Nourishing Transition: A Short Course in Transition Design to Build Your Anchor Collaborative Team
As part of the recruitment for the Anchor Collaborative Cohort, Nourish has partnered with the Transition Design Institute at Carnegie Mellon University to support prospective teams to experience the power of their collaboration and begin to imagine transition to a more sustainable and equitable future. This free, six-part online course complements the development of Expressions of Interest (EOIs) and full applications, and will take teams through the process of mapping and exploring “wicked problems” in their communities, moving from complex stakeholder dynamics to solution-finding. Space is limited and preference will be given to teams of 2-3+ planning to apply to the Anchor Collaborative Cohort. Individuals from prospective anchor institutions are also welcome to join as they work to build their teams.
Missed the registration deadline? Can’t attend all of the sessions? Get in touch with us! We may be able to provide you with past materials or have you join the course partway through.
““These Transition Design workshops are an excellent way of learning about the complexity of problems and how systemic and interconnected they are.”
- Alison Forestell
Executive Director, Canadian Medical Association Foundation”
Course dates (all Wednesdays, from 1-4pm ET)
January 13, 2021: Session 1 - Welcome, Introduction to the Course, and Problem Framing
January 20, 2021: Session 2 - Mapping a Wicked Problem
February 10, 2021: Session 3 - Mapping Stakeholder Relations
March 10, 2021: Session 4 - Mapping the Historic Evolution of the Wicked Problem
April 7, 2021: Session 5 - Visioning/Mile-stoning and Designing Interventions
April 14, 2021: Session 6 - Teams Share their Findings
A series of six virtual workshops will be co-led with the founders of Transition Design, Terry Irwin and Gideon Kossoff from Carnegie Mellon University, between January - April 2021. There is no cost associated with participation, but registration is required.
Course overview
During the recruitment phase for the Anchor Collaborative Cohort Nourish will introduce Transition Design as a framework to support teams to explore and tackle “wicked problems” together. The course will provide a glimpse into the two-year programming ahead, and prepare prospective teams for success in the cohort. It will also introduce virtual collaboration tools like Miro and Whatsapp, to support teams forming in a remote working environment.
The Transition Design framework begins with mapping a problem space and the stakeholder dynamics and historical context from which the problem(s) emerged, then moves toward solution-finding that takes into account complex systems dynamics. For the Nourish team, Transition Design is a structured approach to innovation that aligns with our principles. It also reminds us of the Ghanain symbol of Sankofa, a symbol shared with us by a past Nourish participant of a bird looking back with an egg in its mouth: a metaphor for how we must move forward by understanding what is behind us.
Who should participate?
The course is designed for emerging place-based teams interested in submitting an Expression of Interest (EOI) and full application to the Anchor Collaborative Cohort. The highly interactive course format requires a mix of stakeholders from a given place who are looking to explore and tackle a shared “wicked problem” together.
It is strongly encouraged that a minimum of 2-3 people per team register for this online course. Your experience will be richer if you convene people with different perspectives and backgrounds in your problem area. Individual participants will be accommodated if they intend to build a team, and will be grouped together under a set of pre-assigned “wicked problems.”
Each session will include group learning and facilitated team breakout time. Nourish will do everything we can to accommodate all interested participants, however there is a limited number of spaces due to the number of facilitators required. As such, preference will be given to teams of 2-3+ that are planning to apply to the Anchor Collaborative Cohort.
Francophone participants
All sessions in this course will be delivered in English, with live French interpretation available and some key materials provided in French. Please indicate in your registration if you require simultaneous interpretation and we will do our best to meet needs as there are a limited number of francophone and anglophone facilitators.
Course certification
A certificate of completion will be provided to all teams that complete the course.
Past Webinars
Anchor Collaborative Cohort Recruitment Launch Webinar
November 24, 2020