Working as a member of an international organisation for the provision of education services in the Arab Gulf States, I contribute to the development of innovative teacher continuing professional education programmes that aim to encourage the development of teachers as knowledge creators through action research and other initiatives. The work takes place within policy contexts of developing a knowledge-creating economy for self-determination, for cultural and political sustainability, and for exercising global influence. My work leads me constantly to interface between programme participants, providers, policy makers, and higher education accrediting agencies. My research focuses on how I evaluate my organising and leadership practices as I encourage the development of inter-agencies collaborative practices as dialogical communities of educational enquiry. Researching with others, I contribute to a growing evidence base that shows how educators re-identify themselves as knowledge creators rather than knowledge consumers through developing research capacity through self-critique. Thus we are contributing to a shift of the Gulf States from the economic periphery to the centre, which is itself grounded in traditional Islamic values and relational forms of knowledge.