The Centre for Character and Leadership in collaboration with like-minded partners was privileged to host the 2nd Africa Regional Conference from 26th – 28th August 2026 at the Kenya Institute of Curriculum Development in Nairobi, Kenya. Guided by the theme ‘Cultivating Virtues for Leadership Among Educational Leaders in Colleges and Universities,’ the conference brought together researchers, practitioners, educators, and policy makers to reflect on how to intentionally promote the cultivation of virtues and character strengths.

More than 50 delegates from Kenya, South Africa, Rwanda, Nigeria, and Ethiopia attended the conference, with additional delegates from Ghana and Nigeria participating virtually through attending three keynote presentations. The conference delegates mainly included researchers, academic deans, Deputy Vice-chancellors, heads of departments, and career and mentorship leaders from over 17 public and private universities.

The opening ceremony was officiated by Eunice Wakofula, representing the Principal Secretary, State Department for Higher Education and Research, Ministry of Education, Kenya. She highlighted the critical role of universities and colleges in shaping the character of young people as they prepare to enter professional and public life. “Creating an institution culture that promotes good character development is to provide the best possible conditions in which individuals can flourish,” she said. She further emphasized the role of educational leaders in modelling virtues such as noble purpose, forgiveness, humility, integrity, gratitude, empowerment, and empathy.

Teachers Service Commission Nairobi Regional Director Dr. Samuel Marigat emphasized that the responsibility of fostering good character extends to teacher training because educators eventually become role models for millions of learners. “Character is everything. You may have the intelligence, you may have the money, you may have all that it takes, but if you don’t have character, you will not go far in life.” Said, Dr. Marigat.

Peter Kingori, Director of the Centre for Character and Leadership, challenged the delegates to look beyond the character of individual students, heroes and leaders and consider the character of the institutions and communities that shape them. “We normally speak about the character of our students, our leaders, our role models and our heroes. But we are challenging researchers to discuss the character of our community, the character of our education institutions, our colleges and our universities,” Kingori said

The Conference program featured three outstanding international speakers who shared their expertise through Virtual Keynote Presentations: Dr. Melinda Bier, Teresa M. Fischer Professor of Citizenship Education, and Co-Director of the Center for Character and Citizenship, University of Missouri-St. Louis, USA; Dr. Richard M. Lerner, Bergstrom Chair in Applied Developmental Science and Director of the Institute for Applied Research in Youth Development at Tufts University, USA; and Prof. Stephanie M. Jones, Gerald S. Lesser Professor of Child Development and Education, Harvard Graduate School of Education, USA.

The Centre for Character and Leadership (CCL) extends its deepest gratitude to the Templeton World Charity Foundation for the generous support of the conference through the Global Innovations for Character Development (GICD) grant, and to all collaborative stakeholders, including the Jubilee Centre for Character and Virtues, Ministry of Education,  Kenya Institute of Curriculum Development, Kenya National Examination Council, Kenya National Commission for UNESCO, Center for Character and Citizenship and Association for Character Development in Africa.  In addition, CCL is equally thankful to all presenters and speakers.