A new institute in Yangon combines ethics, life skills, analytical skills and professional competencies for leaders in the fields of education, business and civil society in Myanmar.
Fr Joseph Antony Jacob SJ, recently arrived from Loyola College Chennai to join the Myanmar Mission as the first Director of the Myanmar Leadership Institute (MLI), says that the goal of the institute is to develop leaders whose competence is inspired by compassion and will contribute to nation building, inclusive prosperity, peace and restoration of human rights for all.
MLI is an initiative of the Archbishop of Yangon, Cardinal Charles Bo, and the Myanmar Jesuits under the leadership of Fr Mark Raper SJ.
The motto of MLI is “Learn to Lead – Lead to Serve”. Fr Jacob says that we are all leaders in one way or other. “Leadership flows forth from within. It is all about who I am as much as what I am. It is an ongoing process,” he said, adding that good leaders welcome every opportunity to learn about themselves and the world, and look forward to new discoveries and interests.
“A leader is essentially a pilgrim, not one who has ‘arrived’ at some idealised state of perfection. A leader is the one who is becoming fully human and fully alive. Being fully human within and fully alive to the hard realities outside of oneself. Leadership is nothing but a discovery channel and it is a new way of being evangelists and prophets to the poor and the neglected in every society,” he said.
A leader is essentially a pilgrim, not one who has ‘arrived’ at some idealised state of perfection.
Thus, MLI aspires to shape Myanmar students into agents of social change, preparing them for concerted social action to enable mass movements, leading to the desired liberation.
A recent workshop with select Burmese experts from education, business and civil society sectors, facilitated by a team from the Center for Organization Research and Development of Ateneo de Manila University in the Philippines, helped to lay the groundwork for the curriculum of MLI.
The institute has started accepting students for the Graduate Diploma in Leadership and will close once an adequate cohort is formed, with a maximum of 25 candidates per cohort. The programme is divided into four quarters: Leading the Self, Leading Others, Leading the Organisation and Navigating Contexts. The programme will run from October 19, 2018 through September 6, 2019.
Quarters comprise 120 hours of contact time three times a week (Monday, Wednesday, Friday) for four hours each day and 60 hours of hands on experience/guided study twice a week (Tuesday and Thursday). The programme also consists of thesis writing or project work throughout the year and one week of Ignatian immersion experience.
Students will receive a certificate after successfully completing each quarter. Those who complete all four quarters will receive a graduate diploma from MLI in collaboration with Ateneo de Manila University.
Fr Jacob and his staff hope that at the end of the programme, graduates are equipped with a whole person education and prepared for entry to midlevel roles in NGOs, CSOs, religious communities, education and health sectors, government agencies and business sectors.
“We hope to form leaders who are not only able, capable and employable, but also compassionate, who are able to think critically and creatively towards serving the common good in line with the values of justice, solidarity and preferential option for the poor.”
To qualify for the programme, applicants must have an undergraduate degree or equivalent, an intermediate level of English and relevant work experience.
For more information, click here to download the brochure of the Myanmar Leadership Institute Graduate Diploma in Leadership.