Constance Nyamikola

Commonwealth Alumnus Constance Nyamikola has been a CSC Mentor since 2021. She was first paired with a Commonwealth Scholar from India and after a successful experience, she continued to support a new Scholar from Ghana in 2022.

Through her experiences on the programme, Constance has developed her professional skills whilst sharing her expertise to support her Mentees to work towards their development impact goals.

Delivering focused and strategic advice for the future

Being offered an opportunity to mentor Commonwealth Scholars was a blessing to me. Through the CSC Mentoring Programme, I had the privilege to share my wealth of experiences and expertise with new Scholars studying in UK universities, as a Commonwealth Scholar myself.

As a Mentor and a keen learner, my Mentees and I have navigated through challenges and successes, developed an open mind-set, viewed each other as colleagues, and sought professional support.

The programme paved a way for me to guide my current Ghanaian Mentee strategically during difficult moments during his time in the UK. I shared the skills to understand the relevance of setting SMART goals and identifying relevant opportunities for professional development. As my Mentee prepares to take his next steps post-scholarship, I have provided insights on building confidence and skills to transition to work life and focus on the development impact in his home country.

As a Mentor, my goals were geared towards improving my communication skills, active listening skills, and the ability to provide focused and strategic feedback. I set these goals to enhance growth, change negative energy into positive, and offer long-term resilience skills to both me and my Mentees during the mentoring process.

The mentoring programme has for sure increased my intrinsic motivation and has prepared me for my next journey in life. This experience has boosted my curiosity to reflect on my own personal journey during and after my scholarship. It triggered my thoughts and changed my whole life experiences, priorities, and achievements. I have founded an organisation and have plans to enroll in a PhD programme. It is my hope that in the next few years, I will pursue my career ambitions and trajectory gracefully.

The pairing of CSC Mentors and Mentees is strategically planned and accomplished with special consideration to diversity and inclusion. Having the chance to be paired with two different scholars from different backgrounds has exposed me to a huge amount of learnings. I understand and appreciate the cultural diversity that does exist in my Mentees’ countries, we have developed strong global friendships, and have created a lifelong bond that will never cease.

Our future goal is to continue offering guidance and collaboration in all aspects of life, including but not limited to co-creating scholarly journals, sharing developmental ideas, as well as visiting each other if the opportunity arises.