GKI Trainings Broaden Reach

2013 saw tremendous growth in the scope of GKI’s training.  We’ve developed new curricula and trained across several geographies, empowering a growing cohort of worldwide collaborative innovation experts.  Most recently, we’ve been training in Malaysia and Rwanda.

In November, GKI-ers Sara Farley, Courtney O’Brien, and Andrew Bergmanson gave a series of trainings at the Universiti Teknologi Malaysia (UTM). Over the course of three days, GKI trained over 20 researchers and 60 students working and studying in fields like mechanical engineering, chemistry, architecture, and human resources.  Using a “Training of Trainers” format, researchers were not only instructed in the use of a number of Collaborative Innovation tools, such as Challenge Mapping, but were further empowered to use these tools in their own work, and in their classrooms, to help solve development challenges.  In separate sessions, UTM students were introduced to a similar suite of methods and tools. Both students and researchers were able to quickly make use of the skills and techniques they learned during the training at the Community Kickoff Meeting for the UTM-GKI Water Challenge. 

In December, GKI’s Andrew Gerard had the opportunity to join a team from Michigan State University (MSU) and Washington State University (WSU) to provide trainings on collaborative innovation to faculty and staff from University of Rwanda’s (UR) College of Agriculture and Veterinary Medicine. The “Link and Learn” workshop, part of MSU’s Women’s Leadership Program at UR, focused on helping UR faculty and staff build skills needed to innovate curriculum development, research, and mentoring. Andrew trained a group of around 25 faculty and staff members on the collaborative innovation process, imbuing them with skills for building shared vision in their faculty and dissecting challenges that need to be solved.

GKI is committed to building the capacity of innovators and problem solvers throughout the developed and developing world to generate real solutions to the most pressing, complex challenges in international development.  As we look ahead to 2014, GKI is set to expand and deepen its training program dramatically.  Over the next year, we plan to enrich our curriculum with new content on facilitation for collaborative innovation, solution creation, and implementation strategy.  Likewise, we look to partner with new institutions in the United States, continue our relationships with existing partners in Asia and Africa, and expand into new geographies.