A&T Specialist Studies Brazilian Leadership


December 16, 1996

Greensboro, NC: A specialist with the North Carolina A&T State University Cooperative Extension Program spent two recent weeks in Brazil examining that country's infrastructure. Dr. M. Ray McKinnie's trip was part of the National Extension Leadership Development (NELD) Program.

"NELD Seminar Four was designed to give us an opportunity to see the inner workings of a contemporary foreign country and to compare their issues, and their leaders' responses to these issues, to our own," said McKinnie.
McKinnie is among the 22 NELD interns from across the country who began the program last year, and who have since participated in three other seminars designed to help emerging leaders develop individual leadership philosophies.

NELD activities focus on helping leaders learn about "Next Age Leadership." Next Age Leadership is a concept formed in response to changing organizational and societal trends which require new approaches to leadership.
"The program doesn't teach specific leadership activities, rather, it teaches leadership concepts and allows individual development of leadership philosophy," said McKinnie.

While in Brazil, the NELD group met and consulted with members of the Coordination for Integral Technical Assistance (CATI). CATI is located in Campinas in the Brazilian state of Sao Paulo, and it is similar in function and structure to American cooperative extension programs. Also serving as guides and facilitators for the NELD group were members of various government agencies and local business representatives.

The group's travels took them from the urban ghettos of Sao Paulo to the Amazonian rain forests. Of particular interest to McKinnie was Salvador, an urban city in the State of Bahia and home to Oladum, a black community empowerment project.

"Many of the problems facing the minority communities of Brazil are similar to those facing America's minority communities," said McKinnie. "In fact, Oladum somewhat resembles A&T's Community Voices Program in that it teaches people how to help themselves."

According to McKinnie, Oladum is most famous for its elite drum corps, which has played with major recording artists around the world. However, the drum corps is only one of many community development programs to be generated by Oladum.

In rural Brazil, the NELD group visited large and small agricultural operations, and the Amazonian rain forests. At each site, political, social and economic issues were discussed by the Americans and their hosts.

NELD interns participate in four experiential leadership seminars conducted over a 16-month period. While the Brazil seminar focused on linking individual leadership to organizational and societal change, previous seminars addressed developing a personal foundation for Next Age Leadership, strengthening diversity through pluralism, and organizational change and renewal.

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For more information, please contact Dr. M. Ray McKinnie, NC A&T Cooperative Extension Program, (336) 334-7691.