The Institute of Leadership is proud to be a supporting partner of the inaugural Commonwealth Young Leaders Fellowship, a three-month leadership development programme bringing together emerging leaders from across the Commonwealth.
Delivered by the Commonwealth Leaders Academy, the Fellowship has been established to identify, equip and connect a new generation of young leaders who are already making a difference in their communities and who have the potential to contribute to the future of the Commonwealth.
The Commonwealth Leaders Academy is a global leadership institution focused on developing ethical, innovative and collaborative leaders through education, practical experience, volunteering, policy engagement and international collaboration. Its work spans the Commonwealth’s 56 member countries and brings together emerging and established leaders from government, business, academia, civil society and the development sector.
The Institute’s support for the Commonwealth Young Leaders Fellowship reflects its own commitment to inspiring great leadership everywhere and to ensuring that opportunities to develop leadership capability are accessible to people at every stage of their leadership journey.
A new generation of Commonwealth leaders
The inaugural Fellowship cohort comprises 11 young leaders from nine Commonwealth countries, selected from an impressive 3,933 applications. Together, they bring experience spanning public policy, governance, environmental sustainability, public health, technology, social enterprise, civic participation and community development.
The first cohort includes:
Abigail Brady Rhoden – Jamaica, a youth leader working across public policy, diaspora engagement and international relations, and Chair of the Global Jamaica Diaspora Youth Council.
Filipe Costa – United Kingdom, an early-career governance and public policy professional with experience in local government, international election observation and multilateral organisations.
Kayleen Walter – Antigua and Barbuda, an environmental researcher and science educator whose work focuses on marine pollution, sustainable environmental management and resilience in island communities.
Michael Toyinbo – Nigeria, Director of Expansion, Strategy & Operations at Chowdeck, who has also trained more than 10,000 professionals in data analytics.
Joshua Harris – Barbados, a youth and civic advocate, founder of Changemakers Caribbean and Barbados’ Youth Representative to the UN Food and Agriculture Organisation.
Kirsten Lawrence – Canada, a social impact practitioner working with young people, community leaders and social purpose organisations across Atlantic Canada.
Theophilus Berchie – Ghana, an environmental scientist and Technical Coordinator at the Office of the President of Ghana, with a focus on green energy, climate resilience and responsible natural-resource governance.
Osman Naqvi – Canada, Senior Manager of Government & Industry Relations with the Government of Alberta and founder of YOUth Heroes, supporting at-risk young people.
Petrider Paul – Tanzania, Chairperson of the YouthConnekt Africa Advisory Council and founder of the Imara Leadership Initiative, with extensive experience in youth, peacebuilding and community development.
Masheea Fatima – Pakistan, a governance and public policy professional whose work spans judicial reform, civic participation, youth leadership and public-sector innovation.
Boluwatife Adeagbo – Nigeria, a public health professional, software and AI engineer and founder of MamaAlert, an AI-powered maternal health platform.
What is particularly striking about the cohort is not simply the range of countries represented, but the breadth of the challenges and opportunities on which these young leaders are already working.
From climate resilience and sustainable development to democratic participation, digital inclusion, public health and community development, their experience reflects many of the issues that will shape the Commonwealth over the coming decades.
CEO, John Mark Williams with the inaugural young leaders' cohort
Discussion around leadership with the young leaders
John Mark Williams - Leadership Masterclass
Discussion around leadership with the young leaders
Taking leadership development beyond the classroom
The Commonwealth Young Leaders Fellowship is deliberately designed to combine leadership development with practical experience.
The three-month programme includes a competency framework covering five core leadership competencies, mentoring from senior practitioners, policymakers and institutional partners, an institutional placement and a Leadership Challenge Project through which Fellows will design and implement a local intervention connected to a Commonwealth-wide theme.
The programme began with a five-day Leadership Immersion Week in London from 24 - 28 August 2026.
The week brought the inaugural Fellows together for an intensive programme of masterclasses, institutional engagement, peer learning and conversations with experienced leaders and practitioners. The Fellows also had the opportunity to engage with Commonwealth institutions and partner organisations as they began developing the projects they will take forward during the Fellowship.
The opening session, held at Marlborough House on 24 August, explored the question “The Leaders the Commonwealth Needs Now”, bringing together the Fellows, partners, leadership practitioners and representatives from across the Commonwealth community.
The programme included contributions from leaders including Kate Robertson, Co-Founder of One Young World, Patrick Dunne OBE, and representatives from the Barbados High Commission and Nigeria. The Fellows also spent time with the Commonwealth Secretariat and participated in dedicated programme activity hosted by partner organisations including Teesside University London and The Institute of Leadership.
For The Institute, being part of that week provided an opportunity to contribute directly to the development of the next generation of leaders, while also learning from their experiences, perspectives and ambitions.
“Leadership is not something we should wait to develop”
John Mark Williams, CEO of The Institute of Leadership, said:
“We are very pleased to be supporting the Commonwealth Young Leaders Fellowship and, particularly, to have welcomed the inaugural Fellows as part of their Leadership Immersion Week in London.
Leadership development is too often treated as something that begins when someone reaches a particular position or gets their first formal management role. By then, people have already developed habits, assumptions and ways of working that can be difficult to change. If we are serious about improving the quality of leadership in our organisations and our communities, we need to start much earlier.
What I find particularly compelling about this Fellowship is that these young people are not being treated as leaders of the future who simply need to wait for their opportunity. They are already leading. They are working on real problems, influencing others, building organisations and communities, shaping policy and finding practical responses to some of the challenges facing their countries.
The role of a programme like this is therefore not to tell them what leadership should look like. It is to give them the opportunity to test their thinking, develop their capability, learn from people with different experiences and perspectives, and build the relationships that will help them turn ideas into action.
That matters because leadership does not happen in isolation. The challenges facing the Commonwealth – whether around climate change, technology, public health, economic opportunity, democratic participation or social cohesion – do not stop at national borders. They require people who can work across differences, listen properly, collaborate and understand that there is rarely a single perspective or a simple answer.
The diversity of this first cohort is one of its great strengths. People from different countries, with very different professional and personal experiences, are being brought together around a shared commitment to making a difference. That creates an opportunity for something much more valuable than a conventional leadership programme: a network of people who can continue to learn from one another and work together long after the formal Fellowship has ended.
We believe strongly that good leadership should be developed wherever it is found and at whatever stage someone is on their leadership journey. Supporting this Fellowship is a natural extension of that belief. We are proud to play a part in helping these exceptional young leaders strengthen their capability, broaden their horizons and, ultimately, increase the impact they can have in their communities and across the Commonwealth.”
Looking ahead
The London immersion week marks the beginning rather than the conclusion of the Fellows’ experience.
Over the remainder of the three-month Fellowship, participants will undertake institutional placements, develop and implement their Leadership Challenge Projects and continue working with mentors and peers. The programme will culminate in a final showcase of their work. A second in-person convening is also planned in Antigua and Barbuda, linked to the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting.
For The Institute of Leadership, the partnership represents an opportunity to support leadership development beyond traditional organisational and national boundaries, and to contribute to a community of emerging leaders who are already demonstrating that leadership is as much about taking responsibility and creating change as it is about holding a title.
The Institute looks forward to continuing to support the Fellows throughout their Fellowship and to seeing what they go on to achieve.