ABSTRACT
Leadership and management development focuses on programmes that mimic what is provided for the public sector, rather than taking the specific motivations and requirement of people in the voluntary and community sectors. The ambiguity of the term community leader is a point of debate nationally but has recently had particular local resonance in Newcastle, where the debate has been public and focused around issues of decision-making and accountability. The voluntary and community sector (VCS) is made up of a diverse range of organisations and individuals, with large professional organisations at one end of the spectrum, and individual activists and community advocates on the other. Zenab is an Ethiopian community leader whose experience of taking up leadership in her community is described below and who expressed her anxiety about participating in training programmes where the complexity of her situation was not understood. There is potential for developing new career paths and employment opportunities for VCS leaders within the leadership development sector.
