At Practical Action, we are committed to nurturing the talent of our people and fostering growth.
We offer a comprehensive range of opportunities designed to enhance your skills and advance your career.
We take pride in ensuring that your learning pathway will be tailored to guide your unique professional journey. You will benefit from both mandatory and voluntary training opportunities on a vast range of subjects (available online and in-person) to keep you at the forefront of industry standards. These include a range of courses and certificates from our learning partner, eCornell – Cornell University’s executive education unit.
Practical Action is an Engage Awards Finalist for 2024, in the category of ‘Best Use of Training’.
Growing our future leaders
We foster an environment where trust in leadership is paramount, where individual’s contributions are acknowledged and celebrated. This can be seen in our flagship Leadership and Management Development programme, provided to all current managers and leaders, with places reserved for nominated aspiring leaders we’d like to nurture in our staff team.
Our annual in-person training is hosted in a different Practical Action regional office each year which allows attendees to travel to join. The training is delivered by our in-house specialists and supported by additional online learning packages.
Previous participants have had this to say about the programme:
“It creates an opportunity to learn from practical experience from different managers from different cultures.” – Manager from Rwanda office.
“The real investment of an organisation is reflected through the development of its people.” – Aspiring Manager from Nepal office.
“Great training and eye-opening. Will definitely improve my performance.” – Senior Manager, UK office.
Learning together
We are proud to provide Action Learning Sets (ALS) for Practical Action staff facilitated by Institute of Leadership and Management (ILM) certified facilitators. Action Learning Sets are collaborative problem-solving peer-consulting groups in which a group works together to address challenges through thought-provoking questions and valuable insights.
Our annual global mentoring programme is designed to focus on career growth, networking and sharing of skills, as well as fostering internal collaboration and connection. Mentees are matched up with mentors, both internal and external to Practical Action, according to their development needs.
Equity, diversity, inclusion and belonging
At Practical Action, our diverse and inclusive international community thrives on shared values and a profound sense of belonging. We champion inclusivity, equity, and fairness.
Through our policies, our actions, and our ways of working, we strive to ensure that every member of our team feels safe, valued, and empowered to contribute to our collective purpose and vision. And, of course, we ensure that reward and recognition are just and equitable across our network.
To support the wellbeing of our people, our employee assistance programme offers free, confidential advice, counselling, and resources in all the countries we work in. This is provided by an external partner and is totally confidential. We also have a team of trained Mental Health First Aiders and a wealth of resources to support colleagues when they need it most.
