The ecosystem of ICBC Project is large having multiple stakeholders and multisectoral partners, working with NGOs and expanding reach at the community level. Given this context, the ICBC Project planners recognized that multisectoral and stakeholder action requires a different kind of leadership approach, leadership which is more inclusive, introspective, and enabling.
Therefore, ICBC Project decided to adopt the innovative capacity development program called the Bridging Leadership Initiative. The initiative is designed to build collaborative leadership skills among national and district level cross sector and interagency government officials, implementing NGOs so that the ICBC project’s key actors operate with a systems perspective on the issue and opportunities, with increased awareness of the self and connection with others, trust for each other, deepened shared commitment for ECCD action. The concept of bridging leadership was developed by an international group of researchers and development practitioners.