The second day of the 2011 GHLI Conference opened with Dr. Elizabeth Bradley providing an overview of the upcoming week's events to the delegates from the five countries and a keynote address by Yale University Provost Peter Salovey. Provost Salovey discussed his research on emotional intelligence and how this type of intelligence affects interaction in leadership skills and among cultures. His research outlines how to measure emotional intelligence by testing a person's ability to: perceive, express use, understand and manage emotions. This scoring system demonstrates that high emotional intelligence can be correlated with lower self destructive behavior and higher likability and job approval among colleagues. Partly due to the attention Provost Salovey’s research has brought to the topic, emotional intelligence has become a tool worldwide used both in business and educational settings.
Yale University Vice President and Secretary, Linda Lorimer, addressed the delegates to emphasis how important the GHLI and this Conference is to Yale. “This is an amazing gathering of minds and our real hope is that, as the week proceeds, you all find ways to constructively contribute to the issues of your country.” She also stressed to the crowd how Yale is invested in helping the next generation of leaders and is particularly interested in further developing relationships in South Africa.
Delegates representing five African countries gave presentations and led discussions about the health system and area of innovation on which they will focus during the conference. Ethiopia, the first country to present, focused on hospital management performance improvement; Ghana discussed mental health framework for implementation of a new mental health bill; Liberia and South Africa presented on maternal and child health and Rwanda delegates discussed human resources for health.
Nina Gumkowski, GHLI Intern