Overview
From the beginning, the Incubator project convened a “Civil Society
Organizational Learning Forum” (COSLF) as a formal learning space for the
project. For simplicity, we mostly used
the name CSO Forum (CSOF) and shortly we used “the Forum”. The forum was
composed of 11 members:
1.
Two
representativesfrom each of the partner organizations, namely, the CEOs and
one other key member of each of the four partner CSOs.
2.
The Program Manager from Masar organization,
3.
Three members of the project's research team: Chief Researcher, Research
Officer and research assistant.
It met approximately once every two months and held an intensive two-day seminar once a year (three times over the three years of the project). Because the Anne Frank Center is located in Europe, its members only attended the annual seminars of the CSOF. The research team set the CSOF agenda in consultation with the members and took responsibility for facilitation.
In practice, the CSOF filled two functions. The first, it served as a space
for reflection on on-going project activities, to identify emerging new
knowledge and address challenges, through cycles of Action Research. Second, it
provided opportunities for the partners to help each other learn through
reflection on their individual and organizational practices.
The first function was most evident during the first year of the project,
when the CSOF focused primarily on the Training of
Trainers course development, implementation, follow-up and evaluation.
The second
function was carried out throughout the three years of the project. Each member
of the CSOLF presented a personal case from her or his
own practice.
