About ADI
The African Development Institute exists to support Black people in moving from surviving to thriving — living and leading with confidence, agency, and possibility. ADI builds on the strength, wisdom and leadership of Black people throughout history, supporting members to draw on this lineage as a source of confidence, agency and possibility.
ADI is a community-based leadership organisation. We work across three interconnected areas — membership, leadership development, and working with organisations — each rooted in the same set of constitutional values.
What ADI Is — and What It Is Not
ADI Is
- A developmental community and institution
- Values-led and purpose-driven
- Rooted in the strength, wisdom and leadership of Black people throughout history
- Built on trust, relationship and shared learning
- Focused on confidence, agency and collective advancement
ADI Is Not
- A sales platform or referral network
- A route to personal consultancy opportunities
- A programme that starts from deficit or treats Blackness as a problem
- A diversity consultancy or quick-fix provider
- An organisation that waters down its purpose for comfort
Our Constitutional Values
The following principles act as constitutional filters for any future idea, programme, partnership or offer. If these principles are weakened, ADI ceases to be itself.
Psychological safety comes first — If safety, trust or belonging are undermined, the idea does not proceed.
Development before extraction — ADI exists to develop people, not to use them. Participation must be ethical, optional and growth-enhancing.
Growth with dignity — Stretch is invited, not imposed. Accountability is consent-based.
Clarity without hierarchy — Pathways are clear and distinct without ranking worth.
Opportunity without entitlement — Access is based on readiness, alignment and fit, not proximity or expectation.
Stewardship over personality — ADI must be able to thrive beyond individual leaders while remaining true to its values.
Integrity over scale — Growth must not erode relational depth, cultural integrity or purpose.
The Founders
Pam Rowe
Co-Founder & Director
African Development Institute
Pam Rowe is a leadership adviser, facilitator and organisational development specialist with more than three decades of experience supporting senior leaders, boards and organisations in complex systems, across public services, safeguarding partnerships, education and community organisations in the UK.
An author, she co-founded ADI with a clear conviction that Black professionals deserve developmental spaces that recognise the realities they navigate. She works with mid-to-senior leaders on identity-level leadership: distinguishing what belongs to them from what belongs to the system.
Marcia Daigo
Co-Founder & Director
African Development Institute
Marcia Daigo is an executive leadership coach, organisational development specialist and published author with over fifteen years' experience across the NHS, public sector and voluntary sector. She partners with senior leaders and leadership teams to navigate complexity, strengthen leadership identity and deliver sustainable organisational change.
Her coaching goes beyond confidence-building to identity-level development: helping leaders recognise the patterns in how they lead, navigate complex relational and organisational dynamics, and translate insight into purposeful, values-driven action within their systems and their own lives.
Want to know more?
We'd love to hear from you. Whether you have questions about ADI or want to explore how we might work together.