From Forum to Forum – Connecting, Convening, Collaborating

Cross-posted from a blog by Piers Bocock.

Last week I had the pleasure of participating in an event I had been hearing about for years from my buddy Chris Collison: the Henley Forum, an annual learning event that convenes knowledge management thought leaders from around the world, usually in-person on the banks of the world-famous Henley River.  

This year, like so many other vital gatherings, the event was a blend of in-person and virtual participants, which the crowd self-dubbed “Roomies and Zoomies.” The event itself was full of interesting and timely discussions and gave an opportunity for some members of the Multi-Donor Learning Partnership (MDLP) an opportunity to share about our journey of adaptation to continue truly valuable collaboration around the development of a book to be published in the next month or two, fingers crossed. Throughout the two days of this year’s Henley Forum, Emma Paxton produced some fantastic graphic recording, including this one below of our session, which featured Chris as our moderator, and Kerry Albright representing UNICEF, Katharina Lobeck representing GIZ, and me representing the role of the community’s facilitator. 

The book, whose working title is “Return on Knowledge: how international development agencies are collaborating to deliver impact through knowledge, learning, research and evidence” is a compilation of practical case examples from nine of the world’s leading international development agencies that align with various elements of the MDLP’s collective Theory of Change.  Participants in the Henley Forum were given a sneak peek at the content which is undergoing final editing as we speak. The rest of the world will be able to see the results in May 2022. 

In late June 2022, the book, the process to develop it, and learning as a result will be the topic of our second “Incite Forum” of 2022. To stay in the loop about its release and to get news about the Incite Forum when the details are finalized, please make sure to follow Acute Incite on Twitter.   

Piers Bocock is co-founder and CEO of Acute Incite, a small and agile consulting company established in 2018 to empower collaborative and impactful leaders, teams, and organizations by strengthening their people, processes, and platforms. Based in the Washington, DC area, Acute Incite is a thought leader in adaptive leadership, knowledge management, stakeholder engagement, and organization learning in the international development sector.