Latest cohort of ICN’s GNLI scholars join GNLI alumni with “unparalleled understanding of importance of advocacy and action”

Thirty senior nurses from 21 countries graduated from the International Council of Nurses’ flagship Global Nursing Leadership Institute (GNLI™) in a ceremony hosted by ICN President Dr Pamela Cipriano.

The GNLI is a unique leadership programme that brings together senior nurses from every region of the world and provides them with exposure to global health leadership and policymaking at the very highest level.

Graduates from the GNLI programme learn the skills necessary to actively participate and influence policymaking in healthcare organisations, governments and in the international arena. Many former scholars have gone on to highly influential nursing jobs in healthcare organisations, higher education establishments and government departments.

At the online graduation ceremony for the 2022 cohort, Dr Pamela Cipriano thanked the Faculty and ICN staff who run the programme and, addressing the scholars, said: “ICN is incredibly proud of the GNLI programme, which I am sure you are as individuals as well. It is so important that you, as GNLI alumni, are not only eyes and ears on the ground, understanding and picking up on the most pressing challenges in health care, but that you are really positioned to be assertive in addressing them.

‘The growing number of individuals like you who have this skill set and the understanding of how important that advocacy and action is, is really unparalleled. Which is why ICN is so proud of the GNLI programme, our relationship with [World Health Organization Chief Nursing Officer] Dr Amelia and the WHO, to be able to amplify the work that you have been doing and that you will do, because without a doubt, it is the voices of nurse leaders that have to be greater in just about every conversation.

‘I look to all of you to be catalysts for action. My presidential watchword is ‘influence,’ and the reason I chose it is because it is both an action and an outcome. It’s really powerful for us to think that, yes, we are building the skills to take the action, but it is the outcomes that we are looking for. We have to be able to show nursing’s footprint on the decisions that are being made, focusing on the unique contributions that nurses bring.”

GNLI Programme Director Diana Mason congratulated the scholars and said she hoped the relationships and networking they had formed would continue to be important throughout the rest of their careers. She also acknowledged the hard work that had been necessary to run the programme online for the first time.

Dr Mason said: “We’re celebrating you today, and I want to express my deep gratitude to all of the ICN staff who support this programme, and of course to the faculty: they are all very busy people and they have enabled us to make changes to have it still be a signature programme for ICN. I want to acknowledge the important role the WHO has played in the development in the last few years in moving GNLI online during the pandemic.”

ICN Chief Executive Officer Howard Catton thanked the faculty and congratulated the scholars for their dedication in completing the programme alongside their everyday work and family responsibilities.

Mr Catton said: “The fact that you have dedicated the time to be committed, to stick with this programme, to reach this point, I think it’s important to acknowledge that. But as well as being a personal achievement, it is a significant professional one. This programme is a stand-out global nursing leadership programme - there isn’t anything else quite like it. You have reached this point on the basis of really significant personal and professional achievement, which we congratulate you all for. It is a programme that we are deeply honoured and privileged to be able to run, particularly with support from the World Health Organization, and from Dr Amelia and her colleagues. For all of us at ICN, to see your faces at this point in the programme really brings to life in a way that words on a page simply cannot, what the reality of the programme is about, what it is delivering, and the huge resource that you will be to drive forward and support nursing leadership right the way around the world.”

WHO Chief Nursing Officer Amelia Latu Afuhaamango Tuipulotu offered her congratulations to the scholars and said: “I take this opportunity to confirm your support and partnership so that we, together, can scale up our voices, influence at all levels on policy direction to better support our 28 million nurses and midwives who are delivering care everywhere around the clock.

‘I am confident that you already have priority, game-changer programmes and projects to scale up our commitment to the most vulnerable population and to also enhance working conditions with fair pay and leadership positions for nurses and midwives, within health systems, academia, global health to deliver Health for All. I look forward to you serving and empowering the population of the world, that we care so much.”

Click here for more information about the GNLI programme.

Download the communique here