DELES is the acronym for Development Education and Leadership Services, a Nigerian based Non-Governmental Organization education Programme for Integral Human Development and integrity of creation. Its official name and title is DELES Programme Nigeria.

DELES came to birth in Nigeria, as an instrument for corporate social action. It was preceded by a series of in-depth action-reflection-action events which explored concrete ways of empowering leaders.

In 1979, the initial actions, piloted by the leadership of Cardoso Catholic Community Project in Ajegunle drew together teams from identified situations. It placed emphasis on holistic development, training trainers and capacity building of existing initiatives. Consequently, a series of workshop and creative thinking facilitated by Resource persons from DELTA in Kenya were held to process ideas and map out training and collaboration programmes.

In 1983, the name DELES was coined and many more people were drawn to participate in it. In 1985, DELES Coordinating Committee employed its fisrt full-time Coordinator, later joined by two others in the same year. In Easter 1987, DELES experienced a wind of change and expansion as concrete step to respond to the growing demands of her training programme.

Instead of being managed by a small Committee based in Lagos/Ibadan Area, a new structure was created which established two operational Zones for decentralization of leadership and multiplier effects. Today, DELES has expanded to nearly all parts of Nigeria and has helped other Countries to develop their own educational Programmes.