Henley Challenges: 2020's new initiative
Henley Challenges: 2020's new initiative
Earlier in the summer we launched a new alumni-engagement programme that takes webinars one step further by giving attendees some time to collaborate around the topic – much as they did when they studied at Henley. Alumni attended from 31 countries including Australia, New Zealand, Kenya, Nigeria, Belgium, Luxembourg and Trinidad and Tobago.
Participants first attended a webinar with Professor Moira Clark in June around the topic ‘Refocusing on the customer for SMEs in the post-Covid 19 era’. They then worked together in small groups for a month to apply this new knowledge to their own case studies. Alumni returned this week to present their findings - it was an inspiring morning and the presentations were truly insightful and innovative.
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One of the presentations focussed on a project emerging from the Forest School Association (FSA), a small UK based charity run by volunteer directors. The Henley Challenge team (River House Group) came from across the world, with members from New Zealand, South Africa, Portugal (via Basingstoke) and the UK. Additionally, the final team member was an alumna colleague invited to take part and experience Henley learning and problem solving. Their ‘problem statement’ was: We want the UK government to implement a Nature Premium for schools, to fund regular nature experiences for children that will help them recover from lockdown and set them up to learn.
The main aim of the Nature Premium campaign would be to persuade the UK Government of the benefits of time spent in nature including: boosting children’s mental and physical wellbeing, improving their readiness to learn and creating a pro-environment generation supporting the UK Governments contribution to the UN Sustainable Development goals. The Nature Premium would also provide knock on benefits to the education, conservation, countryside, forestry and adventure sectors, reduce the cost of mental health interventions and create a generation able to contribute toward ‘green industries’ and more.
The cornerstone to the strategy is the use of political analysis to focus on key influencers and enabling supporters and volunteers to become advocates and influencers using their own networks and social media to educate the local MPs who participate in the parliamentary processes.
River House Group clearly embodied the Henley syndicate method as now, a few weeks/months on, the Nature Premium campaign has gone live.
The project is a forward-looking initiative and has made significant progress as a result of a group of individuals brought together under Henley learning methods. Despite the shift to online working, syndicate magic can still be found with the right conditions.
The campaign was bowled over with the support shown by Chris Packham and Megan McCubbin for the Nature Premium campaign during their Self Isolating Bird Watching Club (SIBWC) broadcast 18/09/20.
If you would like to know more about the project, visit the website here: naturepremium.org
The next Henley Challenges will be in the autumn term and will examine the future of leadership.