The COVID-19 crisis is a global challenge for people from all over the world and all walks of life. Discover our interview with Andrew Stallybrass (UK/Switzerland) on how he experiences the current situation and which lessons he has been drawing from his time in lockdown. Andrew has been working for Initiatives of Change for many years. He currently lives in Caux, Switzerland, with his wife Eliane.

What is your current situation? How is the spread of COVID-19 impacting you?

Surprisingly little. My wife, Eliane, and I are both over 70, so ‘at risk’, but Caux is a lovely place to be ‘confined’.
 

Describe in 3 words how you are feeling right now?

Concerned. Worried. Hopeful.
 

What is your biggest challenge at the moment?

Priorities. What should I be doing now? I’m meant to be retired – but I have so many things to do, books to read, things to work on. My wife and I are both deeply involved in working on a new web platform, presenting the history of MRA/IofC, a kind of Wikipedia. A simply massive challenge.
 

What are the lessons you have already learned from this time?

A reminder of how privileged we are and have been. For 2-3 generations in our lucky part of the world, we’ve lived without major threats totally beyond our control. Now we’re back to normal: most of humanity, for most of history, has had to live with the fear of pestilence, war, natural disasters. All our wealth and our science cannot always protect us from every danger.
 

Do you practice quiet time? If yes: what is your practice and how does it help you?

Yes, pretty well every morning, for more than 50 years. A daily reading of some book or text that inspires, encourages, challenges me. Very rare moments of inspiration: the sense that something bigger than me, beyond me, is trying to give me new thoughts, ideas, inspiration. Much more often, a simple sense of the priorities for the day. A friend to be in touch with. A letter or an e-mail to write.
 

What are your best tips and tricks to fight anxiety/loneliness/uncertainty (whichever you struggle most with)?

Think of others, and get back to work.
 

How can we connect with others and support them when we have to barricade ourselves?

Simply connect. What amazing tools we now have, with Skype and Zoom and email and mobile phones.

What made you laugh today?

Not had a laugh yet, today. But there have been plenty of laughs and amusing moments. We’ve learnt that one of our two cats likes to go on walks with us (a 35-minute round in the forest near us). So yesterday, we met and crossed with a family who were absolutely amazed to meet a cat following his masters…
 

How would you (as a person) like to emerge from this crisis?

More at peace with myself and the world. More hopeful for the future of this precious, fragile planet.
 

What are you grateful for?

I am grateful for the IofC ‘slogan’: ‘Building trust across the world’s divides’. I was not a great fan of this phrase when it was introduced. It didn’t, for me, capture the essence of what we are meant to be about. Now I’m much more convinced! Trust is so needed for democracy and for human society to work. And trust is everywhere under attack. Fake news, rumors, lies… So often we hear, ‘They are not telling us the truth… They are hiding things from us… We don’t really know…’ I’m lucky to live in a democracy, with a free press, so yes, I trust our government. I trust Alain Berset, our Minister of Health. I trust the federal government. I trust what they tell me/us. I trust them all the more when they say they don’t know. That we’re all facing a disease and a situation that are new, unexpected. I trust that collectively they and we will learn how we could have done better, and how we can do better the next time – because there probably will be a next time. I trust that I as an individual, that our country, that our continent, that our world, can rely on a greater wisdom and love that can hold us all together, that can bring us into a wider community, where every single person matters, is cherished and respected, and can have a part in building a better future for us all.

Interview by Karina Cheah

The UN’s fourth Sustainable Development Goal is about access to quality education and life-long learning – both essential to bringing positive change into the world.

We are living in times of constant, rapid and profound change, triggered by climate change and digital transformation. To find the right answers to new questions we need to learn more, and maybe differently. Curiosity, creativity and critical thinking are as important as maths, IT, languages skills, etc... We need to be innovative and ingenious to build a just, peaceful and sustainable world for us and our children.

Learning needs well-run education systems, but it comes from inside the human being. It’s fun, but sometimes it’s painful. In preparation for the upcoming Ethical Leadership in Business event in June 2020, we have invited diverse people from around the world to share stories of their learning journeys. These stories offer inspiring insights and invite us to reflect on our education and life-long learning.

‘My Learning Story’ hopes to become a global learning experience, connecting people around the world as they share their stories of what we all do every day: learning to build a brighter future.

Interview with Nazrene Mannie, Executive Director of the Global Apprenticeship Network (GAN)

Nazrene, you are Executive Director of the Global Apprenticeship Network (GAN), a business-driven alliance with the overarching goal to enable work-based learning. Thank you for sharing your thoughts on education and learning... What is the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the apprenticeship system?

There is a clear impact on managing and delivering apprenticeships during the current COVID-19 crisis, however GAN Global is encouraged to see the number of solutions and innovations emerging to support apprentices and to continue learning using different formats. We have seen an increase in digital learning, remote learning practices, group and rotational learning as well schemes to protect contracts and stipends. This commitment to continued learning and development is a sign of the value and importance of apprenticeship training.

Apprenticeship is a traditional form to transition from school to work. Is this still a strong learning model in the 21st century?

Apprenticeships have a strong place in societies and communities as a pathway for skills acquisition and career development. While the nature of work will change in the foreseeable future, I firmly believe that there is still a place for the learning and teaching approach that apprenticeships offer, in particular the focus on work based learning, which is a key focus of GAN Global, as a viable solution for creating an adaptable and sustainable workforce that can respond to the 21st century world of work.

How can mature employees be encouraged to engage into work-based learning?

It is essential that all of the workforce, including more mature workers, are given the opportunity to improve their skills based through upskilling, reskilling and new skilling opportunities. An enabling environment that offers such an approach should be centered around work based learning in order to ensure that people have the opportunity to demonstrate their existing skills, knowledge and experience and then build on this base. The key to such an approach is creating a safe and trusted environment, where learning is encouraged and people are recognized for the learning undertaken.

In your opinion, what are the key opportunities to strengthen life-long learning and risks when it comes to online education and training?

Key opportunities that lifelong offers include widening of our knowledge bases, introduction and exposure to new ways of working and thinking, new and innovative approaches to work and the opportunity to grow a career, whether in the same field or the chance to engage in something new. By acknowledging the opportunities, we are then able to ensure that we can build and strengthen access to learning material, open access to courses such as the many MOOCs offered online, recognizing the learning that has been completed, ensuring that proper guidance, including career guidance, is offered to individuals who are interested in taking on new learning opportunities and creating environments where organisations are able to offer access to such learning and where individuals are also motivated to drive their personal learning experience.

While opportunities exist, there are also risks involved and these include access to infrastructure and technology, access to a safe learning space, individuals feeling self-motivated to learn (and not having learning forced on them), It is also important to ensure that skills that are acquired through such learning are recognized during the recruitment and on boarding process and that the learning must have value and currency when applied in practice.

In Switzerland, around 30% of businesses, especially SMEs, cannot find the right talent. Which role can SMEs play in developing the talents they need?

An important factor for GAN Global is working with SMEs to ensure that these organisations have the knowledge, experience and ability to offer training and development opportunities themselves. We are acutely aware that training and development is resource intensive and can often be bureaucratic- it is for this reason that the larger companies are more adept at offering structured T&D. As the GAN, we are working with our partners to create a training methodology that SMEs can apply within their smaller organisations, based on the good practice gleaned from larger companies. This approach will help manage the jobs and skills mismatches that are prevalent in many industries.

GAN is a global network, is work-based learning a concept that is applicable in every societal context?

Through the 15 national networks that GAN Global has, along with the many multinationals and international policy development partners that we work with, it is clear that WBL is seen as a viable methodology and approach to address the skills deficit across different countries, economies and industry sectors. It is an approach that has universal applicability and can be tailored to different contexts and needs.

What do you learn to maintain your employability?

I am constantly reading and engaging with industry leaders, academics and social partners in this space. Lifelong learning is an approach that I firmly believe in and it is one that has helped me continue to maintain by knowledge and understanding in a space that is changing at a very regular pace.

What would you recommend to those struggling to restart learning?

I would suggest starting small by reading at least an article or 2 a day, connecting with individuals in the relevant sector that they are involved and engaging with colleagues on platforms such as LinkedIn and Twitter in order to see what the latest developments and updates are in their respective areas of interest. 

What do you want to learn but you haven’t dared yet?

I would like to learn a new skill in the technology space, particularly understanding blockchain better. At the moment, it seems complicated to understand but I need to take my own advice and approach the learning in small chunks and build my knowledge base.

Where does your inner motivation for learning come from?

I have an intrinsic desire to constantly read and learn, since childhood. I am always fascinated by new developments and having worked in many different sectors from banking to manufacturing engineering and it has always been important to keep pace with new innovations and good practice. A key motivation is also wanting to be a good example to those around me- as GAN Global, we constantly encourage our partners to engage and drive work-based learning and it is as important that we must keep pace with the changes ourselves.

What changed for you thanks to what you learned?

I have been able to become a trusted partner to networks, companies and partners in my role as ED at GAN Global and in roles prior to this. I would not have been able to do this if I was not able to demonstrate my own knowledge and understanding of the subject matter that we promote.

Who is your best teacher?

My best teacher has been an approach in life where I have welcomed mentorship, guidance and advice from those around me. I have supplemented this with academic knowledge but some of the best lessons have come from peer to peer engagement, where I have been able to learn from my colleagues and peers.

What did life teach you?

I have learnt that nothing is permanent, life and the world is in a constant state of change and the key to coping and succeeding is being able to constantly learn and improve myself to ensure that I am adaptable and flexible to respond meaningfully to all of life’s experience. 

“Mandela Mile” is an annual observance and global leadership challenge founded in 2018 by Shanthi Annan (daughter in-law of Kofi Annan). It runs between 8 April (Kofi Annan’s birthdate) and 18 July (Nelson Mandela’s birthdate) not only for remembering and celebrating the two legendary leaders but also for globally amplifying the voices of today’s mindful leaders and inspiring each individual to go the extra mile to a freer, fairer and more peaceful world.

This year, the “Mandela Mile Leadership Challenge” and “Caux Peace and Leadership Programme” have collaborated to create a four-month online training initiative for young emerging leaders called the “Mandela Mile Leadership Programme”. The online training focuses on walking the Mandela Mile with the participants by facilitating the skills they need for their individual projects which directly impact their local communities. Most of the 40 inspiring young participants originating from 21 different countries have their roots in Caux. Many of them have either completed the “Caux Peace and Leadership Programme” or were registered for this year’s edition, which has been cancelled due to COVID-19. Despite the pandemic and isolation, they are still able to develop their projects to make a change in their communities and can find support in the online training programme.

During the online launch of the “Mandela Mile Leadership Programme” on 8 April 2020, the participant’s joy to reconnect, enthusiasm to meet new people, getting inspired and sharing stories were heartwarming and could be felt even through the computer screens. These young people are sincerely interested in adapting to the current situation and gaining new leadership skills in order to make a difference.

The projects the participants have chosen for this programme range from planting trees to artistic seminars as well as addressing current human right issues such as gender equality, reproductive rights and poverty through workshops, sessions, awareness raising campaigns and online programmes. Even if every participant’s project is unique, they all aim at working towards one or several Sustainable Development Goals adopted by all United Nations member states in 2015.

The participants will not only be accompanied by professional coaches during the “Mandela Mile Leadership Programme”, but also by “Buddies” (friends who walk alongside them and are readily available to listen to them and support them) as practiced during the “Caux Peace and Leadership Programme”.

We are looking forward to learning and hearing more from these young changemakers and to seeing how their projects grow and bear fruit.

“Action without vision is only passing time, vision without action is merely day dreaming, but vision with action can change the world.” ― Nelson Mandela

Photos 1 and 3: Paula Marianne

Photo 2: IofC Switzerland