Learning Exchange Grants are small travel grants that support the deepening of connections with other network members in two ways:
- Learning Partnerships (visiting individuals working on similar topics but in different locations).
- Convincing partnership
- Clear outcomes (realistic goals, transferable knowledge)
- Cross-program connections prefered
- Learning Events
Attend an event, conference or workshop organised within/by one of the members in the Bosch Alumni Network. The event must be transparently announced on our platform and open to all members of the network.
Benefits of participation in the event are strategic and personal development and the event is in line with the charitable goals and common ideas of iac Berlin.The aim of the grant is to share and gain practical knowledge and new perspectives from other members or organisations within the network, to discover new methods and practices, and to find new perspectives on your own work. There’s a dual benefit to the LEGs:
- strengthening the network’s one-to-one connections and;
- creating impact (depending on the individual learning goals of the LEG).
Learning Exchange Grants are actively used and they empower network members to share knowledge directly. We provide quarterly opportunities to apply for LEG grants and in 2018 alone, 40 learning exchanges took place.
The number of applications for this grant has been increasing continuously and so we decided to dedicate a larger share of our financial resources to this learning offer. This is a clear indicator that the grant scheme has been successful so far. With this increase in resources, we hope to further substantiate it, strengthen members’ ties within and around the network, and contribute to their further accomplishments.
Another impact: inspired by our LEGs, the program Land.Zuhause.Zukunft of the Robert Bosch Foundation also implemented Learning Exchange Grants.
- Trust in your community members that they will not misuse the grants, as full control and oversight is difficult.
- Your network must be a certain size and be diverse for this offer to be interesting.
- An efficient administrative way to handle the grants, including issues with fluctuating currencies and international money transfers.
- Define clear criteria to implement the dual function mentioned above (strengthening the network and creating impact).
- Functional feedback loops back into the network. Our grant recipients must share a “Learning Exchange Story” of the event in a post to the boschalumni.net group “Learning Exchange” and describe the exchange and learning outcomes using at least 300 words–compelling photos and videos are encouraged.