Papua New Guinean (PNG) Women Leading and Influencing (WLI) alumna Welenie Yaki is ready to navigate and foster cultural differences as a leader after completing a short course on the role of culture in conflict resolution.
As an alumna of WLI’s Women’s Developmental Leadership Program, Welenie was supported to participate in the Cross-Cultural Conflict Resolution program conducted by James Cook University in Townsville, Queensland.
Welenie says participating in the one-week program broadened her understanding of how culture shapes people’s lived experience while also boosting her skills as an inclusive leader.
Based in Cairns and studying towards her third Master’s Degree from James Cook University (adding a Master of Global Development to her dual Master of Development Planning and Urban Design), Welenie travelled to Townsville to immerse herself in the week-long course.
During this time, she analysed complex conflicts, evaluated theories and standards for professional practice in multicultural conflict resolutions, learned about conflict management systems, and reflected critically on her own performance in this area.
According to Welenie, the course broadened her understanding of the role culture plays in an individual's personal and professional growth and development of attitudes and behaviours.
By completing a combination of written reflections, case study analyses, and receiving specialised advice, Welenie has become better prepared “to lead in cross-cultural team management and work with people in diverse cultures”.
“This course enhanced my understanding of cultures, and by doing so, helped me to understand individuals better,” Welenie explained, “That’s exactly what cultural intelligence means [and is] what I acquired through this course.”
As a Cairns-based PNG Program Coordinator for the International Women’s Development Agency, Welenie works in a multicultural environment with people from various cultural backgrounds all over the world.
She explains that in workplaces in Australia and in PNG – “a country of a thousand tribes and clans” with diverse culture and tradition – having a deep understanding of culture is “critically important” to addressing and preventing pervasive issues such as racism.
“As a leader, I must first understand the causes of racism by investigating various cultures people come from before I can step in to address the situation,” she says.
As a working mother, Welenie reflects that having financial support from WLI to participate in the program provided “a fantastic opportunity” for which she is deeply grateful.
“Having this private time enabled me to invest my time in the program and the quiet environment helped me to focus on the assignments, which showed in my final grade,” she says.
Welenie completed the short course with Distinction.
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Selected Women’s Developmental Leadership Program participants and alumni like Welenie are supported to design, seek and secure professional development opportunities in the Australia-Pacific that build skills, networks and readiness to take on take on leadership roles upon their return home.
Through the program, Welenie also accessed the WLI Leadership Fund, through which she worked with fellow alumni in the Pacific to make a direct positive contribution to the COVID-19 response in their own countries. The experiences of WLI alumni who designed and delivered these projects during the pandemic are the focus of a research paper on support for women's developmental leadership
