If you want to find out more about the kind of organisation we are, why not look to the people who work here? Find out more from four members of our global team.
It wasn't until I was 30, after falling in love with Paris, that I decided it was time to work overseas. I had been a professional actor for six years in the UK, but had ended up bartending and waiting and temping and cleaning with spurts of stage and television work squeezed between. After a particularly lean year, I took a training course in London to teach English and found employment with one of the better language schools in Paris. People used to say that teaching must be much like acting, but the difference is that a good teacher puts the learner centre stage, n'est-ce pas?
My first teaching job with the British Council was in Bangkok, followed by a senior teacher post in Colombo. I returned to the UK to do a full-time MBA in London after which I took up post as Director of the British Council office in Chiang Mai, Thailand's second city. During my four years in that wonderful city, I was made Honorary British Consul. I now work in our London headquarters overseeing product research, development and management for our network of 128 teaching centres. The British Council's work is unique and it's great being a part of it. Building and maintaining relationships between the UK and people in other countries - what more important work can there be today?
Originally from the UK, with a background in education, I travelled, lived and worked in Oman and Cyprus before settling in Australia in 1988. I joined the British Council in Australia in 1989 as Education Information Officer and have held the roles of Educational Services Manager, Assistant Director and Deputy Director Operations.
In July 2002, I was recruited by the IBD team in London to set up a small IBD unit in the British Council Australia office, to develop and facilitate the implementation of corporate and locally developed internet initiatives in Australia and the East Asia region. Working for the British Council has been one of constant change and stimulation. I am the kind of person who enjoys variety in the work environment and likes working with people. I have found that over the years I have been able to develop innovative ideas and see them grow and flourish. This gives me a great sense of satisfaction.
I decided to be a linguist at eight. I found that language learning was an exhilarating experience; playing with many different accents and gestures. Therefore, in my 'formative' years I learned English, French, Italian, then quite a bit of Latin, less Greek, then Swedish and, finally, Chinese. I like working for the British Council because it keeps the multilingual, multicultural pattern moving and builds solid ground for people to stand on and do things together. In recent years I have discovered that the 'things' (art, books, language learning, human rights, etc.) have gained another platform - the e, the digitally-cyber - which opens up even more interaction across cultures.
I like the British Council because it has an intriguing ability to survive its inadequacies and inconsistencies that come with the process. I suspect this is because it has a vital team of globally-mobile people (staff) who sustain it almost unconditionally (good? bad?). I want to work in another British Council country for at least one year, to learn even more things. I know this in possible - which is a plus for the British Council. Therefore, being with the British Council is a reassurance that (corporate) life can often be successful, frequently creative and it can indeed make a difference.
Nowadays I am in charge of the overall marketing and communications strategy of British Council Romania. My brief includes PR, business relations and new media programmes. I worked for the National Library of Romania and Bucharest University. Freelance work brought me in touch with the world of the mass media, sports and travel. I joined the British Council in 1989 and was Director Libraries Romania and Regional Information Co-ordinator Central Europe. I have done consultancy work in several European countries and, in 1999, worked in the British Council's London headquarters on a human resources research project. I have an MA in English and Chinese from Bucharest University and the Beijing Foreign Languages Institute; a Project Management degree from the Open University; and a Marketing Management advanced certificate from the Chartered Institute of Marketing in the UK.
I have a nine-year-old son, Tudor, who paints exuberant portraits and wears fake Harry Potter glasses. I like to take photos, to dance and to eat Chinese food. I listen to people's stories with great interest. I like people with a sense of humour. Had I not been in my current line of work, I would have loved to be a puppet theatre artist or a graphologist.
I joined the British Council in Bangladesh in 1997 after three years in a government think-tank, the Bangladesh Institute of International and Strategic Studies, and three years with an NGO called the Centre for Analysis and Choice (CAC). CAC was engaged in capacity-building for parliamentarians, advocacy for parliamentary committees, legislative advocacy and training for female political candidates contesting elections both at local and national levels.
I worked as Project Manager for the Women in Politics project and was involved in developing the training programme for women candidates. Since then, I've worked with regional organisations such as the South Asian Committee for the Political Empowerment of Women and Asia Pacific Women, Law and Development to develop training courses for women in politics. I also ran the Asia Pacific Women In Politics Secretariat (APWIP) for two years and was editor of the APWIP newsletter, which, in 1995-96 was the only regular quarterly newsletter on women in politics in the region.
As the Executive Member of the Centre for Women and Children Studies, I was involved in research on women and child trafficking in Bangladesh and later worked with South Asian regional coalitions on advocacy programmes to combat trafficking of women and children. As the convenor of Shishu Adhikar Sangjog, a child rights forum, I campaigned for the inclusion of children's rights in the policy agenda as well as raising awareness of these issues and sensitising communities within Bangladesh. I am a long-term friend and associate of the women's organisation Narripokkho. I contributed towards the process establishing the Forum on Women and Security and International Affairs, FOWSIA. Until my departure from Bangladesh I was the convenor and an active member of the Dialogue sub-committee.
I joined British Council Bangladesh as the Governance and Gender Adviser in 1997, moving on to become Assistant Director Governance as one of the first Bangladeshis in British Council Bangladesh to hold the position of Assistant Director. In these roles, I developed relations with the judiciary, the Ministry of Law, Justice and Parliamentary Affairs, the police, the Ministry of Home Affairs, and members of academia, media and civil society organisations to plan, design and implement governance and human rights projects. These projects included the promotion of gender equality and mainstreaming, good governance, institutionalisation of democracy and the promotion of the practices of human rights with an emphasis on women and child rights.
I joined the British Council UK Governance Team on 7 October 2002 and am now based in Edinburgh. I am responsible for participative democracy, which encompasses providing consultancy services to British Council overseas and in the UK in the sector, building relationships with civil society and government organisations, facilitating partnerships with state agencies and voluntary organisations, advocacy and lobby forums, and project development and networking within the UK and internationally.
I love to listen to music, travel, read books, and am fond of watching movies with my sons. I used to be a newscaster for Bangladesh Television and Radio. I have learned a lot when interacting with communities and women across the globe and take great pleasure in maintaining those connections.
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