The Network of Emerging Filipino Library Innovators (NEFLI) is a 3-year leadership training program for public library personnel in the Philippines. It is adapted from one of the Global Libraries (GL) Initiatives, which is the International Network of Emerging Library Innovators (INELI) funded by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation wherein one of the staff of the National Library of the Philippines (NLP) and the NLP Director were one of the innovators and sponsors respectively in their first implementation for the first international cohort in 2011-2013. In 2014, the Gates Foundation contacted the NLP to submit a proposal adopting such leadership training in the ASEAN region in 2015.
This leadership training is designed to capacitate Innovators in taking initiative and leadership roles in conducting activities and projects for their libraries, institutions, and communities and envisaged new concepts and ideas as applied in their work. The Program that we started in 2018, was participated by 14 public librarians/officers-in-charge who successfully completed the Project, participated in and fulfilled the online learning modules, along with its requirements, and implemented their Collaborative Projects by the team. All of them reported that the NEFLI Program made positive changes and impacts in both their professional and personal lives.