Winter/Spring 2009

Special edition:
Leaders’ Quest

In this issue:
Foundation
LQ News
1 2009: Challenges
and Opportunities 聚贤社祝愿我们所有的中国朋友春节愉快，
2009 Quest Dates 在2009 年里吉祥如意，合家团圆！

2 Our Year in Happy Chinese New Year and a Healthy and Prosperous 2009
Numbers: Leaders’
Quest Foundation in
2009: Challenges and Opportunities
2008
Best wishes for 2009 to all of our friends around the world. We wish you all a happy, healthy
and successful New Year. Gong Xi Fa Cai to our friends in China.
3 Centres for
Leadership: 2008 was a year of tremendous growth for Leaders’ Quest with 13 very successful Quests in
Tomorrow’s China, India, Brazil and South Africa, along with two new countries – Nigeria and Russia. We
Community Leaders welcomed leaders from different sectors: business, government, academia, civil society –
Today
from all continents. Through our tailored Quest programmes, we
worked with several outstanding companies to deliver Quests designed
for their senior leadership including Actis, Apax Partners and Russell “We feel
4-5 Changing deeply that the
Reynolds Associates.
Communities, work we do ...
Changing Lives Our team in Richmond grew significantly and we now number 17 at
Leaders’ Quest and four at Leaders’ Quest Foundation, along with a is more
important now
6 Message for Mumbai growing group of associates worldwide. As you will read in this issue,
it has also been a remarkable year for Leaders’ Quest Foundation in than ever.”
scope, growth and impact.
2009 brings a very intense start to the year with Open and Tailored Quests to all of our Quest
destinations. We are returning to Mozambique, and undertaking our first Quest in Turkey.
The New Year also begins with a series of Quests in India for leading civil servants in
partnership with the UK National School of Government. Together with INSEAD, we are
delighted to host with Professor Subi Rangan, the second AviraQuest for senior business
leaders in February. We look forward to leading a Quest with Oxfam in Mozambique and
South Africa later in the year to focus on business’s contribution to the UN’s Millennium
Development Goals.
OPEN QUEST PROGRAMME DATES FOR 2009
We are also moving into what we know will be a very
March 8-13 Africa – Johannesburg and Lagos challenging year in the global economy. There is an
October 4-10 Brazil – São Paulo and Recife imperative to change the way in which our financial systems
– and companies in general – interface with society and
November 1-7 China – Shanghai and Chengdu understand their responsibility to it. It is also a time of great
The next India Open Quest will be in early 2010; and growing social challenges, adding to what can feel like
the next Open Russia Quest will be in mid-2010. an overwhelming catalogue of existing challenges including
hunger, poverty, HIV & AIDS and climate change. We feel
deeply that the work we do, and the purpose we seek to serve in inspiring and connecting
leaders to catalyse positive change, is more important now than ever. We look forward to
working with our hosts, partners and friends around the world in 2009.
From all of us at Leaders’ Quest
Our Year in Numbers: Leaders’ Quest Foundation in 2008
2008 – the year the new vision for Leaders’ Quest
Foundation became a reality.

£1.1 million – the amount already

committed towards LQF’s goal of £1.747 to fund the
first three years of the business plan.

118 – the number of LQF donors, some of whom have

donated multiple times.

227 – the total number of LQF fellows (current and

former) at work in disadvantaged communities. They
are making a positive impact on the lives of some

340,500 people around the world. 125
fellows are currently participating in LQF’s two new
Centres for Leadership (115) and Individual Fellowship
Programme (10).
Through Leaders’ Quest Foundation, Russell Reynolds Associates
provided a grant to fund Schools on Wheels for disadvantaged
children in Delhi through partner Salaam Baalak Trust.
Photo: Liz Lowther

£104,000 – the amount of pledges to our new Alumni Funds for grants supporting the vital work of
host non-governmental organisations (NGOs). This includes £26,000 donated towards our China
earthquake relief effort.

£76,000 – the amount of grant funding awarded to community organisations since May.
32 - the number `of senior leaders from arts, education and civil society organisations including Oxfam,
Save the Children and local charities who participated in Quests; including four from partner organisations
in India and China who attended as LQF scholars.

7– the number of partnerships established with philanthropic institutions in Europe and North America to
allow Quest participants to give tax efficiently (Belgium, France, Germany, Ireland, the Netherlands,
Switzerland and Canada).

8– the number of new LQF team members – five trustees and three staff.

Leaders’ Quest Foundation by 2012

1,000 – number of emerging grassroots leaders
benefiting from our Centres for Leadership and
Fellowship Programme.

60 – number of Quest scholarship places for senior

NGO leaders.

1,500-2,000 – number of Quest alumni

receiving personalised follow-up or becoming more
involved in the Foundation’s work.

The vital work of LQF fellows is making an impact on the lives of

some 340,500 disadvantaged people.

LQ Newsletter Winter/Spring 2009 Page 2

Centres for Leadership: Tomorrow’s
Community Leaders Today
Our two new Centres for Leadership (CfL)
are up and running with 115 grassroots
community leaders engaged in intensive
year-long leadership training. Delivered in
partnership with local NGOs in China and
India, the Centres for Leadership are
models for future centres allowing LQF to
reach even more emerging grassroots
leaders. LQF’s individual fellowship
programme continues with 10 fellows in
other Quest countries. To celebrate the new
centres, we hear from our CfL Directors Grassroots leaders at India’s Centre for Leadership
attend workshops on leadership and community
(below) and two centre mentors (see page 6). development.

Words on leadership from…

Sujata Khandekar, Founder Lanying Zhang, Country Director, ActionAid,
and director of CORO, India, China, and LQF Centre for Leadership Partner
and LQF Centre for “If we want to bring change, to encourage leadership,
Leadership Partner we need to help people to use their hearts, brains and
“For community development hands to take action. Only then can we can build the
work to be sustainable, it society that we want.
should embrace local people, Leaders need to have a heart that is dedicated to the
local strategies and local issues. people they want to work for, and a brain to
Development issues are so understand the issues and the root causes of those
Sujata Khandekar
related to poor and problems. Leaders also need the skills, techniques and
marginalised people that you have to bring leadership practical knowledge to address this by working with
from there. So we must build the capacity of local people and mobilising
people to try and
“We know that with small, simple community-level others to work with
solve these issues.
We are talking about action you can create a much greater impact.” them. This young
generation still has the
people’s dream to look for a fairer, more just society, rather than
participation... and even more... people’s leadership. just for material things. Those are the values in their
Through the Centres for Leadership, we are choosing hearts; they want to do
leaders, building their capacity, making them aware of something. Our Centre for
their democratic rights, and then helping them to share Leadership can provide the
this with larger communities. platform to equip them with
Everything in CORO stems from first-hand experience of perspectives, skills and
community work. It’s totally grassroots-based. We see methodologies so they can
to it that fellows get involved with the community and better contribute to society’s
support them at every step. That’s how fellows grow development. In that process
and then they become an integral part of the whole they are also able to grow, to
system. We know that with small, simple community- mature, and be a valuable part Lanying Zhang
level action you can create a much greater impact.” of civil society.”
LQ Newsletter Winter/Spring 2009 Page 3
Changing Communities, Changing Lives
Every day, around the world, the Leaders’ Quest community is making an impact.
By developing and connecting leaders – from global to grassroots – we are
addressing the world’s most pressing issues – poverty, justice, human rights, HIV
& AIDS, education, environmental sustainability, access to livelihoods and
discrimination. These glimpses of LQF projects, partners, alumni and fellows show
the power of the LQ community to make a difference.
BRAZIL: Overcoming disadvantage
from drugs, violence and abuse. Part of the
Hummingbird Cultural Network, Djalma’s centre is
one of many now reaching more than 700 vulnerable
young people in a programme supported by the
Children at Risk Foundation (CARF). The new centre
marks the culmination of his two-year LQF fellowship
with Hummingbird. “My fellowship helped me
strengthen my capacity to better develop myself as a
community leader,” says Djalma.

Djalma (second from right) and the youth workers at the centre
he runs protect vulnerable young people from drugs, violence
and abuse. Photo: Tatiana Cardeal
LQF fellow Djalma dos Santos is putting his
leadership skills to the ultimate test. Turning his own
disadvantage upside-down, Djalma has opened a
community centre for young people faced with the
same grinding deprivation he is conquering – the
poverty that pervades Brazilian shanty towns.
He runs his own centre in one of São Paulo’s most
deprived and violent areas to protect young people
Gregory Smith, CARF director and Djalma’s mentor,
agrees. “The fellowship has been of utmost
importance to Djalma’s personal growth and an
important motivating factor for him to carry on
believing in his own potential as an agent for positive
social change,” he says. “Djalma represents not only
the team of youngsters who follow him, but the
future of a more equal society in Brazil.”
Djalma is one of 125 LQF fellows in Brazil, South
Africa, India and China addressing some of the
world’s most urgent problems.

CHINA: After the earthquake

Villagers in Anlong, South West China, at the
epicentre of last May’s devastating earthquake, are
joining forces to help neighbouring communities
suffering in the aftermath. Not only are they
reconstructing their own shattered buildings, the
villagers are providing relief to surrounding
communities with help from Leaders’ Quest People in Anlong, China, joined forces to rebuild villages after
the devastating earthquake in May 2008.
Foundation. In association with LQF partner Chengdu
Urban Rivers Association (CURA), the villagers have Through its local partners like CURA, LQF channelled
received training on rebuilding their village through a assistance to the worst-hit areas. CURA is a
£4,000 LQF grant. They are completing grassroots environmental organisation promoting
reconstruction themselves so they can pass on the conservation and sustainable development.
balance of their grant to nearby Chaping Village,
The villagers of Anlong are just one inspiring
where they feel the need is greater.
example of the power of grassroots leadership...and
Following the earthquake last May, LQ alumni rallied the far-reaching impact of the LQ community.
to support friends in the stricken areas around
Chengdu, Sichuan Province. Over £26,000 was raised.

LQ Newsletter Winter/Spring 2009 Page 4

Changing Communities, Changing Lives
SOUTH AFRICA: Breaking the cycle of crime
Reformed convict, thief and drug addict Lucious counsellor through Khulisa, an NGO providing
Mushwana, 28, is developing drug, crime and HIV education, training and personal development in
& AIDS prevention projects in communities, schools and prisons.
Soweto, South Africa, with help “I have Lucious and other offenders reached
from a Leaders’ Quest demonstrated over 2,000 prisoners and 5,000
Foundation fellowship.
through my own life learners programme.
through the peer education
Less than two years since his story… that through
early release from prison, “I put a plan of action in place in order
Lucious founded and directs a adversity, great to make a positive influence in my life
community development dreams can be and those around me,” says Lucious. “I
organisation aimed at reaching achieved.” have demonstrated through my own
thousands of young people at LQF Fellow life story that the circle of crime can be
risk from the drugs and crime Lucious Mushwana broken and that through adversity,
that spring from poverty. He great dreams can be achieved. This
works with two other ex-offenders to offer dance, fellowship will enable me to ensure a safer
poetry, music and drama classes for vulnerable community by keeping children off the street and
young people. He also offers HIV & AIDS by providing employment to other ex-offenders
information, life skills and motivational talks to and members of my community.”
schools and churches.
By developing the leadership capacity of fellows
Growing up in a deprived community and an like Lucious, the Leaders’ Quest community is
unstable home, Lucious plunged into the world of impacting the lives of hundreds of thousands of
drugs and crime by the age of 9. At 20, he was people living in poor and marginalised
sentenced to 18 years in prison for armed robbery. communities around the world.
There he trained as a Peer Drug and HIV Education

INDIA: Quest for Change

Alumni of the Open India Quest 2007 have together
raised £20,000 to champion the work of the local
NGOs and community leaders they encountered on
their Quest.
“Most of us came away from the Quest wanting to
remain meaningfully and directly connected with
our hosts,” said India 07 alumnus Paul Bernstein,
Managing Director of Absolute Return for Kids
(ARK), who led the drive. “We wanted to build on
what we did on the Quest. I am often reminded of
the leaders we met and the extraordinary insights
they gave into their country,” said Paul, who
congratulated India 07 alumni on “an amazing
achievement”.
In response to Questors’ wishes to remain involved,
LQF has created Alumni Funds to provide a simple
The contribution of India 07 alumni (above)
and effective way to stay engaged. Several of the
exemplifies how to maximise the impact of a Quest
India 07 alumni also remain in touch with the
as a catalyst for positive change in the world.
leaders they met.

LQ Newsletter Winter/Spring 2009 Page 5

 Centres for Leadership: Tomorrow’s leaders today: continued from page 3
Centre mentors: Fellows Tu Bin and Anil Jadhav are mentors at LQF’s Centres for Leadership
Having recently completed her
own LQF fellowship in Chongli,
China, Tu Bin, is helping
grassroots leaders like herself
get the most out of their
learning at the Centre for
Leadership. An ActionAid China
staff member, Tu Bin is also
Tu Bin
pursuing further studies in
social development. An advocate of mentoring, she Fellows share learning at India’s CfL where Anil is a mentor.
trained college students
as mentors for Anil Jadhav is working to
vulnerable children in Mentors – a core part of LQF’s leadership re-balance the scales of
boarding schools as part development programme – are senior justice in the slums of
of her fellowship. She leaders who share their experience, skills Mumbai as part of his LQF
also monitored the fellowship. A project
and guidance with LQF fellows.
impact of boarding coordinator at LQF’s partner
school on rural children organisation CORO, Anil
whose village schools had closed and designed pilot produces publications for Mumbai’s slum-dwellers
projects to address their concerns. Tu Bin was able to introducing them to their
develop boarding school policies more sensitive to legal rights. At the same
rural children and helped to rebuild communications time, he is sharing his
between families. She hopes that other organisations experience as a mentor at
and the government will support similar initiatives. India’s Centre for
Leadership. A fellow since
“I think the CfL is a very good chance for emerging
2007, Anil is using his
leaders interested in social progress to increase their
research to improve the
life work and experience,” she says.
criminal justice system for
Mumbai’s most vulnerable citizens. Anil Jadhav

A role model for new fellows, Anil believes that by

informing people about police procedures, they will
be better equipped to seek justice.
“They get knowledge about the police system and are
better able to work within it – that’s the biggest
benefit of my fellowship.” Anil’s work has created
better police-citizen forums and improved advocacy
on domestic violence and women’s rights.
Tu Bin is a mentor for the inaugural class of fellows at China’s CfL.

Message for Mumbai

Leaders’ Quest is thankful and relieved to confirm that 3-5 Richmond Hill
our friends, partners and hosts in Mumbai are safe Richmond-upon-Thames
following the attacks on 26 November 2008. Messages of Surrey TW10 6RE
concern and solidarity on behalf of the Leaders’ Quest United Kingdom
community were received during and following the Tel: +44 (0) 20 8948 5200
tragedy. Leaders’ Quest is lending its support through Fax: +44 (0) 20 8332 6423
these demanding times and is proud that the first tailored Email: info@leadersquest.org
Quest of 2009 was held in Mumbai 12-16 January. www.leadersquest.org

LQ Newsletter Winter/Spring 2009 Page 6