Who is it for?

The Improwise Global Leadership Programme provides leadership development programmes for professionals in private and public sector organisations. We currently run programmes in Uganda, Kenya, Bangladesh, Colombia and Venezuela.

What is the purpose of the programme?

The programmes are designed with two core objectives:

LEADERSHIP DEVELOPMENT

  • The first core objective is to focus on personal leadership development, enabling participants to experience life in a developing world context (in Uganda, Kenya, Bangladesh, Colombia or Venezuela), and to focus on the development of new insights into leadership by living and working with local communities, and participating in local community development projects.

CORPORATE SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY

  • The second core objective is to focus on corporate social responsibility (CSR), enabling participants to examine the impacts and influence that their own organisations have on aspects of the environment and society, at local and global levels.

Who else will be on the programme?

We run programmes in either of the following modes:

  • Small group of mixed participants from different organisations; or
  • Small group of participants from the same organisation.

How long does a programme last?

Programmes are tailored to match your requirements and availability. Typically, programmes last for 7 to 10 days, but we can explore shorter and longer options.

What happens on a programme?

We will be based in a rural community, living alongside local communities, local businesses, local government agencies and NGOs.

Before embarking on the programme, we will work with you to identify your own skills, experience and expertise which can be of use to the local community groups and projects. We would identify opportunities for you to share your skills working with local communities.

By engaging with local people and living locally, we would expect learning to happen in both directions; from you to the local people, and from the local people to you.

One of the key learning outcomes is for you to experience what life is like in a developing country. As you have experiences on a daily basis of life in the rural community, the group facilitators will run daily sessions with all participants to explore personal experiences and to reflect on the lessons learnt and perspectives acquired.

Participants will typically need to grapple on a daily basis with new insights into issues including:
 

  • Poverty
  • Health
  • Education
  • Climate change
  • Governance
  • Lives of women & children
  • Water availability & quality
  • Local economic development
  • Small business development/entrepreneurship

It is expected that significant issues will be identified daily, as participants come face-to-face with the challenges faced by local communities in a developing country context. Participants will need to reflect on what they observe, and they will need to consider what the most appropriate responses are, either personally or in terms of the CSR stance of the organisations they represent.

Action Research Projects will be designed for the participants to give them opportunities to explore issues of interest in great depth. Examples of project categories include:

  • Education
  • Schools
  • Women's empowerment
  • Micro-finance
  • Development of professional skills
  • Entrepreneurship
  • Innovation
  • Public health
  • Access to water
  • Sanitation
  • Power
  • Energy
  • Agriculture
  • Climate change mitigation and adaptation

Personal and group coaching sessions will be held each day to enable participants to reflect on their daily experiences, to consider lessons learnt, challenges and opportunities for improvement, both in terms of personal development, and in terms of ways of working with and assisting local communities.

 


Welcome to Improwise Global Leadership Programme. We are immensely privileged to be working with partners in Uganda, Kenya, Bangladesh, Colombia and Venezuela, providing us with the opportunity to run transformational learning programmes for UK and European business leaders. By living and working alongside local people and communities in rural and urban locations in these developing countries, we have been able to put together bespoke programmes for teams and companies which enable participants to engage in a wide range of profound leadership development activities, and to explore deep and practical perspectives on corporate responsibility. Learning and knowledge exchange take place in both directions, between the participants and the local people and communities with whom they interact. I have been astounded by the positive transformational learning which I have seen in participants in these programmes, and within the communities with whom they engage. I have a great passion for living and working with local communities in Uganda, Kenya, Bangladesh, Colombia and Venezuela, and encourage you to participate in the Improwise Global Leadership Programme. It truly is life changing.