Trust young leaders to address post-pandemic challenges

TO overcome the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic, emerging economies like Malaysia and Brazil need to encourage a new generation of social impact leaders.

As vaccination advances throughout the world, it is increasingly clear that the social and economic impact of the pandemic will not be over for some time, especially in emerging economies like us.

The health crisis has deepened inequalities, with students from low-income families struggling to access remote learning.

The closure of schools for a long period will deeply affect children. In Brazil, where schools have been closed for 65 weeks, a study commissioned by the Lemann Foundation shows that national assessments results could be set back to those we were seeing four years ago.

Even with schools being shut down for a shorter period – 52 weeks – considerable learning losses are also expected in Malaysia.

This challenging scenario in both our countries requires that our societies think carefully about how we will react and what we must do to create success in the years ahead.

Despite present difficulties, both countries still have huge potential, but long-term prosperity requires good public services, efficient governance, relevant education, and forward planning.

In short, our countries need a public sector that powers and facilitates inclusive growth, preparing the ground for future success.

The private sector, too, can be an engine of growth and sustainable development, especially through the creation of social enterprises, but also by generating jobs, investing in research and development and ESG (Environmental, Social and Governance) initiatives.

Malaysia has introduced a number of initiatives to promote transparency in governance and public procurement.

In recent decades, we in Brazil have often found ourselves in a similar position to Malaysia – as an economy with strong growth and huge potential, occasionally checked by institutional inertia.

What we have found is that countries are much more likely to achieve their promise if they can get talented and well-informed strategic thinkers into social impact leadership positions.

Unfortunately, the people who might make the biggest difference as leaders are often unaware of the possibilities that a public service or civil society career may offer.

That's why we have taken steps to encourage significant numbers of promising young Brazilians into public sector leadership and social impact careers.

Creating lasting change in the public and social impact sectors requires careful planning. In our experience, it starts with identifying the main problems arising in each sector, to develop tailored solutions.

For example, one way to remedy the lack of interest in public service careers can be to highlight the important work of people in the public sector, in order to inspire others to join them.

Another solution is to create long-term change in talent, by improving access to quality education and showing young people that a career promoting social change – either in the public sector, or working on social impact in the private sector – can be worthwhile and fulfilling.

For more than a decade, the Lemann Foundation has driven improvements to Brazil's leadership infrastructure by identifying young, civic-minded Brazilians with outstanding potential, who are committed to serving the public interest and extremely results-oriented.

We support them in their journeys by providing scholarships at some of the world's top universities and recognizing the work of outstanding academics, assisting them in developing their career – in the social impact sector, by becoming entrepreneurs, or joining public service – and also by working with policymakers to recreate the country's bureaucracy to attract and develop these talents in the civil service.

This new generation of social impact leaders are already strengthening the ecosystem of Brazilian public life. They are part of our Lemann Foundation Network of Leaders, group of 639 people working to transform Brazil for the better.

Some are founders and CEOs of innovative startups and nonprofits in crucial sectors like education, public health, social justice and economic development, who find opportunities for connection and continuing professional development that can boost their impact.

One of them is Eduardo Lyra, CEO of Gerando Falcões, who has been working to fight the rise of hunger during the pandemic.

Others, like Tabata Amaral and Felipe Rigoni Lopes, now sit in Brazil's Chamber of Deputies – where they have been instrumental in approving education funding legislation during the pandemic.

Daniel Barros, undersecretary for vocational education in the state of Sao Paulo, helps young people access apprenticeships in promising fields like IT and cybersecurity.

People like this can help create countries that not only believe in their institutions but also embrace change for the better.

We strongly believe that those leaders will be fundamental in bringing Brazil to a new level of social justice and development, especially when recovering from the long lasting effect of the pandemic in our societies.

And this can happen in Malaysia and other emerging economies. Changing institutions and cultures can take time and effort, but the private, philanthropic and public sectors can work together to make that happen.

And even more than that, institutions from different parts of the world can also collaborate, changing ideas and working together to invest in the people that might be key to building our future.

The writer is CEO, Lemann Foundation

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