AIG Public Leaders Programme – Africa

This elite educational programme offers participants an unparalleled opportunity to develop the conceptual frameworks and practical tools they need to meet the challenges of today’s rapidly changing and complex world.

The teaching faculty on the programme includes some of the world’s leading governance experts and teachers, who directly influence policy at international organisations such as the World Economic Forum, the World Health Organization, and the United Nations Development Programme. Programme participants therefore have the opportunity to develop a worldwide network of high-ranking, forward-thinking mentors and colleagues.

The experience is intense and demanding, engaging participants through classroom discussion, practical exercises, simulations, and group work. This programme aims to give participants the skills they need to build transformative cultures of excellence, effectiveness and integrity throughout the public institutions they lead, and across the broader public sector. Their success is their country’s benefit.

Participants will work on these critical skills:

• Communicating effectively
• Harnessing digital technology
• Reducing cognitive bias in decision-making
• Strengthening organisational effectiveness
• Maintaining personal integrity

To ensure each participant can get the most out of the course, there are opportunities to pull together the skills and conceptual frameworks learned in each session, including through project work and group reflection.

Modules

• Governing In Times of Challenge and Change
  • Recognising the speed and depth of change in today’s world, these sessions offer participants a stronger set of communication skills and a fresh understanding of the role of storytelling as a fundamental part of leadership.
• Harnessing Digital Technology
  • Exploring the myriad challenges of today’s ever-changing technological developments, these sessions look at how to manage technology. Participants will examine, among others, questions of cybersecurity, and threats newly enhanced by artificial intelligence, without losing sight of public interest.
• The Pitfalls in Decision-Making
  • While senior decision-makers pride themselves on using the best information and advice available, there is plenty of evidence that the decisions are too often coloured by the psychological biases. Participants will explore framing bias, confirmation bias, overconfidence bias and sunk-cost bias, as well as examples of groupthink. They will consider the consequences for decision-making and test some simple techniques to overcome these biases in individual and group decisions.
• Integrity in Public Life
  • These sessions will explore how public leaders can build and promote integrity within their own organisations and what it means for an organisation to be trustworthy. Participants will examine how difficult it can be to recognise integrity, the factors that cloud the ethical decisions, and the long-term damage to one’s leadership that can flow from a single misjudgement.
• Strengthening Public Organisations
  • Participants will explore what it means to lead an effective organisation. They will consider who sets an organisation’s goals and values, and what counts as high performance. They will also look at the trends and cycles in organisational reform, and what evidence there is to support strategies of radical reform or incremental improvement. Participants will examine the tools that different administrations use to improve performance, including target-setting, data generation and outsourcing.

Outcomes

• Graduates will be transformed by the skills and insights they acquire – skills they need to effectively and efficiently perform their roles in the public service. They will gain the know-how to share these skills and insights within their organisation and with the broader public sector, and will strengthen their ability to respond to six challenges that face all leaders of public institutions:
  • Making tough decisions while managing the biases that distort decisions made under pressure
  • Improving the ability of their organisation to deliver outcomes that matter to the people they serve
  • Building a culture of integrity in their organisation and sector
  • Communicating effectively within the organisation they serve, across government, and with diverse public audiences and partners
  • Creating effective partnerships with businesses with social-sector organisations and negotiating internationally across sectors to deliver better services, produce better outcomes, and advance the public interest.
  • Adapting to changing digital technology and harnessing its benefits while managing the challenges of cyber threats
• The programme will conclude with each participant developing and implementing a practical reform in their own organisation or department, practising the art of change management in their home settings.

Admissions Criteria

• Only the best public sector executives from across Africa will be selected to participate in this programme. Candidates will be chosen based on their public sector experience and achievements, proven leadership qualities, intellectual abilities, personal motivations and ambitions.
• To be eligible for consideration candidates must:
  • Be citizens of any African country and actively working within the public sector in Africa
  • Have a minimum of 7 years of active service in the public sector
  • Be at Directorate level
  • Provide evidence of game-changing leadership qualities and abilities
  • Be endorsed by the Head of Ministry/Department/Agency where the candidate works.

For more information, visit Aig-Imoukhuede Foundation.