Tell us about your organisation.

Academi Wales is the centre for excellence in leadership and management for public services in Wales. Established in September 2012, Academi Wales is part of the portfolio of the Welsh Government Minister for Housing and Local Government.

We seek to build a future for Wales where leadership of our public services is visionary, collaborative, cutting edge and successful in driving improvement in the lives of people living in Wales. We approach our work from a number of learning philosophies including the ideas that we must ‘lead to learn’ and never stop learning to do our jobs, regardless of age or seniority.

We believe that leaders who make the time to adopt a positive approach to their own learning are happier, live their values, understand their personal purpose and achieve greater personal and professional success.

Knowing we need leaders who are optimistic in the face of change and are brutally realistic about the scale and bravery needed for success, it is these values in action that make the real difference. We have adopted the Welsh Public Service Values of Working for the Long Term, Always Growing and Improving, Working Together, Treating Everyone with Respect and Putting Citizens First into all our working practices.

We operate in the space between national priorities and local need. We set the standards for leadership inside the public sector and enable people to work with these to deliver services that really make a difference. We continue to help harness the talent of leaders across a wide range of professional areas and disciplines and are proud to work across all sectors in Wales.

Academi Wales is proud to offer the Springboard Leadership Programme to Women across Public Services in Wales, to date 2200 women have been through 34 cohorts of the programme and this support will continue into the future.

Why are you supporting the awards?

Academi Wales recognises the valuable contribution to society made by women, and in particular within the workplace. Through its work Academi Wales is aware of many inspirational stories and case studies which demonstrate the capacity and capability of women to learn, develop and demonstrate exceptional leadership skills and qualities. As Leadership is recognised as an awards category, it is fitting that Academi Wales sponsors Womenspire.

Why does gender equality matter to you?

There is much published research to document the positive benefits of gender equality, including for the workplace. Equality is also at the core of Welsh Government Strategic objectives as set out in its Programme for Government: “Taking Wales Forward” and Prosperity for All. Fundamentally however, and underpinned through Academi Wales’ work, is a recognition of the need to enable fairness of opportunity for anyone to bring the best of their talent and skills to achieve their objectives, whether at work or elsewhere.

Why do you support the work of Chwarae Teg?

Chwarae Teg brings a national and international focus to the creative and successful work being done in Wales to promote equality.

Its mission - to ensure that women in Wales can enter the workplace, develop their skills and build rewarding careers and, ambition in relation to equal leadership - Women’s full and active participation with equal opportunities for leadership within political, economic and public life, is aligned to the work undertaken by Academi Wales in developing leadership capability across the Welsh public services.