When NGO GNP+, the Global Network of People Living with HIV, embarked on its 2021 search for not one but two bosses for what one of its co-leaders now calls an “arranged marriage,” their board chair was doubtful.
“When role-share was first suggested as an alternative model of leadership I had questions — will this be efficient, what about egos, will it cause confusion with external representation?” said Jacquelyne Alesi, the chair of the GNP+ board, on the organization’s site. “However, having looked at the idea in more detail I now see co-leadership through a new lens of mutual accountability, flexibility, and support — all central to a feminist leadership model.”
A few years on from the decision and one year into the co-leadership of Sbongile Nkosi and Florence Riako Anam, the leadership of GNP+ has been emboldened after several years of instability. They are just one of many in the development sector that have chosen co-CEOs over a more conventional model.