WIP

Last week the Washington Ireland Programme (WIP) celebrated the fifteenth year of the programme with its 2009 graduation ceremony in Dublin Castle. WIP developed out of the Project Children organisation which during the troubles brought Catholic and Protestant children from Northern Ireland to America during the summer. Carol Wheeler, a founder member of Project Children along with a group of like minded American colleagues felt more could be done. They could help Northern Ireland nurture good leaders. Now 15 years on, the programme each summer takes thirty students in third level education who were born on the island of Ireland. Throughout an eight week summer in Washington they are exposed  to the best of internships on Capitol Hill as well as placements in media, medicine or wherever suits them best. It also introduces Southern Catholic to Northern Protestant, and indeed Northern Catholic to Southern Catholic. Previously the graduation events have been held in Belfast with the bonus of introducing new Southern parents to the attractions of the city, some for the first time. This special year WIPgraduands and alumni enjoyed the grand friendliness of Dublin Castle and a keynote speech from the President of Ireland.

 

The young people who spoke at the event about their hopes for the future, were terrific - articulate poised and inspirational. In fact all the alumni are impressive young people. Mark Ryan, Accenture Ireland MD, the main sponsor of the event, reminded us of how critically important it is for a country, even in, especially in, times of recession, to put resources into developing the leadership potential of its future generation. He believes that the quality and performance of an organisation depends on the quality of its leadership. This view certainly chimes with my experience of organisations throughout my career. If the boss is positive, considerate, a listener as well as a leader, a person at ease with him/herself so too, will be the employees, and the organisation’s success will reflect this.

 

 While great leaders can and do emerge organically, helping young people along by organising the sort of experiences provided within WIP must surely benefit the individuals and the organisations in which they will work. In fact it is generally accepted that inward investors are attracted to a country which can exhibit well educated confident young workers.

 

 WIP and similar courses are a sound financial investment for this island. There is little doubt that the professions, accounting and financial institutions are benefitting from the challenge of employing bright future leaders. However I fear we have a problem. While some of WIP alumni are researchers with political parties here in Northern Ireland, and, we hope, excellent potential politicians, they are too few in number. Unfortunately not many of the WIP graduates see their future as politicians here, and even less see a career in the civil service as their first choice. They spend a summer in Washington where both government and people fundamentally understand the importance of involving young people at and in the heart of democratic processes. These young people return energised into making a difference in their country. But they fulfil that promise in the professions, in voluntary organisations, in occupations where clearly they feel that they will be given a chance to display leadership traits and where their worth will be recognised.

 

The fact that Stormont is viewed as a cold house for aspiring leaders, must be seen not as a problem for the young people but as a problem for the institutions that fail to either attract or excite them. And I’m pretty sure that the experience of this small cohort of students is echoed by top achievers from amongst the whole student population.  How many of the top academic students, displaying leadership traits make their way to political or civil service here?  I know that the WIP students who intern with politicians in Washington value the learning experience and opportunities offered to potential future leaders with such generosity. It is very worrying that Stormont appeals to so few of these bright kids. But then what does Stormont and the political world do to provide them with opportunities that they can’t refuse?