Food Learning Forum: Unlocking Networks study group - Governance and Power V

This is a session is for people currently leading or managing networks within the good food movement. We are working through the toolkit developed by Unlocking Networks, a legacy from a collaboration between Power to Change, Shared Assets and the Social Change Agency.

In this session we will explore the theme of Network Operations and Processes. There will be a range of day-to-day tasks. These may be centralised or dispersed,and policies and procedures may be formal or informal.

• Who administers the network?
• How do network members work together?
• What policies and procedures are in place to guide behaviour?

We will support you to look at these questions and discuss them in a small group, with space for peer to peer support. There is no prep required, but if you like you can download the toolkit here. A longer webinar on the topic is available here.

You are free to join as many or few of these sessions as you like. We will also be looking at how our own networks can better work together within the good food movement ecosystem where that makes sense, and have a final session devoted to this discussion.

Agenda

• 10:00: Introductions
• 10:10: Solo Study
• 10:25: Small Group Discussions
• 10:45: Feedback and Reflection
• 10:55: AOB

Where we are in the process: This is the seventh session exploring the six different themes from the tool kit. They are: Identity & Purpose; Governance & Power; Value Creation and Exchange; Infrastructure & Resources; Measuring Impact; Managing Change. Due to demand we are taking a more detailed look at the area of Governance and Power, including leadership, decision making and legal structures.

About the toolkit: The toolkit has been developed to help network leaders build and manage their networks for change, you can watch a short video about the toolkit and who it is for here. These sessions will involve a mixture of paired listening exercises and group discussion, working through the toolkit resources.

Where this started: These sessions emerged from discussions within the Food Learning Forum, and have been put together by network managers from Social Farms & Gardens, the Soil Association's Food For Life Get Togethers programme and Sustain. You would be very welcome to join us in exploring how we run our networks, and what we are trying to achieve. Please email Miriam Turley (miriam@farmgarden.org.uk) or Andrea Gibbons (agibbons@soilassociation.org) with any questions.