| Leadership for peace and reconciliation is vital to making positive changes at all levels of the society in sub-Saharan Africa. The purpose of this qualitative study was to explore how to develop leadership for peace in sub-Saharan Africa, with the aim of contributing to the solution of the leadership crisis that leads to violent conflicts, wars and even genocides. The literatures describing leadership styles were explored to identify some examples. Key informant interviews were conducted with 20 leaders in the public, private and civil society sectors. The sample represented a broad spectrum of leaders from across sub-Saharan Africa, identified through webs and networks of connection the researcher had with colleagues. All the interviewees have worked to promote peace and reconciliation for many years across Africa. Questions were designed to determine leaders' career path, motivation and characteristics for peace and reconciliation. Using a grounded theory approach and after data analysis, four themes formed a framework that emerged from the thick, rich descriptions provided through study participants' interviews. The four themes were (a) Historical background, (b) Be, (c) Know and (d) Do. The Nvivo program was used to help organize the coding of the data.;Regarding the results, the interviews concluded that its possible to build, grow and nurture such leadership for peace that will be successful in continuing to bring positive changes and lead to sustainable peace and reconciliation. The findings may be used to help develop such leadership especially at the top-level where it is highly needed in the communities and countries across sub-Saharan Africa. |
