Our Approach

Character-based Leadership

The core of CLI’s model is a focus on ethical, selfless, local leadership. By instilling in talented youth a grounding in servant leadership and equipping them with tangible changemaking and entrepreneurial skills, CLI’s programming comprehensively addresses the challenges that have made development in DR Congo difficult.

Alumni Engagement

Graduates of CLI's program use their skills to make a difference in their community via entrepreneurial projects and professional efforts. In addition to the long-term learning and growth that CLI engenders, the change we create in DR Congo is instant. This ripple effect will ultimately spread to develop a strong and prosperous nation.

Congolese partnerships

CLI believes that by equipping quality local organizations to train talented young leaders and providing them with the knowledge, skills, and opportunities to generate progress in their communities, large scale social and economic change in DR Congo is inevitable.

How We Work

We empower a generation of Congolese youth who will be the sources of their country’s best solutions to its most pressing issues.

Program overview

Benefitting hundreds of Congolese youth each year, CLI's program begins with a combination of leadership and entrepreneurship training using an industry-leading curriculum that covers topics like community development, positive leadership practices and habits, human rights, women's leadership, finance, strategic business planning, and more.

classroom Training

In the classroom, the Leadership Institute has been intentionally designed to maximize opportunities for our youth to experience profound personal and professional growth. By capping the cohort size of each program site at just 30 youth—including at least 15 girls— we ensure that the training our young leaders receive in our program stands in stark contrast to typical educational experiences in DR Congo, where class sizes often reach over 100 people.

We also work hard to make sure that our partners are prepared to deliver high quality training with extensive training of trainers and in-kind support for local organizations we work with.

With at least two site facilitators at each site, including at least one woman, our program offers individualized support and mentorship to every participant. The content is both world-class and Congolese.

Community service

Every year our program alumni across Congo organize a range of social and environmental activities aimed at improving life in their local communities. Here is a showcase of some recently executed initiatives.