Offered by Ashoka and our partner CoCreative, this is a nine-week experiential learning journey, specifically designed for teams who are members or facilitators of collaborative initiatives, and who want to gain new knowledge and skills on how to lead multi-stakeholder collaborations in an effective, equitable, and systemic way.
Course dates:
This learning journey will run from March 5th to May 6th, 2026.
Registrations are now closed. Stay updated on the next edition of this course by signing up to our Newsletter.
About the learning journey
Are you leading or engaging with a collaborative initiative? Are you having trouble finding a sense of direction, navigating tensions and conflict, or knowing how to lead an engagement that will actually last? Could you use some resources, tools, or tips from experts or peers? Then you’re in the right place.
One of the key insights social entrepreneurs have surfaced time and time again is that deep, long-lasting, transformational systems change requires collaboration among diverse groups of stakeholders. However, working at a cross-sector and cross-organizational level can be as complex as the issues those coalitions seek to solve. Challenges of facilitation, leadership, organization, implementation, funding, and more can hinder the impact of multi-stakeholder collaborations. In collaboration with CoCreative, we built this learning journey to support and equip existing collaborative initiatives with tools, mindsets, and methodologies to deepen their collaboration processes.
We have selected teams of 3-6 people that are part of leading networks, coalitions, and collaborative initiatives to embark on a 9-week experiential learning journey. They will get access to training videos and resources, as well as live facilitated sessions to deepen their learning among peers and trusted experts.
What you will get out of this journey:
Gain practical tools and strategies to create successful conditions for even the most complex collaborations and apply them directly to your work.
Reflect and exchange with other collaboration practitioners on best practices, and how these learnings affect our own awareness, intentions, and choices as leaders.
Work side-by-side with members of your collaborative initiative, learning and co-creating together, to then enhance the capacities of the whole group.
Receive exclusive guidance from experts in the field, CoCreative, learn from concrete collaboration cases, and share your experiences with other peers and like-minded changemakers.
Who this is for
We have selected 15-20 teams representing coalitions, networks, or other multi-stakeholder collaborations. The selection process consists of attending an information session, followed by filling out a form (one per team).
Applicants must already have 2-3 team members (as part of their coalition) with whom they will join the process. The application is open to anyone who is currently practicing collaboration. We have especially invited applications from:
Ashoka Fellows and members of their team
Young Changemakers who are part of Ashoka's programs
To learn more about our learning opportunities, visit the Learn section of our website and sign up to our newsletter.
Practical information
Format:
8 modules released within a 3-month period, with training videos and exercises to be completed independently by each team (estimated 2 hours per module)
Bi-weekly facilitated online sessions with the community, to learn about concrete cases of application and benefit from peer-to-peer learning (2 hours each)
Course dates:
Phase 1: four weekly online sessions | Thursdays, from March 5th to March 26th
Integrating, connecting, coaching | March 27th to April 15th
Phase 2: four weekly online sessions | Thursdays, from April 16th to May 7th
Commitment:
Any team signing up should be able to commit to an estimate of 4 hours for every module, including 2 hours to follow videos and 2 hours to attend online live sessions. To make the most of the course, we highly encourage teams to go through all the material that will be provided module by module and apply the learnings and tools to their collaboration processes. Attending online live sessions is also strongly recommended, as they are unique opportunities to receive guidance from experts in the field and other members of the Ashoka community participating in the journey.
Our partner in making this happen: CoCreative
This journey was built and designed in partnership with our knowledge partner CoCreative, who have been leading practitioners in the field of multi-stakeholder collaboration for over 15 years and are the main content contributors for this journey.
By taking part in this learning journey, you would have the exclusive opportunity to learn directly from seasoned experts in the field, receiving coaching and support from them. To learn more about CoCreative, visit their website.
Modules
Module 1 - Course essentials: what kind of collaboration are we aiming for?
Module 2 - Mapping the journey: What are the common phases and patterns of collaboration?
Module 3 - Culture of Collaboration: How do we enable a strong, integrative, lasting culture?
Module 4 - Collaboration & I: Change starts with me - how do I show up in this work?
Module 5 - Finding the guiding star: How do we find alignment and a powerful shared intent?
Module 6 - Building the change system: Who do we involve and learn from in the system?
Module 7 - Convening the change network: How do we get the system in the room and make sense of it together?
Module 8 - Getting to action: How do we prioritize, prototype, scale, and fund the network’s work?
Hear from previous participants
This experience provided a brilliant roadmap for implementation and an affirmation of principles for weaving and collaborative work. I want all of my colleagues and partners to participate, and I am excited to continue this learning journey!
Sheila Darmos, Southern Lights, Greece
Leading Multi-Stakeholder Collaborations Participant
It's a very useful course for anyone thinking of or whose work involves working with multi-stakeholder collaborations. It teaches a person how to plan and implement these collaborations to effectively achieve their goals.
Laura Mukhwana, GLFx Nairobi, Kenya
Leading Multi-Stakeholder Collaborations Participant
Support our work
This learning journey is offered free of cost to the Ashoka Community thanks to the generosity of our network. To help us develop new content and make sure it is accessible to more changemakers, please donate to Ashoka today! Any contribution is deeply appreciated.
It has opened my eyes to a lot of things I never knew when it comes to collaboration. I am now practicing self-awareness and deep listening with intentionality, which makes me feel I am a whole new person now.
Leading Multi-Stakeholder Collaborations 2025 Participant
June is one of the co-leaders of the "Leading Multi-Stakeholder Collaborations" learning journey. She has worked as a facilitator, community manager, and organizer for multiple initiatives within Ashoka, notably in the fields of Health and Green Changemaking.
She is also a challenge manager for Ashoka Changemaker Challenges, where she builds global engagement journeys for changemakers, surfaces trends in specific fields, and enables connections within ecosystems.
June has a background in behavioral sciences, with a passion for understanding human behavior and decision-making in the context of social change.
Léna Borsoi co-leads the learning journey "Leading Multi-Stakeholder Collaborations" of the Europe Fellowship program. She also co-created and co-leads collaborative initiatives gathering, respectively, Ashoka Health Fellows and Gender fellows who are are analyzing systemic issues in their region and joining forces to address them.
For several years, she has been researching and working on the nexus between leadership and impactful cross-sector collaborations, more particularly as a program manager for the Executive in Residence program, supporting collaboration between corporate leaders and social entrepreneurs.
Prior to launching CoCreative, Russ served as the chief business officer of Green America, a leader in developing economic strategies to advance social equity and environmental sustainability; served as managing director of US SIF, a membership organization for financial firms and institutional investors doing socially responsible investing; and founded the Green Business Network, the first network of triple-bottom-line businesses in the U.S.
For over 25 years, Melissa (she/her/hers) has devoted her life to the art of community building. With a Master's in Social Work and a deep passion for human potential, she specializes in creating the magical spaces where people can discover what truly matters to them and find powerful ways to pursue it together.
Her work is an invitation to listen, to dream, and to collaborate in ways that transform both individuals and communities. Through training, coaching, and facilitation, she builds community capacity by helping groups uncover their inherent strengths and develop the skills to turn their collective vision into reality. Melissa believes that when people connect authentically and align their aspirations, extraordinary things become possible.
