The overall objective of the Mindanao Bridging Leaders Program is to build a cadre of Bridging Leaders in Muslim Mindanao, who can address issues like peace, education, health, land conflicts, poverty, and poor local governance, among others. It has two key components: Leadership Formation and Institutional Development. This Leadership Formation component is an intensive Fellowship for leaders th
at is anchored on the Bridging Leadership Framework as the appropriate leadership approach for addressing complex societal inequities. Essentially, the Fellowship’s goal is to develop socially responsible Bridging Leaders who are able to look at a problem, understand its complexity and develop a collaborative response to address it, in order to reach societal equity that is sustained by institutions and stakeholders that are transformed toward greater responsiveness and participation. In this component, 48 Fellows will be trained in two cohorts to improve their capacity to achieve their leadership goals within the context of the issue they seek to resolve. They will undergo training courses to merge Bridging Leadership theory and practice, discuss real-world cases and personal experiences, and go through mentoring sessions with local academic institutions and development professionals – all partners of the Center. They will also participate in learning events with veteran development practitioners, and enjoy improved access to resource institutions. This component specifically targets leaders who are committed to addressing Local Governance concerns throughout conflict-affected areas in Muslim Mindanao through multi-stakeholder and inclusive processes. An equally important component to this Program is the development of local academic institutions to provide Bridging Leadership training to leaders who will be part of the Fellowship. Through this approach, the development of leaders will happen at a much closer, more efficient, and more contextual level. Local academic institutions are also better equipped to provide Bridging Leadership training in the local dialect and to incorporate local and culturally-effective elements to the course. Alongside AIM, Center faculty and resource persons, these local academic institutions will be in a position to co-train and help form these leaders in Bridging Leadership by being purposively engaged in the training and ex*****on of the Fellowship. The institutional partners shall collaborate to identify co-trainers for the Fellowship. Local partner institutions shall serve as co-convenors of capacity building activities under the MBLP, with the Center serving as main coordinator and facilitator. Local partner institutions shall also co-develop core groups and mechanisms for coordination, among the Center, the different local institutions and with the leaders they co-train and support. To sustain the interventions, these institutions will work hand in hand with the Center to create knowledge, training materials and academic research towards the replication of the MBLP. In order for the local institutions to effectively support Leadership Formation, most of the Institutional Development will precede the conduct of the first Cohort.In order for the local institutions to effectively support Leadership Formation, most of the Institutional Development will precede the conduct of the first Cohort.
