Survey shows LEAD Fellowship Programme positively impacts sustainable development

In 2006, LEAD conducted a major ‘Measuring the Impact’ survey of Fellows from its global network to find out how they felt the Fellowship Programme had helped them to prioritise sustainable development. The results were overwhelmingly positive with over 75% of those surveyed saying that the training had a high or very high impact on their lives. Many said going through the LEAD Fellowship programme had been a ‘life-changing experience’.

The survey used a variety of sources, combining quantitative and qualitative indicators, to assess LEAD’s impact by answering three main questions:

1. How had the LEAD programme impacted individual LEAD Fellows and their ability to make a positive contribution to sustainable development?
2. How much were these LEAD Fellows then able to go on and impact their employers and organisations, and did this has result in the employer/organisation making a greater contribution to sustainable development?
3. What was the impact of the LEAD network as a whole, and did being part of the LEAD network enable LEAD Fellows to make a greater contribution to sustainable development?

Impact on individual Fellows

In response to the first question, Fellows reported that LEAD had enabled them to make a greater impact on sustainable development than they would otherwise have done. They felt that the programme had enhanced their decision-making capabilities, improved their ability to tackle complex issues and accelerated their career development into senior positions. Other benefits included increased confidence, a real commitment to sustainable development, and an understanding of the leadership skills needed to make it happen. The quotes below are typical of the responses received:

“LEAD has enabled me to make sustainable development part of everything I do. From trying to reduce my personal carbon emissions in my home to making movies on sustainable practices, from my first publication on environmental leadership to nurturing our local association of the Lahore LEAD club, LEAD has fertilised the soil from which my work has grown and is bearing fruit. Because of LEAD, I now know that I shall never be alone in trying to change the world.” - Mehjabeen Abidi Habib, Government College University, Lahore, Pakistan

“LEAD helped me to widen my world. It never came to my mind before I joined LEAD that I could contribute my knowledge and effort to do something for sustainable development. I made the decision of shifting from central government to WWF-China four months before I graduated from LEAD. In WWF, with my colleagues I implemented a series of projects on nature conservation and local economic development.” - Liwei Chen, Monitoring Surveyor, Biosecurity New Zealand, Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry

Impact on LEAD Fellows’ organisations and institutions

LEAD Fellows reported that the main impact of the LEAD programme was to give them the confidence, skills and contacts to promote their sustainable development within their organisations. Over half of those surveyed reported that their experience with LEAD had enabled them to change their organisation’s attitudes and actions towards sustainable development in various ways including;

• Access to the LEAD Fellows network as an additional information and knowledge exchange resource
• Using critical LEAD skills and approaches such as team-building, conflict resolution and systems thinking in their work life, and encouraging their organisations to develop these skills
• Encouraging their institutions to get involved in projects that have been developed through the LEAD network
• Being able to positively impact their colleagues by demonstrating leadership, increased mentoring and capacity building activities.

The impact that LEAD Fellows can have on their organisations in often complex and difficult situations is illustrated by the quote below:

“My LEAD training with LEAD Nigeria gave me the confidence to suggest the introduction of environmental management systems into Nestlé Nigeria. The company embraced the idea, and now Nestlé is a market leader in relation to corporate social responsibility in Nigeria. My LEAD training was a key factor in making this happen.” - Samuel Adenekan, Corporate Relations Manager for Nestlé Nigeria

Impact of the LEAD Fellows’ network

The survey revealed the importance of the LEAD network as a channel for communication, sharing information, exchanging ideas, providing mutual support and encouragement, and developing collaborative projects to tackle sustainable development issues. The network also serves as an important social network with Fellows using it to keep in touch with others from their year group, and between Fellows who work on similar issues, both locally and internationally.
The network also functions as an innovation incubator with half of the Fellows surveyed reporting that the support and expertise from the network led them to try out innovative ideas and experiment with sustainable development practices.

“I love LEAD for its idealism and the sense of an ever-growing family. It is a great network to be part of and is a source of personal pride to me. I really enjoy the cross-cultural, cross-sectoral opportunities that open up through LEAD. “ - Rob Rainer, Executive Director, National Anti-Poverty Organization, Canada

“LEAD is, among other things, a "quality assurance label" that indicates the individual displaying it is trustworthy and has already undergone a "trial" of some sort that has changed their minds and hearts to perceive things differently. There is no need to explain that much to them, and one can easily reach a different level of understanding and interact in a more profound, sound and meaningful way. This means a lot, especially in cross-sectoral working. “ - Ramon Perezgil, Programme Director, Fundacion Gonzalo Rio Arronte, Mexico

For a full analysis of the Measuring the Impact survey click here

Release date: Thursday, July 26, 2007