Leadership Academies

Akili Dada’s Leadership academies work to present scholars and alumnae with opportunities to:

• Engage in group reflection on their social change projects across the country.  By breaking the isolation of completing projects on their own while on school holidays, the leadership academy enables participants to exchange ideas on different types of projects and how to overcome shared challenges.

• Discern and develop their personal leadership styles.  There are many different ways to lead, each based on a complex set of factors. Participants have a variety of opportunities to explore the advantages and challenges of their own personal leadership style, while learning to identify and accommodate the different styles of others.

• Strengthen the Akili Dada community of scholars across the different partner schools and ethnic differences of our growing number of scholars. The residential sessions provide participants the space to build the sisterhood of support that is so necessary for success both in school and afterwards and deepen the bonds of friendship that will add value to the Akili Dada network over time.

While the high school scholars focus primarily on developing their personal leadership style and practicing leadership as well as coping skills specific to their age and socio-economic contexts, our high school alumnae participate in parallel sessions that focus on university life, career choices, and how to participate in leadership and bring transformative change in their current contexts.

You can read about past academies on our blog