Women into leadership

 The 2022-23 Programme of Events concludes with Women Into Leadership 23 in Birmingham and a nomination for a Civil Service Team of The Year Award.

The British Embassy Skopje based Conflict, Stability and Security Fund (CSSF) funded HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC) Western Balkans Training Team have concluded the 2022 to 2023 calendar of events with a packed delivery schedule across a 2-month period.

The team continues to be supported in no small part by our respective liaison officers and staff throughout the region.

Everyone has worked extremely hard to make these events happen and we are delighted to have received support from the CSSF, HMRC, FCDO and our respective embassies.

Women Into Leadership Conference 2023: Birmingham NEC

In March we welcomed 5 representatives from across the Western Balkans Region to the prestigious Women Into Leadership Conference at the Birmingham NEC.

Organised in the week immediately after International Women’s Day, the conference was hosted by the Dods Group (An intelligence, media and events specialist).

This event saw over 400 delegates from across the public sector and beyond attend the 1-day event where they received presentations from a diverse range of inspirational female speakers and took part in practical and group sessions throughout the day to enhance their leadership styles and credentials, develop their career and networking opportunities in a supportive environment.

Our delegates also participated in a course closure and feedback event hosted by the HMRC Training Team where representatives from our Senior Leadership Team Dave Huntley, Lisa Carroll and Nataliya Tsekhanovych shared some personal experiences from their respective careers within our department.

It provided some thought-provoking examples of how being role-models for diversity, equality and inclusion irrespective of gender or bias are critical as we continue to develop relationships across administrations both in the UK and with our overseas partners.

The feedback from the delegates has been very positive and comprehensive, which reflects how HMRC are regarded internationally.

They are already discussing how this group, on the back of the success of this and the experience of our 2022 alumni, can gather momentum to provide additional training or workshops throughout 2023 to 2024.

The team have achieved so much across a variety of regimes this year. We have delivered training across every jurisdiction in the Western Balkans.

I am so proud of our team of Sean Heatley and Iva Simonovska and it was gratifying (if unexpected) to have been nominated for the ‘Team of The Year Award’, although we did not make it to the Top 3 it was pleasing to have been included in the top 20 from over 200 nominations… it says a lot.