In 2023, we launched the Policy Leadership Initiative to advance equitable digital policy by elevating underrepresented voices in policy-making arenas. We aimed to do this by supporting, educating, and empowering diverse leadership by offering opportunities to develop essential policy skills and strategies.
As a fresh EU mandate manifests, and elections continue to take place around the world, fostering policy leadership has never felt more important.
Some of the concrete policy outcomes we envision within our program are:
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Practicing intersectional policy;
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Pushing policymakers to be more ambitious on climate justice;
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Centering narratives to shape better policy approaches;
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Pushing back against corporate power.
In trying to mediate the consequences of Big Tech and EU law on daily life, the Policy Leadership Initiative advocates for the inclusion of voices from those who are disproportionately affected by technology or tech-related harms.
We are then met with a final question: what do we actually mean by leadership?
Firstly, we seek to amplify and foster leadership that embodies diversity, empathy, and power-sharing.
Across the policy field, we observed that such leaders exist but face significant barriers in entering and advancing their careers. There is also a form of hidden labour leadership which, due to our preconceptions of what a leader should be, often goes unrecognised and unappreciated. This could mean moving obstacles out of the way, supporting colleagues, or doing emotional labour in a team or office setting. Though often not seen as such, these acts are, indeed, leadership.
Our idea of leadership is championed by individuals who bring about change that is feminist, anti-racist, empathetic, and intersectional. While these leaders are out there (and urgently need a voice), we also discovered that they need community support to do their work. When we mapped out the different needs of our program, peer-to-peer learning was, all across the field, something people craved.
While strategy and skill-building are essential pillars of our program, the Policy Leadership Initiative always intended to serve practitioners beyond the skill-building sphere. We wanted the cohorts to also be ecosystems of exchange, empowerment, and impact.
“[Joining a Policy Leadership Cohort] has been a great chance to not only learn from and share experiences with peers, but also to zoom out and have thoughtful conversations about power, social and digital justice, as well as zoom in on the intricacies and complexities of advocacy and policy work.” - César Manso-Sayao, Digital Freedom Fund
Throughout the last year, our message has stayed consistent: we need this leadership to advance better policy outcomes. This means sharpening practitioners' skills and collaboratively developing policies and approaches, while helping them build confidence in their craft.
Both emerging policy leaders and more experienced practitioners have expressed a need for opportunities to learn, exchange, and leverage change that disrupts our predetermined notions of leadership. From our end, we build cohorts that foster diverse perspectives and experiences that strengthen the field, while driving better digital policy outcomes to advance human rights.
To stay up to date on our offerings and developments, sign up to our monthly newsletter by emailing: policyleadership-updates@aspirationtech.org.
This post was co-written by Luiza Braga.