Want to be British high commissioner for a day? Here’s a chance

Team Udayavani, Aug 28, 2020, 8:48 PM IST

New Delhi: Indian, woman and between the ages of 18 and 23? Well, then you could become Britain’s high commissioner to India for a day, get an inside view of the dynamic between the two countries and also launch a gender charter for the mission.

The British High Commission has invited applications from Indian women who fit the 18-23 age bracket for the initiative aimed at empowerment and to highlight the challenges faced by women across the world.

The winner will experience a wide range of UK-India work, meet with senior stakeholders and partners to discuss the collective response to COVID-19, and launch a new BHC Gender Charter reaffirming the high commission’s “commitment to gender equality”, the British High Commission here said in a statement.

In order to participate in the pan-India competition, applicants must record and upload a one-minute video on the topic, ‘What global challenges and opportunities do you see for gender equality in the age of COVID-19’.

The video must be shared on either Twitter, Facebook or Instagram by tagging ‘UKinIndia’ and using the hashtag ‘#DayoftheGirl’, the mission said.

The deadline to apply is September 13, 2020.

“I am delighted to launch our fourth High Commissioner for a Day competition. Empowering women and girls globally is one of the UK’s top priorities and we continue to work with governments and partners around the world as a force for good, including in India, to make that a reality,” said Jan Thompson, Britain’s acting high commissioner to India.

The competition, he said, is aimed at giving “our amazing young women a platform to shape the world we live in”.

“I’ve been inspired by the brilliant applications we’ve received from all over India over the past years, and look forward eagerly to seeing even more this year,” he said.

The British High Commission has run the ‘High Commissioner for a Day’ competition annually since 2017 to celebrate the International Day of the Girl Child (observed on October 11), empower the next generation of women as leaders and trailblazers, and to highlight some of the challenges women and girls around the world still face, according to the statement.

The winner of this year’s competition will be invited to participate in a virtual programme in light of the health and safety precautions required by COVID-19, it said.

A jury at the British High Commission will select the winner, who will be announced on @UKinIndia social media channels by September 23.

The winner of the competition last year was 22-year-old Ayesha Khan, a mass communication student from Gorakhpur, Uttar Pradesh.

As ‘High Commissioner for a Day’, she visited a Delhi school to observe a British Council programme promoting gender positive roles, met with women working in the unorganised sector to learn how they are supported by the Self-Employed Women”s Association (SEWA), and hosted a discussion with a beneficiary of Facebook’s GOAL (Going Online as Leaders) programme.

She also met with business, foreign policy and civil society leaders.