The oikos Leadership Program – LEAP inspires young people to become more responsible and sustainable in their decision making and equips them with insights, knowledge, and tools to do so. The program challenges participants to reflect on their values, purpose, and actions. It helps them to have an empowered voice and encourages them to be proactive about change.

oikos was founded in 1987 by students who, in consequence to the absence of sustainability in their formal educational programs, aimed to empower young leaders to drive sustainable change. More than thirty years later, the majority of universities still fail to integrate sustainability holistically and struggle to develop sustainability leaders, resulting in a “leadership crisis.”

With the signing of the Paris Agreement in 2016, sustainability became a key priority on the agenda of all major actors worldwide. Various aspects of sustainability such as climate change or energy efficiency guide debates on twenty-first-century challenges. However, a key element to drive the desired transformation of society towards sustainability is often overlooked: the necessity to develop sustainability leaders (Werft, 2015). Sustainability leaders are “individuals who are compelled to make a difference by deepening their awareness of themselves in relation to the world around them, and thus, adopt new ways of seeing, thinking and interacting that result in innovative, sustainable solutions”(Visser & Courtice, 2011). The LEAP program bridges this gap. It builds and empowers a network of responsible and sustainable decision-makers that holds keys to solving the challenges of the 21st century.

The LEAP program is now in its sixth run. Since its launch in 2015, the program welcomed over 300 participants and has had a lasting influence on their lives. Many LEAP participants return to the program as coaches to continue their leadership journey and help new generations of LEAPers – as we like to call our participants – in the process. Today, close to 20 former LEAP participants are engaged in the program.

Since last year, we also engage with volunteer professional coaches. The commitment is at least one hour (60 minutes) a month to one participant of oikos LEAP Program between May to November 2021. You are welcome to coach more than one participant. The participants of the program are young people motivated to develop themselves from all over the world. The new cohort has 40 participants from 20 different nationalities.

We will select a group of probono coaches that are willing to commit to those students and coach them in this period (May-November 2020)

If you wish to have more information, on Wednesday, April 21, 2021, at 6:30 pm CEST, we will be answering your questions and explaining the program at https://us02web.zoom.us/j/84365066044

You may also reach out to Adriana on adriana.troxler@oikos-international.org

More info about oikos LEAP Advanced Program here: https://oikos-international.org/programs/leadership-program-leap/leap-advanced-track/