Drawing on his experience of facilitating a two-day youth leadership development program in a socially depressed
rural district in the Midlands of KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa, the author critically reflects on the processes engaged in
and how they align, theoretically and experientially, with the philosophical perspective of nonduality and the social
change model, Theory U. This paper, while exploratory in nature, will seek to locate the outcomes of the workshop
processes within a paradigm that asserts the primacy of consciousness and Being, drawing on the nondual perspective
and Theory U as critical frameworks to validate this position. It is also argued that this work is becoming crucial in
social contexts where the current learning paradigms and outdated worldviews are not only failing, but threatening to
bring about the rapid collapse of our civil and social institutions. The paper is offered as a discussion document rather
than as a traditional scientific study.