Honour Code
What every participant of the Global Mayors Academy promises — to themselves, to their cohort, and to the cities they serve.
An honour code is older than any institution that uses one. It is a commitment people make to one another — not because the rules require it, but because the work demands it.
The Global Mayors Academy carries that tradition into the work of city leadership. The leaders who join our program arrive carrying real public responsibility, often with real public scrutiny, and the work we do together depends on a level of trust that no contract can manufacture. This Code is what we ask each participant to commit to — and what every participant has the right to expect from every other.
We hold this Code lightly enough to forgive mistakes, and seriously enough to defend its meaning. It is not a list of rules. It is a description of how serious people behave when they are doing serious work together.
The Code
I will engage with the program honestly and attentively, neither hiding behind my title nor performing a version of myself that is easier to admire. I will take the inner and outer work seriously, including the parts that are uncomfortable. The leaders I am in this cohort with deserve my honest presence — and so do the cities I serve.
I will support the leaders alongside me as I would want to be supported. I will not seek advantage at their expense. When they offer their thinking, I will listen carefully. When they make mistakes, I will respond as I would want others to respond to mine. This cohort is a fellowship, not a tournament.
What is shared in confidence within the cohort stays within the cohort. The cities, communities, and personal struggles that participants speak about during sessions are theirs to share — not mine to repeat. This trust is what allows the deepest learning. I will protect it carefully.
The thinking I submit, the project I develop, and the contributions I make to the cohort will be my own. I may use research, frameworks, and tools — including AI tools — to support my thinking. But I will not present the work of others, or the output of an AI tool, as my original contribution. The value of my participation depends on my actually doing the work.
When I disagree with faculty, with peers, or with the direction of a discussion, I will say so — clearly and respectfully. When others disagree with me, I will hear them out before I respond. I will not retreat into silence to avoid friction, and I will not weaponize honesty to avoid being changed by what others say.
The point of this program is to serve the people and the place I lead — not to build a brand, accumulate credentials, or accrue social capital. My work in the WOW★YOUR★CITY! project, and my engagement with the curriculum, will be guided by what is genuinely useful to my city, even when something more impressive might be tempting.
Many of us in this cohort hold positions of public authority. Some of us influence resources, decisions, and lives at scale. I will use my position in this cohort with awareness of that — neither hiding from my power nor wielding it inappropriately. I will be especially attentive in conversations across differences of seniority, geography, gender, and culture.
I will give back to this community what I have received from it. This means contributing to discussions, supporting peers through difficult moments, sharing what I learn beyond my own benefit, and continuing to be available to the alumni network after the program ends. The ripple of this work is bigger than any one cohort, and it depends on each of us extending it forward.
This Code is held in three ways.
The first and most important place this Code lives is in the conscience of each participant. No external accountability can replace the self-accountability of someone who has chosen this work seriously.
When something is amiss, the people best placed to notice and to address it are the participants themselves. We expect honest conversation between peers when one of us drifts. We trust that this conversation will be held with grace and with care, and that it will usually be enough.
Where a serious or repeated breach affects the safety, integrity, or trust of the cohort, the GMA team will engage directly. Our approach is restorative first — to understand what happened, to address harm, to restore trust where possible. In rare cases — particularly where harassment, dishonesty, or behaviour incompatible with public office is involved — participation may be ended, with implications for refund as set out in our Terms and Conditions.
We do not enjoy this aspect of the work, but we will not avoid it. The integrity of the Code matters more than any individual case.
The Pledge
As a participant of the Global Mayors Academy, I commit to this Honour Code freely and in good faith.
I will bring my full self to the work, treat my cohort as colleagues, honour confidentiality, do my own work, speak honestly and listen well, serve my city before my reputation, hold my power carefully, and leave the community better than I found it.
I make this commitment knowing that the work of leading places is too important, and too hard, to be done dishonestly or alone.
At enrolment, each participant is asked to read this pledge carefully and accept it. This commitment is recorded at the moment of enrolment. We hope you will hold it as we will — as a living promise, returned to often, throughout your time with us and beyond.
The Code above is written for participants. Those of us who serve the program — faculty, the GMA team, our partners and contributors — are asked to live by an analogous set of commitments, set out in our Community Values.
What is asked of participants is also asked of us, in the form appropriate to our roles. We model this Code by living it ourselves, and the integrity of the cohort depends on that as much as it depends on participant commitment.
Welcome to the work.