Dishaa - for future leaders in the UK and India

What is Dishaa?

Launched by British Prime Minister David Cameron on 28 July 2010 in Bangalore, India, Dishaa is a Venture that will expand, enrich and energise relations between India and the UK.

By fostering discussion amongst diverse leaders it will build shared approaches to 21st century political, economic and social challenges and expand the existing partnerships, friendships and dialogues that are already taking place.

Dishaa is Hindi for direction. Dishaa enables future leaders to see how much can be gained through links between the UK and India as they set the direction for their lives and careers.

Sudhakar Rao, Chair, Dishaa Advisory Group

If the relationship between our countries is made up only by the politicians, the diplomats and entrepreneurs it will not last. A relationship with genuine meaning will be one that brings together people from every line of work and every walk of life. We need more than the trade of goods and services, as important as that is, we need the trading of experiences, stories and ideas between friends on opposite sides of the world.

British Prime Minister David Cameron, in his message to the Dishaa participants, January 2011

How will it work?

The Dishaa Advisory Group, consisting of experienced and successful leaders from both countries, will identify a compelling challenge each year that is common to the UK and India.

Each year for five years, 40 leaders (20 from the UK and 20 from India) will gather for four days - either in India or the UK - to address this challenge; people in the mid to senior stages of their career with a significant track record of leadership and success in their fields and professions. They will explore the context of the challenge in greater detail before working up ideas (whether big or small) to feed back to both governments, as well as the Advisory Group.

Following the four days, participants will be offered a series of Cisco telepresencing calls to continue to debrief their learning and reflect further on their findings and experiences.

How can I get involved?

• Apply for Dishaa

• Join the discussion

• Download the Media Pack

What is The Challenge?

At each event the participants will be presented with a challenge to explore. They will investigate the challenge locally, and work together to come up with ideas and recommendations. Each year a different challenge will be selected for that year's participants to investigate.

The Challenge will be set by the Dishaa Advisory Group in advance of the event and must be:

• A compelling issue for leaders that is common to both the UK and India.
• Significant and wide-reaching in its impact but contained in its focus to ensure the participant group can explore and present feasible and meaningful solutions.

During the four day event, participants will investigate the challenge locally, and work together to come up with ideas and recommendations. Each year another challenge will be selected for that year's participants to investigate.

The Advisory Group met on 13 April 2011 to discuss the challenge for the next Dishaa Venture.

Read the final report from the first Dishaa Venture, "Heart Surgery at $1,000":

The challenge for participants on the second Dishaa Venture was:

Unique carbon cutting measures are happening locally in India and the UK. How do we accelerate and multiply our actions to reduce carbon emissions by 50% in the next five years?

Find out what challenges previous Dishaa participant groups have tackled

Other challenges proposed by the Advisory Group at their meeting on 13 April:

Building homeland security

How to build an enhanced partnership in homeland security, focusing on policing methods, counter-terrorism, crime scene management techniques and management of communal tensions in multi-cultural environments.

Education exchange

How to break down barriers and build shared understanding through education exchange. For example, how to put in place a School Teacher exchange programme and make sure it works.

Higher Education

There are several basic similarities between the higher education systems of India and England, and yet the scale, range (in terms of language) and investment and pricing are very different considering the size of the two countries. In the context of globalization, international migration of labour and technological advances, there appears to be an urgent need for both systems to be overhauled.

In what manner can greater mutuality be achieved between higher education in India and the UK, so that there can be greater academic and human resource exchange between the two countries?

Young People and Employment

Given social finance is now gathering pace in both countries, how can we incorporate enterprise and microfinance to offer employment opportunities to young people, encouraging entrepreneurship and creating jobs.

How can we give 250,000/500,000 young people the chance to work for themselves?

Banking

How do you get banking to be part of society?

What might I do through the Venture?

Meet, interview and debate with a range of leaders, all operating in very different contexts, to find out how they lead and what can be learnt from them. Develop your leadership skills and explore the context of the challenge, and UK-India relations, in greater detail.

Read a blog from a recent Dishaa participant on her experience in India.

What are the outcomes for participants?

Ventures help participants to:

• Grow as leaders by exposing them to people who lead differently
• Broaden and deepen their knowledge by showing them how another country and culture works
• Develop their cross cultural awareness by throwing them into a difficult task, with a very diverse group, under pressure
• Build new networks by giving them access to participants and contributors they might otherwise never meet
• Stretch their analytical and creative skills by exposing them to a new approach to innovation
• Develop their influencing skills by putting them in front of senior decision makers to present their findings.

Read some testimonials from previous Dishaa participants:

When and how much?

The dates for the third Dishaa Venture are still to be confirmed.

• The fee for participants joining from the UK is £3000 plus VAT
• The fee for participants joining from India is Rp. 1 lakh

The fee includes all accommodation, food, materials and travel for the duration of the 4 days.

Scholarships

Applicants who cannot pay the full fee should not be deterred from applying.

There are a few part-scholarship places available for applicants who can demonstrate a clear need for financial assistance and who are unable to meet the full fee.

Requests for scholarships can be made via the application form but if you would like to discuss this further then please contact the Dishaa team in confidence.

How do I apply for the Venture?

Complete an online application form today!

Applications are invited from exceptional leaders in the mid stages of their careers. You will be a skilled practitioner in your field, and keen to develop as you move towards even more senior roles within your organisations or sectors.

Applicants will need to demonstrate:

• An established record of leadership achievement and experience
• Ability to work with a multidisciplinary group to solve complex problems
• Commitment to engage with wider society/public life
• Interest in the UK/India dimension of the network

All applications will be sent to the Dishaa Advisory Group, who will review the forms. Some applicants may be invited to interview.

About you

Participants will be skilled and respected practitioners in their fields, and looking to effect change both in their organisations and wider society.

Participants will be high achievers, in the mid stages of their career. They will be in senior positions, and recognised as those who will rapidly progress to even more senior roles, for example, an entrepreneur looking to expand their business internationally, the director of a medium or large team in a big multinational organisation, a fast-tracked civil servant working across departments and looking to head up their first big team, a senior research fellow at a university, a consultant in a hospital, an acclaimed artist, or a high-flying journalist.

Join the discussion on LinkedIn or the Common Purpose blog

Currently being discussed:

How can you accelerate and multiply innovation?

What can the UK learn from Indian healthcare systems and surgery?

What can London 2012 learn from the recent Commonwealth Games in Delhi?

Follow some of the Advisory Group members online

Jude Kelly OBE, Artistic Director, South Bank Centre
Read her regular articles on the Arts in the Guardian

Jo Johnson, MP (Member of Parliament for Orpington)
Read Jo Blogs!

Mariam Ram, Founder, TNQ Publishers
Follow Mariam on Twitter, or connect on LinkedIn.

Michael Duck, Senior Vice President, UBM Asia
Connect with Michael on LinkedIn.

Julia Middleton, Founder and Chief Executive, Common Purpose
Follow her on Twitter, or you can read Julia's blog.

Or you can follow Common Purpose on Twitter

Watch videos made by the Dishaa participants during the Venture on our Vimeo channel. Here's a sample:

Our staff

Dishaa is run by Common Purpose, drawing on our experience of running local leadership courses in 12 countries around the world, including both the UK and India.

Common Purpose is working in partnership with the British Foreign & Commonwealth Office (FCO), specifically the British High Commission in Delhi, to deliver Dishaa. The FCO is the UK government department responsible for promoting British interests overseas and supporting citizens and business around the globe.

Adirupa Sengupta
Chief Executive, Common Purpose UK

Amy Ritman
Senior Course Director

Venky Raghavendra
Director, Dishaa (India)

Karen Mackley
Business Development Director

Emma Tidmarsh
Course Coordinator

The Dishaa Advisory Group

Dishaa's leadership team includes an Advisory Group of senior level leaders with expertise in the public, government, private, cultural and not-for-profit sectors in the United Kingdom and India.

The responsibility of the Advisory Group is to provide strategic direction on the challenge for Venture participants, oversee the governance and administration of the application process and determine the challenge set for participants in the Venture year-on-year.

Sudhakar Rao (Chair)
Former Chief Secretary, Government of Karnataka

Dr Isher Ahluwalia
Chairperson, Board of Governors, the Indian Council for Research on International Economic Relations

Liam Byrne MP

Michael Duck
Executive Vice President, UBM Asia

Dame Ameila Chilcott Fawcett DBE
Chairman (Guardian Media Group plc)

R. (Gopal) Gopalakrishnan
Executive Director, Tata Sons Ltd.

Jo Johnson MP

Jude Kelly OBE
Artistic Director, South Bank Centre

Chris Mathias (Chair of Trustees)
Founder, Arbor Ventures

Lord Patten of Barnes, CH

Mariam Ram
Managing Director, TNQ Books and Journals

Dr. Devi Prasad Shetty
Chairman, Narayana Hrudayalaya, Bangalore and Asia Heart Foundation, Kolkata

Lord Stern of Brentford, Kt, FBA

Philip Wright
Non Executive Director, Barts and The London NHS Trust

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