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Enclosure to the application for Swedish Institute

Scholarships for Global Professionals for master level
studies in Sweden starting the academic year 2023/2024.

LETTER OF REFERENCE FORM (Instructions)

The referee is expected to state an opinion of the applicant from a professional perspective, on
behalf of the referred organisation, and will thereby provide an important supplement to the letter
of motivation and the curriculum vitae for your scholarship application.

To be eligible for SI Scholarships for Global Professionals (SISGP), you must provide two
different letters of reference. At least one letter of reference must be based on your work
experience. The second letter of reference can be based on your work as well, but can also be an
academic reference based on your studies at university. However, it will be a merit if the second
letter of reference is based on your involvement in networks or civil society organisations outside
of your regular work.

Who can fill out the letter of reference?

The referee should be someone who knows you in a professional rather than private manner. It
does not have to be your direct manager. For instance, it can be the HR manager, or the head of the
organisation, as long as the person can comment on your work on behalf of your employer.

If you work in a family business, if you are the owner of a business, or if you do freelance work,
we can accept a signature from a client or a staff who works at your company who is not your
family member. Clients should be companies/organisations (i.e. not private persons) and are only
allowed to certify the working hours that you have worked for them. The stamp should be the
official stamp of the company/organisation.

If you do freelance work, you may also ask an employee at the professional association or agency
where you are registered as a freelancer or receive assignments from to be your referee and to sign
and stamp the letter of reference.

Examples of who cannot be used as a referee are

 Co-workers
 Family members/relatives/partners/friends
 Individuals who demand compensation (money, goods, favours, services or other means)
from you in order to give you a statement of reference

Swedish Institute, Virkesvägen 2, 120 30 Stockholm, Sweden

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Requirement
The letter of reference must be completed in English or alternatively translated by a notary public
with the notary’s official stamp. The original letter of reference or the English translation should
not exceed two pages (excluding the instruction page). Any additional page(s) will be
disregarded. In order to be valid, the letter must be completed, dated, signed by the referee, and
stamped by the referred company/organisation/university at which you worked or studied and
which the referee represents. The stamp can be in any language as long as it is the official stamp of
the referring organisation.

If your referee has changed job and is unable to represent your former or current employer, we
recommend that you find another referee who still works at the company/organisation and is able to
comment on your work performance.

If your employer does not have any stamp, we recommend that you provide a letter of reference
based on your experience at another organisation. If you are not able to get a traditional stamp for
your reference letter you could explore the possibility to sign the document with a digital signature
or stamp. However, please note that a traditional stamp is preferred.

If it is the only work experience you have, we may accept an official stamp of a notary office.
However, your referee still needs to fill in the template and sign it on behalf of your employer.
The notary public needs to certify in English that the referee is authorised to represent the referred
organisation and to write the letter of reference for you.

Submission
You must merge the two letters of reference into one PDF document before submission. Do not
include the instruction in the file. Please present the letter based on your work experience first. If
both of your letters are based on your work, please sort them in reverse chronological order. If any
letter is not written in English by your referee, you should present the translation from the notary
office directly after the original letter in the same PDF document. Kindly note that when the
letter of reference stretches to two pages, the referee’s signature and the official stamp of the
referring organisation or notary office are required at the bottom of both pages.

Authenticity
SI will carry out random checks on the applications and applicants to scrutinise any false or
misleading information, including fabricated documentation. Should any false information be
found, the applicant will be automatically disqualified and barred from applying for any SI
scholarship programme in the future. Any false information discovered during the scholarship
period will cause a termination of the scholarship. The scholarship holder will then have to refund
the full scholarship amount to SI.

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Do you have any questions?

Please read the instruction above thoroughly. SI cannot make any exceptions. If you have more
questions, please make sure to read through the information about SISGP as well as the FAQ.

Swedish Institute, Virkesvägen 2, 120 30 Stockholm, Sweden

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Enclosure to the application for Swedish Institute Scholarships for Global

Professionals for master level studies in Sweden starting the academic year
2023/2024.

LETTER OF REFERENCE FORM (Two pages maximum including this

page)
FIRST NAME(S) of applicant (as written in the passport) Daniel Onyedika
SURNAME(S) of applicant (as written in the passport) Ugwuanyi
DATE OF BIRTH of applicant (YYYY-MM-DD) 1988-11-17
CITIZENSHIP of applicant Nigerian

FULL NAME of referee Justice Chukwudi Ulunta

ORGANISATION/UNIVERSITY that the referee represents Twinning for Health Support
and the applicant works/worked or studies/studied at Initiative - Nigeria
TITLE/POSITION of referee at the referring Executive Director
organisation/university
E-MAIL ADDRESS of referee (preferably work e-mail) [email protected]
TELEPHONE NUMBER of referee (with country code) +2348034312049

What is the letter of reference based on Employment      

In what capacity do you know the applicant As my staff since 2019

How long has the applicant been working/studying with you (Program Manager - Full Time -
at your organisation/university? Please specify number of Oct 2019 - September 2021 =
hours. 3,400 hours

In your opinion, how would an SI scholarship for master’s studies in Sweden be valuable for the
professional and academic development of the applicant?

In 2019, Daniel led our Child Protection in Emergencies response in the Boko Haram Insurgency
ravaged North Eastern Nigeria.

Due to the enormous capacity gap and dearth of the social service workforce in Nigeria,
international agencies and staff, have led the child protection and social service response in the
insurgency ravaged North Eastern Nigeria, borne out of a pronounced gap by the citizens.

The recent calls by the international community for localization of all development and
humanitarian response calls for capacity strengthening of the citizens to be able to lead the
response.

Through this scholarship, Daniel will be able to study in Sweden. This will equip him with the
requisite skills and competencies in International Development and Management to provide

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comprehensive economic and psychosocial support to children and adolescent girls and young
women and displaced families in Nigeria.

Briefly comment on the applicant’s potential to contribute to and/or drive social changes in
his/her context.

Daniel is an enthusiatic young man with capacity to contribute and drive social change. As
representative of Twinning for Health Support Initiative Nigeria in the Child Protection Sub-
Sector Nigeria in Borno State, He supported and play a key role in the development of functional
social service units in the State and Local Government Areas, linked with case workers at ward
and community levels.

He also played a key role in the development of a Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) for Child
Protection Case Workers in North East Nigeria for coordinated and quality child protection
service delivery to children and their families.

He has consistently challenged harmful social norms which fuel gender violence, inequality and
maternal mortality in the areas where we work, through Integrated Social Behavior Change
Communication for the communities we work with, and this has increased demand for health
services.

Please evaluate the applicant’s leadership capacity and potential to play a role in development of
the society (e.g. in networking, motivation and perseverance; problem solving and
communication). Please give a concrete example.

His leadership Capacity and potential to play a role in the development of the society is
enormous.

As Program Manager for the ‘Repositioning and Strengthening the Social Welfare/Child
Protection in Emergencies Workforce in Borno State for quality service delivery’, Daniel led a
Capacity Gap Baseline Assesment of all Child Protection Workers to identify gaps in
partnership with the Borno State Ministry of Women Affairs and Social Development; Adapted
a training curriculum of Para Professional Social Work for use in training the workforce; Led a
training of 234 Para Social Workers to address identified gaps; and Mentored trainess through
supportive supervision to ensure skills learnt are retained. This initiative yielded massive return
for children and vulnerable families in the North Eastern Nigeria region , where we worked.
Also, he led all aspect of program management, stakeholders engagement and report writing.

Additional remarks (optional)

Daniel is an intelligent young man with capacity for academic and proffesional development. I
have no reservation whatsoever that he will excel in his chosen program in Sweden if awarded
the scholarship.

I hereby declare that I wrote the letter of reference on behalf of the referring organisation. The information I provide is
based on facts and my observations about the applicant’s qualities and performance.
Date and place (city, country) Signature of referee Official stamp of the referred organisation

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Swedish Institute, Virkesvägen 2, 120 30 Stockholm, Sweden