For several years, many of WBI’s thematic programs have included some leaders in the audiences of their programs; beneficiaries ranged from senior policy makers, parliamentarians, and other elected officials, including mayors to private sector executives, and youth and emerging leaders. Political leaders were often overlooked and rarely brought together in multistakeholder meetings at the country level, constituting a major gap. Leadership development also involves much more than simply sharing sectoral and thematic knowledge; it incorporates crucial competencies, such as prioritizing, building consensus, solving problems, and modeling accountability. This constituted a second significant gap.

In the past two years, WBI has been the institutional hub for development of new approaches in capacity development that take these two gaps into account. As such, a new customized approach in several pilot countries is strengthening the capacity of leadership teams—cabinet and heads of civil society together—to tackle tough problems and get traction on concrete, measurable outcomes. Common to all, however, is the principle that the programs are customized to the specific needs of the client. The client owns the process, identifying concrete problems of felt practical relevance.

The diversity of the venues in which the program operates dictates that flexible, dynamic approaches, rather than off-the-shelf blueprints, are used to accompany the client and point out possible roads and ways to navigate best. In this process, which begins well before and long after crowning events along the way, desired outcomes emerge.

Another reason the program emphasizes customization has to do with the fundamental principle of respect.  Leadership development is currently a very high priority for capacity building in many regions, especially in Africa, but approaches are frequently  adapated from the West, and tend to have only limited reference  to the specific cultures in which they operate. To encourage behavior change in leaders, it is essential to tap into the energy, commitment and authenticity that reside within the culture concerned. New ideas should be grafted onto existing indigenous cultures. 

For a full treatment of this topic, see the International NGO Training and Research Center´s PraxisNote No. 25, Learning Leadership Development from African Cultures: A Personal Perspective, by Chiku Malunga (CADECO), Sept 2006.  See also Aid Effectiveness in Africa: Developing Trust between Donors and Governments, by Phyllis R. Pomerantz, formerly with the World Bank, in which she analyzes conditions which have constrained aid effectiveness and concludes that if aid agencies want to succeed with their stated goals, they need to put people, communication, and trust at the fore, invest more heavily in understanding and adapting to indigenous cultural preferences, and find and unleash capacities that already exist.