nd of September at The Melanesian in Port Vila, and in Santo on Tuesday 26 September and Wednesday 27 September at the VNPF Conference Room. Facilitated by a variety of professionals whom are all leaders in their selected fields, this workshop provided an introduction to Effective and Responsible Leadership.
Effective leadership is the ability to successfully influence and support a team or group of people, and this professional development opportunity provided alumni with capacity building skillsets that included the conceptualisation of leadership and individual approaches, the consideration of context here in Vanuatu through ‘Pacific styles’ of leadership, effective communication, speech writing, resilience and wellbeing, aligning with the Employment Act and strategies towards performance reviews and appraisals.
Eslyn Kaltongga, an Australia Awards alumnus with a Master of International Relations and Senior Protocol & Consular Officer at the Department of Foreign Affairs & International Cooperation, facilitated some of the seminars including Effective Leadership Communication. Eslyn explains “effective communication brings positive changes in leadership and helps leaders to thrive effectively as leaders“.
Leadership within the Pacific was also considered as a central component of good governance and providing culturally relevant leadership training. This regional dialogue hosted through interactive seminars ensured peer-to-peer learning and networking amongst the alumni was at the forefront.
The event was extremely well received by alumni who represented various sectors, both public and private, ensuring the next generation of global leaders for development continue to drive change and help build enduring people-to people links within the Pacific region.