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Citizen Leader Lab

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Citizen Leader Lab

Contact information, map and directions, contact form, opening hours, services, ratings, photos, videos and announcements from Citizen Leader Lab, Nonprofit Organization, 109 Jip De Jager Drive, Bellville, Cape Town.

Through innovative leadership development models, we grow conscious citizen leaders who catalyze positive change in their communities and across society, build social cohesion and work towards achieving a just society.

26/08/2026

𝗪𝗲 𝗵𝗮𝘃𝗲 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗿𝘂𝗹𝗲𝘀, 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗹𝗲𝗴𝗶𝘀𝗹𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻, 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗽𝗼𝗹𝗶𝗰𝗶𝗲𝘀. 𝗪𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝗵𝗮𝗽𝗽𝗲𝗻𝗲𝗱 𝘁𝗼 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗰𝘂𝗹𝘁𝘂𝗿𝗲?

At this year’s Public Sector Leaders Summit in Johannesburg, Komala Pillay, CEO of Citizen Leader Lab, joined Prof Edith Dinong Phaswana, Acting Executive Dean at the Thabo Mbeki African School of Public & International Affairs at , and Fatima Rawat, Ethics Subject Matter Expert at , to explore this question.

Whistle-blower protection, transparent procurement, performance management and accountability create the guardrails, but how do we build institutions where leaders do the right thing not simply because it is prescribed?

Komala brought a conscious leadership perspective to this question, challenging us to think about the shift from compliance to positive, values-based cultures.

She offered this incisive reflection: As Africans, we introduced Ubuntu to the world. Yet somewhere along the way, we have allowed it to slip out of our institutions.

What might change if we reclaimed Ubuntu not just as a cultural ideal, but as a principle for how our public institutions serve citizens? 💜🤍💛

25/08/2026

𝗟𝗲𝗮𝗱𝗲𝗿𝘀𝗵𝗶𝗽 𝗵𝗮𝗽𝗽𝗲𝗻𝘀 𝗶𝗻 𝗰𝗼𝗺𝗺𝘂𝗻𝗶𝘁𝘆 💜💛🤍

Across our Leaders for Education programmes in Durban, Delmas and Eden Central Karoo, school principals and business leaders have been exploring what it really takes to build communities that can make room for difference without losing connection.

Over the past week, our Community Building workshops in these regions helped participants move from the conventional idea of “networking”.

Instead of taking community at face value, we asked: What does it take to become a community, rather than simply be a group of people?

We know that community isn’t just about bringing people together. It’s about what happens to our thinking and our actions when other people are in the room.

And that’s the really good stuff!

20/08/2026

𝟭𝟱 𝘆𝗲𝗮𝗿𝘀 𝗼𝗳 𝗽𝗼𝘀𝘀𝗶𝗯𝗶𝗹𝗶𝘁𝘆 𝗼𝘃𝗲𝗿 𝗶𝗻𝗲𝘃𝗶𝘁𝗮𝗯𝗶𝗹𝗶𝘁𝘆💜🤍💛

𝗔𝗻𝗱 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗳𝘂𝘁𝘂𝗿𝗲 𝗶𝘀 𝘀𝘁𝗶𝗹𝗹 𝗮𝘀𝗸𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝘂𝘀 𝘁𝗼 𝗟𝗲𝗮𝗿𝗻. 𝗔𝗰𝘁. 𝗕𝗲𝗰𝗼𝗺𝗲.

Our 2025/2026 Annual Report is now out!

A snapshot of a year spent developing conscious leaders, building stronger communities and working alongside people who believe South Africa’s future is not a foregone conclusion.

𝟮,𝟯𝟵𝟯 𝗹𝗲𝗮𝗱𝗲𝗿𝘀 𝗿𝗲𝗮𝗰𝗵𝗲𝗱
𝟮𝟯𝟲 𝘀𝗰𝗵𝗼𝗼𝗹 𝗹𝗲𝗮𝗱𝗲𝗿𝘀 𝗲𝗺𝗽𝗼𝘄𝗲𝗿𝗲𝗱
𝟮𝟳+ 𝗽𝗮𝗿𝘁𝗻𝗲𝗿𝘀 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗰𝗼𝗹𝗹𝗮𝗯𝗼𝗿𝗮𝘁𝗼𝗿𝘀
𝟰 𝗳𝗹𝗮𝗴𝘀𝗵𝗶𝗽 𝗽𝗿𝗼𝗴𝗿𝗮𝗺𝗺𝗲𝘀

19/08/2026

𝗪𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝗶𝗳 𝘀𝘂𝗰𝗰𝗲𝘀𝘀 𝗶𝘀𝗻’𝘁 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗲𝗻𝗱 𝗴𝗮𝗺𝗲? 💜🤍💛

This Women’s Month, Citizen Leader Lab’s will be representing Citizen Leader Lab on the panel at JET’s Business with Purpose: Women Shaping Social and Economic Change event on Wednesday, 26 August.

The conversation will buck the narrative of women “having it all” to explore what women do with what they have: Their careers, businesses, platforms, influence and opportunities, and whether these can be used to make life better for others.

For Dorcas, this connects directly to the work of Citizen Leader Lab and our belief that leadership is ultimately about what becomes possible for others because we choose to lead.

Dorcas will be joined by Vanessa Raphaely, former Editor-in-Chief of Cosmopolitan South Africa; Alexi Kossew, teacher and facilitator; and Beverly Da Costa, award-winning education leader and ORT SA CAPE JET CEO. The conversation will be facilitated by acclaimed journalist and broadcaster Annika Larsen.

If you’re in Cape Town, this is one conversation worth being in the room for!

18/08/2026

𝗕𝗲𝗳𝗼𝗿𝗲 𝘄𝗲 𝗮𝘀𝗸 “𝗪𝗵𝗮𝘁’𝘀 𝘄𝗿𝗼𝗻𝗴 𝘄𝗶𝘁𝗵 𝘁𝗵𝗶𝘀 𝗹𝗲𝗮𝗿𝗻𝗲𝗿?”, 𝘄𝗲 𝗻𝗲𝗲𝗱 𝘁𝗼 𝗮𝘀𝗸: “𝗪𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝗵𝗮𝗽𝗽𝗲𝗻𝗲𝗱 𝘁𝗼 𝘁𝗵𝗲𝗺?”💜💛🤍

A learner who is angry, withdrawn, distracted or constantly acting out may be communicating something.

Trauma can inform how learners learn, behave, connect and respond — and it can affect the adults supporting them too.

So what does a trauma-informed school actually look like?

Join us for our next online Learning Lab session, in partnership with , for a practical conversation with the whole school community: Principals, SMTs, teachers, staff, SGBs and anyone interested in creating safer, more supportive schools.

📌 Full details on invite
3 September 2026 | 15h00–17h00

Register by 27 August: https://tinyurl.com/Trauma-Informed-Schools-CLL

13/08/2026

𝗔 𝘄𝗼𝗿𝗱 𝗰𝗮𝗻 𝗰𝗵𝗮𝗻𝗴𝗲 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝘄𝗮𝘆 𝘆𝗼𝘂 𝘀𝗲𝗲 𝗹𝗲𝗮𝗱𝗲𝗿𝘀𝗵𝗶𝗽 💜🤍💛

This started with a thought from Jo Monson, a Citizen Leader Lab and Awakened Leader facilitator, about what it actually means to be an ''Awakened Leader''.

Ntombomzi Thabede, Citizen Leader Lab facilitator guiding our Leaders for Education cohort in Mthatha, translated it into isiXhosa: Inkokheli eqabukileyo.

And just like that, a translation became a provocation.

Awakened leaders not just ‘’awake’’. They are…

Alert
Vigilant
Responsive

It made us wonder. Do we sometimes think we understand a leadership idea simply because we understand the words?

It’s a question we had the opportunity to explore last week, when we held Awakened Leader workshops in Mthatha and the Lejweleputswa district, bringing leaders together to zoom in on what it means to lead with greater awareness and consciousness.

Sometimes, understanding leadership means finding new words for it.

What do you call an “Awakened Leader” in the languages you work in or speak at home?

11/08/2026

𝗔𝗿𝗼𝘂𝗻𝗱 𝟵𝟵% 𝗼𝗳 𝗦𝗼𝘂𝘁𝗵 𝗔𝗳𝗿𝗶𝗰𝗮𝗻 𝗰𝗵𝗶𝗹𝗱𝗿𝗲𝗻 𝗼𝗳 𝗰𝗼𝗺𝗽𝘂𝗹𝘀𝗼𝗿𝘆 𝘀𝗰𝗵𝗼𝗼𝗹 𝗮𝗴𝗲 𝗮𝗿𝗲 𝗻𝗼𝘄 𝗮𝘁𝘁𝗲𝗻𝗱𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗮𝗻 𝗲𝗱𝘂𝗰𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻𝗮𝗹 𝗶𝗻𝘀𝘁𝗶𝘁𝘂𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻

One of the clearest themes from our strategic sessions in July was the distinction between access to education and its quality.

Measured against the legacy of an apartheid education system built on exclusion and inequality, access has become shorthand for progress. And rightly so.

But more than 30 years on, we find ourselves asking: What lies beyond access? What conditions create quality education?

This is where the investment conversation gets interesting. In education, investment does not translate into outcomes or impact in an immediate or predictable way. This imperfect relationship, however, cannot become a reason to overlook one of the system’s key important enablers: Leadership.

Quality education does not happen in a vacuum. It requires leaders who can turn those into the conditions for learning.

So we return to a fundamental question: If leadership is essential to quality education, why do we continue to underinvest in the people responsible for creating the conditions for it?

What do you think we need to invest in differently if we want access to translate into quality? 💜🤍💛

09/08/2026

𝗙𝗼𝗿 𝗴𝗲𝗻𝗲𝗿𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻𝘀, 𝘄𝗼𝗺𝗲𝗻 𝗵𝗮𝘃𝗲 𝗯𝗲𝗲𝗻 𝘁𝗼𝗹𝗱 𝘁𝗵𝗲𝘆'𝗿𝗲 ‘’𝘁𝗼𝗼 𝗺𝘂𝗰𝗵’’

Too emotional
Too quiet
Too ambitious

At Citizen Leader Lab, we call that leadership.

Emotional is emotionally intelligent.
Quiet is a leader who listens.
Ambitious is believing change is possible.

The qualities women were told to tone down are the very qualities leadership now demands — regardless of gender.

Perhaps women were never "too much."
Our idea of leadership was just too small 💜💛🤍

06/08/2026

We’re going to attempt to sum up last week using nouns 💜🤍💛

Celebrations. A workshop. A chess board.

Doesn't exactly sound like a leadership programme…

And yet...

In Durban and Eden Central Karoo, we celebrated the graduations of our 22nd and 3rd Leaders for Education cohorts respectively.

In Buffalo City, leaders wrestled with what it means to become an awakened leader before trying to lead anyone else.

And in Polokwane, around a chess board, we explored leadership as strategy rather than something attached to a job title.

Perhaps that's why leadership development can be so difficult to wrap our heads around.

You can count workshops, cohorts, even games of chess.

But the moment someone starts seeing themselves differently? That's where the work begins.

And thankfully, that's exactly the kind of work we spent last week doing.

05/08/2026

𝟱𝟬 𝗽𝗲𝗼𝗽𝗹𝗲 𝗮𝗰𝗿𝗼𝘀𝘀 𝗦𝗼𝘂𝘁𝗵 𝗔𝗳𝗿𝗶𝗰𝗮 𝗵𝗮𝘃𝗲 𝗼𝗳𝗳𝗶𝗰𝗶𝗮𝗹𝗹𝘆 𝗺𝗮𝗱𝗲 𝗲𝘅𝗰𝗲𝗹𝗹𝗲𝗻𝘁 𝗹𝗶𝗳𝗲 𝗰𝗵𝗼𝗶𝗰𝗲𝘀 💜🤍💛

(Okay... technically it's 56 now, but who's counting? We are. Constantly.)

The Citizen Circle has officially crossed the 50-member mark!

So why all the fuss?

Because more than 50 people have decided that the future of South Africa isn't something we wait for. It's something we build together.

Bravo to the founding crew, the early adopters, the people who joined before it was trending!

Who's joining the road to 100?

Address

109 Jip De Jager Drive, Bellville
Cape Town
7530

Opening Hours

Monday	08:00 - 17:00
Tuesday	08:00 - 17:00
Wednesday	08:00 - 17:00
Thursday	08:00 - 17:00
Friday	08:00 - 17:00
Saturday	08:00 - 17:00

Website

https://citizenleaderlab.org/

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