Sixty-five brothers and laity gather to discuss leadership in Africa
Sixty-five delegates representing the province of Southern Africa met to reflect on leadership in a workshop titled ‘New Horizons’ at Meerhof, Hartebeespoort Dam, in South Africa.
Marist Brothers and laity from Angola, Malawi, Zambia, Mozambique, Zimbabwe and South Africa gathered from April 19 – 26 to discuss aspects of authentic leadership for the future of Africa.
“This being the first of such workshops conducted in the Province of Southern Africa, created opportunities for the participating countries to engage with one another and to share best practices and to focus on their roles as leaders in a new African context,” affirmed Gary Norton, a lay Marist of South Africa.
Brother David Hall from Australia helped organize the workshop, which included several speakers from around Africa.
Joseph Kwabena Onyinah, from Ghana, presented ‘Leadership in Africa: Then and now.’
Brother Michael Burke and Dr Nonthando Hadebe, both from South Africa, discussed ‘Role Models and Witnesses,’ and ‘Distributive Leadership’ and ‘Rights of Women and Children,’ respectively.
Br David discussed several topics including ‘Prophetic Leadership,’ ‘Decision making in uncertain times’ and ‘Servant Leadership.’ Frank Malloy from Australia presented ‘Ethical Leadership’ and several sessions on strategic planning.’
Each country group did a presentation on the history of education in their countries, as well as issues, highlights and challenges.
“These presentations were very informative and enjoyed by all,” stated Gary. “Brothers Erick Silali, Michel Mami and João Carlos do Prado also helped motivated the participants of the workshop.”
“The venue at Good Shepherd Retreat Centre provided a calm, peaceful backdrop for the participants to prepare, reflect and assimilate the discussions and presentations in a meaningful way,” he added. “The participants and organizers were extremely grateful to the donors for providing the funding for this exceptionally valuable workshop.”
During this workshop, the New Horizons project team met to plan a second phase of the programme that will take place in 2017.