The Bosch Alumni Network was created in 2017 to connect grantees and partners of the Robert Bosch Stiftung and to support them in their activities, even after their fellowship or funding ended. Here, members can find the strength and support needed to address today’s challenges and to create a positive impact on society. From the beginning, a decentralized structure was established to encourage ownership, inclusion, trust, and room for serendipity. This is how the Coordination Team at iac Berlin first implemented participatory approaches and encouraged the co-development of the network—and how pathways for the network’s future have been established in 2023.

Integration and participation of members

To move from a centrally governed “hub and spoke’’ model to a decentralized network architecture, members of the Bosch Alumni Network were encouraged to assume specific roles and responsibilities early on. Foundational moments were the creation of the following roles:

• Group Moderators in 2017
  Focused on strengthening activity in groups, especially around the foundation’s programs
• Regional Coordinators in 2018
  Focused on strengthening local communities
• Impact Field Hosts in 2021
  Focused on thematic topics
• Cluster Moderators in 2022
  Focused on professional fields

These members are in close contact with the Coordination Team at iac Berlin, discussing pragmatic topics about their role as well as strategic issues for the network as a whole. As early as 2018, a four-day dedicated “Purpose Meeting” took place near Athens. 29 members participated in the event, which laid the foundation for a common understanding of the network’s development so far and the direction it should take in future. An in-depth evaluation of the first three years of the Bosch Alumni Network—implemented in cooperation with the Vienna University of Economics and Business— attested to a strong emphasis on decentralization, a constantly growing ownership of network members, and a circular impact model that showcased how members benefited on various levels and in turn strengthened the network itself.

So far, the concept of decentralization to support the network’s vision and mission was working well, and members began to assume more and more ownership. Then the Coronavirus hit.

Loosening connections and yet growing inclusion—the disruptive pandemic

The COVID-19 pandemic disrupted the network’s established and proven processes, as in-person exchange, support, and joint learning was no longer possible. On the other hand, this led to an increased usage of the digital platform www.boschalumni.net and a noticeable shift in the aforementioned roles: from locally-led, pre-pandemic Regional Coordinators to decentralized and topic-driven Impact Field Hosts, introduced during the pandemic.

Network members as well as the Coordination Team learned new skills in digital facilitation and a plethora of digital events and projects were soon created. What started as a setback for the network’s impact mechanisms and logic ended up allowing for more inclusivity and participation, and a deeper understanding of the members’ needs, both as changemakers and as human beings. Although the network lost some of its personal touch and local glue, it became a place of comfort in times of need, traversing borders and communities. The increased level of global inclusiveness and trust fed back into the network, resulting in more diverse participation in general network matters and strategic issues, thanks to new ways of designing meetings with online facilitation. As the network’s approaches and processes were gradually updated, a key question needed to be addressed: would they still apply after the disruption of the pandemic?

Post pandemic

After the pandemic, the Bosch Alumni Network had grown to more than 8,000 members who now cherished the positive experiences of the digital space but also felt an ever-stronger yearning for personal exchange as well. Therefore, it was necessary not only to merge the pandemic mode with the pre-pandemic mode, but also to reaffirm that the purpose, processes, and structure of the network were still on track or could be amended where necessary.

To pursue this path and to thus strengthen the process of decentralization that permeated the network since the early days, three key interventions were planned for 2023 that followed the design thinking pattern of open-explore-close:

1. In Spring, a substantive survey was conducted to find out which issues were important to members, what needed to be improved, and what the network meant to members.
2. In Autumn, 16 members were invited to the Spanish Pyrenees for a 4-day Network Strategy Retreat. Together with the Coordination Team, they discussed topics such as the transparency of decisions in the network, how to get involved, or what structures needed to be put in place to ensure members’ contribution to the network’s development. The participants worked on a roadmap for the Bosch Alumni Network for the coming years and paved the way for working groups on specific topics.
3. In early Winter, the results of the retreat were shared and discussed with the rest of the network. The working groups began their work in close collaboration with the Coordination Team. The first meetings were held, recommendations were discussed, and next steps were agreed upon.

At the end of the year, many of the pre-pandemic purposes, processes, and structures had been reaffirmed by the members. Still, some adjustments were detected that needed to be made in the future. A roadmap of how to get there was developed together at the beginning of 2024.

Reinvigorated and strengthened

In addition to these immediate effects, participating in the development of the network reinvigorated members and strengthened their sense of belonging to the network. An increase in member-organized events, discussions, and general contributions was just one of the many additional benefits.

Since the Bosch Alumni Network was designed to be member-owned and decentralized right from the start, this was all the more important. It means that members collaborate in smaller sub-communities and are involved in decision-making processes and strategic considerations. The results of 2023 confirmed existing capacities and created new opportunities and commitments to continue on this path together.

This article was orginally published in the iac Berlin Activity Report 2023. The entire report is available as free download:

Contact

Do you want to learn more about the Bosch Alumni Network and its approaches and developments? We'll be happy to hear from you.

Lucie Menz
lucie.menz@iac-berlin.org