Quite rightly, COVID-19 is the top of all of our agendas. I’m sure I’m not the only one whose news feeds on all fronts are dominated by two particular narratives:
The first of these is the scale of its impact, particularly the horrifying predictions, and already frightening realities for so many across the globe.
The second is the flood of solutions. Toolkits, webinars, opinion pieces, repurposed curricula and trainings aplenty. It is incredible that so much innovation and generosity has emerged from this crisis (and goodness, I am the first to admit that this was my first go-to as well). However, there is a risk that work is being duplicated unnecessarily and that approaches without evidence are being rushed into as we all strive to stay relevant and meet the crisis head-on.
So rather than inventing new ways of thinking and creating new solutions that could be obsolete in two weeks’ time, let’s look to where we can leverage what we already have.
I’m talking about networks, in all their forms. Funding streams are shrinking or being redirected. Over 90% of schools across the world are closed and teachers and governments are faced with the monumental task of reflecting on the role of education systems. Now surely is the time to take stock of what we have around us. One thing we can be sure of, in a world currently lacking certainty, is our communities and connections.
There are many examples out there of local communities self-organising, but I’ll focus on two areas where we’ve seen alumni and school networks come together.
Boosting Morale
Alumni networks are helping to boost morale – both for the alumni themselves and the young people they support. We’re collectively experiencing more change, more economic pressure and more restrictions than we’ve ever faced. In a world where physical interaction is currently limited, it is too easy to feel alone. Alumni networks can play a critical role in strengthening communities.
In Pakistan, CARE Foundation has seen the birth of a new network for health workers. Alumni from across their schools who are now nurses, doctors and other medical professionals have created a WhatsApp group to share their stories and advice to reduce isolation and promote connectedness.
In South Africa, one of the alumni of Columba Leadership has created an emotive video calling on all young people to contribute to a collective response to the virus and to act into their values to become ethical leaders of the future.
Keeping Students Connected
As of 20 April, over 1.6 billion children are at home due to school closures. The pressure on teachers to innovate and maintain learning is enormous, and we have seen alumni play a role to support here too.
In the US, Big Picture Learning, who have been championing community-based learning for decades, have launched a new website – to enable students to keep connected to those in their communities. There is a focus on creating remote mentoring programmes so that learning continues to be real-world relevant and expansive.
In the UK, some of the partner schools of Future First are calling on alumni for donations of laptops and tablets to reduce the technology disparity that negatively affects young people from lower-income households.
The alumni of Enseña por México are working together with teachers to co-create resources, toolkits and an online collaboration space that can be used by students and parents at home.
Global Schools Forum, a network of school networks, are leveraging learnings and insights of members to co-create solutions to the crisis. This includes a series of webinars on low-tech solutions that their members are trialling, such as using local radio to teach students at home.
We have also seen how alumni can be a fundamental part in spreading public health awareness in schools, which is exactly what the Teach For Uganda alumni have been doing with school communities across Kampala.
It is in all these stories and examples that I can see a much more hopeful and connected world, where we now have an opportunity to build stronger networks so that we can process and rebuild after this global crisis.
At inHive, we are so grateful to our partners and supporters for contributing their ideas and willingness to these approaches. We believe our work is more relevant than ever, but acknowledge we will need to adapt it, and to work collaboratively with others to do this. We want to invite you to join this conversation with us. We’ll be hosting a conversation with organisations who are thinking about their alumni networks and their role in a post-COVID world so we can develop and share our thinking together. If you’re interested in getting involved, please contact me on abi@inhiveglobal.org