Poverty is endemic in Haiti, with a poverty headcount at 58.5 percent and extreme poverty at 23.8 percent at the national level in 2012. These numbers indicate that almost 6.3 million Haitians cannot meet their basic consumption needs. Among these, around 2.5 million cannot feed themselves adequately. [1]

ASSUMPTIONS ABOUT THE CAUSE OF THE PROBLEM

We attribute the root cause of the poverty cycle in Haiti to the lack of an effective leadership culture at a local level. 

We came to this conclusion by analyzing the history of Singapore, the Democratic Republic Of Congo, and the US military.  Three very important examples of how we can take adversity and alchemize it into sustainable change.  We looked at their downfalls, and their abilities to transform adversity into opportunities.  We have based our approach to leadership development on the following assumptions:

Assumption 1: The effectiveness of a leader is one of the most important metrics that determine success or failure.

1. a) Singapore was once a colonized state and only gained independence recently. In 1959 Singapore was a poor nation devoid of natural resources. Today Singapore is considered one of the richest countries on earth, thanks to the effective leadership of Lee Kuan Yew and his team. [2,3,4]
2. b)  On the other spectrum, the Democratic Republic of Congo is considered to be one of the richest countries in the world in terms of natural resources.  (Global Witness, 2009). Diamonds, timber, cobalt, gold, and coltan run throughout the DRC’s land and are highly sought after by foreigners and locals. The lack of effective leadership of their leaders prevents this country from harvesting the gift of nature. Today the Democratic Republic of Congo is considered to be one of the poorest countries on earth []

Assumption 2: When exposed to the proper education and training, effective leadership can become a learned behavior and is available to anyone who possesses the drive, willingness, and ability to learn.

1990. d)      The United States military provides ample evidence that it is possible to instill leadership values and skills in every person under a structured and inclusive environment. Leadership development became a point of interest for the military as a response to the crisis this institution was facing in 1990. Currently, a leadership development course is mandatory to all levels of personnel including newly enlisted soldiers. The US military was able to create a structure and a process capable of transforming ordinary individuals into effective leaders in a consistent way. [5,5,6]

Sources:

Sources: 1. World Bank. 2014. Investing in people to fight poverty in Haiti: Reflections for evidence-based policy making (English). Washington, DC: World Bank Group. http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/222901468029372321/Reflections-for-evidence-based-policy-making

 Sources: 2. Business & Leadership. (2019). Lee Kuan Yew – Leadership Transformed Singapore. Retrieved from https://www.businessandleadership.com/leadership/item/lee-kuan-yew-leadership-transformed-singapore/

Sources: 3. National Public Radio. (2015). How Singapore Became One Of The Richest Places On Earth. Retrieved from https://www.npr.org/2015/03/29/395811510/how-singapore-became-one-of-the-richest-places-on-earth

Sources: 4. The World Bank. (2019b). The World Bank in Singapore. Retrieved from https://www.worldbank.org/en/country/singapore/overview

Sources: 5. Kirchner, M., & Akdere, M. (2017). Military leadership development strategies: Implications for training in non-military organizations (Vol. 49).

Sources: 6. Lagace, M. (2003, 07 Apr 2003). How the U.S. Army Develops Leaders. Retrieved from http://hbswk.hbs.edu/item/how-the-u-s-army-develops-leaders

Sources: 7. U. S. Army. (2019). Army Leadership Training and Courses. Retrieved from https://www.goarmy.com/soldier-life/being-a-soldier/ongoing-training/leadership-training.html

INTRODUCTION

The leadership academy will intervene at the cognitive and behavioral learning theory through education and experiential learning. By directly increasing knowledge and skillsets of the participants, the participants will be more likely to engage in positive behaviors regarding leadership. Attitudes and self-efficacy will also be a focus of the leadership academy since confidence and a want to behave a certain way are as influential as the needed knowledge and skills. The original group of participants will reenter their communities and display their behaviors as well as share their skill set. Due to the social learning theory, it is believed that their presence in the community will have a beneficial impact by influencing their peers to also engage in leadership behaviors.

Skills-based Approach

The skills-based approach to leadership, originally proposed by R.L. Katz in the 1950’s, displays leadership as a learned role rather than an innate one. In an attempt to define the needed skills to fulfill a leadership role, Katz identified three major skills of leaders: technical, human, and conceptual (Katz, 1974). Later research conducted by Mumford and colleagues in the 1990’s expanded on these three original skill sets. Their model was considered a “capability” model, based on the idea that obtaining these skills does not simply make a leader but rather arms the person to be capable of being a leader (Mumford, Zaccaro, Harding, Jacobs, & Fleishman, 2000). Mumford’s model is comprised of five parts but only three will be considered for the leadership academy. In Mumford’s model, it is believed that individual attributes such as innate skills and traits, learned skills and traits, personal motivation, and personality will contribute to three competencies originally identified by Katz as shown in Figure 1 (Northouse, 2016). Problem-solving skills, or conceptual skills, are the leader’s ability to conceptualize ideas, identify problems, and identify solutions to problems, even if they may be considered unconventional. Social judgment skills, or human skills, are the leader’s ability to empathize with others and consider others’ points of view. Social judgment skills are important to maintain harmony within the team and to work with external organizations in an efficient, professional manner. Lastly, knowledge or technical skills are those directly learned to fulfill duties as a leader. Knowledge includes a variety of skills such as knowledge of computer programs, organizational structures, or even knowledge of the team (Northouse, 2016). The three competencies often intertwine and have an impact on one another. Together, it is believed that they can contribute to effective problem solving and high performance on the leader’s part.

By cultivating the innate skills and expanding on the learned skills of the leadership academy’s participants, it is the hope of the program that these participants will leave as highly motivated people capable of taking on leadership roles within the community.

Social Learning Theory

The social learning theory, originally proposed by Albert Bandura in the 1970’s, was an innovative theory, pointing out the role of the environment, not just the individual, in behavior as shown in Figure 2. The social learning theory believes that certain behaviors come from learning through direct observation (Bandura, 1971). Peers place pressure on the individual, even unintentionally, by displaying an action and result. If one sees a positive result from taking such an action, they are likely to copy that action in hopes of the same result. Reinforcement and motivation are also highly important factors that contribute to an individual’s likelihood of following through on a certain behavior. Motivation typically comes from incentives (Bandura, 1971). As mentioned before, an individual is more likely to copy another if they are able to see a direct positive result. Reinforcement acts in much of the same way but occurs after the individual has already acted on the behavior. If they successfully act on the behavior and benefit from said behavior, they are likely to take the same course of action again (Bandura, 1971).

Personal factors are still considered a major factor in social learning theory. The individual’s learned knowledge, expectations of themselves and the behavior, and attitudes towards completing the behavior are considered the cognitive factors. Learned skills, practice of said skills, and self-efficacy, or belief in one’s ability to act and complete the behavior are considered the behavioral factors. All three factors work together to determine the individual’s behavior (Bandura, 1971).

Bandura, A. (1971). Social Learning Theory: General Learning Press.

Katz, R. L. (1974, 1974-09-01). Skills of an Effective Administrator. Retrieved from https://hbr.org/1974/09/skills-of-an-effective-administrator

Mumford, M. D., Zaccaro, S. J., Harding, F. D., Jacobs, T. O., & Fleishman, E. A. (2000). Leadership skills for a changing world: Solving complex social problems. The Leadership Quarterly, 11(1), 11-35. Retrieved from http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1048984399000417. doi:https://doi.org/10.1016/S1048-9843(99)00041-7

Northouse, P. G. (2016). Leadership theory and practice (7th ed.): SAGE Publications, Inc.

OUR PROGRESS 

Milestone 1: With the help of the local leaders, we have transformed this place into a business and conference center.

Milestone 2: We have transformed this place into a conference center equipped with technology for remote conferencing 

Milestone 3: We have transformed this place into a business center and co-working space for the local entrepreneurs in Hinche, Haiti. 

Milestone 4: We have built a bar-restaurant providing 5 jobs while allowing the local leaders to learn entrepreneurship 

CAPSTONE INDICATORS

Capstone 1: Modernize the agriculture system in Hinche, Haiti by 2025

Capstone 2: Reduce extreme poverty by 95% in rural communities by 2030

Capstone 3: Build leadership and community development institute by 2030

Capstone 4: Build sustainable rural communities by 2035

Capstone 5: Benchmark Singapore economic transformation.