GNLI looking to the future and building on ten years of commitment to nursing policy
The ICN’s Global Nursing Leadership InstituteTM (GNLI) programme celebrated its 10th anniversary providing senior nurses from around the globe with the opportunity to further enhance their leadership and policymaking skills. With its sights firmly set on the Year of the Nurse and the Midwife 2020 and its legacy, promoting nursing leaders ready to contribute to universal health coverage, gender equity and social justice, GNLI welcomes more senior nurses interested in its future programmes.
Over the past decade, GNLI has grown into the internationally recognised leadership programme it is today. GNLI is supported at government level, with more than ten countries being represented by their ambassadors or other senior officials at the recent graduation ceremony for the latest group of 28 GNLI scholars, drawn from 24 countries.
The one-week workshop module of GNLI, which is a six-month programme, is held in Geneva where ICN is headquartered close to the World Health Organization (WHO). At the core of the programme is the aim of enhancing the participants’ effectiveness in bringing about policy changes that lead to better health for communities and nations, including quality of care and safeguarding of staff.
This year’s programme focused on the role of nursing in helping to achieve the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals, under three themes: universal health coverage and health as a human right, the primary health care approach, and gender equity. Workshop participants had the opportunity to exchange views and ideas with both the WHO Director General, Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, and WHO Chief Nursing Officer, Elizabeth Iro.
ICN Chief Executive Officer Howard Catton said exposing graduates of the GNLI programme to distinguished high-level leaders was a significant experience in preparing them to take on the world’s top nursing jobs:
“We have long campaigned for there to be nurses in government positions in every country in the world so that nursing can get the recognition and support it needs. Having a Chief Nursing Officer provides a direct route through which nursing can influence health and social policy.
But ICN is not only advocating for these top leadership positions: through the GNLI we are playing an active role in supporting and developing our current leaders to prepare them to take office.
We have a superb talent pool of nurses who are ready, willing and able to step up to country, regional and global leadership roles. I’ve met 28 of them this week and been impressed by their energy, enthusiasm and vision. I am confident they are ready to take on roles at the very highest level.”
Healthcare is high on political agendas around the world as countries focus on how they can develop a workforce able to address the Sustainable Development Goals and provide Universal Health Coverage to their populations. None of this can be achieved without adequate numbers of properly trained and resourced nurses supported by nursing leaders who ensure government policies address the major issues of the day.
Established in 2009, GNLI offers an advanced leadership programme for nurses in senior and executive level positions in high, middle- and low-income countries. The programme draws on the expertise of international expert faculty, enabling participants to review and enhance their national and global skills and behaviours within a stimulating and collaborative learning culture.
Graduates from this year’s GNLI programme are ideally placed to influence the future of healthcare policy at the very highest level so that the services provided can best meet the needs of the world’s diverse populations.
The GNLI is facilitated by globally renowned nursing leaders and facilitators, Jane Salvage and Diana Mason, supported this year by guest speaker Semakaleng Phafoli.
GNLI Deputy Programme Director Diana Mason said this year’s programme had a special focus on the WHO Year of the Nurse and the Midwife 2020 and Nursing Now:
“This year we were able to take advantage of these two initiatives which really gave us the opportunity to showcase the importance that nurses make to the health of people and access to healthcare. The senior nurses on the GNLI programme are taking the opportunity to promote that message, but they are also focused on advancing the agenda and not just the message, such as initiatives that might improve the education of nurses and midwives to ensure they are practicing to full scope of their ability.”
Programme Director Jane Salvage, looking to the future, urged senior nurses, including presidents and executives of national nursing associations, with aspirations to improve their leadership skills, to join the GNLI programme next year:
“This year there has been a focus on the preparations for the Year of the Nurse and Midwife 2020; next year our attention will be on what its legacy will be. As WHO Director General Dr Tedros has said, celebrating nurses and midwives is only part of the story for next year because we must also highlight the role of nurses in bringing about universal health coverage, gender equity and social justice in the years to come. For that to happen, we need an inclusive action plan to promote nursing leadership, as exemplified by GNLI.”
For details on GNLI programmes please click here
Further Information GNLI 2019
During the recent GNLI programme, the participants met and networked with several other global health leaders, in addition to Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus and Elizabeth Iro. They included:
- Fran McConville - WHO Technical Officer, Midwifery
- Peter Johnson - Jhpiego, Senior Director of Nursing and Midwifery
- Dr Jim Campbell - WHO Executive Director, Global Health Workforce Alliance
- Dr Julia Tainjoki-Seyer - World Medical Association Advocacy and Medical Adviser
- Isabelle Voiret - Medecins Sans Frontières, Medical Leader of Health Services
- Hannele Haggman - International Federation of Red Cross Health Officer
- Dr Anshu Banerjee - Senior Director for WHO's Department of Reproductive Health and Research
- Faith McLellan - WHO Writer and Editor
Diplomats from around the world attended the graduation ceremony in support of nurses from their countries, included:
- Mr Pierre Garcia Jacquier, on behalf of the Ambassador – Permanent Mission of Colombia to the United Nations Office and specialized institutions in Geneva
- His Excellency Mr Victor Dolidze and Mr Nino Bakradze, First Secretary - Permanent Mission of Georgia to the United Nations Office and other international organizations in Geneva
- Mr Akram Harahsheh, Chargé d'Affaires - Permanent Mission of the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan to the United Nations Office at Geneva and specialized institutions in Switzerland
- His Excellency Mr Mani Prasad Bhattarai - Permanent Mission of the Federal Democratic Republic of Nepal to the UN
- Ambassador Tahir Hussain Andrabi and Mr. Hussain Muhammad, Counsellor - Permanent Mission of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan to the United Nations Office and specialized institutions in Geneva
- Ms Sahar Ishag, Second Secretary on behalf of the Ambassador - Permanent Mission of the Republic of the Sudan to the UN at Geneva and specialized institutions in Switzerland
- His Excellency Liang-Yu Wang and Dr Chin-Shui Shih, Deputy Director-General - Cultural and Economic Delegation of Taipei
- Ms Aalya Alshehhi, First Secretary, Ms Dana Racine, Chargé de Affaires and Mohammed Ben Amara, Secretary - Permanent Mission of the United Arab Emirates to the United Nations Office and specialized institutions in Geneva
- Her Excellency Mrs Martha L. Mwitumwa, Ambassador/ PR - Permanent Mission of the Republic of Zambia to the United Nations Office and international organizations in Geneva