Lesson 1
What you Need to Start a Learning Community
Starting a Learning Community means creating the conditions for medium/ long-term collaboration and shared learning. This section outlines the practical elements needed to build a process that is inclusive, well-supported, and able to adapt over time.
- Time
A Learning Community needs time to grow. This includes time to design the process, invite and support members, hold regular meetings, follow up between sessions (‘keeping warm’), and share learning afterwards. Although timelines will vary, up to a year may be needed to build trust, explore the topic, and reflect on what emerges. Once a Learning Community is formed, it does not have to end when the original focus is complete. It can shift direction, welcome new members, and evolve alongside emerging questions or community needs. - Facilitation Skills
Relatable, caring facilitation is essential to build and sustain a Learning Community. This might mean drawing on local facilitators, hiring someone with specific expertise, offering training, or pooling skills from within the community. What matters most is that the process is inclusive, responsive, and supportive of honest dialogue. Supporting members of the Learning Community to gradually take on facilitation roles can also strengthen ownership and help sustain the group beyond the initial project or external support. - Budget
Even a small budget can go a long way in helping people participate. Think about what will help members feel comfortable and respected. This could include covering transport costs, providing food and drinks, offering childcare, or giving small thank-you gifts. In the PLANET4B project, members were not paid, but were sometimes offered vouchers or tokens of appreciation. While costs can add up, there may be grants or local funds to support this, or creative ways of acknowledging people’s time and contributions. - Methods and documentation
It is important to think through how the learning process will be documented and how members will be involved in choosing the methods. Creative and engaging approaches can help open up dialogue and reflection, but they need to feel relevant to the group. If you present a method to the group and it does not seem to resonate, it may be better to adapt or pivot to a different strategy, or try it at a later date. - Sharing and impact
To extend the impact of a Learning Community, think about how to share what has been learned. This might include creating reports, videos, exhibitions, podcasts, or running workshops and online discussions. Platforms that allow for accessible and engaging knowledge-sharing will help make the insights from your Learning Community more visible and useful to a wider audience.
Lesson 2
Why Work with a Learning Community?
Learning Community offer a powerful way for researchers, policymakers, and civil society groups to work together over time, not just in one-off meetings or consultations. They create a space where everyone involved helps shape the questions, share their knowledge, and take action together. This approach values people’s ideas and experiences, builds stronger relationships, and helps turn insights into change.
- Tackle real-world problems together
Learning Community bring people into a shared space where they can explore issues that matter to them. This might mean mapping concerns through a workshop, using creative tools to test ideas, or working together on a plan for action. Everyone’s input shapes the process. For example, roadmap documents can be created and iteratively improved based on regular feedback from members, so that plans feel useful and fair to all involved and remain aligned with the interests and expertise of the group. - Build trust between people who don’t usually work together
Learning Community give time and structure for this trust to develop. When people feel respected and heard, they are more likely to stay involved and contribute fully. Trust can strengthen the impact and fairness of any new strategy or intervention. - Create space for people to speak in their own words
Leaning community members can speak from their own experience. This helps bring in voices that are often left out, meaning you might be able to gain insights that formal consultations may miss. - Make policies more relevant and useful
Learning Community are usually rooted in specific places and communities. They generate insights that reflect what people experience in their day-to-day lives. This kind of local knowledge helps shape policies that are more inclusive, realistic and effective. - Support long-term collaboration
Complex challenges like biodiversity loss or climate change cannot be solved overnight. Learning Community build relationships that last, helping groups stay connected and accountable. These relationships also make it easier to adjust strategies as things change and to keep momentum going after a project ends.
