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LEAD Learning

Leadership For All 

LEAD Learning identifies, tests, and scales evidence-based leadership development approaches that help young people lead themselves, lead others, and lead their communities.

Our Approach

LEAD Learning connects research with real-world practice in two ways: 1) bringing evidence-based approaches from research institutions to our programs and 2) identifying effective practices within our LEAD Hubs that show potential for wider impact. We’re extending leadership development to reach thousands more young people through partnerships with research institutions and LEAD methodologies developed over the past 10 years of implementation.

Identify Best Practice

We identify scalable practices—either by adapting proven, research-based approaches or by leveraging effective innovations already emerging from LEAD Hubs.

01

Build Partnerships

We partner with experts and communities to contextualize practices to local priorities, culture, and language.

02

Test and Build Evidence

We pilot, adapt, and evaluate leadership practices at LEAD Hubs in order to develop a proof of concept poised for scale.

03

Advocate and Scale

We use evidence from LEAD Hubs to advocate for broader adoption through partnerships with the public and private sector.

04

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Our Evolution

What began as a pandemic response has evolved into a pathway for increased impact. When COVID-19 closed our in-person leadership academies, we adapted by broadcasting our leadership curriculum via radio in partnership with Orange Liberia, reaching an unprecedented 135,000 students across Liberia, Morocco, and Bangladesh. While our academies provide transformative experiences for hundreds, this experience showed us that there are millions more young people who could benefit from our approach.

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Our Partnerships

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Harvard EASEL Lab

Social & Emotional Learning Kernels

We see social and emotional learning, or SEL, as the foundation for young leaders to lead themselves and others. SEL is the process through which young people develop the knowledge, attitudes, and skills to understand and manage emotions, set and achieve goals, feel and show empathy, maintain positive relationships, and make responsible decisions - all essential leadership traits.

Our flagship research partnership with the EASEL Lab at Harvard University focuses on adapting their SEL Kernels Framework to the classroom and the pitch at LEAD Hubs. SEL Kernels are simple, evidence-based games and activities that explicitly build social and emotional skills through play. At LEAD Morocco, we’re adapting SEL Kernels into “Waves of Leadership,” a culturally-responsive program tailored specifically for Moroccan youth in the classroom and on the pitch. 

We’re training teachers and coaches to implement these practices and gathering impact data to measure effectiveness.

William & Mary Global Research Institute

Measuring Leadership Skills

We partnered with researchers at William & Mary to independently evaluate our programs in Liberia and Morocco. Using a quasi-experimental design, we compared LEAD students with applicants who Just Missed the Cut (JMC) to understand our impact on academic and leadership development.

What We Measured

During intensive learning camps in both countries, participants completed:

  • Standardized academic exams based on national curricula (Language assessments and Math)

  • Assessments on gender attitudes, leadership, national identity, and other key non-cognitive skills

  • Individual surveys and tasks measuring self-control, grit, growth mindset, school perception, and more

What We Learned

Our programs are associated with stronger academic outcomes and progress on gender equity:

  • +10 percentage points on Language assessments and Math exams (LEAD MFA vs. JMC peers)

  • +6 percentage points on gender equality attitudes (LEAD MFA vs. JMC)

  • +8 percentage points on academic exams (LEAD Morocco vs. JMC)

  • Positive, but not yet statistically significant, differences in gender attitudes (LEAD Morocco)

Like many in the sector, we’ve seen the limitations of traditional surveys in capturing complex, contextual leadership skills. That’s why we’re investing in more meaningful ways to measure what matters.

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Looking Ahead

We aim to leverage our learnings to impact over 100,000 young people by 2030 through comprehensive training for administrators, teachers, and coaches to integrate leadership development into their existing practice.

We are also exploring promising practices from LEAD MFA and LEAD Morocco to scale our impact, including entrepreneurship labs, sports-based gender empowerment, and mentorship for post-secondary success.

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