DGMT Innovation Fellowship

18/06/2026

On the 8th May David Harrison had a talk during the DGMT Innovation Fellowship Closing session at Cape Milner.

The session with David offered a grounded reflection on how organisations working in complex social change environments can better align communication, leadership, and trust.

A key takeaway was the importance of communicating both the strategic direction and the lived reality of work on the ground. David emphasised that effective storytelling is not just about sharing updates, but about weaving a consistent narrative over time that connects activities to a larger sense of purpose. Without this, organisations risk creating information gaps that can lead to misunderstanding or mistrust, particularly with funders and partners. His point was simple but sharp: when gaps appear, people often fill them with suspicion rather than clarity.

He also challenged the group to think carefully about the kinds of funders they engage with. He described “dam” funders who focus on fixed outputs and targets, and “river” funders who understand that impact is shaped by multiple flowing sources, adaptation, and change over time. This framing highlighted the value of seeking partnerships that are flexible, aligned, and realistic about the complexity of social change work. In the same breath, he reminded us that misalignment can quietly distort mission, making it important to sometimes say no, even when resources feel scarce.

On organisational communication, David unpacked transparency into three layers: strategy, organisational operations, and people related information. He argued that strategy should be fully shared and co-owned, while organisational information requires careful judgement about what and when to share. People related matters, he stressed, must always prioritise dignity and privacy. This distinction offered a useful lens for navigating the tension between openness and responsibility.

Perhaps the most resonant reflection was his reminder to stay anchored in mission rather than becoming overly consumed by organisational mechanics. He cautioned that organisations can easily turn inward and lose sight of why they exist in the first place. Leadership, he suggested, is about holding direction, clarity, and inspiration while still enabling accountability and delegation.

He closed with a simple but important reminder about trust: consistency is care and trust is built not only through systems and communication channels, but through how leaders show up over time and the extent to which people feel seen in everyday interactions.

16/06/2026

Would I Have Been Brave Enough? Reflections on June 16: The Unfinished Work of Courage

In 2014, I officially moved to Gauteng for work. Like many South Africans who grew up outside Johannesburg, Soweto was a place I knew long before I ever visited it. I knew it through stories, history books, and perhaps most memorably, through Sarafina! (if you know, you know).

As a child, I watched Sarafina! countless times. Even today, I can still remember many of the scenes. Strangely, one of the things that has stayed with me all these years is how Crocodile pronounced Sarafina's name, and yes, if I am honest, what happened to Crocodile still pains me. What struck me then, and continues to strike me now, is how people could still find reasons to laugh, love, and dream while living under such profound injustice. Amid oppression, there was still joy. Amid fear, there was still HOPE.

Perhaps that is why, when I moved to Gauteng, one of the first things I wanted to do was visit Soweto. A colleague, who would later become a close friend, joined me on a number of those early explorations. We did what many newcomers to Gauteng do: we visited places we had heard about our whole lives, trying to connect the history we had learned with the places where it had unfolded.

On one of those trips was to the Soweto Theatre, reflecting on the events of 16 June 1976, a question emerged in our conversation. Had I been a young person in 1976, would I have been brave enough to throw a rock at the police? It was not a question about violence, but it was a question about courage. Would I have stood with the thousands of young people who marched against an unjust system? Would I have been willing to risk my safety, my future, my good looks, or even my life for something I believed was right? Would I have found the courage to resist when resistance came at such a high cost? More than a decade later, I still find myself returning to that question every June, and the truth is, I do not know.

I would like to believe that I would have stood alongside the students of 1976. I would like to believe that I would have been courageous. However, I’m also aware that history asks very little of us when viewed from the comfort and safety of the present. The young people who marched that day did not know that history would remember them. They did not know that their actions would help change the course of a nation. They only knew that what was happening was wrong, and that remaining silent was no longer an option.

As I have grown older, now in my 40s (4th floor vibes), however, I have come to realise that perhaps I have been asking the wrong question. Perhaps the question is not whether I would have thrown a rock/stone. Perhaps the question is whether I am willing to stand up against injustice in my own time, because every generation faces its own version of that choice.

The injustices of today may not always look the same as those of 1976. They may be less visible, less explicit, and often more complex. Yet they are all around us. We see them in unequal access to education, persistent poverty, unemployment, gender-based violence, corruption, exclusion, and the many barriers that prevent people from realising their potential.

The challenge before us is not to replicate the actions of the youth of 1976. It is to embody the same spirit that inspired them. That spirit was never about throwing rocks. It was about refusing to accept injustice as normal. It was about believing that young people have agency. It was about choosing courage over comfort and, perhaps most importantly, it was about HOPE.

The students of 1976 marched because they believed a different future was possible. Even when the odds were stacked against them, they refused to surrender their belief in change. That lesson feels particularly important today. Across South Africa, it is easy to become discouraged. The challenges we face are significant and often overwhelming. We are constantly confronted by stories that remind us how much work remains to be done. Cynicism can feel easier than hope. Withdrawal can feel safer than participation.

Yet history teaches us that progress has always depended on people who refused to give up. In my work with young changemakers, I am reminded of this every day. I meet young people who are tackling challenges in their communities, building organisations, creating opportunities, and imagining solutions where others see only obstacles. Their work may not make national headlines. They may never become household names, but they share something important with the young people of 1976: a belief that things can be different, and a willingness to act on that belief.

That is why June 16 matters. It is not only a day of remembrance. It is a day of responsibility. We honour those who came before us not simply by telling their stories, but by continuing their work. For some, that may mean speaking out against injustice. For others, it may mean building stronger communities, mentoring young people, improving public services, creating jobs, supporting social innovation, or strengthening democratic institutions. Courage takes many forms. What form does it take for you?

The methods may change, but the mission does not. As Fellows and Alumni, we understand that meaningful change rarely happens because of a single heroic act. More often, it happens because ordinary people choose, again and again, to take responsibility for the future they want to see. That is the invitation that June 16 extends to each of us. Not to compare ourselves to the heroes of the past. Not to wonder endlessly what we might have done in their place, but to ask ourselves what courage requires of us today.

The young people of 1976 carried a vision of a better South Africa. They paid a price for that vision. Many never had the opportunity to see the freedoms that future generations would inherit. I believe that we owe them more than remembrance. We owe them action. We owe them our commitment to continue building a society that is more JUST, more INCLUSIVE, and more HUMANE than the one they inherited.

The unfinished work of 1976 does not belong to young people alone. It belongs to all of us, in the 4th, 5th, etc. floors, and perhaps the greatest tribute we can pay to those who marched is to ensure that, in our own way and in our own time, we never stop marching forward.

11/06/2026

Welcome Cohort 9!

This year, 18 Fellows representing 9 organisations will join the Fellowship journey.

This cohort brings together organisations working across youth development , education, early childhood learning, social justice, advocacy, to name a few.

We look forward to an inspiring year of learning, connection, creativity and innovation.

09/06/2026

The power of self-improvement

This is a reflection from Zama Zulu the Executive Director at Masinyusane - an NGO in the Eastern Cape that “allows two problems to solve each other” by training unemployed youth in teaching. Tumelo and Zola, two Masinyusane team members, attended the DGMT Innovation Fellowship in 2025 - and Zama reflects on their impact.

Essentially, we sit at the intersection of two of South Africa’s biggest challenges,” explains Zama when describing Masinyusane, “youth unemployment and child literacy.” An indicator of their success is (ironically) people leaving the organisation. Youth who are trained and then employed by Masinyusane are encouraged to apply to external employment positions, thus opening up a space for another young person to go through the training and employment programme.

Zama, who was self-employed in the manufacturing sector before transitioning to Executive Director of Masinyusane six years ago, is a strong believer in the power of continuous professional development and networking. “Throughout my career,” he says, “I’ve seen that networks are one of the most powerful ways to open doors.”
Encouraging development
Alongside networking, Zama encourages an organisational culture of self-learning. For example, the organisation pays for staff members’ online courses (so long as the previous course is completed).

Some staff members are learning really interesting skills—coding, data analysis, even mechanics,” says Zama. “Our internal data systems were built by our own staff. They’re creating apps and developing tools that help our work.”
This emphasis on continuous professional development is perhaps highlighted by the remote location of the organisation, which works in the Eastern Cape.
“Because we are geographically remote from where most of the action happens—places like Cape Town and Johannesburg—we sometimes underestimate the talent we have here … being geographically removed from the big urban centres has actually forced us to work harder to stay competitive.” Applying to the DGMT Innovation Fellowship was, therefore, motivated by a hope that his team members would be exposed to such hubs of civil society action. “[The Fellowship] strengthens the Fellows’ networks, helps them build relationships, and creates opportunities to learn.”
Fellow superstars

Tumelo and Zola started the DGMT Innovation Fellowship in 2025. “They came back with new questions and new ideas,” reflects Zama. “They realised that many organisations face similar challenges, and that sometimes we’ve solved problems others are still struggling with, while they have solutions to issues we face.”
This networking and exposure boosted Tumelo and Zola’s confidence, and Zama felt that being able to present their work and receive recognition from others at the DGMT Innovation Fellowships was empowering for them. “These two colleagues were already superstars before attending the Fellowship. Now, after the Fellowship, they’ve grown even further.” Such growth is particularly relevant now, as the sector operates at a time of rapid change. “Technology and developments like AI are advancing extremely quickly,” says Zama, and “continuous development is essential just to keep up.”
Exploring scalability with the Innovation Fellowship
Over the course of the DGMT Innovation Fellowship, Fellows are supported to explore an Innovation Question pertaining to their organisation. Tumelo and Zola explored a question of scalability: how do we scale our programmes to other regions while maintaining the quality of our work?

The Fellowship helped the Fellows and Masinyusane to innovate ideas. “One key realization was that scaling doesn’t necessarily mean opening new offices everywhere,” says Zama. “Instead, it could involve supporting other organisations to implement our programmes … It’s a bit like franchising—you don’t need to open a branch everywhere; you can share the recipe.”
As a result of exploring this Innovation Question, Masinyusane has made some of its materials open-source, and offers training to those organisations who need their support to get the programme off the ground.
Building leaders in our sector
For me, the key word around leadership in the civil society sector is continuity. Leadership development ensures that the next generation is ready to step forward.”

To ensure that the civil society sector continues its work, leadership must be considered not as a position of power, but as a role that ensures that younger staff learn with responsibility.

Zama embodies this approach in his leadership style, and it seems that the DGMT
Innovation Fellowship chimes with this philosophy. Succession plans, encouraging professional and personal development, and growing leadership skills is critical to South Africa’s future itself. “Leadership development,” Zama reflects, “ensures that organisations outlive the individuals who lead them.”

04/06/2026

This year’s recruitment campaign, we continued to intentionally broaden our reach, especially to organisations based in rural and underrepresented provinces. We received 64 applications, which is slightly more than last year, and more than double the average from previous years.

We also received applications across the Youth Development, Education, Capacity Building, Early Childhood Development, Advocacy and more. This diversity speaks to the relevance and resonance of our campaign, and reflects our ongoing commitment to inclusive growth and representation in the fellowship.

02/06/2026

Leading Where It Matters Most: Innovation from the Heart of Community

This reflection is drawn from a conversation with Minah Koela, Director of Beautiful Gate, as part of the DGMT Innovation Fellowship’s ongoing learning about how leadership and innovation take shape within organisations working in complex community contexts. It reflects on Beautiful Gate’s journey through the Fellowship, and what became visible about leadership, community, and organisational practice along the way.
Beautiful Gate did not enter the Fellowship with a neat or clearly defined question. Their work was already shaped by layers of complexity and, like many organisations working closely within community, the challenges they were facing did not sit neatly within programme boundaries. When Minah stepped into leadership, this complexity was already present. Within months, COVID-19 arrived, and the organisation found itself navigating a crisis that required immediate response. The work shifted quickly. Priorities changed. The organisation had to rethink how to support children and families in a context where safety, access, and stability could not be assumed.
But even as the pandemic began to ease, the sense of uncertainty did not disappear. It shifted.
Rising violence, gang activity, and increasing instability in the community began to shape the realities that children and families were living with. Young people were being recruited into gangs. Schools were disrupted. Families were navigating fear on a daily basis.
Within this context, the organisation began to sit with a more difficult question. Not one that could be solved through a single intervention, but one that required engaging the broader system around them.
“There is no street that gives birth to a child,” Minah reflected, a philosophy that affirms that children are not born of the street, but of families and communities that hold both responsibility and influence over their upbringing. This shifts the work away from seeing children in isolation, toward engaging the wider ecosystems that influence their lives. It is within this understanding that Beautiful Gate entered the DGMT Innovation Fellowship.
Entering the Fellowship with a lived question

The question Beautiful Gate brought into the Fellowship was not theoretical. It was shaped by what they were seeing and experiencing in their work. There was no clear solution at the time and, perhaps more importantly, no expectation that there would be one. There was hope that the Fellowship would not offer an answer, but rather a process.
Through this process, the organisation began to unpack their challenge and refine their innovation question more intentionally. Tools such as the problem tree created a way to slow down and examine what sat beneath the surface, identify emerging patterns, and question assumptions about their community. The complexity of the situation became clearer rather than simpler, and this was not always comfortable. Many Fellows and organisations who have walked this path would likely recognise this experience.
“I realised you need to be a student,” Minah said. “Otherwise, you are not going to make it.”
This highlights something important for leaders supporting fellows, that their role is not only to offer expertise, but also to learn from fellows. Fellows become mirrors of practice, surfacing grounded insights about communities, implementation, and organisational realities that can challenge and sharpen leadership itself over time. In this sense, organisational leaders are also invited into a posture of learning, where engagement with fellows becomes an opportunity to reflect on and strengthen their own leadership practice.
What becomes visible here is that the Fellowship did not remove the complexity of the work. It created space for the organisation to engage with it differently, and more collectively, rather than leaving it only with those who had initially identified the challenge.

The Fellows and the organisation
When Beautiful Gate nominated Fellows, the choice was intentional. Thabo and Khanyisa were not selected because they fit a conventional image of leadership, where leaders are often expected to be the loudest voice in the room, the most visibly confident speakers, or the individuals who consistently steer conversations and produce polished solutions. Instead, their leadership shows up in more relational and grounded ways, shaped by listening, shared ownership, and a deep connection to the communities they work with. They were chosen because of how they were already showing up in the work. Their leadership was visible in practice.
Khanyisa worked closely with children who required more care, holding them with a patience that was recognised not only within the organisation, but by families. Parents would reach out to her directly, trusting the way she supported their children. She created spaces where families remained connected, not out of obligation, but because they felt part of something. She also supported her team in ways that could easily go unnoticed but were recognised by Minah.
Thabo’s leadership showed up differently, but just as strongly. He had a way of gathering young people and parents, organising activities, and creating spaces that others wanted to be part of. There was initiative in the way he worked, but also a sense of alignment with the community itself.
Both had grown within the organisation. They understood the context not from the outside, but from within it.
There is also a reality that sits behind this. In many organisations like Beautiful Gate, development does not happen through structured programmes or formal pathways. People often step into roles and learn as they go, holding responsibility before they feel fully ready. This is not always by design, but it is a reality many organisations operate within.
Through the Fellowship, that reality was held gently, allowing something else to take shape as the Fellows deepened their thinking, reflected on their practice, and brought new ways of working into their teams.
What is clear from this conversation is that the Fellowship did not introduce leadership into the organisation. It met something that was already there and gave it space to grow.

Shifts within the organisation
The impact of the Fellowship was not only individual; it began to show up within the organisation itself. After every immersion as Khanyisa and Thabo would bring in their learnings to the organisations, conversations became more intentional, and teams started to ask different questions. There was more space to reflect on the root causes of the challenges they were facing, rather than only responding to immediate needs.
The innovation question did not disappear. It evolved, helping the team see new ways to support children and respond to the impact of crime in the community.
Rather than moving quickly to solutions, the organisation began to engage more deeply with the systems shaping their work. This included thinking about how families, communities, and broader structures were interconnected, and how these structures could begin working together to build more resilient responses.

A different way of leading within community
Something that became visible through this journey is a different way of understanding leadership.
Thabo and Khanyisa did not position themselves as experts arriving with answers. Their leadership was rooted in relationship. They listened. They created spaces for others to participate. They moved with the community, rather than ahead of it.
In many ways, this reflects a different kind of leadership, one that does not sit outside the system, but within it. This is what it looks like to be an animator.
An animator is someone who does not carry the work alone but brings others into it. Someone who can sit between the organisation, the community, and broader systems, allowing something more collective to emerge. This is a way of working that the Innovation Fellowship actively holds and encourages.
A reflection for organisational leaders
Minah’s reflections also offer something to other organisational leaders, particularly those working within similarly complex systems and considering joining the Fellowship.
Her journey was not shaped by having clear answers. It was shaped by responding to what was in front of her, often in moments of uncertainty.
“Sometimes I really didn’t know what to do… I needed to figure out a solution.”
There is an honesty in this that matters.
Stepping into something like the Fellowship is not about arriving with a perfect question. It is about being willing to sit with what is difficult, to remain open, and to engage the work as it is.
Closing reflection
Beautiful Gate’s journey through the Fellowship does not present a neat story of resolution, instead, it offers something more grounded. Leadership does not require perfect conditions or certainty. It requires a willingness to engage, to learn, and to stay close to what is unfolding.
Close to people.
Close to context.
Close to the work itself.
Because sometimes, that is where meaningful innovation begins.

26/05/2026

One thing to know about the Innovation Fellowship team is that we take playfulness seriously. We’ll happily disappear down a rabbit hole debating whether aliens exist, unpacking global affairs, or reflecting on leadership in ways that are equal parts curious and slightly chaotic.

At the same time, we are intentional about how we show up for one another. We try to embody a spirit of collegiality, especially during our busiest seasons. Sometimes that looks like a simple check-in, or reminding a colleague that it’s okay to step away, take a nap, or pause and think things through. There’s a quiet understanding that we do our best work when we feel supported.

We also make space for creativity in all its forms, whether it’s a beautifully designed Canva card, a thoughtfully written article, or even sketching out an entire session as a diagram. That encouragement is part of how we work, not something extra.

And it’s something we pass on to our Fellows too. The work matters deeply, but it’s not meant to be done alone. Your colleagues and organisational leaders are part of the journey, often holding the same vision. Taking the time to listen, to learn how others think, and to collaborate can open up new ways of getting there.

The work can be serious. It can also be joyful. And when people are moving toward a shared goal, it often becomes both.

21/05/2026

The DGMT Innovation Fellowship 2025-2026 Annual Report is out!

This year’s report explores what leadership looks like in a time of uncertainty, rapid change and growing complexity in the civil society sector. Through reflections, stories and lived experiences from Fellows and partners across South Africa, the report highlights leadership not as power or position, but as service, collaboration, courage and continuous learning.

From youth-led movements and education advocacy to innovation in community development and organisational leadership, these stories show how Fellows are reimagining what impactful leadership can look like in practice.

Here are some of the stories you can read in the report:

At Masinyusane in the Eastern Cape, Fellows Zola Mbusi and Tumelo explored how innovation can help scale literacy programmes through an open-source model, sharing tools and training with other organisations instead of simply opening more offices.
Itumeleng Mothlabane, General Secretary of Equal Education, reflects on navigating leadership transitions, strengthening youth leadership and learning the “art of persuasion” while remaining grounded in justice and community accountability.
Alumni reflections from leaders like Zinhle Ngcobo, Vuyo Ntlangu, Lindo Msele and Tarran Human explore themes of inclusive leadership, deep listening, collaboration, self-awareness and creating psychologically safe spaces within organisations.
Kathleen Dey shares how the Fellowship curriculum continues to evolve by integrating reflective and African-centred approaches to leadership and community development, including Training for Transformation.
Carla Watson reflects on the importance of building social capital, mentorship and stronger networks across the sector through the newly established DGMT Innovation Fellowship Alumni Committee.

The report also celebrates the growing impact of the Fellowship community, with Fellows and alumni leading organisations, shaping systems and building new pathways for innovation across the country.

Read these and more stories in our Annual Report here:

Check out this Magazine designed by Innovation Fellowship.

15/05/2026

As the DGMT Innovation Fellowship prepares for Cohort 9, we take a look at what we have learnt from from Cohort 8:

1. We seem strangely reluctant to consult the people most affected by a problem and tend to look for a different kind of expertise or knowledge when we look for solutions.
It can be daunting to speak directly to a person or a group that are in pain and suffering yet this is the only true way to understand the nature of the problem and the need more deeply.
2. Creative thinking has to battle the demands of productivity as we bend our time, energy and resources in the direction of meeting donor driven deadlines and performance demands.
Creativity needs repose and play. A state of resting, calmness, or composure implying peace of mind and the absence of mental stress on the one hand, and doing something fun and enjoyable, often with other people that might involve a game or a hobby on the other.
3. Energy and creative thinking are often overlooked as resources when it comes to solving social problems yet they are two of the most precious resources we have.
Do organisations cultivate the conditions that allow for repose and play to happen? In many ways these could be regarded as the most suitable working conditions for the sector. Imagine if we allocated funding to creating more space for repose and play as essential components of innovation.
4. When we turn a challenge into a question it activates our creativity as we become curious about the problem, questions lead to more questions and that is when possibilities open up.
Being ""in question""—actively engaging in inquiry, questioning assumptions, and maintaining a state of curiosity—opens up pathways for creative thinking by shifting the brain from a routine-oriented state to a generative, exploratory state. It acts as a catalyst that triggers the brain to seek out new information and alternative possibilities, effectively breaking conventional thinking patterns.
5. A leader can be persuasive no matter where they are positioned in an organisational hierarchy.
You don’t have to be a boss to be a leader, you don’t even need a position of authority. Horizontal leadership, the generative style employed by strategic champions, focuses on influencing, collaborating and driving results across organisational boundaries without relying on traditional top-down authority.
"

13/05/2026

When the Sector Loses Its Leaders: Why South Africa Cannot Afford Another Civil Society Brain Drain

South Africa’s nonprofit sector is often praised for its resilience. It survived apartheid, helped build democracy, and continues to support millions of vulnerable citizens. However, beneath this resilience lies a quieter problem that is becoming increasingly visible: the sector is losing many of its most capable leaders (AGAIN).
Across the country, experienced nonprofit executives, founders, and programme leaders are moving into government, corporate social investment units, consulting firms, and international development agencies. The reasons are not surprising, and in fact understandable: higher salaries, better institutional support, and more stable career paths.
What is concerning, though, is that South Africa has lived through this moment before, and the consequences shaped the sector for decades. Understanding that history is important, because the pattern now appears to be repeating itself. I’m just curious as to how we will deal with it and if the sector, this time around, will be able to come out of this stronger.
Let’s start us off with a bit of history. During apartheid (yes, here we go again), civil society organisations were not primarily service providers; they were engines of political mobilisation, policy innovation, and leadership development. Community organisations, trade unions, churches, and human rights groups produced many of the leaders who would later shape democratic South Africa. Think of organisations such as the United Democratic Front, which became a home for many political activists when the ANC was banned, the Congress of South African Trade Unions, the Legal Resources Centre, and Black Sash, to mention but a few. These organizations served not only as political platforms but as training grounds for organisational leadership.
Many figures who later entered government or national politics built their leadership capacity inside civil society organisations. Think Cyril Ramaphosa, a former trade union leader and current president. Jay Naidoo, a union leader who became a cabinet minister in the first democratic government, and Frank Chikane, a church leader who later served in the Presidency.
Civil society organisations were therefore schools of leadership, producing leaders with deep organisational and political capabilities. But when democracy arrived in 1994, that success produced an unintended consequence. My point is that the democratic transition created an enormous demand for capable leaders to build new institutions, and many of these people came directly from civil society.
Scholars studying the transition described this as a “leadership migration” from civil society into the state (Habib & Taylor, 1999; Swilling & Russell, 2002). The movement was understandable and, in many ways, necessary. But the consequences for the nonprofit sector were significant. Thousands of organisations suddenly lost their most experienced leaders. At the same time, donor funding began to shift. During the anti-apartheid struggle, international donors heavily funded advocacy, movement building, and leadership development. After 1994, funding priorities shifted toward service delivery, technical programmes, and project-based development. The sector professionalised, but its leadership infrastructure weakened (Professionalization of the sector: what was gained and lost I wonder).
I digress
When we look at South Africa, the country still has one of the largest nonprofit sectors in the Global South. As of 2026:
• There are + 295,052 registered nonprofit organisations in the country, according to the Department of Social Development.
• More than 167,000 of these organisations are non-compliant with reporting requirements, reflecting governance and capacity challenges across the sector.
• Over 6,000 NPOs were deregistered in 2025 due to non-compliance.
These organisations operate across education, health, community development, and social services. The sector is still large and essential, but size alone does not guarantee strength or strong leadership. In fact, I argue that leadership capacity is increasingly stretched.

Growth of the Number of Nonprofit Organizations VS Its Leadership Capacity

Over the past decade, another shift has been underway. Corporate South Africa has significantly expanded its role in development through corporate social investment and impact initiatives. Large companies now run programmes in education reform, youth employment, entrepreneurship development, and community development. To lead these programmes, companies often recruit people with deep experience in development work, and those people frequently come from the nonprofit sector.
As you might have guessed, the result is a quiet but steady migration of leadership talent. However, unlike the post-1994 transition, this movement is not driven by political transformation; it is driven by labour market dynamics, but the impact on civil society capacity is similar (we are losing leaders we need)

At the same time, global politics is reshaping development funding. Several trends are affecting the sector, from my observations, and these include rising geopolitical tensions, donor budget pressures, and increasing domestic funding expectations in developing countries.
As international funding becomes more constrained, donors often make predictable decisions, and usually the first programmes to lose funding are typically leadership development initiatives, fellowships, organisational capacity-building programmes, and sector learning platforms. The rationale for this has been that these investments are often seen as indirect or “overhead”. However, I think this logic can be dangerously short-sighted.
So why does leadership development matter most in uncertain times (side note, I had to check myself if I’m making this argument because I lead a leadership programme, and honestly, I don’t have an answer yet).
I argue that periods of political and economic uncertainty are precisely when leadership matters most. My rationale has been that strong civil society leaders hold institutions together during funding shocks (I know this from personal experience, having worked at enke, and witnessed how our then CEO led us through the COVID – 19 pandemic). They build collaboration across organisations, navigate political complexity, and mobilise resources and partnerships, while ensuring the team’s jobs are secured, and programme implementation is not affected, because we are all still showing up.
Without investment in leadership development, organisations become reactive rather than strategic, isolated rather than collaborative, and operational rather than transformative. If you take time to reflect, organizations that have survived the 2008 financial crisis, COVID-19, and will make it through the current political turbulence will be organizations that have always invested in strong leadership.
So, what can the sector do? If South Africa wants to avoid repeating the leadership vacuum that followed the democratic transition, several steps are necessary.
• Build Leadership Pipelines Earlier: Organisations should identify and invest in emerging leaders well before senior roles become vacant. Mentorship, fellowships, and structured learning programmes are essential (e.g., DGMT Innovation Fellowship, wink wink).
• Focus on Mid-Career Leaders: The greatest leadership attrition often occurs 10–15 years into a career. Retention strategies must target this stage (part of the reason why, in Cohort 9, we have extended the age requirement to 40, from 35).
• Build Shared Leadership Infrastructure: Leadership development should not be the responsibility of individual organisations alone. Sector-wide initiatives, leadership academies, fellowships, and peer networks are critical.
• Advocate for Flexible Funding: Funders increasingly recognise that strong programmes require strong institutions. Leadership development must be seen as core infrastructure for the sector, not as a nice-to-have, done as an afterthought.
• Encourage Cross-Sector Leadership Circulation: Movement between sectors is inevitable. Instead of seeing this as a loss, the sector should build pathways that allow leaders to return to civil society with new experiences and networks. Working in partnership with the government, for instance, can allow the sector to create that systemic change that we desire.
South African civil society has survived enormous challenges, and its most powerful moments have always depended on strong leadership. The anti-apartheid struggle was not built only by organisations. It was built by leaders who could mobilise communities, build institutions, and imagine a different future. As the sector continues to once again lose its leaders, it risks becoming something very different: a large sector, but not necessarily a powerful one. Investing in leadership is therefore not a luxury. It is one of the most important forms of infrastructure the sector has.
Why do I feel like I’m preaching to the choir?