The Leadership Academy is a UNDP Guinea-Bissau flagship initiative launched in May 2021, which aims to transform Guinea-Bissau by developing a powerful network of leaders who can work together to sustain peace and chart a pathway toward long term, inclusive and sustainable development. This will be achieved by strengthening the capacities of different groups to lead and implement the necessary transformative changes. An MoU was signed in July with an international partner, Apolitical, a learning platform for government, civil servants that aims to boost and reinforce the critical skills of the government in terms of implementing public policies.

Apolitical has members from 160 different countries from different backgrounds and vocations, which allows for the exchange of different experiences about the role of governments and public servants, thus empowering citizens to feel not only represented but integral and participative members in the process of implementing public policies that will impact their lives in positive ways. 

The Memorandum of Understanding between the Leadership Academy and Apolitical covers the translation and availability into Portuguese of Apolitical’s content on the Leadership Academy website. The aim is to avail more people with access to content in Portuguese on leadership and further, their knowledge on topics related to public policies and public service read about success stories on governance and models that can be replicated in other contexts and realities, making government and public services more accountable.

The partnership with Apolitical comes in the wake of other strong partnerships made with  Pedro Pires Institute for Leadership in Cabo Verde, which supported the launch of the Academy, US NGO, Accountability Lab, which developed tailored courses on leadership and integrity and anti-corruption; and with Impact Hub Network, also funded by MAVA Foundation, to strengthen local entrepreneurs who want to lead an impact entrepreneurship center in Guinea-Bissau. Several more partnerships are envisaged in the future.