Leadership is essential for societal progress and change. Failures of leadership, whether within society, groups or organisations, can have many consequences for the development of society as a whole, inhibiting the ability to innovate, the courage to challenge the status quo, and the willingness to seize opportunities to move forward and promote democratic change. It is therefore essential to nurture leaders who are accountable, courageous, and are prepared to defend the rights of their constituents, especially in countries in transition.

CReDO

The Resource Center for Human Rights (CReDO) was established in 1999, at the initiative of three human rights organisations, with support from the Dutch NGO Cordaid. CReDO is working to develop the organisational and policy-related capacities of the civil society organisations that are essential for achieving a sustainable democratic society.

In 2004 CReDO launched a pilot civic leadership programme designed to cultivate a new generation of leaders by changing their attitudes and enabling them to articulate a vision of a society that responds to the needs of all citizens. By focusing on both personal development and professional skills, the programme enables participants to develop their confidence, courage and sense of responsibility to lead others, and broadens their capacities for critical thinking, active listening and negotiation, all of which will be needed to achieve social objectives. CReDO is thus responding to two pressing needs – for leaders who can address the many challenges facing society, and for a comprehensive, locally relevant programme that will help to reverse the steady loss of leadership capacities that Moldova has experienced in recent years.

Moldovan civil society

The Republic of Moldova, located between Romania to the west and Ukraine to the east, gained independence in August 1991, after almost 50 years as a Soviet republic. Although now a parliamentary democracy, the country is still dealing with many aspects of the legacy of a totalitarian regime that denied the rights of many groups in Moldovan society.

In the 15 years since independence, members of the first generation of activist leaders have moved on to take up positions in government, to join international organisations, or to enter politics. The time is ripe for a new generation of leaders to emerge. It is therefore relevant to ask a number of difficult questions: is Moldovan civil society capable of reproducing itself? Has it developed models of leadership that can inspire potential candidates, and a culture that will allow new leaders to emerge? In the view of many, the answer to all of these questions is no. Despite the courage and commitment of many activists, civil society is in some respects weaker than it was in the early years after independence. This weakness is one of the major challenges Moldova now faces, and which CReDO aims to address.

Several factors have served to weaken civil society, including the dominance of technical approaches to social development, the legacy of the past (in particular the tendency to emulate Soviet-style leadership), and emigration. In the early 1990s society witnessed the emergence of various civic initiatives. Then, the causes were clear and fresh, people formed groups, and leaders emerged who demanded democracy and human rights. Fifteen years later, with only limited progress towards democratisation, those causes are still important, but have become blurred in the increasingly complex environment. New challenges demand new visions for the transformation of Moldovan society.

Many civil society organisations have inherited rigid internal management structures, with leaders who are largely unaccountable to their followers, and their constituencies have dwindled as a result. Often, the current leaders see the process of seeking out successors as a threat, and internal democratic channels remain undeveloped. They also discourage efforts to broaden the leadership base.

Civil society has also been weakened by emigration, and the fact that politics and business now attract the best human resources. While political and business leadership are important for society’s efforts to address economic problems, Moldova faces many other challenges, in particular the social exclusion of disadvantaged and minority groups. Lacking effective leaders who will give voice to their concerns and bring them to the attention of policy processes, these groups remain on the margins of mainstream society.

Shaping a response

Many management programmes and courses in human rights and policy advocacy offer the participants professional knowledge and issue-specific skills to enable them to advance a people-oriented agenda. Although they focus on building technical capacities, if targeted at participants dedicated to social causes they can produce committed and capable leaders.

In the process of providing organisational management and advocacy programmes, CReDO realised that the absence of models of democratic, accountable leadership was impeding progress and change. Leadership is essential to sustain efforts to address the needs and rights of the disadvantaged. Therefore, to complement its existing courses, CReDO decided to introduce a comprehensive civic leadership programme. The approach is critical of the sustainability of investment in technical knowledge alone. It assumes that if civic leaders empower their constituencies, they will be able to pass on their skills, knowledge and strengths, thus forming a more stable base and an environment for reproducing leadership capabilities from within.

Civic leadership programme

Launched in 2004, CReDO’s civic leadership programme has seven modules. The first module gives an overview of the principles of leadership, allowing the participants to assess their personal readiness for leadership.

Second, the personal leadership module focuses on individual values and principles, including the choice of life trajectory. Based on trait theory – that some personality traits may lead people naturally into leadership roles – it encourages critical self-awareness, and explores personal values, behaviour and cognitive abilities using a variety of diagnostic tools, based on which each participant maps out a personal development plan.

The third module explores various aspects of situational leadership, and helps the participants to develop the skills necessary for achieving change, ranging from active listening, effective communication and public discourse, to negotiation, decision making and strategic thinking.

Next, the leadership-follower relations module uses the transformational leadership approach to explore accountability and the responsibility of leaders not only to understand the needs of their followers, but also to educate them to work towards long-term goals, thus transforming and providing a vision for the group. The module also explores the dangers of ‘toxic’ leadership, the role of followers who tolerate it, and its negative effects.

The fifth module explores political leadership and theories of democracy, and maps them onto the reality of the countries in transition. The module then assesses the roles of past leaders in promoting democracy in the region, and discusses bad leadership using examples from recent history.

The sixth module focuses on the responsibility of leaders to broaden the leadership base within their constituencies in order to ensure sustainability. Finally, the seventh module explores leadership in the organisational context.

A new intake

For the pilot (2004–5) the participants included nationally recognised civic leaders and NGO managers to ensure that the programme was firmly anchored in the local context. The pilot adopted the peer coaching format, in which the participants were encouraged to share and discuss their personal experiences. They also examined case studies of leaders using biographies and movies depicting different leadership styles.

For the new intake (2005–6), with support from the Balkan Trust for Democracy, the programme offers interactive training, with guest speakers and resource persons, including former participants, and course materials in the local language. The programme uses complementary educational methods, with case studies, presentations and movies (produced locally and abroad), as well as outdoor activities. Civic, business or political leaders are invited to speak about their understanding of leadership.

By the end of 2006 CReDO aims to launch an online version of the programme in Romanian in order to reach many more potential leaders in Moldova and beyond. A Russian version may follow in the future. Since the primary aim of the programme is to encourage the emergence of a new generation of civic leaders, it is targeting young people who are already actively involved in groups at the regional or national level, as well as individuals who intend to enter public or political life. Ultimately, it is hoped that the programme will establish models of civic leadership that will help to ensure a democratic future for Moldova.

Links

Resource Center for Human Rights (CReDO).

CReDO civic leadership programme.

Balkan Trust for Democracy.

Center for Organizational Consultancy and Training (CICO).

CODECS Foundation for Leadership.

Cordaid.

Soros Foundation Moldova.

UNDP in Moldova.

UNDP Regional Bureau for Europe and the CIS – Leadership for Results (L4R) project.

Further reading

A wide range of publications and videos on leadership can be found in the CReDO library.

B.M. Bass (1990) Handbook of Leadership: Theory, Research and Managerial Applications. Free Press.

D.D. Chrislip (2002) Collaborative Leadership Fieldbook: A Guide for Citizens and Civic Leaders. Jossey-Bass.

J. Ciulla (2004) Ethics, the Heart of Leadership, 2nd edn. Praeger.

D. Cooper (2003) Leadership for Follower Commitment. Butterworth-Heinemann.

R.D. Herman et al. (2004) The Jossey-Bass Handbook of Nonprofit Leadership and Management, 2nd edn. Jossey-Bass.

B. Kellerman (2004) Bad Leadership: What it is, How it Happens, and Why it Matters, Harvard Business School Press.

P. Northouse (2004) Leadership: Theory and Practice, 3rd edn. Sage.

UNDP (2005) Leadership for Human Development: A UNDP Capacity Development Resource.