Cohort Building, Networking and Leadership IFP Andean Region & Southern Cone

1. Cohort Building, Networking and LeadershipIFP Andean Region & Southern Cone Latin America IFP Post – Fellowship Stage Planning Meeting. Santiago, October 2004 Jaumet Bachs Programme Officer

2. Strategy at IFP AR&SC Activities to be implemented during 2004-2005

3. Introduction • The relevance of this issue has been pointed out since the statement of the initial goal of the IFP Programme. • At the Andean Region and Southern Cone, this strategy is integrated into the other activities of the IFP cycle, and is also interrelated to the regional execution (Chile & Peru). • A series of action lines have been designed to cover the multiple needs of IFP fellows that have gradually appeared. • There is a connection with the evolution of a flexible and constantly growing programme, and the new requirements of a fellows cohort that exercise their “new” condition as subjects.

4. Background Target Group. » Lack of networks » Lack of professional & academic recognition These critical aspects have an influence and perpetuate social exclusion Selection Criterion Leadership Consistent biography Relevance of projects Projection of their social and community leadership

5. Background (continued) • Thus, there are 4 main areas under development at IFP AR&SC. • Fellows are building their own identity as fellows, as well as a supportive and propositional, long term network regarding their role and projection of social and community leadership. • Institutional needs • + Needs of IFP fellows • ================================= • These goals are being achieved by means of different projects and activities

6. Main demands and goals • Needs that have arisen at different times since the start of the programme in 2000: • Overcoming the social welfare point of view that guides some of the Fellows, crossed also by a certain mistrust associated to the international nature of the IFP Programme. • Building new local, regional and international cohorts, with a more integrated relationship among them and between them and the IFP. • Develop a long term relationship and vision. • Overcome the lack of networks of our fellows. • Overcome the lack of professional and academic recognition. • Develop post-fellowship activities that strengthen their sense of identity and also the work they will carry out after attaining new knowledge. • Enhancing and making visible “Affirmative Action” programmes.

7. General goal at IFP AR&SC • Taking all these needs in mind, the following goal for the Cohort Building, Networking and Leadership area was stated: • “Provide social tools for fellows in order to boost the effect of their post graduate studies, amplify the results sought by the IFP programme in the economical and social development and make successful examples of Affirmative Action visible”.

8. Strategy Rationale Needs Evolution Cohort Building Network Promotion Professional Academic Recognition Leadership Projection • Taking into account the motivations and possibilities of beneficiaries, that is, IFP Fellows in the region, has also been an important factor.

9. Time Line Conceptualization of leadership for AR&SC Start of IFP 2nd FCR 1st version of www.programabecas.org 3rd FCR 4th FCR IFP July 2001 July 2002 Jul & Aug 2003 January 2004 May 2002 October 2002 November 2003 Julio 2004 1st FCR LSJ-1 Vermont IFP AR&SC Intranet e-newsletter 2nd version of www.programabecas.org LSJ-4 Oaxaca LSJ-5 Vermont + LSJ-6 Holland + LSJ-7 Thailand LSJ-2 Vermont + LSJ-3 Holland

10. Cohort Building • Arising from the initial declarations of the IFP Executive Secretariat. • Due to our bi-national nature, it became evident from the beginning that work on this area was a key action to implement. • With the first cohorts, the main challenge was to generate their own identity, which could differentiate them from previous Ford Foundation Programmes. Although the duties and rights of fellows were at that time being developed, the institutional nature of IFP in the region was consolidating and there was a lack of complete regulations, the “learning by doing” spirit led us to detect some needs the fellows felt.

11. Cohort Building (cont.) • Specific demands on this area, their origin between parenthesis: • Work on their sense of identity along the Programme (IFP). • Gather all those fellows in the region that belong to each cohort together (FIB). • Provide information about the IFP Programme and about the duties and rights of the fellowship (FIB). • Receive information, procedures, clear up expectations and draw lines of action for the short term (Fellows). • Get to know other people, other experiences and realities, as well as innovative ideas in order to bring new avenues for development into their realities (Fellows). • State the long term relationship of the IFP (FIB). • Have a means to continue their contact with other fellows and with the IFP in the region (Fellows ).

12. Cohort Building (cont.) Local Cohort Building Get to know each other, introduction to IFP, presentation of projects, evaluations, Networking, leadership, long term relationship Regional Cohort Building Issues on Leadership, LSJ Online, groups of discussion Step By Step, IFP identity, context & academic guidance , Intranet, leadership, sense of reality, etc. International Cohort Building (LSJI)

13. Promotion of Networks • A need expressed by fellows and that was not covered by the Cohort Building area, was their requirement to get to know, contact and develop possibilities for working with fellows from other generations. • Specific demands for this area: • To have a means to continue their contact with other fellows and with the IFP in the region (Fellows). • To have a dynamic communication channel, that may serve as a link for IFP activities in the region, and also for the development of Cohort Building activities (FIB). • To generate a virtual meeting space to replace e-mail as the only means for transmission due to e-mail accounts having limited capacity (FIB). • Offer their papers, thesis, ideas and contributions about the issues they are working on (Fellows).

14. Promotion of Networks (cont.) • In 2000 a regional web page was created, which offered basic information on the IFP and the 1st application process. Later, it presented more information (such as biographies of IFP Fellows-elect, links, news, etc.) and offered more resources to our fellows and other invited visitors. • In 2002, a second version took into account the need to offer a more dynamic, attractive and interactive system, with a potential for expansion, functional to the set goals and with better information for all those who may be interested in the IFP Programme in the region. • The Regional Intranet has been covering the mentioned regional needs, and the www.fordifp.netweb site is trying to do this at a global level. However, the last specific need mentioned was not covered, reason why the following area arises.

15. Professional and academic recognition • Our fellows have stated that despite their professional and personal merits, they do not have recognition in their communities in order to transmit their ideas, or even to be acknowledged as legitimate interlocutors. • Thus, the Intranet was not enough to cover this and the following demands were set: • Offer their papers, thesis, ideas and contributions about the issues they are working on (Fellows). • Demonstrate to those who selected them and also to their academic tutors and the universities that review their applications; the skills and progress that Fellows have attained (FIB). • Integrate fellows around the world (FIB). • Communicate IFP activities in the Andean Region (FIB). • Define the concept of leadership for the region and work on its development in Fellows (FIB).

16. Professional and academic recognition (cont.) • In order to achieve this, FIB has developed an IFP Bulletin that may cover these needs, inserted within a bigger plan that involves a larger scale project: the Digital Newspaper. • The Bulletin is distributed among academic tutors, members of the local and regional selection committees, universities, IFP Partners, and of course, the fellows that write in each issue. • It is also hosted in the Regional Intranet library and anyone can download the previous issues from the URL. • Link: www.programabecas.tie.cl

17. Professional and academic recognition (cont.) • The IFP Bulletin has 3 stages: texts written by IFP Fellows from the Andean Region and Southern Cone, inclusion of IFP Fellows around the world and its translation into other languages in order to distribute it globally. • The plan considers, since October 2004, organizing the creation of the following stage, the Digital Newspaper, that will increase the professional recognition of all IFP Fellows that wish to participate, providing information related to social justice in IFP countries. Its operation will include the work of distance writers and editors, which will support the long term activities such as the IFP post-fellowship stage.

18. Projection of Leadership • Both IFF and FIB see leadership as a core aspect in their operations, reason why it was necessary to conceptualize the specific aspects and potential of our Fellows, the scenarios and social environments where they will be inserted once they finish their studies, and the knowledge, skills or behaviour that we want to boost. • Specific demands for this area: • Define the concept of leadership for the region and work on the development of its evolution among fellows, with the full integration of the 4 areas of the regional strategy (FIB). • To have a world cohort of successful leaders (IFP). • Acquire new knowledge that may allow for refining the development of plans and actions in the post-fellowship stage (Fellows). • Integrate experiences of collective and social leadership (FIB). • Strengthen the IFP identity around leadership and sustain this link in time (FIB).

19. Projection of Leadership (cont.) • A formal document that explained the conceptualization was elaborated, as well as a Leadership for Social Justice in Latin America Course Model, which considers the profiles of those who have been selected, and bibliographic elements that account for innovative issues in order to strengthen and expand the leadership of fellows, limiting the skills they will boost and through optimum means. • It is important to point out that since this area is integrated to all the other components of the IFP cycle; the post-fellowship stage and the activities that IFP Alumni may define will be key for success in this activity.