Last February the in-person meeting of the Nordic Leadership Development Program took place in Løten, Norway. The program was organised by the Nordic AFS partners (DEN,FIN, ISL, NOR, SWE) and AFS International. The meeting in Løten was a part of a longer program spanning over 8 months including an online course and a coaching phase. Aside from the Nordic countries we also had participants from AFS Latvia and AFS Belgium Flanders.
The Leadership Development Program (LDP) was created by AFS International to help Partner Organisations address leadership challenges and have a more intentional approach to local leadership. This LDP provides a space for training and reflection for AFS local leaders, increasing their self-awareness and allowing them to identify leadership skills they should focus on further developing. The Program is structured to allow local leaders to become change agents, leading their organisations to evolve and achieve growth that can be both measured and felt. The LDP includes 3 phases: a 4-week online course, a 4-day training event, and a 6-month follow-up phase with individual coaching.
For the event in Norway, the Nordics recruited a travelling trainer through EFIL. We were happy to select Noomi Peters from AFS Germany as our travelling trainer, a great addition to the team! Noomi’s responsibility was to facilitate sessions on leadership during the in-person meeting. The organisers and the participants appreciated her contribution to the event a lot. If LDP continues to be implemented in the Region, we will for sure apply again for a travelling trainer.
For now the participants are in the coaching phase of the LDP and the team will have a meeting in May to start discussing the next editions of the Program. The first round of the program in the North will come to an end in August and we look forward to sharing the final outcomes of the program. So far, so good!
Preparatory team:
Carsten Friis Overby (DEN)
Elin Bernhard (SWE)
Elis Motta (INT)
Jonas Ørnes Andersen (NOR)
Lucas Welter (INT)
Marín Björt Valtýsdóttir (ISL)
Noomi Sophie Peter (GER/EFIL)
Satu Kuivalainen (FIN)
Big thank you to our participants, coaches and partner countries that joined us by sending participants!
For more information contact: elis.motta@afs.org
Photos by Carsten Overby