Learn how to solve the world’s toughest humanitarian and environmental problems through the enabling power of digital technology.
Apply now to sharpen your digital leadership skills through NetHope’s newest training for nonprofit executives and senior leaders: Leadership Skills for a Digital Age
Leadership Skills for a Digital Age builds on NetHope’s Digital Skills Framework and decades of NetHope Members' hard-won insights to equip you with the technical knowledge and leadership skills you need to leverage technology for greater impact.
The growing power and prevalence of digital technologies demands a new kind of nonprofit leadership—digital leadership. But NetHope’s research shows that to drive successful digital transformation, nonprofit organizations need to expand the digital leadership of executives and senior leaders across the organization.
We designed the NetHope Leadership Skills for a Digital Age to fill that gap. The course changes mindsets, builds confidence and inspires innovation. It equips nonprofit leaders to plan and lead a successful digital transformation.
The course is specifically designed for leaders of programs, operations, communications, resource mobilization, finance, and other important functions in humanitarian, emergency response, and environmental nonprofit organizations. It uses real world examples and lessons from leaders from nonprofits like yours to equip you with actionable insights that give you the edge from day one. It’s a virtual, take-anywhere course that combines interactive live sessions with self-paced learning.
From May 2023 to August 2024, we will train 300 executives and senior leaders in small groups of up to 20 people. The program has six modules. Each module spans two weeks and takes three hours a week to complete. That’s a total commitment of 36 hours over 12 weeks, including 18 hours of live interactive sessions and 18 hours of self-paced learning.
In week one of each module, participants review resources on their own and then discuss the themes of the module with other leaders in a 90-minute facilitated live session. In week two of each module, participants advance their work on a problem statement that they have brought to the course, applying the knowledge and practical skills they have learned in the course. They do this work independently and collaboratively with others during a 90-minute facilitated live session.
NetHope awards a certificate upon completion.
The need
NetHope’s Members and technology partners understand the power of digital technology to enable, connect and multiply the life-transforming impact of humanitarian, emergency response and environmental nonprofit organizations. Technology is not the goal or the end point. It is the enabler.
But nonprofits have been slow to adapt and often struggle to take full advantage of our increasingly digital world. They are challenged by the rapid pace of change, the complexity of digital technology, and a lack of leadership skills and technical understanding among executive and senior leaders to lead these deep digital transformations.
NetHope’s research shows that digital leadership is the key success factor in digital transformation. It makes the difference between the nonprofits that accelerate and those that struggle. We found that nonprofit leaders lag others in their organizations in all dimensions of digital transformation by 26 percent. And for digital implementation, the gap is even greater—35 percent.
Moreover, the proliferation and rapid adoption of emerging technologies is amplifying these challenges. This often outpaces the abilities of nonprofits to respond, innovate and implement solutions to improve services and protect those they serve from harm.
The solution
To overcome these challenges, NetHope is building a force of nonprofit leaders who are empowered to leverage the power of technology for a greater impact. Using the Digital Skills Framework (see Figure), our training for leaders focuses on practical approaches, tangible digital skills, and applied models that are relevant to their specific contexts.
Our courses reflect NetHope’s belief that the nonprofit and private sectors accomplish more by working together. We developed the Leadership Skills for a Digital Age in collaboration with digital leaders from many disciplines, including substantially from our 65+ global nonprofit Members. The course incorporates globally recognized standards, best practices, and lessons learned for achieving impact through the effective use of digital technologies that are relevant to the contexts that nonprofits work in.
To learn more about the course DOWNLOAD THE COURSE OVERVIEW (pdf)
Leadership Skills for a Digital Age is delivered by the NetHope Digital Leadership Institute.
This website for the NetHope Digital Leadership Institute is made possible by the generous support of the American people through the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) Bureau for Humanitarian Assistance. The contents are the responsibility of NetHope and do not necessarily reflect the views of USAID Bureau for Humanitarian Assistance or the United States Government.
The NetHope Digital Leadership Institute is also funded in part by The Patrick J. McGovern Foundation.
