In the Eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, ongoing armed conflict has significantly disrupted the work of civil society organisations (CSOs), particularly those engaged in environmental protection. The escalation of the conflict in early 2025 also forced us to suspend our in-person facilitation of leadership and organisation development processes. But we did not want to withdraw our support for locally-based leaders and their organisations during this crisis.
That’s why, with the support of our partners, we turned to innovation—using technology as a catalyst for connection and continuity. Our local partners were adamant that despite the day-to-day challenges they were facing, they wanted to continue with their organisation development and leadership journeys, even if that meant shifting to online participation. As a legacy of the COVID-19 pandemic we already had the tools and experience delivering programming online, so we were able to make a rapid pivot to deploy our online learning platform, called Baraza, to deliver the “Develop Your Leadership Style” training and organisation development support remotely.
This eight-week training programme is enabling leaders to gain awareness, knowledge and tools to better understand their own leadership style, be more conscious of what they are doing, strengthen their skills, and lead their organisations consciously with clarity, resilience, and impact—even in the most challenging contexts. We have also introduced content that focuses on resilience in volatile contexts. Because uncertain and volatile times require resilient leaders. And stronger CSOs contribute to a more resilient civil society and communities.
We are delivering the leadership programme via a combination of individual learning modules on our platform Baraza, and group webinars on key themes of each week of training. Despite the challenging context, we have been humbled by the strong level of engagement, and the enthusiastic feedback from the participants during the webinars and at the check in and check out exercise during each week on Baraza:
“I am delighted to be able to navigate this platform and discover its features. It is a pleasure for me to learn alongside the other participants.”
“During this training, I learned a lot about myself. The reflections carried out through the various exercises allowed me to better understand my professional orientations, but also to recognise certain limitations I had on essential concepts such as the difference between debate and dialogue, active listening, and the ability to give space and power to others.
“Today, my career is enriched by the leadership lessons I am discovering on Baraza. I have gotten into the habit of internalising each of my actions before implementing them. I test my thoughts and decisions to stay aligned with my vision, without straying from it. I am now able to identify my own pitfalls and face difficult situations while preserving my values.”
We are grateful for the support of our funding partners, whose trust and flexibility was vital in enabling us to adapt to the situation and maintain our support to civil society organisations in Eastern DRC.