The Character Education Leadership Convenings in Johannesburg and Nairobi will be two intensive five-day conferences designed to equip school leadership teams with the knowledge, skills, and collaborative spirit to drive cultural transformation in their institutions. Led by Juan P. Dabdoub and Aitor R. Salaverría, the project aims to catalyze cultural transformation in schools across South Africa and Kenya by empowering educational leaders to intentionally cultivate character and virtues within their institutions. Each convening will bring together 30–40 participants from school leadership teams (three to six per school, including the head of school), ensuring that character education is advanced not as an individual initiative but as a shared strategic mission.

The program will follow a structured sequence of plenary sessions, workshops, and reflection exercises. Plenary sessions will introduce research-informed frameworks for character education and leadership, including Marvin Berkowitz’s PRIMED Model, the Jubilee Centre’s Framework for Character and Virtues, Ron Berger’s Expeditionary Learning, and Robert Greenleaf’s Servant Leadership. These sessions will be enriched by case studies, group discussions, and guided reflection, encouraging participants to connect principles with their own leadership identity and practice.

Small-group workshops will provide hands-on opportunities for school teams to contextualize these insights. Facilitators will guide participants through collaborative design sessions to develop strategic roadmaps for cultural transformation, outlining milestones, practices, and stakeholder engagement strategies.

The convenings will be co-hosted with Strathmore University in Nairobi and the Alvira Foundation in Johannesburg, key partners in recruitment and contextual adaptation. At the conclusion of each convening, participants will receive a curated resource pack with tools and training materials to sustain implementation. The initiative also serves as an entry point into regional communities of practice and continued engagement through the vLACE (virtual Leadership Academy in Character Education) program, laying the foundation for a self-sustaining network of educational leaders committed to human flourishing through character development.