• Global Community-Engaged Learning Best Practices
  • Global Community-Engaged Learning Ethical Engagement - Inclusive Leadership

Inclusive Leadership for International Education, Including Power and Privilege
Nicole Webster, Ph. D.

Inclusive leadership, listening, comprehending and applying everyone's voice, is a large component of ethical engagement. Thus, ethical engagement lies in the preparation behind it. 

In recent years, advocates and practitioners of inclusive leadership have sought to be better prepared by including leaders of different races and women. In addition to physical diversity, other qualities must be considered with inclusive leadership.

Three distinctive qualities of inclusive leadership that are often overlooked are:

• Ensuring everyone's voice is heard and a part of the decision-making process
• Understanding what people are saying and how to engage with individuals of various backgrounds
• The ability to look inwardly and check one's own biases

Nicole Webster, Ph.D. taught participants how to be mindful in international engagement spaces and acknowledge the power some may hold. Webster used the example of US institutions working with institutions in Africa.

Inclusive leadership allows engagement to be purposeful, authentic and reciprocal. Allowing engagement to be reciprocal allows the opportunity for open, transparent discussions. Inclusive leadership cannot happen overnight because partnerships are the backbone. Partnerships are built on longstanding trust with leaders in the community or a university along with a result-driven program which adds to its credibility.

Inclusive leadership is based on partnerships with community partners, in which a relationship should develop. Relationships don't grant free passes for either party, though. Often, they provide experiences that encourage self-reflection, which makes for improved future preparation. Engagement preparation must include critical reflection regarding ethics, outcomes, progress, engagement inclusiveness and one's own biases.

For example, highlighting Africa's impoverished areas should cause one to highlight Africa's wealth and its contributions to the oil and petroleum industries after deep reflection about one's biases. Power and privilege also play a huge factor in ethical relationships, which is why it needs to be recognized more.

According to Webster, recognizing power and privilege includes:

• Acknowledging historical colonial legacies, the foundation of the power and privilege some have today
• Recognizing the power and privilege institutions have
• The need (especially for students) to understand the intersectionality of their program participation and how power and privilege looks different from various perspectives

In addition to the statements above, facilitators and students should consider how wealth is defined and how wealth is materialized in the respective community. Webster also stressed the need for inclusiveness in assessment.

Community-engaged learning experience assessment is typically done by universities, which strips the community of measuring the experience with their intended outcomes and needs. Inclusiveness allows the assessment of impact to come from various perspectives. Webster recommends assessment occurs systematically throughout the experience and that it allows for apprehensions to be broken down. Often assessment occurs at the end of programs, which omits the opportunity for midway improvements and restructuring; however large group reflection halfway through the experience and one at the end can prevent such.

Examples of assessment methods utilized throughout experiences are call and response circles, structured questions and private journals. Inclusive assessment at the end of the experience would need to involve students and community partners. One discussion could include facilitators and community members. The open discussion would need to focus on the successful and unsuccessful, challenges and areas that could use improvement.

As for the student's behalf, the inclusive reflection would encourage facilitators to consider everyone's learning style. This could lead to the possibility of using various learning methods in the future. Those within community-engaged learning experiences should consider how to share success in a manner that shows reciprocation, so the community doesn't view the impact as one way.

Inclusive leadership equates to a quality component because of the many perspectives that pour into the program. Inclusive leadership makes engagement preparation easier which translates into a more welcoming environment and the ultimate goal, the program's success.