Donate
Donate

Tag: 2021

My Patchwork Journey: Katie Bedrossian

Posted on by Patchwork Foundation

Why did you join the Patchwork Masterclass Programme?

I joined the Patchwork Masterclass Programme to develop my knowledge and understanding of the way in which politics works in society. As someone who is Armenian, I am eager to have a positive impact on the world, whilst ensuring that voices of underrepresented communities are heard. I wanted to develop my leadership, teamwork, and communication skills. I felt compelled to apply for the programme to enhance my skills and meet political leaders. I believed that the Patchwork Programme would be able to provide networking opportunities, further contributing to my growth as an individual. 

What have you learnt over the past 10 months?

One thing I have learnt over the past 10 months is that every voice matters within politics. Before being on the programme, I felt this ‘’imposter syndrome’’ where I felt nervous about meeting different political leaders. However, the programme has taught me to overcome this barrier. I feel more confident in myself to be able to have a conversation with leading politicians. I have learnt how powerful politics is in shaping the world we live in. I have learnt that if you are ambitious, passionate, and driven to achieve your goals, then you will do it.

What’s been the highlight of your time on the Programme?

The highlight of the programme was being able to host a webinar with an MP. I enjoyed being given this opportunity, as it developed my knowledge and confidence in my effective chairing skills. The Masterclass session was successful, and I got positive feedback from my fellow Patchworkers. It was lovely to feel supported by everyone on the programme. 

What would you say to someone who is thinking of applying to the Programme?

I would say do it! It is a great opportunity to meet people from different walks of life. The networking opportunities and skills you learn are amazing. I think that if you are interested in learning more about politics, leadership, and developing your skills, then Patchwork is perfect for you. 

How would you describe your time on the programme in 3 words?

Insightful, amazing, inspiring.

How would you describe Patchwork in one sentence?

The Patchwork experience shapes you to be an individual with courage and authenticity, and motivates young people to develop leadership skills. 

Written by Katie Bedrossian, 2021 Masterclass Programme Participant.

Applications for our 2022 Masterclass Programme open until 11:59pm, December 12th. 

Masterclass Applications 2022: NOW OPEN

Posted on by Patchwork Foundation

This unique programme provides young individuals with the opportunity to hone and develop their political knowledge and skills, whilst learning from experts within the political sector.

Successful candidates will get exclusive access to decision-makers, politicians and journalists whose places of work spans Westminster, Whitehall and beyond.

Masterclass topics will include political campaigning, broadcast media and politics, civil service careers, leadership and policy amongst others. Previous graduates have gone on to have fantastic careers in the Civil Service, Parliament and NGOs.

Previous Masterclass tutors have included:

  • Rt Hon David Cameron, former Prime Minister and leader of the Conservative Party
  • Rt Hon Nick Clegg MP, former Deputy Prime Minister and leader of the Liberal Democrat Party
  • Rt Hon Ed Miliband MP, former leader of the Labour Party
  • Rt Hon Oliver Dowden MP, Chairman of the Conservative Party
  • Jennie Formby, Former General Secretary of the Labour Party
  • Antonia Romeo, Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Justice
  • Sir Mark Sedwill, Former Cabinet Secretary
  • Mishal Hussain, BBC Journalist
  • Theo Usherwood, Political Editor at LBC

If you have any queries, please email [email protected]
Deadline to apply: 11:59pm Sunday 12th December 2021

Patchwork at COP26 – Walker’s Experience

Posted on by Patchwork Foundation

In this article, Masterclass Graduate Walker Darke shares his experience of working as a United Nations (UN) Observer at the UN Climate Change Conference in Glasgow.

I was privileged to work at COP26 thanks to my role as a consultant to the United Nations Economic Commission (UNECE) in Geneva. My work focuses on supporting UNECE’s 56 member states from the United States to Kazakhstan to scale-up sustainable energy and provide policy support to make carbon neutrality a reality. Ahead of COP26, UNECE published a carbon neutrality toolkit to empower nations to go beyond existing targets.

I want to tell you about three key things you might have seen on the news. They are “Blah Blah Blah”, “Where is China?”, and “We have to act now”. 

Blah Blah Blah

World leaders arrived on day one to great fanfare, and even some bagpipes. Most stuck to their 3 minute time allotted slots to say their message to the world. They spoke passionately about how their country was doing their bit, will continue to do their bit, and in the future, do a bit more.

I was inspired by many of the speeches. The diversity of voices, languages and uniforms was something to behold. They left and the technical experts from each country took over from there. Meetings break into sub-groups focusing on a range of subjects, including mechanisms, adaptation, and climate finance. Nations form alliances with like-minded countries to amplify their voice, such as the Least Developed Countries (LDCs), the G77 & China and other alliances, and these have daily closed meetings to form their approach for the day. New alliances have formed in the past few days including the Beyond Oil and Gas Alliance (BOGA), led by Denmark and Costa Rica. 

As the negotiations intensify, ministers fly in and negotiations gradually go off the record, and become smaller and smaller with no observers allowed. Bilaterals provide far more room for concessions and construct the ‘landing zone’ for final agreed text. Most are left outside scrolling twitter piecing together hearsay. Two weeks sitting in windowless conference rooms is probably not the most productive environment I’ve ever been in. As one delegate put it to me:

“there’s the Blue Zone for the diplomats and the Green Zone for the public fringe events. Outside of the bubble, everywhere is the red zone when it comes to the climate crisis.”

Whether all this blah blah blah translates into something concrete: that is down to the will of national governments in how they implement the objectives.

Where is China?

Every country in the world sent a delegation to COP26 – even the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea. However, many foreign press were critical of President of the People’s Republic of China, Xi Jinping, not attending the Climate summit. This does not mean that China was not active in the summit. China is one of many active delegations and even secured a China-US agreement to boost climate cooperation (albeit a little short on detail). 

Nonetheless, the wider criticism of distant, developing countries using fossil fuels is an interesting point. China is one among many to call for the wealthiest countries in financial and capacity terms to go further than others. Many developing nations point to the G20 being accountable for 80% of greenhouse gas emissions. Furthermore, Africa as a continent contributes less than 4% to global emissions. Many in the conference halls advocate for flexible solutions to boost quality of living and sustainable development in the developing world as one rule does not fit all national scenarios. 

We have to act now 

There’s a lot of talking about action during climate summits. Occasionally, what politicians say in the main plenary is contradictory to what they write in the text, say some countries. On the final day of negotiations, Tuvalu’s Climate Minister Seve Paeniu spoke of the tone of urgency in speeches not being reflected in the agreement. 

Better representation ensures better decision-making. Input from those most impacted, from minorities and indigenous people, have been some of the strongest interventions on the conference floor. 

Climate change will affect all of us, which is why we all deserve to be a part of the climate conversation and the decision making process. For example, it is no surprise that women bear the brunt of the climate crisis when only 21% of the 196 heads of delegation at COP25 were women. The Patchwork Foundation’s mission to empower underrepresented communities to take a positive role in civil society is important, as society still has a long way to go. 

 

Written by Walker Darke, 2021 Patchwork Masterclass Programme Participant

Alumni Masterclass with Sir James Bevan, Chief Executive of the UK Environment Agency

Posted on by Patchwork Foundation

Attending the Masterclass with Sir James Bevan, Chief Executive of the UK Environment Agency, arranged by the Patchwork Foundation was an utterly eye-opening and an inspirational experience which I can take into my future. The Masterclass on Thursday 2nd September 2021 consisted of an amazing introduction into Sir Bevan’s work, prepared questions that he answered and an incredible open Q&A session to end the event, all providing us with extraordinary insights. I found the Masterclass to be targeted towards those of us at the early stages of our careers and I am very much excited the implement all this advice into my daily life.  

 A few pieces of advice Sir James Bevan imparted particularly resonated with me. Such comments were:  

  • Build the Right Culture in Your Organisation: As a leader within an organisation, this is something you can invest in and will affect how everyone behaves. He also spoke around the topic of the difference between an Alpha and Alpha Plus leader, where an Alpha leader is someone who improves an organisation when they join, but an Alpha Plus leader is someone who creates a company culture where the company continues to improve after they have left. These words personally inspired me to reflect on how I can implement these habits into my life as an Alpha Plus leader. 
  • Keep on Learning: No one ever achieved a new insight by being accepting of the knowledge that has come before them. It is necessary to challenge the conventional way of thinking as it is often wrong. The magnitude of this is more prevalent than ever. As we innovate to solve the world’s mounting and challenging problems conventional thinking has to be challenged as a catalyst to this success. 
  • Be Kind to Yourself: As potential leaders of the future, whatever we decide to do will be tough. Therefore, looking after yourself is of utmost importance by avoiding working too hard and managing your energy instead can help to avoid the effects of burnout. From my experience, this could take many forms such as daily meditation or self-care. 
  • Have a Support Network: These close people in your inner circle will support your success at each stage of life and are indispensable in order to lift you up upon the occurrence of failures and mistakes. 

In addition, James shared the massive impact of different experiences on his career to date, from having spent time in Zaia, Angola, where he uncovered that educating girls is a single magic bullet to improve all the other parts of a country, to his mother handing him the job posting for the UK Environment Agency. Further to this, he spoke about the future trajectory of the UK Environment Agency, describing it as an exciting place to work which was of a great interest to me as a current civil engineering student.   

To round up the session, we had a fruitful conversation on how we can incentivise large corporations to push their sustainable habits to the forefront of their operation, over profits. 

Overall, I highly enjoyed the Masterclass delivered by Sir James Bevan and I was personally impacted by his endless optimism. I would personally love to work in the UK Environment Agency in the future, and I am looking forward to further exploring the work of the organisation.

 

Written by Jasmine Brittan, Masterclass Programme Participant

Alumni Spotlight: Ross Hills

Posted on by Patchwork Foundation
Ross first interacted with Patchwork whilst studying dentistry in London as he was interested in learning more about use of social policies to alleviate oral health inequalities. After graduating from King’s he moved home to Leicestershire where he put what Patchwork taught him into action after being elected as a County Councillor. Alongside being a councillor and a dentist, Ross is the Association Chairman for Bosworth and is the Deputy Chairman of the LGBT+ Conservatives.

 

You’re currently a councillor! What does that job entail? What are the best parts and the worst parts?

There’s no specific description, but the job entails being a vocal representative for the area that I live in. It’s so varied, because I could get questions about safeguarding issues at the school, I could get questions about speeding matters, I could get questions about rubbish not being collected – I think that’s one of the most difficult things about it actually.As it’s varied, you’re expected to know a little bit about everything. You’re thrown in the deep end and there’s not a lot of training, so you have to learn on the job.

But I think the best thing about it is that people really appreciate it. As long as you do your best everyone appreciates the hard work you put in even if you don’t actually get the result they wanted at the end. People want to feel listened to. You also get invited to lots of local events! Yesterday I was at a dog show and got to judge the ‘waggiest tail’. We’ve done litter picks, village lunches, all sorts. 

 

Do you have any political campaigning tips for anyone aspiring to be an elected official one day?

My tip would be, if it’s a local election then stick to local issues. Let the national party policy speak for itself. I stuck to small, local issues I knew I could change as a local councillor back in May. So things like increasing the opening hours of the waste centre, getting a school crossing installed, more frequent cleaning of roads. Sticking to local issues is also good because it takes the heat out of the debate. So if you knock on the doorstep and say I want to do XYZ for our village, a resident will rarely come back and have an argue. Why would they want to have a go at you for wanting to sort the weeds out?

Whereas if you knock on the door saying ‘I’m a Labour or Conservative candidate’ they start to get antagonistic if they don’t like Boris or Keir or whoever it may be. Keep it local.

 

Do you find any big differences between local and national politics?

Local politics has less rhetoric. You don’t have to stick to party lines quite as much because everyone is there to represent the people and get the best results for them, so a lot of the toxicity has been taken out of the work you do. Most of the time on the doorstep, even if people don’t vote for your party they still appreciate the time that you put in to go and ask them questions. When it’s local most people appreciate you’re not a full-time politician, and so it’s more gentle.

 

Why did you want to be a councillor, and how did you get involved?

The time I got involved in politics initially was when I was at university doing dentistry. I moved from Leicestershire to London, and in London there’s much greater health inequality. What surprised me was that I’d be seeing the same patient profile again and again; it would be young kids 2 to 4 years old having all their teeth out, and you’d see them walk out of surgery and their parents giving them full-sugar coke and things like that. And I thought, there’s got to be a better way upstream to help my patients. So I got involved in the Policy Institute at King’s and started looking into things like water fluoridation and then got involved in Patchwork, and it kind of spiralled from there!

The reason I got involved in local politics after moving home from university was because I felt appreciated and valued in my local association. It won’t surprise anyone that there are many more older members than younger, but my local group recognised this and we’re actively seeking a more diverse range of members. I was lucky as this meant I was given a lot of support and encouragement to stand for election and also guidance on campaigning. 

 

Your day job is as a dentist. Do you see a connection between dentistry and politics? Do you think that one has informed the other in your life?

When I was at university I was disappointed because there was no overlap, but there really should be. I think like most professions, dentists don’t ever seem to be a fan of the government in power regardless of its colour and are always saying ‘we need better pay’, ‘we need more structure, ‘we need better patient access’, so there’s a lot of criticism going on. But actually when you step back and ask what have you done to advocate for dentistry, how have you gotten involved, have you written to your local MP, have you attended local NHS trust meetings – the answer is always no. 

Combining both careers does help each one though. Working as a dentist, I see patients for 15 minutes for a check up and I have to immediately build a rapport with them, because there’s nothing worse than a standoffish dentist. So I’m constantly seeing new patients, new patients, new patients, but actually that’s the same as canvassing on the doorstep – I’m knocking on the door and talking for five minutes, next door five minutes, next door five minutes. You’ve got to quickly build up that rapport with your residents and act like you’ve known each other for years. So those communication skills have come in really handy.

The background in health has been handy as well. Being elected during Covid, I’ve been able to contribute to health initiatives and specifically how advice is communicated with residents. As a dentist, you do interact with County as well with things like safeguarding. If I had a patient I was worried about I could make a safeguarding report to the County who picks it up and leads on it. 

 

What advice would you give to people who didn’t study politics or don’t have a strong political background for getting involved?

Something Matt Hancock said when he was talking to Patchwork during the pandemic stuck with me. He said ‘politics belongs to those who turn up’. Now as an association Chair, I put on events, host canvassing sessions, policy debates all sorts, and rarely do people actually engage. I can struggle to get 10 people to come knock on doors with me and our MP, but then people complain afterwards that they’re not engaged in local causes. You’ve got to put the legwork in first of all because no one’s going to do the work for you, but if you do put the effort in, there will be many people there to support you.

Also don’t be worried about not having a background in politics. I personally think it helps you! That’s why when I was considering doing politics at university, in the end I chose dentistry because I thought ‘let’s get some real life experience and a job’.  You’ll be able to contribute to the debate much better if you’re bringing experience with you. 

 

Why did you get involved in Patchwork?

I got involved the first time because I was socially awkward believe it or not! I’d always wanted to go to the national Conference, but I had no political friends, none of my family are political, I didn’t know anyone going and I thought I’d never have the guts to go to Conference on my own for 4 days without knowing anyone there.

Then the Party Conference Programme came up on Facebook, and it said ‘come to Party Conference with Patchwork and a cohort of other students’, and I thought well there’s 10 friends, that’s not as awkward is it?

So I signed up and did the Programme, and absolutely loved it. I really appreciated that the Programme was there for your development. It wasn’t just a ‘meet and greet with a politician, take a picture, isn’t that good fun?’. It was actually grounded in ‘what are you going to get from this, what skills do you want to learn and how are you going to use them?’, which really impressed me. Then I did the Masterclass Programme after, and it just went on from there.

 

What have you learnt from your time with us?

I think the best thing I’ve learnt from Patchwork is the importance of writing a good thank you note. It can’t be beat and I still write them to this day! When I was elected as a councillor the first thing I did was  order some fancy headed paper with my name and contact details on. After I did my first event, which happened to be at the church in my village, I wrote to them thanking them for inviting me to talk with them over coffee and the letter has been pinned up on the church notice board! They all appreciated it. 

You can’t beat a good thank you note.

 

What would you like to be doing in 10 years time?

I’ve got two possible routes. One route is working in parliament and contributing to health and social care debates. The other route is to go back to school and do a public health masters, concentrating on health communication. I was fortunate enough to do a summer studentship in the states as part of my degree and found the different approaches to public health between the US and UK fascinating. I’m sure whatever path I take the learning I have gained through Patchwork will help me.

Alumni Spotlight: Zahra Latif

Posted on by Patchwork Foundation

What are you up to at the moment?

I’m actually on the tail end of my maternity leave, but I’ll be returning to the Civil Service soon, and I’ll actually be in a new role. I’ll be Head of Policy for the Windrush Compensation Scheme in the Home Office.

I really want to do a job where I was benefitting real people  I’ve had some really interesting roles in the centre of Government which I feel have given me an understanding of the system, but I was missing that sense of direct impact. What drew me to this role is the people who have suffered as a result of the Windrush scandal, which has impacted a lot of people’s lives in many negative ways; people not being able to see their parents, not having access to the NHS, literally going on holiday and not being able to come back home despite living here for decades. You can’t make up for that in the sense that you can’t undo it, but getting people an amount of compensation which enables them to have a transformative impact on their lives, that’s really driving me. So that’s what I’m hoping to achieve.

Why did you want to join the Civil Service?

I worked in the NGO world before I joined the Civil Service. When I left uni, I was like – I want to change the world for the better, and have some kind of positive social impact, but I didn’t really know what to do. At the start of my career I worked in a charity working on conflict resolution in communities, mediating between communities and local government and police, and I found that really fascinating. Then I worked at the National Union for Students, where I worked on faith and belief issues as well as liberation issues, so campaigns for female students, students with disabilities, LGBTQ+ students, and Black students. Alongside all that was my work with helping to establish Patchwork.

So I loved that work and I was passionate about all of it, but the thing that I really felt was how much power Government has to shape the landscape. Government decides where the funding will go and what the big agendas of the day are, and I felt like if I wanted to have impact at scale, then I need to impact national policy and be at the table in that way. That’s why I wanted to join the Civil Service; I wanted to impact national policy and make it more reflective of the experiences I had, and also the things that I was seeing at the grassroots.

You mentioned having worked at the centre of Government – what was it like working at Number 10?

In Number 10 I was Private Secretary in the Policy Unit. I worked with the Director and Deputy Director to coordinate the unit on their behalf, and also got involved with some policy myself, specifically around domestic abuse policy and clean air. One of the things I got to work on and that I’m really grateful for and proud of, was securing a Government commitment to provide accommodation-based services to survivors of domestic abuse.

Being at the centre of Government was fascinating. It was really interesting to see just how hard it is to be Prime Minister. I think there’s a lot of glamour associated with it, but I was in Number 10 during Theresa May’s last year and a half, and she was trying to manage her party, Brexit, and so much more – it’s really, really difficult.

What did you learn from the experience?

It taught me the skills that help you in terms of the way you communicate and the way you present yourself in that environment, but also to question whether that’s how you want to operate. I think in that sense, it was an environment that personally really made me self-reflect a lot on who I am, what I want to be, what I want to be known for, and how I want to be. It reaffirmed for me that actually the things I value, even if others don’t value it, is being kind, and gentle, and a listening ear. I think in the end those qualities also make you more effective.

It also taught me how important it is not to assess yourself according to external features. It’s very easy to think ‘oh I’m working at Number 10, I must be doing pretty well in life’ but it doesn’t mean anything in the deepest sense of what it means to be human. Your character and how you really are often completely separate from the place you happen to find yourself in at this moment in time. I think, particularly in places with a lot of prestige associated with them, it’s easy to lose yourself if you’re not clear on who you are and what you’re about.

What are the best and worst parts of working in the Civil Service?

I think the best thing about being in the Civil Service is that if you’re in the right role for you, you really are at the table contributing to the decisions that impact a lot of people. When everything lines up – when you have the political will, the money and the finances, and you have enough, good people – you can actually do good stuff that impacts people through national policies, and that’s awesome. I think the worst bit is when those things don’t line up, and you’re not really having the impact you wanted to have.

What would you change about the Civil Service?

In terms of big changes, I think it’s really hard to say, ‘oh if only this thing was different or that thing was different’, because trying to govern a country is actually really complicated! I think it’s really easy to critique, but it’s much harder to go ‘this is the way to do it’.

I guess the thing I’d change is to have more people in senior leadership and decision-making roles who don’t come from a middle-class background, alongside increased gender diversity, racial diversity, diversity of sexual orientation, and having people with disabilities. There’s an impact that your class has, what socio-economic background you come from, and I’d like more people in senior leadership and decision making roles to just be more diverse in all the ways, including how wealthy they have been and are.

You were one of the founding members of Patchwork and used to be our Chief of Staff. Why did you get involved and what did you learn from the experience?

Patchwork grew from not seeing myself or the people I knew reflected in politicians or political decision making. I think I’ve always had this strong sense of wanting to contribute since I was very young, but simultaneously feeling like there wasn’t a space for me. ‘People like me don’t get to do that kind of thing’ was the kind of way I felt, and Patchwork just offered this really exciting opportunity to try to change that, to try and bring more people into spaces and places that seemed so out of reach.

On a personal note, I really looked up to the others. I was one of the youngest, and I was the only woman, and in some ways I looked up to these guys so much that I didn’t realise at first that I could contribute and I had valid ideas. I was just going with the flow. There was a personal growth to it too, going from this quieter woman in what at times felt like quite a lad-y atmosphere, to Chief of Staff, and growing into that and getting used to authority.

What advice do you have for people hoping to join the Civil Service?

It’s something I still struggle with, but I think it’s really important to know yourself and own yourself. What I mean by that is: know what your strengths are, know what your weaknesses are, know what makes you different, and just accept all of it and be okay with all of it. When you have that kind of acceptance, there’s just this authentic quiet confidence that comes from that which is very powerful. I think sometimes if you’re a bit ‘different’ – for me it’s that I might be the only brown person in that space or room, and almost definitely the only person who’s visibly Muslim – sometimes you’re so concerned with what people think of you and wanting people to think well of you, when really the thing to focus on is ‘what value can I bring’. 

Helen MacNamara who was the Deputy Cabinet Secretary told me ‘Zahra you have the power to make the weather wherever you go’ and I thought that was so interesting – what she meant was that you can go into that space and you can decide whether it’s a sunny day or not just through the way we are. I think we all have that power, to influence those around us, and you don’t have to be extroverted and a really great talker, you can do it in your own way in your own style.

A Masterclass in Entrepreneurship: Donal Mulryan and Rockwell Property

Posted on by Patchwork Foundation

Donal Mulryan, founder of Rockwell Property, is not someone that you can know inside out from a simple Google search. Although his 25 years of career achievements, architecture awards and financial successes speak for themselves, we were more intrigued by Mr. Mulryan’s personal development: how he made his way to the top of his field, and why he gives so much back in the process. 

From our research, Mr. Mulryan had an extremely impressive resumé. Before founding Rockwell in 2015, he held directorate positions at Ballymore and West Properties, the latter of which he established in the early millennium, following the desire to run his own business. Reflecting on this decision, Mr. Mulryan acknowledged the risks he faced, leaving a comfortable and well-paid position to start from the ground up. He cited the effort it took to achieve his goal, but recognised he had no regrets about his journey. Talking about his early years as an entrepreneur, he emphasised the necessity to fail, telling us “You have to learn as you go”, which felt reassuring as many of us have just started on our career journeys, and will no doubt encounter challenges and setbacks along the way. Understanding and conquering those failures, especially in the wake of the 2008 financial crash, has definitely proved a fruitful tactic, with Mr. Mulryan’s companies winning several design awards and securing more developments across cities.

During our briefing, it was clear that the group was curious about Mr. Mulryan’s charitable efforts. Indeed, a property developer and entrepreneur from West Ireland does not have any immediate connection to Patchwork, or us young people and our political aspirations. When I asked about the reasons for his charitable nature, Mr. Mulryan simply explained that he loves giving back, whilst drawing on his own proud and normal background in order to emphasise the privilege of his position now, and how he uses it to bring capital to more disadvantaged areas. This is especially evident in his architectural projects, wherein he uses his developments as a way to invest in the local communities, through employment, training and housing. Mr. Mulryan’s selflessness is inspiring, but also grounds him in a way that may be unexpected for such a successful business owner, and is certainly something that we as Patchworkers aspire to be. 

In essence, the Masterclass was different to our previous experiences as it showcased the benefits of an entrepreneurial, self-employed career: a thoroughly developed passion for your field and the freedom of direction, which can certainly be of assistance when challenges roll around. I am truly grateful to Mr. Mulryan for sponsoring our cohort and giving us his time, as well as his assistant Ms. Vince, and our own brilliant Yolanda Dixon for her excellent chairing skills. 

 

Written by Zara Overton, 2021 Masterclass Programme Participant

Permanent Secretary Bernadette Kelly CB on Social Mobility and Job Mobility

Posted on by Patchwork Foundation

Earlier this year my cohort of Patchworkers and I were informed that we would be having our second Masterclass session with Bernadette Kelly CB, current Permanent Secretary at the Department for Transport since 2017. Having researched Permanent Secretary Bernadette beforehand and learnt about the barriers she broke down as a working-class woman originally from Birmingham to reach her current position in a historically middle-class, male, and Londoner dominated space, I was incredibly excited to meet her and I was not disappointed. The Masterclass session was held at the exact same time I was wrapping up my English degree, so it was a great excuse to take a break from staring at my dissertation. Permanent Secretary Bernadette and I had a laugh about my topic when I told her it was focused on the representation of redheads in literature (both being redheads ourselves), and she showed a genuine interest as a English graduate herself from the University of Hull. After this initial conversation, I witnessed first-hand how approachable and relatable she is, helping to demystify and debunk my worries about working for the government myself.  

 

On Social Mobility: Permanent Secretary Bernadette is currently one of the social mobility champions within the Civil Service, and has worked in the past with the Social Mobility Commission (an advisory non-departmental public body of the Department for Education in England). She was really keen to discuss this aspect of her identity and her passion for the cause with my fellow Patchworkers and I. She told us about the struggles she has seen during her three-decades of service when it comes to class, such as seeing Northern and Midlands’ colleagues soften their accents and being nervous to give presentations because of an embedded lack of confidence at the start of the career. She even asked us to share our own thoughts on social mobility and what we would like to see being done in the Civil Service that will attract more young people from underrepresented backgrounds to join. Permanent Secretary Bernadette really brought home the idea that the Civil Service does not want a group of cookie cutters – diversity leads to diverse actions that are needed to represent the population served. 

 

On Job Mobility: Permanent Secretary Bernadette also shared details about her journey through various departments and job roles in her career, such as HM Treasury, Number 10, and the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy. She talked about working through turbulent times and plain patches, and how work and the workplace culture shifts accordingly, with each department being unique in their own strategic objectives and their ways of working towards them. She also touched on the importance of personal capital and networking, and how connections can still be utilised even when switching over to another department, which built on the advice that has been given at other Patchwork sessions. One particular piece of advice that stood out to me whilst she was discussing leadership, was that as somebody in the Civil Service becomes more senior, it becomes less about how great they are at their job and more about how great they can encourage their team to be.  

 

Overall, the Masterclass session with Permanent Secretary Bernadette was very insightful and I left having learnt a lot more about the Civil Service than I did previously, particularly what day-to-day life is like for somebody in a senior position. I saw aspects of myself and my own background reflected in her, which is so important for being able to find role models as a fresh graduate quite daunted by the competitive job market ahead. I am looking forward to the future Masterclass sessions that Patchwork has lined up for us.

 

Written by Tiegan Bingham-Roberts, 2021 Masterclass Programme Participant

Alumni Spotlight: Lipa Nessa

Posted on by Patchwork Foundation

Lipa Nessa is the Co-founder of a sports podcast, formerly a semi-professional footballer and now a grassroots coach, sports activist, and National Youth Board member for several sports boards. Lipa wants to facilitate change and continues to challenge herself and engage with ethnically diverse communities. Lipa’s dream is to ‘change the world with a hijab on her head and a ball at her feet’, and has already become a trailblazer and a powerful voice for positive change in the sector.

What drew you to sports advocacy?

What drew me was my negative experiences within the sporting sector. Being a minority, being a Muslim woman, being a woman generally, it’s a tough world, especially in the world of sport when you’re told what you can and can’t wear and everything else between the lines. When I was younger, I went through a very negative experience, which made me take a step back and think, how can I challenge this in the right way? Can I be that representation that I didn’t have when I was younger? So I went through the representation pathway. If you can’t see it you can’t be it, so let me be that person that everyone can see. 

As I grew older and went to university, I realised that I had the representation in the bag, so how could I influence the sector even more? So I went into coaching and decided I’d coach girls’ football within the local area, as I knew there were more Muslim girls and Muslim families in the area.

I then decided to join the Youth Sport Trust Youth Board, and where I realised how much power a young person holds, and it all grew from there.

What are you up to now?

I’m a Trustee at Muslimah Sports Association, a local charity that was established in 2014. They’re all to do with Muslim women in sports and creating a safe space for women who look like me to celebrate their sporting achievements.

I’m also a Trustee and the Chair of the Youth Board at the Youth Sport Trust. This is a space that I literally never thought I’d get. Before joining Patchwork it wasn’t even on my radar to achieve, but afterwards I thought you know what, I’ve got the skills, I think I can do it. Through curiosity I decided to give it a go, and I got the position! I’m really chuffed with that, and it’s on a national level. I’ve got a lot of work in September when school starts again, but it’s okay because I did say I wanted to change the world!

I’m also on the social media scene. For instance, I’ve done a recent campaign with Adidas ‘All About Your Body’. It was about championing the body and talking about the pandemic as well. I was able to showcase change through a difficult period, where mental and physical health were challenged repeatedly.

Why do you think sport is so important?

It’s important now more than ever! You might have seen during the pandemic, the PT and dietician Joe Wicks started to blow up with his exercise videos and I just thought this is great for sports and for PE, especially the way he engaged not only with children and young people but also their parents. There was also Captain Sir Tom Moore, who before he passed away had his daily walk which fundraised millions for the NHS, just showing that no matter your age, where you come from, where you are in the world, sports can bring people together.

In this day and age, there’s so much trauma and mental health struggles, from children in primary school to their teachers to the elderly. There are so many people, especially key and frontline workers, who haven’t had the chance to just stop and look after themselves. 

I think sports and PE is that artistic form to allow one to express themselves. No one actually thinks about its like that, because at school you’re just told to get changed, to go outside and play netball in the cold. No one sees it as an artistic form of communicating and expressing yourself, and that’s where I think we’ve gone wrong with this.

As a nation we’ve already seen how much sports and PE can do, all the way back to WWI when soldiers put down their weapons to play football. History already told us that sports brings people together, so how come after all these years we’ve forgotten that, and instead we’ve made it a barrier? I think every child has the right and every person has the right to PE and physical activity whoever they are. Just enjoy yourself while you’re expressing yourself. 

What would you do to change that?

If I was in power, I would make sure that PE holds an important place in the curriculum in school. I’d try to spread it across to NHS services, frontline workers, and key workers to make sure they’re ‘getting their steps in’, no matter how they do that, whether it be jogging, walking, jumping on the trampoline. You’re not too old to do anything, even just running out in the rain – I think lots of people have put that barrier in from of them before they’ve even begun.

This is, of course, the year of the Olympics – how have you found Tokyo 2020?

Stressful! I think I’ve got grey hairs under my headscarf!

I’ve just been screaming at the telly and challenging people, especially when it comes to clothing, one example being the backlash towards the gymnasts from the German team who chose to wear the longer-legged unitards. And then there was the Norwegian team during the European Beach Handball Championships recently who didn’t want to wear bikini pants, they wanted to wear shorts and the European Handball Federation gave them a fine for it. So men can wear longer trousers and they don’t need to show their muscles or contours of their bodies, whereas women are sexualised into wearing revealing clothes. It took me back to my own sporting roots when I decided to wear a headscarf and the negativity around that period was really toxic for me, so imagine that at a that level of competition. I just feel for them. 

But at the same time, I’m looking at these younger Olympians coming through and all these new sports – like skateboarding, so cool! – but seeing all these younger people come through and absolutely bossing it is so great to see. Hopefully one day this argument will come back in the future, but instead of arguing everyone will laugh at it and everyone will be like well why didn’t we allow women to just cover up if they want to cover up.

Going back to mental health, too, one of the USA gymnasts, Simone Biles, pulled out of her finals. Everyone thought it was a physical injury, but when she came out and said no it’s actually my mental health, everyone was giving her stick for it, but no one actually realises that in sport you need your brain as much as your body. So her doing that shows that even at such an elite level at such a pinnacle point in her career, you can say no actually, I’ll lead but I’ll lead from the back today. There’s a lot there we can take as people and even into the political scene – how much saying no is okay and how setting those boundaries early is so important.

If you could participate in any Olympic sport, what would it be?

Football. Then again, it might be archery! That’s one sport I’ve been trying to get into! It’s just so much fun and historical within the sporting scene. It’s like any track event in the Olympics, it’s very ancient, so going back to the roots of where sports came from is something I like! 

Football was also an ancient sport – instead of football it was actually the heads of prisoners . . . but we just kind of forget about that!

Why did you apply to the Patchwork Masterclass Programme, and what did you get out of the experience?

I saw it as an opportunity to advance my skillset and to have a greater understanding of what governance means within the political sector, and what I learned could be transferred to my sector.

But the main reason I wanted to join Patchwork was because it scared me and it was out of my comfort zone. It gave me a little feeling of being unsure, of not knowing what’s ahead, of being nervous because you’re not sure. Every time that happens, it leads to something good. It always has. So I applied because I was scared basically. 

It was one of the best things I did during the pandemic. During the pandemic I was able to enhance my skillset and learn about different things going on around me in the political scene and governance sector. Going back into the ‘real world’ and seeing of what I learn in Patchwork take form in the sporting sector has been fun!

There were a lot of people that I couldn’t relate to directly, but indirectly I could, and I took the bits that I could relate to and I applied it to my pathway and my journey, starting with my trustee roles, just jumping in head-first like I did with Patchwork.

What advice do you have for someone who wants to pursue their passion?

If it’s something you’re think about for too long and you don’t pursue it, might be a regret you think about forever.

Chair of the Labour Party: Masterclass with Anneliese Dodds

Posted on by Patchwork Foundation

When I heard that there would be a Masterclass with Anneliese Dodds, Chair of the Labour Party, I was ecstatic! Having heard the speeches she had previously given I was looking forward to engaging with her.

Ms Dodds gave a Masterclass session on the 20th of May. The Masterclass started with Ms Dodds introducing herself, giving us an overview on her educational background and political career. Ms Dodds touched upon how she juggles her work life with her family life- which I thought was refreshing. Finally, Mrs Dodds went into depth on the changes she would like to make and the reasoning behind them.

Although there were many inspirational key points that I took away from the Masterclass, below are the ones I would like to share;

 

  1. Commitment is needed to make change.

As a British South Asian woman trying to break stereotypes and barriers for other young women who want to pursue a career in sports, this statement which was made by Mrs Dodds resonated with me. It highlighted not only the dedication needed to achieve your goal but the difference you can make when you persevere.

 

  1. There is power in education and everyone should be given the same opportunities

Ms Dodds spoke about her remarkable educational background. She was educated at Robert Gordon’s College then progressed into an undergraduate at St Hilda’s College, Oxford and subsequently took a master’s degree in Social Policy at the University of Edinburgh and a PhD in Government at the London School of Economics.

Ms Dodds stated how vital it is for everyone, especially young people, to have the same benefits she did in education and the importance of being able to access some of the best libraries and constituencies regardless of an individual’s race, gender or class. It was very clear to see the fire behind Ms Dodds’ eyes when she was speaking about connecting everyone to education.

 

  1. Raise issues for and with young people

As an individual who is passionate about mental health and providing young people with platforms so they can work to a brighter future, having someone in a higher position who also has the same goals showing eagerness to make a change was really encouraging. Ms Dodds spoke about the issues young people are facing today for example, housing and unemployment due to the crisis. She touched upon one of her goals being to engage the community in different ways to reduce anxiety and worries. While Ms Dodds was speaking on her goals, I found it very hard not to smile as it showed what a selfless individual she is.

 

At the end of the session, Ms Dodds was presented with a range of questions from my fellow Patchworkers. I was really impressed in how Ms Dodds always humanised her answers as it really touched base with me. To conclude, this is one Masterclass that I will never forget. I would like express my appreciation to Anneliese Dodds for speaking to us during the Masterclass and for being so raw and honest with her answers.

 

Written by Hina Shafi, 2021 Masterclass Programme Participant