Working with diaspora leaders

Building leadership skills to contribute to development in their country of origin.

Common Purpose has run a series of leadership development programmes for leaders living in the diaspora. The aim is to develop more effective diaspora leaders who can bring about positive change in their country of origin, in the wider diaspora community and in their organisations.

The first programme was in 2010 – since then we have run a series of programmes for Zimbabwean leaders in the UK and South Africa and for Libyan leaders in the UK.

Most recently, we have run an African Diaspora Changemakers programme supported by Comic Relief, which brings together leaders of African origin from across the UK.

The objectives of these programmes are to give the participants:

• enhanced leadership skills, including the ability to ‘Lead Beyond Authority’ and Cultural Intelligence (CQ) - the ability to cross divides and thrive in multiple cultures
• greater strategic understanding of some of the key challenges in international development, particularly in their country of origin
• the chance to explore the role and contribution of people in the diaspora to reconstruction and development
• an understanding of how innovation works
• the opportunity to generate new ideas and to develop existing ones to produce positive social impact, both in the diaspora community and in their countries of origin.