Wider Europe and Central Asia

Eligibility: citizens of Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Moldova, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Ukraine, and Uzbekistan.

The hybrid programme is comprised of a series of online workshops followed by a two-week long residential programme in the UK. Each Fellow will participate in a core programme of group workshops and visits and have an individually-tailored programme of meetings related to their Action Plan. After completing the programme, Fellows will join the collaborative community of John Smith Fellows and will have the opportunity to participate in network activities.

2023 WECAP Fellows in Scotland

2023 Ukrainian Fellow Kateryna Musiienko

Ukrainian Women's Leadership

Eligibility: citizens of Ukraine, displaced in Scotland

This year, the Trust is proud to partner with the University of Edinburgh Business School to bring Ukrainian women displaced by the current conflict and living in Scotland together for a 3-day leadership programme. The immediate goal of the programme is to build a collaborative community, towards the longer terms goal of supporting a resilient and sustainable recovery.

Leaders in Exile: Future of Belarus

Eligibility: citizens of Belarus, living in exile

This year, the Trust is running a separate programme for exceptional professionals from Belarus living in exile and working towards a free and peaceful future for their country. This Fellowship supports leaders with passion and purpose to achieve their vision for fairer, more sustainable and inclusive societies.

2023 Belarusian Fellows meet with Lord Cameron at the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office

Fellow Natalija Djandjgava (Moldova) speaks at Downing Street during the Wider Europe programme in 2018

Wider Europe Fellowship Programme

Eligibility: Wider Europe: citizens of Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Georgia, Moldova, Russia, Ukraine

The Wider Europe programme gives Fellows an insight into how a mature democracy deals with issues of governance and justice, climate and sustainability, and equality, diversity and inclusion in both theoretical and very practical terms. The programme includes a residential element in the UK. It also connects individual Fellows with UK experts working in their particular field, to feed into a project that each Fellow implements on their return home. The programme is built around three pillars – unique insight into UK institutions, personalised professional meetings and leadership skills development – which together offer both a broad picture and an individual focus.

Central Asia Fellowship Programme

Central Asia: citizens of Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan

The Central Asia programme gives Fellows an insight into how a mature democracy deals with issues of governance and justice, climate and sustainability, and equality, diversity and inclusion in both theoretical and very practical terms. The programme includes a residential element in the UK. It also connects individual Fellows with UK experts working in their particular field, to feed into a project that each Fellow implements on their return home. The programme is built around three pillars – unique insight into UK institutions, personalised professional meetings and leadership skills development – which together offer both a broad picture and an individual focus.

Structure

Our 6-month hybrid programmes consist of regular online discussions and workshops followed by a residential programme in the UK. They discover first-hand how UK institutions function and what challenges are faced. The fellowship programme offers both a broad picture and an individual focus. They are structured around the following three pillars:

Core Programme

At a group level, Fellows participate in monthly online workshops, as well as in-person debates and visits with senior leaders and high-level experts during the residential programme. There are visits to the Scottish and UK Parliaments, to law courts, think tanks and social enterprises as well as meetings with senior politicians, civil servants, notable UK figures and grassroots activists. These opportunities of high-level access give Fellows unique insight into the UK’s political and civil society and the workings of UK institutions.

Action Plans

At an individual level, Fellows each work on their own action plan during the fellowship programmes. The action plan is a piece of work or a project related to the Fellow’s own field of expertise which would be enhanced by UK experience and input. It should contribute to the positive future development of your society within one of our thematic areas: governance and justice; climate and sustainability; and equality, diversity and inclusion. The action plan should be ambitious yet feasible to implement. It is developed and finalised during the programme as a result of one-to-one meetings with relevant UK experts and organisations. Fellows are required to formally report on the implementation of their plan at different stages after completion of their programme.

Leadership Skills

The fellowship programmes also include leadership skills development including debate and communications training. They spend a weekend exploring their own leadership styles and developing personal and professional skills for leading change collaboratively and with confidence.

Fellowship Programmes

Our programmes give exceptional young professionals the chance to gain detailed insights into the values and ways of working of UK institutions. We facilitate open and honest discussion about the challenges our societies face, the solutions we’ve tried and what we’ve learned.