The NGDP has given my career in Local Government a strong start and is helping me become a ‘21st Century public servant' with greater commercial awareness, diverse experience, flexibility and strong collaboration skills.
Working at London Borough of Bexley.
Studied International Public Policy at University College London (MSc) and Business Enterprise (BSc) at Buckingham University.
Advice? Be clear on what you want to achieve, open to opportunities, have people at the heart of everything you do and demonstrate what you have to give. Be prepared to be dynamic, dedicated, passionate and to collaborate. You could soon be part of shaping the future of Local Government and you will need to give it your all.
How have you changed? I feel very privileged to be benefitting from the NGDP and I'm excited by the breadth of opportunities now open to me as I develop my career in Local Government. I've enhanced my knowledge, skills and experience in many areas, such as behavioural change, strategic commissioning and co-production. Best of all is seeing service users benefit from my work and expanding lessons learnt into personal volunteering. It is a genuine honour to be making a difference.
Favourite projects? I have made the greatest impact by working with Governance International to develop a digital solution called CoLab. It is designed to bring councils, third sector organisations, businesses and service users together to solve important community needs. I presented the project to a delegation of Indonesian civil servants at a two week conference on Innovation to manage strategic change in the public sector. I am also co-authoring a paper on digital co-production with the consultancy's Chief Executive.
What about your development?The NGDP's comprehensive development programme and opportunity to gain varied experience has accelerated my personal development. Feedback from a knowledge-sharing network, action-learning set and mentoring have also helped me solve challenges and refine my ideas.