Leaders of Our Time
In the Philippines, poverty, illiteracy, malnutrition and armed conflict persist even as other countries have shown that peace and development are reasonably achievable goals. Past efforts to resolve these societal divides could not be sustained because legitimate stakeholders were not included in the process and the gains thereof. With differing levels of access to resources, power, and consequently, identity and recognition, societal divides have produced complex issues, many resulting in open conflict. The situation makes it impossible then for solutions to be developed by one sector alone or by traditional forms of leadership.
The AIM-TeaM Energy Center for Bridging Societal Divides regard the Bridging Leadership Fellows Program as an important contribution to develop the kind of leaders who can meet the complex challenges of nation-building, paving the way to make peace and prosperity a reality in the Philippines.
The Bridging Leadership Fellows demonstrates a new kind of leadership – bridging leaders who are able to analyze the dimensions of a divide clearly and identify all the stakeholders with whom they can form linkages of understanding and action. They have a vision of transforming the lives of the marginalized by diminishing and in time, completely eradicating existing divides.
The program hopes to build the Leaders of Our Time; leaders with a moral compass, with integrity and credibility and who hold themselves accountable for the results. These are the leaders that people can trust, and who reinforces that trust beyond themselves by building institutions that promote equity, inclusion, peace and prosperity. They are the new cadre of leaders with the character, values and competence required in transforming their respective institutions to become more responsive in delivering policies and programs that will result in better human development indicators and promote participative development. They are the expression of AIM’s mission to contribute to the development of equitable Asian societies.
It was on July 2005 when the AIM TeaM Energy Center (known then as the AIM Mirant Center) for Bridging Societal Divides first ran the Bridging Leadership Fellows Program. The first cohort of Fellows, composed of six Filipino leaders, namely, Mayor Sonia Lorenzo of San Isidro, Nueva Ecija; Major General Raymundo Ferrer of the Philippine Army; Mr. Ayi Hernandez of Balay Mindanaw; Mr. Harvey Keh of Pathways to Higher Education; Dr. Danda Juanday of the Bangsamoro Development Agency; and Ms. Dedette Suacito of Nagdilaab Foundation in Basilan, underwent training workshops and mentoring, and have applied their lessons in the engagement of stakeholders in the context of the respective societal issues they were facing. They completed their Fellowship in July 2007.
The present program run began last September 2007. Sixteen (16) Fellows from the Government, Military, and Civil Society sectors of the country compose the present cohort of Fellows.
The Bridging Leadership Fellows Program 