At the Marine CoLABoration, we have been applying systems change approaches and using a values-based approach to communications to make our work more effective and impactful.
Supported by the Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation, through this course, we are sharing the approaches we've been developing and testing over the past six years with the wider coastal and marine community - yourselves!
Is This Course For Me?
We believe that taking values and systems based approaches can help researchers, practitioners and policy makers working on complex marine and coastal challenges. You don’t need to have any particular background or knowledge and you could be working in any number of contexts.
You could be early in your career, or someone with many years of experience. Your journey through the content and how you apply the parts that resonate with you will differ depending on your unique circumstances. We have tried to put this content together in a way that makes it easy for you to choose the most appropriate way of engaging with it.
We can't wait for you to join our community!
When
The Compass course consists of 1h30 sessions, of which there will be nine over a twelve week period. The first session of the next cohort will be in February 2024.
These sessions will be held as practice in community sessions - with participants asked to watch video content ahead of the session and then attend the practice sessions to come together and work as a cohort to discuss and try out the approaches and tools covered.
Four of the sessions in the schedule will feature guest practitioners from the CoLAB so you can ask any technical questions about applying the content of the course.
There will also be two case clinic sessions following the course, providing an opportunity to get subsequent feedback on applying the learning within your context or tackling a particular challenge.
Where
Online via the School of Systems Change's Circle learning platform. Live sessions will be held on Zoom.
What Does the Course Involve?
The Compass course has three main modules - Foundations, Systems Approaches and Values-Based Communications. These modules are made up of a number of video sessions (each approximately 20 minutes in length) and accompanying exercises to encourage you to think more about how you might apply what you've learned to your own working context. Will we be working through the exercises together in our online sessions.
During these sessions we will working in learning pods as we've found peer learning to be invaluable and we want to create space for this throughout the course.
As well as the video sessions and exercises, for four of the session we will be joined by CoLAB partners - our systems experts, Forum for the Future, and our communications experts, Communications Inc. During these sessions, you'll have the opportunity to bring your project or challenge to the table and learn from your peers as well as our experienced facilitators. A Q&A session will give you chance to pose any questions.
If you have any questions on the material throughout the course, you'll be able to contact us via email or through our community Slack channel.
Course Structure & Commitment
As mentioned above, the course consists of nine 1h30 session over a twelve week period. The commitment for the course is 2-3 hours a week - to watch and read the set materials, attend the 90 minute in practice sessions and to start to apply your learnings to your work.
You will also be expected to meet in your learning pods in the off weeks where we do not have a scheduled session, to allow for more collaborative learning.
Have a look at the module breakdown to see the topics our video sessions and exercises will cover.
The fees for this course are subsidised thanks to the contribution of the Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation. The fee for the course is £600, which includes:
---- Access to over 4 hours of video sessions - broken down into easily digestible chunks (approx. 20 minutes per video).
---- 21 exercises to help you to begin applying the concepts covered to your own work.
---- Module summary sheets helping to break down what you've learnt into key points - great as a crib sheet for referring back to.
----- Access to live systems change and values-based communications case clinics during the year - with opportunity to bring your challenge or project along for input by your peers and our experts.
---- Live Q&A within the case clinic sessions, allowing you to get your questions answered by our systems and communications experts.
---- Access to a 2023 Compass Slack channel, providing opportunity to get to know fellow course takers, share work and throw out any questions to the group.
---- Access to the Marine CoLAB Community of Practice slack channel, where you can connect with our wider community members.
---- Course support on hand via email.
---- A course completion certificate.
---- Access to future webinars, networking sessions or annual conference events (larger events may involve an additional fee to cover costs).
We're dedicated to creating a diverse cohort, so we have a number of partial and full bursaries available for small NGOs or organisations - please tick the relevant box on the application form.
Once you've submitted your application form, we'll screen it and let you know if we think the course is the right fit for you. We want to make sure you're investing your time, effort and money in the right place!
If you've requested a partial or full bursary rate, we'll let you know if this will be possible as soon as we can.
We'll then send you through a CoLAB community contract to sign - outlining expectations regarding conduct on our online platforms - and reach out regarding invoicing for the course fee.
The course consists of nine 1h30 session over a twelve week period. The commitment for the course is 2-3 hours a week - to watch and read the set materials, attend the 90 minute in practice sessions and to start to apply your learnings to your work.
You will also be expected to meet in your learning pods in the off weeks where we do not have a scheduled session, to allow for more collaborative learning.
Compass is comprised of a mixture of pre-recorded video sessions, exercises and live sessions. The nature of the module videos mean that Compass is a flexible, self-paced course that can fit around your schedule, whilst the live sessions give opportunity to engage with others taking the course and with our systems and communications experts.
The live case clinic sessions will be scheduled to try and accommodate time zones. If you can't make it to a live session, don't worry. All sessions will also be recorded and uploaded to the Circle platform so they can be viewed later. The likelihood is we will be running a future case clinic session covering a similar topic, so you'll be able to sign up to attend this instead.
Compass is designed for a cross-section of professionals who can influence marine and coastal issues at a local, regional or national level. We expect that our participants will have varied backgrounds and contexts and this is fine (and in fact desired!).
We aim for diversity across the cohort to include a variety of perspectives across the marine and coastal sectors - from multiple types of organisation, contexts, and experiences.
You might be a researcher, a local campaigner, a project or communications officer, a journalist, a grant manager or be working in the business sector or in policy-making.
The only requirement is that our participants aspire to spark transformational change across diverse coastal and marine issues! Having a strategic role will give you the greatest opportunity to put your learning into practice - but it's never too early (or too late!) in your career to learn valuable tools that can make your practice more impactful.
Still have questions? Please email marinecolaboration@gmail.com and we'll be happy to answer them.
Sue is Lead on social science research and understanding at MCS. She works to embed a Values Based Approach to marine conservation and work around the health and wellbeing benefits of time in Blue Space, leads collaborative work around mainstreaming Ocean Literacy and explores the potential for mainstreaming values based stakeholder engagement to support policy and decision-making about marine resources.
Sue will introduce the Marine CoLABoration and its unique governance, before guiding us through what taking a Values Based Approach really means.
Corina is a design strategist, researcher and facilitator in pursuit of ways to foster systemic change. She brings a decade of experience in deploying design, futures and systems approaches to a wide array of complex challenges - from ocean plastics to urban resilience. Corina is a regular contributor and facilitator with the School of System Change, where she designs and facilitates capacity building programmes and provides systems change coaching support. Prior to this, she was Principal Design Strategist at the international non-profit Forum for the Future.
Anna is Director of the School of System Change at Forum for the Future. As well as overseeing the learning and curriculum, Anna coaches on a wide number of projects and initiatives including the Marine CoLab, the #Oneless project and Oxfam’s System Innovation in Woman’s Economic Empowerment. She is passionate about designing and facilitating systems change programmes that support people, communities and organisations to transform their practice.
Within Compass, Anna helps us demystify systems change approaches and models.
Co-founder of Communications INC, Mirella has 35+ years’ experience of communications and campaign work in the NGO sector, including senior positions with Greenpeace and Amnesty International. She helped create the High Seas Alliance, is Director of IPSO, and Visiting Lecturer in NGO communications and campaigning.
Mirella leads us through the Values Based Communications module and helps us think about the design of a communications strategy that taps into values.
Alice is Project Manager for Learning & Development at the CPN, leading on work with the Marine CoLABoration. She applies a background in collaborative design for resilience, co-creation and community engagement to work across the UK coast supporting and advocating for the work of coastal partnerships and the need for integrated coastal management.
Alice will be your main point of contact throughout the course. She'll be on hand to answer any questions you may have about logistics, content or applying what you've learnt.
Joy is deeply experienced in using Futures for system change. She was previously the Principal Futurist at Forum for the Future and has fifteen years experience of applying foresight and system change methodologies across a wide range of sectors and organisations. She is currently focused on interrogating and deepening the field of futures practice, and pushing its edges to better meet the needs of changemakers during this present time of discontinuity.
Joy talks us through horizon scanning in the Systems Approaches module.
Linzi is the Co-Founder & Brand Strategist at Protect Blue. Her work lies at the intersection of sustainability & creativity and she’s passionate about finding innovative ways to create impact. With a focus on the triple bottom line business model and trained in social impact analysis, design thinking & branding, Linzi is committed to working with purpose driven organisations and showing businesses how to become a force for good.
Within Compass, Linzi introduces us to the WAVES Framework for communication.
With 20 years experience for an International ocean conservation non-profit organisation, Domino brings a vast array of skills and experience to provide leadership and direction to Comms INC's Digital Team. She specialises in digital media and non-profit strategic planning and management.
Domino delivers the Using Legacy Media session in the Values Based Communications module.
Patricia has worked for 10 years in art management and communication in France, the UK and Spain, in the public and private sector. Working with Comms INC, she specialises in European and international media strategy, coordination and outreach for environmental and social campaigns designed by international NGOs.
Patricia gives us guidance on how to use social media more effectively in the Values Based Communications module.
If you can't wait for Compass to start and want to whet your appetite and take an initial dip into the Marine CoLABoration and its approaches, check out our introductory guide.
