Leadership support

The Centre has been founded to support leaders in the civil society sector, as they face multiple challenges both from external trends and complex organisational structures. The initial idea was to provide peer support, and the Centre has gradually expanded its offer through leadership trainings, coaching and regular exposure to new ideas in the sector, relevant to leading a civil society organisation into the future.

There’s so much happening in the world, that the Centre is probably more valuable now, than it’s ever been...

Caroline Harper, CEO Sightsavers

We have expanded our offer from Chief Executives to second level leadership (e.g. though bringing together Directors of Policy, Programmes, HR and most recently Strategy at our annual ‘Leading Together’ event), and to regular convenings of Governors and Board Chairs. The support takes form though providing cutting edge sector research and analysis, and by providing space for leaders to engage in topics that cannot be handled in day to day work.

We have provided ‘change execution clinics’ both for chief executives and programme leaders, helping them to overcome hurdles in implementing transformational change, like power shift or governance reforms.

Our support is accompanied by regular publications that help leaders deal with complexities in their work, such as the sector guide on StH_Sector-Guide-2_-Strategic-Decision-Making-in-a-Whirly-World-1.pdf or other Tools and ideas for uncertain times – The International Civil Society Centre. A continuous support offer are the annual Power Shift Governance Labs Global Governance Lab – The International Civil Society Centre for strategic decision makers globally and in the regions.

More recently, the Centre has produced a report on Success-Patterns-of-ICSO-Executives.pdf which shall help both Chief Executives and their Boards to increase the likeliness to be successful in challenging jobs.

The current focus of our leadership support lies on dealing with the adverse impact of funding cuts, attacks on legitimacy and reputation of CSOs and developing adapted operational and business models in times of crisis.

In conversation with Caroline Harper - CEO of Sightsavers

CEO Support

The Centre convenes senior leadership, through a number of engagements during the year including the annual Vision Works; Digital Watercoolers (4 x online) and Global Peers meetings (bi-annually online). These spaces provide much needed headspace to catch up with trends in the sector, provide peer support, and develop ideas for collaboration.

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Peer Exchange

Our series Curated Conversations is a themed online discussion forum to foster peer-to-peer exchange and spotlight best practices in shifting power dynamics. Bringing together diverse voices to explore transformative roles, models, and innovations that advance inclusion, equity, and locally led agendas.

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Leading Together

Every year, Leading Together brings together senior leaders from international civil society organisations for peer learning, collaboration, and strategic dialogue on key sector challenges and opportunities.