Though post‐war countries vary in the nature and degree of destruction, all suffer from the collapse not only of assets or skills but of systems – physical, financial, economic, technical, organizational, political, and social. It may be argued that managing and leading people and organizations in an uncertain environment remains a complex task (see Megheirkouni, 2016c). In this respect, leadership and management development are perceived as a natural response to the need. Given the differences in that need, leadership and management development have become context-specific in terms of purpose, content, and implementation (Megheirkouni. 2016a, 2016b). Although there is some literature pertaining to effective leadership development methods, practices, or processes (Giber et al., 2000; Hernez-Broome and Hughes, 2004; Van Velsor et al., 2010), it is difficult to achieve immediate and tangible results for individuals and organizations in a post-war period without an integrated plan that helps identify the required needs for leadership and management development. That implies there is an essential need to consolidate these process and practices into a comprehensive framework to explore and understand what best fits, for example, post-war organizations (Leskiw and Singh, 2007). Consequently, this study responds to specific research questions for effective post-war leadership development, using evidence from the Syrian public sector by answering the following questions:

Q1. What are the current challenges influencing leadership and management development of the public sector?

Q2. What are the future trends in leadership and management development of the public sector in the post war period?