What it means to work as a collective
25th May 2017
Since March 2016 Brenda and I have been working as mentors in the INTRAC / NAMA Foundation initiative called Consultants for Change (C4C).
C4C aims to develop the ability of a cohort of committed individuals to provide sustainable consultancy and support services to non-governmental and civil society organisations in their own countries. The programme is a unique funded professional development opportunity, with 40 participants from 5 geographical areas (Indonesia, Kyrgyzstan, Lebanon, Tanzania and the Occupied Palestinian Territories) who are benefiting from face-to-face training, mentoring, action learning sets, feedback on associated coursework, and access to online resources.
Brenda currently mentors four participants from Lebanon and I mentor four participants from Tanzania. It’s fascinating, enjoyable work and we both feel privileged to be so closely involved in the professional development of such dynamic and committed individuals.
Because C4C is intended to help participants not only develop their expertise as consultants but also apply it in practice, the question of how best to practice as a consultant has arisen frequently in discussions. I was asked by the C4C programme organisers to develop a case study about Framework’s approach to consultancy as an alternative model to individual free-lancing or being an employee in a large consulting company. Brenda and I presented the case study in a webinar for C4C participants in March. There was a lot of interest in what it means to work as a member of collective. I have since revised the case study for a wider audience. We are now using it to help anyone interested in Framework gain a deeper understanding of how we work and why we love being part of Framework. You can download the document here The Framework Collective.
