Launched in 2012, the Harvard Ministerial Leadership Program has gathered hundreds of federal ministers at its annual forums and encouraged them to raise their ambitions for their time in office. Though the program has included ministers from around the world, African leadership has been given priority.
Participants in the program are challenged to distinguish between authority and leadership, to approach their remits more ambitiously, and to be more strategic and politically savvy in their implementation of their agendas. The goal is for all ministers to leave with increased clarity of purpose, an ambitious and transformative goal for their tenure, and the tools to put their plans into action.
The forums are hosted by three schools at Harvard – the Harvard Kennedy School, the Harvard Graduate School of Education, and the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health. Faculty and advisors include former Heads of State and Prime Ministers, as well as former ministers who were behind some of the most transformative public-sector initiatives of the last decade. These individuals work with participants in honing their plans throughout the duration of the program.
Among the key themes of the forums is that the priority challenges of today’s world require multi-sectoral solutions and coordination to achieve meaningful impact. The program includes a spring forum for leaders who are positioned to play a coordinating role in the cabinet, such as Prime Ministers, Vice Presidents, finance ministers and planning ministers, and a fall forum for sectoral ministers.
