Are you Lewisham's future leaders?

Civic Leadership Programme

The Civic Leadership Programme is designed to help more people from black and minority ethnic backgrounds get active in civic and political life.

The Civic Leadership Programme is a partnership between Lewisham Council and Operation Black Vote.

The programme

The programme looks at six different areas of public life:

education – school governors

health – health board of Lewisham and Greenwich NHS Trust

local government – councillors

policing – safer neighbourhood panels

criminal justice system – magistrates

the voluntary sector – trustees

It involves a mixture of observation and training sessions, designed to give you the confidence, knowledge and capacity to become more active within public life, including:

- how each area of public life works roles and responsibilities of being a public appointee the process and procedures of each area of public life benefit to the community of each area of public life how public appointments are made. The scheme also includes a learning seminar looking at areas such as:

- developing leadership techniques presentation and public speaking skills importance of civic activism issues regarding race, equality and BME representation. Requirements of applicants

-all applicants must be 18 years or over and come from a BME background
-all applicants must live in the borough of Lewisham
-all applicants must be able to demonstrate a genuine interest in community affairs
-all applicants must be able to commit between 6–10 working days to complete the programme (number of days will vary from a minimum of 6 days to a maximum of 10 days dependent upon the number of areas of public life you wish to observe).

What happens after the scheme has finished?

Many graduates have become councillors, magistrates, school governors, with many others taking roles in public office. Our aim is that upon completion, this leadership programme will give participants the skills and motivation to engage in public life.

Everyone who successfully completes the programme will be invited to a graduation event and awarded with a certificate. In addition, participants will join the OBV alumni programme, which will provide assistance, support and networking opportunities.

What is the next step?

Please read the full programme outline below and if you are interested in becoming a future civic leader of Lewisham, complete the application form below and return it to OBV by Friday 21 August 2015.

The closing date for applications has been extended from the previously published date of Friday 31 July to Friday 21 August 2015. If you have any more questions about the programme please email us.

Programme Outline

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Application Form and Monitoring Form

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