Prelims

Half Title Page

LEADERSHIP AND POWER IN INTERNATIONAL DEVELOPMENT

Title Page

LEADERSHIP AND POWER IN INTERNATIONAL DEVELOPMENT

Navigating the Intersections of Gender, Culture, Context, and Sustainability

Edited by

RANDAL JOY THOMPSON

Excellence, Equity, and Empowerment, Inc., USA

JULIA STORBERG-WALKER

George Washington University, USA

United Kingdom – North America – Japan – India – Malaysia – China

Copyright Page

Emerald Publishing Limited

Howard House, Wagon Lane, Bingley BD16 1WA, UK

First edition 2018

Copyright © 2018 Emerald Publishing Limited

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British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data

A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.

ISBN: 978-1-78754-116-0 (Print)

ISBN: 978-1-78743-880-4 (Online)

ISBN: 978-1-78743-999-3 (Epub)

ISSN: 2058-8801

About the Authors

Josh P. Armstrong, PhD, is a Faculty Member and Director of the Comprehensive Leadership Program for undergraduate students at Gonzaga University. Dr Armstrong’s research interests include servant leadership, intercultural competencies, and adaptive leadership. Through the past decade of directing a study abroad program in Zambia, Josh has developed his skills at driving in the African bush, dancing, and slowing down to stay for tea.

Maria Beebe, PhD, is an Applied Sociolinguist whose research interests include critical discourse analysis, women’s leadership, and information communication technologies for development. She co-edited AfricadotEdu, DISRUPT. Filipina Women: Loud. Proud. Leading without a Doubt and DISRUPT 2.0. Filipina Women: Daring to Lead. Based on 20 years of international development experience, Dr Beebe created Global Networks to foster collaborations for a sustainable world.

Kathleen Curran, Global Leadership Coach, Trainer and Consultant, is the Founder of Intercultural Systems, established in Singapore in 1996, and specializes in developing global leader identity and boundary spanning capacity. Holding MAs in Intercultural Communication and Human and Organizational Development, she is completing her PhD, focusing on global talent development in Asia.

Dick Daniels, D.Min., is the President of the Leadership Development Group. In addition to organizational consulting and executive coaching, he hosts a Linkedin online community of 26,000 global leadership practitioners: The Leadership Development Group. Daniels recently published a nationally awarded book, Leadership Briefs: Shaping Organizational Culture to Stretch Leadership Capacity. He currently serves as the Vice President of Consulting Services for Right Management of Florida and the Caribbean, and is an Adjunct Professor in the EdD program in Organizational Leadership at Stockton University in New Jersey.

Amanda Ellis, Senior Sustainability Scholar, ASU Julie Ann Wrigley Global Institute of Sustainability, is a development economist who was the first woman to lead the New Zealand Aid Program as Deputy Secretary in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade. Previous roles include New Zealand's Ambassador to the United Nations in Geneva, Lead Specialist (Gender) for the World Bank Group, and Chair of the Global Banking Alliance for Women. Ellis is the author of two best-selling books, Women’s Business, Women’s Wealth and Woman 2 Woman, and five research titles on gender and growth in the World Bank Directions in Development series.

Ashley N. Lackovich-Van Gorp, PhD, is a Scholar-practitioner and a Writer who works globally to create, facilitate, and evaluate girl-centered programming. As the Director of Mercy Corps’ Regional Center for the Advancement of Adolescent Girls, Ashley collaborates with her team on creating new modes of girl engagement. She is also the co-founder of Enhance Worldwide, a girl-centered nonprofit operating in Ethiopia, and a blogger for Girls’ Globe.

Kathryn B. Mangino is a Development Professional with more than 15 years of experience using practical and academic approaches in gender, capacity building, participatory qualitative data collection and analysis, facilitation and designing, and delivering participatory training. Her experience includes working throughout Asia, Africa, and the Middle East with both bilateral donors and local NGOs. She holds a PhD from Waseda University where she researched the intersection between women’s empowerment and male engagement.

David Mashzhu-Makota is a Humanitarian Practitioner with more than 14 years in humanitarian response in East and Southern Africa, Middle East, and South Central Asia. He holds an MA in Leading, Innovation, and Change from York St John University, UK. He is married to Christine and has two children, Chiedza and Mutsawashe. David is very passionate about serving the most deprived and vulnerable communities hence his work has mainly been in fragile contexts.

Patricia McLaughlin is completing her Ph.D. at Eastern University in Organizational Leadership. Her leadership career, which spans the United States, Middle East, North Africa, Sub-Saharan Africa, and Western Europe, has been centered in the education sector, working in international development, private international schools, and American public schools. Her doctoral dissertation seeks to understand the factors that influence the success, or lack thereof, achieved by expatriate leaders in international development projects they manage through a grounded theory study.

Keba T. Modisane is a Scholar-practitioner in HRM and HRD. Her areas of research interest are in leadership development, gender studies and diversity, ethics and morality, education, and innovation management. She holds a PhD from Renmin University (Beijing, China). Modisane previously worked for 16 years as an HR Manager and currently works as Research Manager at BA ISAGO University in Botswana. She is passionate about issues of nature and religion and believes in positivism.

Iyabo Obasanjo, PhD, teaches Public Health at the College of William and Mary (Williamsburg, VA, USA). She has a PhD in Epidemiology from Cornell University (Ithaca, New York, USA). She worked as a Project Manager in Clinical Research and then as the Commissioner for Health in Ogun State, Nigeria from 2003 to 2007. She won election to the Nigerian Senate from 2007 to 2011, where she was the Chair of the Senate Committee on Health.

Nicole Rouvinez-Bouali is a Neonatologist, passionate about global health, holding a Masters of Management (IMHL). As the Clinical Director of a Global Development Alliance co-funded by USAID-Benin, she developed a sustainable education curriculum to reduce neonatal mortality. She is a founding member of the International, Inter-University Diploma in Perinatology.

Anne M. Spear is a PhD Candidate in the International Education Policy program at University of Maryland. She is an Instructor in the Leadership Studies Minor Program. Anne holds an MEd in Education and Social Change from the University of Miami. Her doctoral dissertation examines teachers’ responses to gendered violence in Burkina Faso’s school systems through a vertical comparative case study.

Debby Thomas, PhD served as a Missionary and Development Specialist in Rwanda with Evangelical Friends Mission for 18 years focusing on holistic community development. She is presently an Assistant Professor of Management at George Fox University as well as a Leadership and Management Training Facilitator.

Éliane Ubalijoro is the Executive Director of C.L.E.A.R. International Development. She is a Professor of Practice at McGill University, a Member of Rwanda’s National Science and Technology Council, a Fellow of the African Academy of Sciences, a Board Member of the International Leadership Association and a Member of the Board of Trustees of WWF International. Éliane is a Member of Rwanda’s Presidential Advisory Council. A former biotechnology executive, she has co-led Gates Grand Challenges Exploration grants.

Nila Wardani has over 20 years of expertise in gender and social inclusion, capacity building, participatory qualitative research and analysis, facilitation, designing, and delivering participatory training. Using her expertise in grassroots facilitation, she established her own women’s empowerment NGO. She has additional experience with a variety of international donors, local government, and INGOs. She holds a Master degree in Rural Development with a focus on social capital issues from the University of Sussex, UK.

Gordon A. Zook earned a BS in Food Systems Economics and Management from Michigan State University, an MS in Agriculture Economics from Cornell University, and more recently a PhD in Organizational Leadership from Eastern University. He has worked for Mennonite Central Committee for 18 years in Bangladesh, Haiti, and India along with his wife Carol, primarily in country program leadership. His primary interest focuses on assessing and improving organizational effectiveness, particularly for international NGOs.

Preface

We talk about Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) which for me is excellent! As individuals working in international development, have we taken the time to think and talk about our Personal Development Goals (PDGs)? Do we demonstrate on a daily basis how our day-to-day activities contribute to the achievement of the SDGs? Be the change you want to see in the global space? Let us build our personal capacities for global action!

Benjamin Kofi Quansah ¹

The United Nations’ call in 2015 to work together to achieve 17 sustainable development goals by 2030 has reignited the global discussion regarding the need to continue to improve the lives of a large part of the developing world. Leaders in international development face an enormous challenge to coordinate their actions, bring resources to bear, and determine the most successful approach to achieve the vision implied by the SDGs. How leaders should best lead becomes a critical question.

We decided to pursue this volume because we saw a gap in the leadership literature related to leaders in international development. Such leaders have been included in the literature on project management to a certain extent, but we believe that their leadership extends far beyond the realm of projects. We also believe that leaders in international development, as significant as they are in determining the future of the global order, have not been acknowledged adequately in the academic, practitioner, or public milieus.

Based on our belief that models and theories of leadership should be built up by practice and that personal reflection is a powerful approach to understanding practice, we put out a call for proposals that asked contributors to write their leadership stories. Furthermore, we asked authors to highlight particular leadership moments and examine those moments in terms of four factors which we determined were key in this profession: gender, context, culture, and sustainability. We were interested to determine whether their gender influenced their leadership, especially since leaders in this profession encounter a wide divergence of attitudes toward gender in the countries in which they work. We wondered whether the social, economic, political, or personal context in which they lead impacted their leadership. Culture, of course, is a huge factor in international development leadership and we wanted contributors to reflect on how they adapt their leadership to different cultures and how they cross borders and develop agility to move from one culture to another. Lastly, since a key focus for international development currently is on sustainable development, we wanted leaders to inform us how this focus has impacted their leadership.

Of the many proposals submitted by international development leaders in response to our call for chapters, we selected 18 leaders based on their extensive and sustained work in the international development field. The 14 women and four men originate from Africa, Asia, Europe, and North America, and they represent a diverse array of cultures, leadership histories, and perspectives. Their leadership roles differ and include a former senior-level government official from a developing country; a humanitarian aid worker; a policy maker in influential donor organizations and the United Nations; leaders in faith-based organizations; project implementers in bilateral aid organizations, non-government organizations, and corporations; university professors; a physician; an interculturalist; and an HR executive in a development organization. The diversity of the authors has provided a kaleidoscope of perspectives that together offer a comprehensive view of leadership in international development. Some surprises emerged such as the need for leaders in international development to challenge culture, not only adapt to it. These leaders had to decide to work with existing power structures or try to change them. Expatriate women as a sort-of “third gender” in some countries and the paradoxes that are a constant reality for leaders in this profession, were among another surprise.

From the rich stories of the complexities, uncertainties, pressures, and victories of the authors, we closely reviewed each chapter in a comparative manner to identify commonalities, differences, themes, and patterns. The process we used bridges the practitioner/scholar divide by offering a tentative framework for leading in international development based on actual practitioner stories from the field. Typical qualitative research data analysis methods were used, including the use of qualitative data analysis software and modified grounded theory methods. The result is the presentation, in Chapter 1, of a tentative model or theory of leading in international development contexts.

Our intention and hope is that this volume will initiate a new dialogue between practitioners and scholars in this important area of leadership and that both emerging and veteran leaders in this profession will gain valuable insights from the chapters.

Randal Joy Thompson

Julia Storberg-Walker

Editors

Acknowledgments of the Editors

The journey of putting together this volume has been made possible and immeasurably more enriched by the support and commitment of a number of individuals to whom we are deeply indebted. The honest self-reflection and commitment to the betterment of the world of the chapter authors have made this book both possible and promising. We as editors have benefitted from a life-enhancing learning process catalyzed by the leadership stories of these contributors.

The editors also owe a huge debt of eternal gratitude to Debra DeRuyver, Communications Director of the International Leadership Association (ILA). Debra was with us every step of the way, offering sound advice and guidance based on her many years of experience. We also would like to thank the staff of ILA for their faith in us and support for our work. We hope we met the expectations of Cynthia Cherry, CEO, who announced our book at the 2017 ILA Conference in Brussels. We are ever thankful to Shelly Wilsey, COO, for her wordsmithing and Bridget Chisholm, Director of Conferences. They and the rest of the ILA staff provided the foundation for making this book possible and providing us with the opportunity to make an impact.

We would also like to acknowledge all the readers of this volume who we invite to join us on this journey of exploration of leadership in international development. We look forward to engaging in a dialogue with all of you and in advancing our understanding of the factors influencing leadership in this profession as well as the values, principles, and competences that will help us all work together for a better world.

About the Editors

Randal Joy Thompson is an International Development Professional and Founder and Principal of the consulting company Excellence, Equity, and Empowerment. As a US Foreign Service Officer for 28 years, she advised senior government officials on policy changes and helped to change systems to improve health, child welfare, education, social science research, and program evaluation in all regions of the world. As a Certified Performance Technologist, she has also worked to improve organizational and human performance. She has chapters in Breaking the Zero-Sum Game: Transforming Societies Through Inclusive Leadership; Grassroots Leadership and the Arts for Social Change; Theorizing Women & Leadership: New Insights & Contributions from Multiple Perspectives; and Women and Leadership Around the World and many academic journals and books.

Julia Storberg-Walker is an Associate Professor in the Executive Leadership Program of the Graduate School of Education and Human Development at George Washington University, and an Affiliate Faculty and Advisory Board Member at George Washington’s Global Women’s Institute. Julia served as Editor-in-Chief of Human Resource Development Review from 2014 to 2017. She is an Associate at the Taos Institute. Her publications include Theorizing Women and Leadership: New Insights and Contributions from Multiple Perspectives; Authentic Leadership in HRD: Context and Identity Matter! Critical Explorations on Leading Authentically, and many chapters, articles, and global presentations on theoretical development for applied disciplines. She received the International Leadership Association’s Women and Leadership Affinity Group’s Outstanding Scholar Award.

Dedications

To all my Colleagues and Friends in International Development who have dedicated their lives to creating a better world and to those I worked with who were murdered doing so, including James Foley and Lisa Marie Akbari.

And to my sons Devin and Patrick who grew up around the world, are true survivors – Devin of an attempted coup in Cameroon and Patrick of an attempted murder in Ukraine – and are leaders in their own right, working toward justice and equality.

Randal Joy

I dedicate this book to all of the leaders who get up every day in the name of peace and equality. “The best way to find yourself is to lose yourself in the service of others.” – Gandhi

Julia