Development Leadership: Shaping the Future

The Postgraduate Diploma Programme in Development Leadership (PGDDL) at Azim Premji University, Bengaluru, completes five years in 2026. In these five years, more than 150 senior development leaders from across the country, various sectors, varied geographies, and experiences of practising different types of development actions have participated in the programme. So far, many significant learnings have emerged. The first and foremost is a rather obvious one: that development leadership requires a very different set of motivations and perspectives compared to the conventional understanding of leadership. Further, situating development leadership in organisations or in other words leading development/​social sector/non-profit organisations is an important aspect of bringing change in larger society.

There are also rising concerns in development sector organisations around funding, pressures to scale up, measuring and demonstrating impact at multiple levels, to name a few. More fundamentally, there is an underlying yet palpable change in the discourse of development, in the way development itself is understood and how development is practised. In this rapidly changing context, what are the possible directions the development sector could take in the future? 

The conclave offers an opportunity for individuals and organisational leaders to deliberate and reflect together on the following themes: 

• Situating development leadership as a principle and practice in the social sector
• Thinking about varieties and scale of organisations in the social sector and its relationship with development leadership
• Reflecting upon and anticipating the changing landscape of the social sector and its implications for development leadership both at individual and organisational levels

This one-day conclave will address the above themes in a format of experience sharing and collective reflection. Multiple thematic roundtables representing different sectors, regions, typologies of organisations would be part of the conclave. The conclave will also feature an exhibition about the history of Azim Premji Foundation at Sabarmati.

Invitees

• Azim Premji University Alumni of Postgraduate Diploma in Development Leadership.
• Current batch of students, PGDDL
• Senior development sector professionals
• Veteran Administrators,
• Civil society representatives,
• Academicians

Organising team