Empowering a network of non-profit foundations in Hamburg
Against the backdrop of severe disruptive events like the pandemic, extreme weather and war at the EU-boarder, resilience, the ability of a system to bounce back, has become much needed. It is within this context that the graduation project of Marije IJpma delved into the dynamics of Cociety, an umbrella organization striving to build societal resilience in Hamburg, Germany.
Cociety is an organisation of eight non-profit foundations each dedicated to different facets of social and environmental sustainability in the city. As the organisation was established only a year ago, clear paths towards shared objectives have yet to be defined. That motivated Marije to join and design for the potential of Cociety, guided by systemic design and social innovation methodologies
The eight non-profit organisations that are part of Cociety.
Through desk research, field research, interviews and a co-creative workshop, Marije dissected the Cociety’s complex network, culminating in the creation of a gigamap illustrating the organisation’s system and perspectives. Furthermore, she delved into the internal dynamics of Cociety, emphasizing the significance of effective collaboration among the foundations and their employees. Employing a Social Network Analysis, the project unveiled the existing interconnections and collaboration levels within the network. That allowed her to dicover the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats of the current operational framework of Cociety.
One of the results of Cociety’s Social Network Analysis, revealing the missing links between larger initiatives.
When asking Marije how she experienced the project, she shares the following story:
Already at the beginning of my graduation a great opportunity arose: organising a workshop for all employees of all employees of Cociety’s member foundations. The task was intimidating at first as it was the first collaborative workshop of Cociety, setting an important baseline for the future development. I had to talk en guide people who were often more experienced than me, all while speaking German. To add to the challenge, the founder, billionaire Dr. Michael Otto, was participating too. But the workshop went great, everyone was enthusiastic and actively participating. I even had an intersting discussion with Dr. Otto!
This workshop turned out to be really helpful for my project. I not only gathered useful information, but also made connections that made it easier to involve people for other contributions to the project.
I love how this project enriched Cociety with new insides, but also I boosted my skills and confidence. And I gained a network of great people in Hamburg and beyond.
Co-creative workshop kickstarting the collaboration between Cociety and the foundations.
Marije concluded the project with a strategy, including a vision for the internal network of Cociety.
“The internal Cociety network empowers its members to connect with each other’s diverse knowledge and experiences to enable the transformation towards a resilient society.”
Internal goals of Cociety
A roadmap was developed outlining the key actions needed to achieve the vision, supported by three interventions to make the first steps, including an organigram to visualise and access the knowledge available in the network, a meeting format to share the knowledge with the network and an onboarding guide to keep the network active and alive.
Roadmap for Cociety.
Marije would like to thank Cociety and especially Marina for being open to such an extraordinary collaboration. Hopefully, this collaboration and the results of the graduation will help Cociety to strengthen their network and empowers Cociety to build towards a resilient society.
Want to know more about the project? Read the full report here.
