We have begun a journey to build a Community of Practice for funders, commissioners and delivery organisations working in the environment described by ‘A Whole New World: Funding and Commissioning in Complexity’.

Our research and development work so far (which you can see here) shows that people – over 200 so far – want regional conversations between funders, commissioners and delivery organisations, together with more specialist national-level conversations and an online resource hub. Also, some access to help and support to enable them to work in this way: through training programmes, and support with organisational development.

We have continued having conversations with different infrastructure and network bodies to identify where such regional Communities of Practice can be built. There’s huge interest from Scotland (we spoke at the Firestarter Festival) there. In March and April, we’re trying out some mini Community of Practice events for commissioners in North East England and South West England, as opportunities.

If seedcorn funding is available, we can support regional events where you are, as a space for funders, commissioners and delivery organisations to explore how to work in this way – just contact us, and we’ll see if we can help.

We’re currently having discussions with the funders about the resources to make this “collectively brave” community happen, and we’re receiving some positive feedback (keep your fingers crossed!) If you’re a funder, and you might be interested in helping financially support the creation of this Community of Practice, do get in touch!

Lastly, we are recruiting an action researcher to feed knowledge into the Community of Practice about key questions, such as:  what does a healthy system look like, and how do we know if we’ve got one? What makes for effective learning systems? What are good reasons for funders and fundees to trust one another? What forms of accountability work in complex environments?

We’ll keep you posted about all of this work as it develops. And do get in touch if you’d like a conversation about any of this.

Annabel Davidson Knight: annabel@collaboratecic.com

Toby Lowe: toby.lowe@newcastle.ac.uk

And if you haven’t already signed up, you can register here to be kept informed of how the Community of Practice is developing: http://eepurl.com/dgg3Lr