A Case for an International Humanist Institute

The international humanist movement needs a global training facility for its leaders. Humanism requires an institution that equips individuals who aspire to influence and guide members with the skills and competencies necessary to be effective representatives and spokespersons. Incidentally, such an institute does not exist. In places where some educational or training facilities exist, they have a limited focus and mandate. The absence of a global humanist institute has been a significant drawback, hindering and limiting the growth and development of humanism worldwide.

The humanist movement has existed for centuries, and humanist values and principles are embedded in all cultures. But the humanist movement has not been visible in many parts of the world. Humanists International (HI), founded in 1952, is the umbrella organization for humanist individuals and groups worldwide. HI is not widely known in many parts of the Global South. The international humanist movement has been effectively organizing for over seven decades. Out of these 70 years, I have actively participated in about half of the time. I have been involved in organized humanism since 1996. For the past three decades, I have worked and campaigned to organize humanism at local and international levels. Based on my experiences, the international humanist movement faces a leadership issue. That needs to be addressed.

Before getting involved in organized humanism, I worked for the Catholic Church. I trained to be a priest, that is, a Catholic minister. To become a Catholic pastor, one must undergo some education and formation for at least 14 years. In many cases, the training requires a minor seminary education, which is a high school program, followed by a major seminary training that requires aspirants to study philosophy and theology, earning bachelor’s degrees in these disciplines. Trainee priests gain apostolic experience. They are sent to teach in mission schools and seminaries. I taught in a seminary for two years. The church also sends aspiring priests to communities to assist priests and help grow local Catholic communities. Internships are mandatory for those aspiring to lead as priests and clerics of the Catholic Church in Nigeria.

These programs prepare priests to lead, equipping them with knowledge, educational and administrative skills and experiences that they need to do their work as pastors and ministers.

When I joined the humanist movement, I wanted to undergo some training before I could lead humanist organizations. But I didn’t. I joined the international humanist movement in 1996 and discovered that there was no leadership training program. No international humanist training institute existed. I declared to lead a humanist group in Nigeria. And that was it. I automatically become a leader, an organizer. No formal training was required. No course. No internship or mentorship. This leadership trend is fundamentally flawed and has made the global humanist movement ineffective.

How can the global humanist movement match its religious counterpart, given this leadership culture? I cannot fathom how humanism can provide an effective alternative to supernatural religions and dogmatic faiths without a robust training institute for aspiring leaders and representatives, especially in places like Africa, Asia and Latin America, where religions are dominant. In many places, humanist leadership is improvised, a matter of anything goes. Humanist leaders, especially those from the global south, learn on the job. They are largely self-taught, self-anointed and certified. After a while, these humanist leaders get burnt out, tired or abandon the role. And it is back to square one. Sadly, organized humanism moves in circles in most parts of the global south.

Meanwhile, I never gave up on my quest to train as a humanist leader. I tried to locate a humanist institute where I could learn to lead and guide humanist organizations. In early 2000, I researched and noticed that a humanist institute existed that could train or prepare me to lead. That was the Humanist Institute in the US. I wondered why such an important faculty was largely unknown. I inquired and noticed that this institute was a small organization and had a part-time training program for aspiring humanist, atheist and freethought leaders. Their curriculum was American, and graduates were mainly humanists from the US. I registered for their training course, but did not attend the program due to a lack of funds. I also noticed another institution, the University of Humanistic Studies in the Netherlands. I contacted the university and discovered that their programs focused on Dutch society. It was not devoted to addressing international humanist leadership needs and challenges.

I came across some educational programs by the Center for Inquiry and the Humanists UK. While these programs were useful and provided humanists with some basic knowledge and understanding, they were patchy and short of what individuals around the world needed to become effective humanist leaders in this century. Humanists need to establish a global humanist institute and a sound, substantial leadership program to drive the growth and development of humanism worldwide. The international humanist movement needs a study program where aspiring leaders learn to live together, study together and, yes, work together. International humanist cooperation has suffered because there are no opportunities for humanist representatives to learn to work together.

In the West, humanism has made some progress. The humanist movement is more established, and the situation of humanist leadership is different. Over the decades, Western humanism has forged a tradition of leadership that has served the region. This is not the case in other parts of the world. Humanists must turn this ‘Western tradition’ into a robust facility that serves the needs of humanists everywhere. The humanist movement is more than European and American humanism. In an increasingly interconnected world, humanists must address the challenge of humanist leadership.

In the past decades, I have noticed firsthand how a lack of training and education has affected humanist leadership in Africa, an area of the world widely known as religious. Incidentally, the humanist movement has been largely invisible due to a lack of effective leadership. Many individuals proclaim themselves ‘leaders’ without some basic understanding of humanism. Some self-identified humanist leaders have little or no knowledge of the history, ethics, debates and traditions of humanism. Some have simplistic and superficial ideas of humanism, barely distinguishing between humanism, human rights, humanitarianism and humaneism. With some patchy and misconstrued notion of humanism, some openly entertain and espouse racist, ethnicist, sexist, homophobic and xenophobic views. A humanist course will provide some conceptual clarity and foundation for leaders and activists in this region.

In some cases, with the support of ‘international humanist’ individuals and groups that exoticize Africa or are patronizing towards Africans, some African humanist leaders and groups proclaim as their main activities rearing grasshoppers, soap making, tailoring, distributing agricultural products and sanitary pads. They are opportunistic in their actions and initiatives, and often abandon the work after securing a few travel scholarships and grants. But the establishment of a humanist leadership training will help reorient activists and aspirants.

The leadership course will be a month-long program in two sessions. Part one introduces trainees to the basic philosophy and history of humanism. It includes the values, principles and traditions of humanism. The basics of non-profit organizing, lobbying, community building, membership development, fundraising, event planning, media/communication/editing skills and grant proposal writing skills. In the second part, trainees take specialist courses in humanist administration, chaplaincy and counseling, ceremony celebrations and caregiving. Before embarking on the second part of the course, trainees will spend some time working or volunteering with existing humanist organizations, one in the global North and another in the global South, gaining practical experiences, capacities and insights into humanist leadership and organization.

Already, there is some hope and progress in setting up this international humanist training course in Africa. If the program succeeds, it will be replicated in other parts of the global south. Two professors from the University of Lagos and Al Akhawayn University in Ifrane, Morocco, have agreed to serve as instructors. Leaders of the American Humanist Association and Humanists UK have expressed their support, pledging to make their educational resources including their instructors available. Humanist leaders and activists, from Kenya, Nigeria, Ghana, South Africa and Malawi participated. AHA has approved the use of its course material for the leadership training.

Statistics show that millions of non-religious and non-theistic people exist in many countries of the world where there are no humanist or atheist organizations. Many parts of the world need the kind of leadership that humanists can provide on many issues. But no humanist organizations are in several countries because there are no humanist organizers, officers or leaders. And there are no organizers because there is no facility to train or capacitate leaders. The international humanist movement must prioritize humanist leadership training if it is committed to the growth and development of humanism.

It must treat leadership training as a foundational and organizational necessity.