Sean Callaghan

Background

About Sean Callaghan

Social Impact Coach with over 35 years of experience in social impact and international development, including over a decade facilitating leadership development — mentoring and coaching social justice activists, civil society leaders and movement catalysts. Over three decades, I have worked with the highest levels of leadership, consulting with clients across Africa, the Middle East, the EU and the USA. Over this time I developed an extensive global network of trusted local partners. I co-founded a pan-African leadership development initiative, Amahoro Africa, working with leaders; as well as a global leadership development initiative, Inspired Individuals, that attracted over £1-mil in start-up funding. I am now leveraging this social capital to bring proven real-world expertise, invaluable grassroots access and experienced impact pathways to academic research projects. Working at the nexus between practice and theory, the resulting interdisciplinary collaborations have the potential to produce high-quality knowledge that can shape programming and inform policy. This work is not without its challenges: not only am I able to build these partnerships, but I am also a skilled cross-cultural facilitator – able to mentor and coach both academics and activists as they seek to identify timely research questions and appropriate methods to answer them while navigating the power-dynamics inherent in these multi-stakeholder processes. I am currently facilitating research partnerships for universities in the United Kingdom and the United States. My current assignments cluster in three broad thematic areas: gender-based violence, conflict transformation and sustainable livelihoods. I bring a unique set of cross-disciplinary experience covering business, systems design, activism, leadership mentoring, spirituality, organisational growth, financial management, and personal formation. I hold an MPhil and I am a Professional Certified Coach with the International Coaching Federation. In 2018 I was honoured to receive the St. Norbert Ambassador of Peace award.