Swedish Institute (SI) Leader Lab 2025 (Fully-Funded to Stockholm, Sweden)

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About Swedish Institute Leader Lab

Apply for the Swedish Institute (SI) Leader Lab 2025. The Swedish Institute Leader Lab is designed for leaders in civil society, culture, and media across Eastern Europe, the Western Balkans, and Türkiye who wants to explore innovative tools and new forms of collaboration.

Apply to SI Leader Lab to enhance your leadership skills, strengthen your organisation's advocacy efforts, and exchange knowledge within a network of inspiring peers. SI Leader Lab is designed to strengthen the capacity of organisations to drive successful advocacy work linked to democracy, human rights or freedom of expression. The programme brings together influential civil society leaders who are open to new digital solutions and innovative methods. The network consists of peers from across various sub-sectors and provides the participants with broad input from different spheres in the field. SI Leader Lab invites 100 participants from Eastern Europe, the Western Balkans and Türkiye.

The programme combines online workshops, in both regional and cross-regional learning groups, with regular coaching support. In May, all 100 programme participants will come together in Stockholm for an intensive week of onsite learning that deepens the experience and enhances collaboration.

SI Leader Lab will give you:

• Personal insights as a leader: how to lead yourself and others through increased self-awareness and increased understanding of group development.
• A stronger capacity in your organisation to successfully organise and lead teamwork.
• A stronger capacity in your organisation to implement and lead effective advocacy work.
• The possibility to share and build knowledge among a network of experts, to inspire each other and to share experiences around common challenges.

• Sponsor Organisation: Swedish Institute

Benefits of Swedish Institute Leader Lab

Costs covered and arranged by the Swedish Institute:

• Your flights to and from Stockholm.
• Your accommodation and meals in Stockholm during the onsite meeting in Sweden.
• Your insurance during the onsite meeting in Sweden.
• All training materials online and onsite.

Swedish Institute Leader Lab Requirements

Applicants to SI Leader Lab must meet the following requirements: 

• Have a leading position in a civil society-, culture- or media organisation  working in the field of democracy, human rights or freedom of expression. The work should benefit one of the programme countries.
• Work with a team in which they have a leadership role (formal or informal). 
• Be between the ages of 22 and 45 (born in the 1979 to 2003 range). 
• Have a good working knowledge of both written and spoken English. 
• Be a citizen of Albania, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Belarus, Georgia, Kosovo, Moldova, Montenegro, North Macedonia, Serbia, Türkiye or Ukraine.
• Be available to participate in all parts of the programme. 
• Be prepared to implement tools, competencies and knowledge they gain from the programme in their team and organisation. 

No exceptions can be made to any of the eligibility requirements. 

Please note that SI Leader Lab is a demanding programme that uses experience-based learning and reflection as a tool for personal growth. Therefore, participants need to be dedicated with a strong capacity for self-exploration.

Application Date and Process

1. Apply

Only applicants who have submitted a complete application will be considered for the programme. These are the steps you need to go through in order to submit your application:

1. Register your profile in the application portal found here: Register profile in Dream Apply
2. Select what programme you would like to apply for (SI Leader Lab is available 21 January–18 February 2025) or click the button below.
3. Answer all the questions for the different sections in the application portal (found in the left-hand menu).
4. Upload your CV under the document section.
5. After you’ve submitted your application, you’ll receive a confirmation to your inbox in Dream Apply.
6. You will also receive a message to your inbox in Dream Apply with a link to record a short video. Follow the instructions in the message. It will take less than ten minutes to record the video. You will get two questions to answer. They ask you to make the recording in a quiet setting and, if possible, use headphones with a built-in microphone. Please note that it is mandatory to make the video recording.

Apply to SI Leader Lab 2025

2. Evaluation of applications

Each application is evaluated according to the following criteria: 

• Democracy, human rights and freedom of expression: To what extent does the work of the candidate fall within the scope of democracy, human rights and freedom of expression?  
• Organisational impact: What capacity does the applicant’s organisation have to drive development within the scope of democracy, human rights and freedom of expression.
• Impact within organisation: What capacity does the applicant have to impact strategic decisions within his/her organisation? 
• Drive and leadership capacity: Has the applicant demonstrated drive and enterprise – for example by undertaking new initiatives?  
• Advocacy: Is the applicant working with advocacy in their daily work? If not, possibilities to benefit from the programme will be limited. 
• Teams: Is the applicant collaborating with others in their daily work? If not, possibilities to benefit from the programme will be limited. 
• The candidate’s overall potential to both benefit from and contribute to the programme. 

As part of the final selection process, the evaluation committee also considers the overall English proficiency level and equal representation of gender amongst the programme’s participants, as well as including a balanced mix of geographic origins and expertise. 

3. Admission

SI will contact the 100 selected applicants by email to offer them a place in the programme. SI will also compose a list of reserve candidates in case a second selection round is needed. Unfortunately, because of the large number of applications for a limited number of spots, we have to turn down many highly-qualified people who apply to the programme.

Application Deadline

18 February, 2025

Scholarship Application Portal

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