freedom from ignorance

Mr. Jesse J. Dacosta, MEIG Graduate 2024-2025, The Gambia

Growing up in The Gambia, a country that is relatively a Least Developed Nation, the dream of attaining graduate education was, just as for many, a dream that has a low chance of becoming a reality. It is a dream for me because my family cannot afford to send me to university without external help from the government or well-wishers. Therefore, the MEIG Programme means the world to me. It means freedom from ignorance of what is happening around me, it means a ticket to my desired professional career in diplomacy, it means I have the skills to transform my life and those that depend on me to succeed and help them out of poverty. The programme has transformed and equipped me with the interdisciplinary skill sets that I need to understand the current multilateral dynamics and the shift that the world is facing. It has also provided me with a rich network of friends and colleagues whose professional and personal experience has enriched my learning and experience in the last couple of months. These experiences and skills will be instrumental to my professional work when I transition into the Gambian foreign service. I shall employ the knowledge acquired to transform and help guide my country’s future international engagements with the wider world.