Scholarship / ACTIVE MOBILITY. LEADERSHIP ESSAY. CHEVENING [3]

Hi Essay Forum Community! I hope you can help me review my Leadership Essay. Thank you in advance! MCTP

leadership relies on the relationships

Through experience, I have learned that working in the public sector is particularly defying. Several external circumstances can decide the success or failure of a project: limited administrative terms, political interests that differ from local needs, lack of synergy between government departments.

As I was appointed Project Manager of (Name of Town) Camina, I was aware of these challenges, as several of our proposals had been rejected in the past. From the beginning, I felt passionate about its transformative capabilities, and have worked for its success ever since.

(Name of Town) is a small town of 65.000 residents. 60% of its people walk as their primary means of transportation, through broken, narrow sidewalks, and streets filled with parked cars and motorcycles. (Name of Town) Camina aims to reshape the way streets are imagined, from vehicle-centered corridors to shared public spaces. This radical transformation of the town's way of moving presents significant demands for the community, the local administration, and the design team.

To achieve in a brief period of time, a project that acknowledges its context and receives approval by all reviewing departments, I have had to be a bold thinker and active leader. Managing a team through the redesign of 2.5 km of streets and leading primary communication with public agencies, requires efficacy; therefore, I proposed a design-research scheme that very much relied on inter-dependent work.

To start with, we determined a series of guidelines with our project's vision in mind and divided it into circuits. Each team member developed one circuit while researching and reading about a subject that they felt could nourish the design process. This allowed us to keep motivated at times when daily activities felt too repetitive or discouraging. During weekly team meetings, we discussed common difficulties and imagined possible strategies for them and shared our research and new acquired knowledge through open discussions on shared streets. This creative approach helped us shape the project's discourse while solving complex challenges in a collaborative and effective way. With such a well-informed vision, I presented our final proposal and positively influenced the decisions made by the city council, which had expressed reservations with the plan's scope and cost.

I believe my emotional resilience, mindfulness and social awareness were key to enable effective team actions and persuasive political outreach; which allowed us to accomplish an innovative mobility project for the Metropolitan Area. Today, after a lengthy process of design, socializing and debates, our plan has been approved and will start construction in the following months.

Through incredible difficulties and rewarding moments, I have learned leadership relies on the relationships you establish and cultivate with your collaborators; ultimately, they can shape circumstances and transform communities. I am certain the Chevening scholarship will allow me to learn from new people, encounter new ideas and further develop my leadership and influencing skills, helping me become an agent of change for my country.

Scholarship / CAREER PLAN IN URBAN PLANNING. CHEVENING. [2]

Hi Essay Forum Community! I hope you can help me review my Career Plan Essay. I truly appreciate all the feedback I have read! MCTP

exposure to British's planning approaches

Chevening is looking for individuals who have a clear post-study career plan. Please outline your immediate plans upon returning home and your longer-term career goals. You may wish to consider how these relate to what the UK government is doing in your country

Rapidly urbanization and motorization, low access to public transportation and displacement to country's the main urban areas, have pushed local government administrations to discuss their planning tools and propose projects that address such issues. Principal cities like A, B, and C have had the advantage of larger budgets and a concentration of skilled professionals. This, however, has not been the case for intermediate cities and towns, whose main priority has been to overcome pressing problems related to our internal 50-year conflict. Should I elaborate in the current climate, and post-conflict opportunities?

Upon my immediate return, I will set into practice my acquired knowledge and previous professional experience and assume an active role in Regional Planning Departments. The majority of these small municipalities must update, in the incoming years, the long-term vision of their Territorial Management Plans. This crucial opportunity presents itself every 12 years and is of immense importance due to the enormous urban pressure these territories are facing. I plan on joining forces with regional governments to ensure the inclusion of innovative and sustainable mobility scenarios and policies, which prioritize pedestrians and cyclists in their vision.

I am confident the experience of working for local and regional planning departments and the rigorous education from a UK leading master program, will provide me a broader understanding of Country's diverse realities and support my transition into more prominent roles at the national level.

My long-term goal is to work at the Ministry of Housing, Cities, and Territory, where the government will be creating a dedicated Vice-ministry of Cities. I believe it is crucial to the planning and development of the country, to an of and that is human-centered and pedestrian-scaled. As part of this division, I wish to shape and direct nationwide mobility initiatives and campaign for bike-pedestrian safety. Helping conceive planning policies that carefully consider all transportation modes will provide the necessary tools for local administrations to advance transit-oriented projects.

The Ministries of Housing and Transportation have frequently lacked synergy, yet better interactions could provide a broader impact on the national level. With my acquired knowledge in both Urban and Transport Planning, I hope to act as a liaison facilitating coordination across institutions and establishing more cohesive, inclusive and sustainable approaches to development.

My future professional motivations significantly coincide with the objectives of the UK Prosperity Fund for Country, which aims to support economic growth in post-conflict affected areas of the country. To achieve this goal, the fund promotes multi-modal transport planning, sustainable urban development, and human capital improvement for better governability, both on the national and regional scale. As the UK is the third largest investor in the country, it is of great interest to Country, that the financing and technical assistance substantially impact our communities. I hope the exposure to the Chevening community and British's planning approaches, will allow me to effectively support UK's efforts towards livable and equitable territories in Country. (474 words)