Intercultural Communication and Leadership School – Leicester

Leicester’s Intercultural Communication and Leadership School – An Introduction

The Intercultural Communication and Leadership School (ICLS) was set up in Leicester in 2004 and aims to help build a new generation of leaders for Leicester and the surrounding area. Leicester ICLS is part of a global network of Intercultural Communication and Leadership Schools registered in Rome, and with a secondary seat based in Islamabad. The concept of ICLS grew out of a programme that was first used to bring together young people out of the conflict in Bosnia and Herzegovina.

Since September 2007, ICLS in Leicester has had funding from Leicestershire Constabulary and Leicester City Council for a dedicated half-time ICLS Project Worker post to operate through the St Philip’s Centre.

The main activity of the Intercultural Communication and Leadership School is to provide training to diverse groups of young people aged 18-30 years, in order to equip them to “be the change they wish to see”. ICLS provides relevant and practical training in conflict mediation, leadership, communication and diversity awareness, as well as helping participants form a ‘Network of Trust’, a co-operative of young people from diverse backgrounds who know and trust each other; a real means of peace-building in our city.