Ford Foundation: Learning Journey for “Small BUILD” programme

New Silk Roads is facilitating a multi-year, participatory learning journey for the civil society organisations in the Ford Foundation’s Small BUILD programme. This role includes designing learning processes at organisational, cohort, and ecosystem levels and facilitating these processes through tailored coaching, collective sense-making, and full group convenings (in person and online).

Within the learning journey, our team also surfaces practice-based insights through documentation, convenings, and cross-ecosystem exchange. We then translate these organisations’ reflections into accessible knowledge. The result is to strengthen participating organisations’ internal learning cultures and surface actionable recommendations for funders and systems-change practitioners.

Climate Futures Labs

New Silk Roads designed and facilitated five multi-day Futures Labs in Tunis, Cairo, and Sinai to foster collaboration on climate justice and localised climate adaptation across the Middle East, North Africa, and East Africa. Using a futures thinking approach, we convened entrepreneurs, civil society representatives, creatives, policymakers, and funders to co-create climate innovation pathways.

We translated the Labs’ insights into digital stories with local illustrators and data visualizers, promoted through targeted social media campaigns, and complemented the Labs with an online Futures Talks series on sustainable cities, energy futures, and place-based design.

Hivos Learning Events

Since 2013, we have organised a range of learning events for Hivos program teams and their partners. This included gatherings for partners in Tunis and Djerba, a post-COP27 event in Sinai, Egypt, and a learning event in the Hague in collaboration with the Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs. These events brought together a variety of Hivos partners, including climate justice organisations, business support organisations, investors, creative hubs, and universities across Africa, the Middle East, and Europe. Our role encompassed event management and logistics, curation of speakers, facilitation and moderations of panels, and documenting key learning outcomes.

Afkar Fellowship

New Silk Roads initiated the Afkar Fellowship for changemakers in North Africa. Through this fellowship, we coached fourteen fellows over two years in leadership, fundraising, communication, and filmmaking to increase their impact. The Afkar Fellows encompassed an eclectic cohort, including a visual artist and gallerist from Libya, a media entrepreneur from Egypt, a calligrapher from the Western Sahara, a technologist from Tunisia, and an activist for LGBTQI+ rights.

Philea: Evolving Practices of International Cooperation Peer Learning Journey

New Silk Roads facilitated a two-year peer learning journey on international cooperation for the Funders International Network for Development (FIND) member community.

Our role included co-developing the learning journey blueprint and facilitating interactive online deep dives alongside an in-person meeting in Brussels. The peer learning journey explored topics such as locally-led development, innovative funding instruments, and collaborations with African philanthropy, with New Silk Roads curating speakers and producing an interactive digital knowledge product.

Fondation Botnar: Learning Partner and Community of Practice

New Silk Roads is designing and managing a global community of practice for Fondation Botnar’s Fit4Future programme, connecting partners across Asia, Latin America, and Africa. This member-driven community of practice is designed to foster knowledge exchange around leveraging digital technologies to promote young people’s wellbeing, inclusion, and collective agency.

Our role includes activating the member-driven design process for the community of practice, facilitating learning activities, and organising regional and global meetups for community members.