Your chance to be the British High Commissioner to India for a day

Friday, 28 August 2020 10:20

The British High Commission invites applications from Indian women aged 18 to 23 to be ‘High Commissioner for a Day’ – a chance to oversee the UK’s largest overseas network. The winner will experience a wide range of UK-India work, meet with senior stakeholders and partners to discuss our collective response to COVID-19, and launch a new British High Commission...Request free trial

The British High Commission invites applications from Indian women aged 18 to 23 to be ‘High Commissioner for a Day’ – a chance to oversee the UK’s largest overseas network.

The winner will experience a wide range of UK-India work, meet with senior stakeholders and partners to discuss our collective response to COVID-19, and launch a new British High Commission (BHC) Gender Charter reaffirming our commitment to gender equality.

To participate in the pan-India competition, please record and upload a one-minute video on ‘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 deadline to apply is 13 September 2020.

Jan Thompson, Acting High Commissioner to India, said:

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.

This competition 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.

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 11 October), empower the next generation of women as leaders and trail-blazers, and to highlight some of the challenges women and girls around the world still face.

Further information

The ‘High Commissioner for a Day’ competition is open to women aged 18 to 23 from across the country. In light of health and safety precautions required by COVID-19, the winner of this year’s competition will be invited to participate in a virtual programme. The deadline to apply is 13 September 2020.

Last year’s competition was won by 22-year-old Ayesha Khan, a mass communication student from Gorakhpur, Uttar Pradesh. As ‘High Commissioner for a Day’, she visited Apeejay School in Pitampura to observe a British Council programme promoting gender positive roles; met with women working in Delhi’s unorganised sector to learn how they are supported by 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.

Terms and conditions for the competition:

A jury at the British High Commission will select the winner, who will be announced on @UKinIndia social media channels by 23 September. Only one entry per participant will be accepted. Multiple entries from the same person will be disqualified. The High Commission’s decision is final and no correspondence relating to the above will be possible.
By applying to the competition, participants transfer the copyright ownership of their videos to the BHC New Delhi. BHC may use these videos to produce content for future communication on its social media channels.
Participants are reminded not to share personal details in their video, post or tweet. The BHC is not responsible for the data that participants make public on these platforms.
The UK and India are learning from each other and sharing expertise to ensure women and girls can reach their full potential around the world. In India, the UK is working hand-in-hand with state governments, law enforcement agencies, education authorities and British businesses to promote gender equality. Examples of ongoing collaborative programmes include:
- Working with the Ministry of Rural Development to boost economic and climate resilience among women in rural communities, as part of the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme.
- The British Council working with adolescent girls from socio-economically marginalised communities to develop their English, digital and leadership skills.
- Financial inclusion programmes focusing on financial and digital literacy, which have given 12 million Indian women access to credit to build livelihoods. Projects have helped set up or scale 10,000 women-owned micro businesses, created 6,000 jobs, and supported over 270 micro-entrepreneurs.