She Leads for Peace Summer School Geneva 2024: Exploring the Sustaining Peace Ecosystem
Unlock your leadership potential and immerse yourself in the world of sustaining peace with the She Leads for Peace Summer School Geneva! This transformative two-week experience is designed to ignite self-discovery, refine your leadership style, and connect you with leaders shaping the peace and security landscape.
A condensed version of the Women's Leadership for Peace Programme, the She Leads for Peace Summer School supports young women in understanding the peace and security field and their place in it in order to bring forth the next generation of globally oriented and locally committed women leaders. Through peer-to-peer exchanges and intergenerational dialogues with esteemed guest speakers, you will delve into best practices in peacebuilding, leadership, career growth, wellbeing, and resilience.
At the core of our programme is a commitment to self-reflection as the cornerstone of personal development. Understanding oneself is key to impactful leadership. Through guided self-reflection sessions, you will develop the essential skills to lead for peace and pursue a career that aligns with their strengths and values, fostering both professional fulfilment and personal satisfaction.
The She Leads for Peace Summer School is a space where you can share your experiences with fellow participants and guest speakers to create a community of belonging that will extend beyond the course. The creation of a personal and professional network will provide you with an invaluable resource that you can tap into for support in realising your goals and potential as a leader and a peacebuilder.
The She Leads for Peace Summer School awaits – are you ready to step into your power and define what authentic leadership looks like to you?
Through the overall objectives of the summer school, participants will be able to:
- Analyse what it means to be a young woman leader for peace;
- Define their own leadership style and situate their passions in the broader peace and security field;
- Develop a personal action plan towards advancing individual leadership objectives;
- Demonstrate a unique insight into the sustaining peace ecosystem and what it takes to achieve a career in this field;
- Build relationships with other participants and guest speakers, which will provide a network of support beyond the summer school.
The She Leads for Peace Summer School Geneva consists of two weeks of full-day experiential sessions focused on what it means to lead effectively for peace as young women as well as gaining familiarity with International Geneva and the sustaining peace ecosystem. The programme is based on the following three tracks:
Track 1: Effective Leadership: Becoming the Next Generation of Leaders for Peace
The effective leadership component of the She Leads for Peace programme, connects elements of inner development with outer contributions, in both personal as well as professional capacities of participants. This track will be a personal leadership journey for each participant supporting them in their growth as leaders, while being accompanied by their peers and the course facilitators. Participants will revisit what leadership means to them, challenge ideas of gendered leadership, take stock of their strengths and weakness as leaders, and create an action plan for achieving their leadership goals. Such an inner development process will help participants to increase the self-awareness, confidence, and mindset to make concrete steps towards their desired outward contributions in their specific contexts.
Track 2: Experience Sharing: Learning from Trailblazers
A key component of the summer school programme will be interactions with women leaders who have walked similar paths. This intergenerational aspect will be an opportunity for participants to learn from women with real life experience navigating a career in the peace and security field. Through experience sharing with these women in leadership positions, participants will get inspired and gain insights on to the many pathways for entering the sustaining peace ecosystem as well as the obstacles and opportunities they will come across while advancing their career.
Track 3: Tips, Tricks and Navigating Early Career Hurdles
Through meetings with different organizations within International Geneva from the peace, security and humanitarian sectors, participants will be better placed to situate their passions in the broader peace and security field. This coupled with conversations with practitioners from the field, will allow participants to better define and focus their career goals and learn how to best apply to organizations working in the peace and security field. These sessions will help participants identify and overcome inner and outer obstacles to creating pathways into this space and empower them to pursue the career best suited to their passions and goals.
Focused on inner development, the She Leads for Peace Summer School Geneva will be a personal leadership journey for each participant helping them to recognise themselves as leaders in their own right. It will be an opportunity for self-realisation and self-actualisation so that participants are better placed to take steps towards making their desired outward contributions.
Through experiential learning, participants will engage in practical based exercises that support their professional and personal growth. UNITAR will employ various pedagogies to enhance learning and behavioural change, with the aim to challenge participants in a safe environment where they can share lessons learned and strengthen their networks and understanding of the world. Through peer-to-peer learning, mentoring, and activities participants will gain practical skills as well as have the opportunity to reflect on and develop their own leadership style.
The She Leads for Peace Summer School Geneva is designed for young self-identifying women, who are looking to make the transition from education into the workplace and are eager to start their career with the self-awareness that is needed to be an effective leader for peace. As such, it is suggested that participants be in their second to last or final year of undergraduate or post graduate studies.
UNITAR will be responsible for the overall design, coordination and implementation of the She Leads for Peace Summer School. It will liaise with participants on a regular basis prior to the activity's implementation in order to ensure a smooth and flawless organisation for everyone involved.
The participants are responsible for purchasing their own travel tickets to and from Geneva, booking accommodation, as well as applying for a visa to Switzerland (if required).
Participants must attend 80% of the training in order to receive a certificate of completion.
She Leads for Peace Summer School Geneva FAQs
- What is included in the cost of the programme?
- A world-class summer school programme led by experts from the world of peace and multilateralism, tailored to the specific needs and interests of the target audience
- Presentations from practitioners and thought leaders in the field of peace and security;
- Visit to selected international organizations in the wider field of peace and security in international Geneva;
- A personal leadership journal and tailored learning resources;
- Opportunities for intergenerational exchange with women trailblazers;
- Access to an international professional network of strong women working towards the common goal of greater women’s leadership;
- Guidance and advice from professionals on how to navigate starting a career in the wider peace and security field;
- Coffee breaks and lunches on course days;
- A UN certification.
While the tracks of the She Leads for Peace Summer School will overlap and build on one another, the approximate breakdown is as follows:
Track one: Effective Leadership: Becoming the Next Generation of Leaders for Peace – 50%
Track two: Experience Sharing: Learning from Trailblazers – 30%
Track Three: Tips, Tricks and Navigating Early Career Hurdles in the world of International Organizations – 20%
- How much professional experience should I have to apply to the programme?
The She Leads for Peace Summer School is designed for women transitioning out of academic life into professional life. Therefore, it is recommended participants have 0-3 years professional experience. If you are unsure about whether you fit the profile, do not hesitate to reach out before applying.
- Will there be an edition of the She Leads for Peace for emerging women leaders, who are more advanced in their career (5-10 years of professional experience)?
UNITAR will run the Women's Leadership for Peace Emerging Leaders Course in October 2024. Should you be interested in participating in this edition, please send a brief email to: sheleads4peace [at] unitar.org (sheleads4peace[at]unitar[dot]org)
- Where will I be staying during the programme?
Accommodations are not included in the cost of the course. Participants will be responsible for booking their own accommodation. Upon request, UNITAR will provide a list of suggested hotels and hostels for participants to reference.
- Are there any scholarships available?
Unfortunately, at this moment UNITAR is unable to offer any scholarships for the programme. We hope to be able to provide them in the future. Should they become available, scholarship opportunities will be published on the event page.
- If accepted, I will need a letter to support my visa application for Switzerland, will UNITAR provide one?
Yes, UNITAR will provide a visa support letter. Applicants are responsible for the visa application process. In exceptional cases UNITAR can support with the visa application process. This needs to be discussed on a case-by-case basis.
- Will I get a certificate at the end of the course?
Yes, all participants who attend at least 80% of the course will receive a United Nations certification.