Developing Leadership In Students & Sharing Logistics Responsibility From Cacophony to Committees

Author: Rossana Chiara Paz Pierri (Guatemala)

In the summer of 2017, Janet Anthony, founder of BLUME Haiti, reviewed the debrief report from the CEMUCHCA music camp, a key partner program near Cap-Haitien. The report painted a familiar picture: passionate teaching and engaged music-making were consistently undermined by a culture of unpunctuality and logistical chaos. Students were often late or absent, instruments were mishandled, and a small, overburdened staff struggled to manage daily operations. Anthony realised that the camp’s operating model was fundamentally at odds with BLUME Haiti’s core mission of “Building Leaders Using Music Education.” By treating students solely as recipients of instruction, the camp was failing to cultivate their agency and, in the process, was creating its own logistical nightmare. She now faced a critical decision: how to fundamentally restructure the camp’s social architecture to transform students from passive participants into active co-owners of the program.

BACKGROUND

Building Leaders Using Music Education (BLUME) Haiti is a U.S.-based non-profit that supports a network of music programs across Haiti. Founded in 2012 by Janet Anthony, its mission is explicit: to develop leaders and encourage economic growth through the pursuit of musical excellence. This is not just a music program; it is a leadership program that uses music as its primary tool. The CEMUCHCA Camp, an intensive summer music program, is one of its most important partnerships, bringing together local students and a mix of Haitian and international volunteer teachers.

THE ORGANISATIONAL MODEL AND THE MISSION-EXECUTION GAP

The CEMUCHCA camp operates on a traditional summer festival model, with a director, a teaching faculty, and a schedule of daily sectionals, lessons, and rehearsals. All logistical and administrative tasks—from setting up chairs and assigning practice rooms to managing concert logistics—are centralised and handled by a very small, overstretched staff, led by the camp director who also teaches and conducts.

This model has created a significant “mission-execution gap.” The stated mission is to build leaders. The daily execution, however, fosters a culture of dependency. Students are positioned as passive consumers of the musical instruction provided to them. They are not formally involved in the camp’s operations, which leads to a predictable lack of ownership. This manifests as chronic lateness, inconsistent attendance, and a casual disregard for shared resources like instruments and facilities. This student disengagement, in turn, creates the logistical chaos, as the small staff is overwhelmed with tasks that a more engaged student body could be handling.

THE STRATEGIC CHALLENGE

The strategic challenge is to redesign the camp’s operating model to intentionally and systematically build student leadership, thereby closing the mission-execution gap and solving the downstream logistical problems. The current model is caught in a vicious cycle: logistical disorganisation demotivates students, and unmotivated students exacerbate the disorganisation by not taking responsibility.

The challenge requires a fundamental shift in mindset: viewing students not as the cause of the camp’s logistical problems, but as the untapped solution. The central question for the leadership of BLUME Haiti and CEMUCHCA is how to transform the “social operating system” of the camp from a top-down, staff-driven model to a distributed, student-led one.

A NEW FRAMEWORK: THE STUDENT-LED OPERATIONS MODEL

A proposed solution is to implement a “Student-Led Operations” model that formally integrates students into the daily management and governance of the camp. This framework is designed to be implemented with no additional financial cost, relying instead on a strategic reallocation of responsibility. The model is built on three core pillars:

1. The Committee System: Deconstruct the staff’s overwhelming logistical burden into a series of student-run committees, each with a clear mandate and a student leader. Potential committees include a “Logistics Committee” (chairs, stands, room setup), an “Instrument & Materials Committee” (care and distribution), a “Scheduling & Attendance Committee,” and a “Concert Promotion Committee.”
2. The Daily Leadership Huddle: Institute a mandatory 5-to-15-minute daily “stand-up meeting” for all student committee leaders, key staff, and orchestra section principals. This huddle would serve as a central coordination hub to review the previous day’s progress, confirm the current day’s plan, and troubleshoot potential challenges.
3. The “After-Camp” Leadership Track: Create a formal, year-round mentorship program for the most promising student leaders. This would involve pairing them with volunteer teachers for remote check-ins, providing them with teaching resources to use in their home programs, and assigning them responsibilities for the next year’s camp, fostering a sense of continuous ownership.

IMPLEMENTATION CONSIDERATIONS

The greatest hurdle to implementing this model is not financial but cultural. It requires a significant shift from a culture where staff “serves” students to one where staff “empowers” and guides students. This necessitates training and buy-in from both groups. Staff may be reluctant to cede control, fearing students will not perform tasks correctly. A phased rollout, starting with low-stakes committees, could mitigate this risk. The model’s success hinges on the leadership’s ability to genuinely empower the student committee leaders, giving them real authority to delegate tasks and make decisions.

DECISION POINT

As Janet Anthony and the CEMUCHCA director prepared for the next summer camp, they had to decide whether to continue with the old model or attempt a radical restructuring.

The Incremental Approach. This path involves keeping the existing staff-led operational model but trying to optimise it. They could attempt to hire an additional logistics coordinator (if funding allows), create more detailed schedules, and use verbal encouragement to implore students to be more punctual and responsible. This is a lower-risk approach that seeks to improve the current system.

The Structural Overhaul. This path involves committing fully to implementing the Student-Led Operations model. It would mean dedicating the first days of the camp to a new kind of orientation: establishing the committees, training the student leaders, and launching the camp’s new “social operating system.” This is a higher-risk, higher-reward strategy that bets on a fundamental restructuring of roles and responsibilities to achieve both operational efficiency and deeper missional impact.

The decision rested on a core belief about their work. For a program whose mission is to build leaders, where does true leadership development occur? Is it an indirect, hoped-for outcome of musical practice, or must it be intentionally designed into the very operational and governance structure of the organisation itself?