Empowering Leaders Through Inquiry in Burundi and the DR Congo

Training programs can facilitate responsible leadership, when they are anchored in inquiry. Whether we talk about Burundi in 2005 or the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) in 2006, a democratic process took place, which built upon strong local and international leaders’ empowerment. The efforts in these two countries to ask leaders to raise tough questions and to seek solutions themselves were multifold to ensure a transition as smooth and inclusive as possible; they bear worthwhile lessons for today. Our specific focus is on the work of two local organizations: the Burundi Leadership Training Program and the Initiative for Inclusive Leadership in the DRC. What can we learn from these initiatives that activated soft questioning to strengthen responsible leadership at troubled times and helped transform a fragile armed truce into a relative peace? Can the principles of inquiry that were mobilized a decade ago and thereafter serve again there or elsewhere? This article articulates six inquiry principles which contributed to a peaceful transition process: asking the local and international authorities to orient leadership programs; asking top leaders to designate participants to involve; asking them to identify a locally recognized third party; asking key leaders to address tough problems through facilitative mediation methods; questioning participating leaders to guide the sequence of national sectors to cover; and pushing the inquiry further for progressive reinforcement of impact. In brief, these leadership programs came as a complementary step to consolidate the political mediation (between top leaders and diplomats) and constituted a second-tier facilitative mediation campaign (between key leaders and professional facilitators) to ensure follow-up of official diplomacy. This leader-centered soft questioning approach can accompany political agreements and reduce the risks of return to violence