Friends Of The British Council Usa

Programs: Education: we continued the libraries unlimited program, a 5 year initiative with the government of bangladesh, ministry of cultural affairs and department of public libraries to transform the public library sector to improve public access to information and knowledge. We are modernizing the public library network, build the capacity of government officers, train library staff, and build public awareness of and access to library and information services. Ultimately, lu will give millions more people in bangladesh, including groups such as women, young people out of education and employment, and micro-entrepreneurs, more control over their own lives thus supporting them to achieve their potential through access to a range of user-driven services. There are five broad strands to the program: (1) provide policy and advocacy with local, regional and national government. We will develop a shared vision of 21st century libraries across bangladesh that embeds the country's commitment to the sustainable development goals and provides communities with access to information, knowledge and skills development. (2) design and establish model libraries and upgrade library facilities. We will establish 30 model public libraries and an e-library network, and scale services to a further 39 public libraries. We will upgrade ict facilities and design new layouts to create contemporary multi-usage solutions that provide innovative learning environments. (3) innovate services and increase library usage rates. We will enable public libraries to provide an increased number of locally-relevant services that directly meet the needs of their communities, such as high-quality and supported free public access to the internet. We will also implement a national awareness campaign and secure partnerships with corporations, ngos, multi-laterals, foundations and educational institutions enhance the services provided at public libraries and to innovate the role of public libraries to serve the community. (4) professional development for library practitioners. We will train library staff to provide user-centered 21st century services and to become catalysts for change in their community. Training includes building digital leadership and ict skills, community engagement and outreach, customer services, operations and technical management, team building, and event and activity management. (5) monitoring, learning, evaluation and best practice. We will establish national monitoring, learning and evaluation systems for libraries' development process. This will enable analytical capacity and data collection to inform library design and services. We will also seek to share best practice and lessons learned globally. We continued the pudumi palli project: development of innovative schools in chennai, india. We aim to improve the livelihood prospects of students, particularly girls, in socio-economically marginalized urban communities of chennai by enhancing their english, 21st century core and leadership skills. This goal will be achieved through five interlinked strands of activities: (1) building girls' leadership skills and confidence to facilitate school clubs and be a strong female role model within the system and wider community. (2) providing disadvantaged girls and boys in secondary schools with opportunities and resources to develop their english and 21st century skills through improved learning opportunities, both in the classroom and in student-led clubs. (3) enabling teachers, through face-to-face teacher training and access to ongoing continuing professional development (cpd), to adopt teaching methods that support the development of english and 21st century skills among students and to supportive affirmative action amongst girls. (4) developing the capacity of a cohort of teacher educators to support teachers as they implement the changes in pedagogy, through training, mentoring and the development of peer-facilitated teacher clubs which mirror the establishment of student-led clubs, with progress tracked and mapped to a cpd and linguistic framework. (5) enhancing the leadership and change management skills of head teachers to help them to create an enabling environment which will support the development of 21st century skills among boys and girls, the integration of teachers' continuing professional development (cpd) into school development plans, as well as the establishment and sustainability of teacher and student clubs. We facilitated policy and academic dialogues between the us, uk and european universities, think tanks, and ngos focused on religion and international affairs. We hosted a workshop with key stakeholders to plan the next phase of the bridging voices program. We enabled israeli scientists of outstanding ability to pursue their postdoctoral research at the university of cambridge while fostering a scholarly exchange and greater understanding between researchers in britain and israel through our blavatnik fellows program. Fellows worked with multiple different departments of cambridge to further their research of a variety of subjects including: molecular surface dynamics, 3d vascular networks for tissue engineering, the role of non-coding rnas in dna repair, information processing in altered states of consciousness, black hole physics, the reduction of dinitrogen using sunlight as energy source and molecular complexes as catalysts, non-equilibrium statistical mechanics of active and soft matter, bridging the gaps between measurements of seawater calcium and alkalinity for calculations of marine caco3 dissolution rates, the vacularization of magneto-active layers on implants, and the determinants of individual foraging efficiency and its effects on fitness in a cooperative mammal. We brought together artists and arts practitioners from the us and the uk for a workshop and dialogues to explore the role that arts can play in communities in conflict and to share best practice of what is working in their communities. This program was a partnership with brandeis university. We produced research, hosted and conducted workshops, held strategic planning sessions and provided group and one-on-one mentoring and training for program managers in the us, latin america & the caribbean, sub-saharan africa, south asia, europe, middle east and north africa on the effective development and delivery of public-private partnerships with foundations, corporations, multi-lateral agencies, public and educational institutions, high net worth individuals as well as local community service and non-profit organizations. We organized a study tour for the uk for us educators. We managed and hosted several uk university alumni networking events and an alumni awards dinner in the united states.

community development and youth leadership and employability: we continued the fast forward program in rivers, lagos, and cross rivers states in nigeria to establish an in-school model for work-based learning and teaching of employment relevant 21st century skills. The fast forward project enables co-creation between schools and employers of work-based learning opportunities for young people. The pilot tests how this approach can develop employability skills among young nigerians and how innovations in curriculum development can be better oriented to reflect the changing demands of the nigerian workplace. At the end of the project, students will have gained new skills and the ability to improve these skills over time, increasing their chances for success in both post-secondary education and the workplace. Teachers will better utilize innovative instruction methods. Finally, state and federal government representatives will recognize the link between educational innovation and improved employability. We continued the youth action partnership for digital employment program in ghana. We are creating a pathway for change that will take unemployed and economically disadvantaged youth through training and mentoring, leading to digital jobs with the ghana business processing outsourcing centre, other technology sector companies and organizations, as freelancers in the global tech sector or as digital entrepreneurs. This program aligned with the priorities outlined by the government of ghana in their ghana shared growth development agenda. Our first cohort of 1,000 youth will acquire ict skills for digital jobs, practical skills for the modern workplace, introduction to digital entrepreneurship and links to careers in it. We impact the lives of these youth in the following ways: (1) the skills and experience gained through the digital jobs africa program will enable them to gain employment in digital jobs such as online and mobile customer care, data entry, customer survey analytics and business analytics. (2) increased income to improve their livelihoods and that of their dependents. (3) provide employment opportunities for young people in a fast growing it industry. (4) provide platforms for young people to innovate using it technologies. (5) provide viable income generating options as an alternative to internet fraud. We launched english for business success in bangladesh to increase the employability of marginalized populations. In this program we are providing training to upskill call center operators and back office staff working in the business processing outsourcing center sector. We will train 2,444 call center operators to improve their customer service telephone skills and their english language comprehension. We will work with an additional 1,050 back office staff to improve their business communication skills. We continued the prodigy program training 540 youth leaders in 15 union parishads and wards (rural and urban) across all 7 divisions of bangladesh to promote civic participation and advocate for the principles of integrity, accountability, transparency and inclusivity for good governance. Youth leaders were trained to engage the wider community through the planning and delivery of more than 70 social action projects and volunteer activities, including youth clubs, theater programs, public dialogues, internships with government, and community radio programs creating platforms and channels to ensure the wider community has access to government information. 15 youth leaders were placed in 3 month internships with local governments. Our active citizens program in the us worked with 4 bands of the te-moak tribe and 4 additional tribes of western shoshone native americans in nevada. Our program provided training in project development and management, teamwork, conflict resolution, identity, resiliency and self-expression to empower community members through to community-led projects on native language retention, traditional arts and crafts, health and diabetes, community gardens, and strategic long term community plans. We conducted a workshop in partnership with the boys & girls club of america as part of a national leadership summit to introduce the concepts of our active citizens program and how it could be applied to youth leaders for educators from across the national network of boys & girls clubs of america.