Starting April 5th – enrol today!
On Think Tanks and its partners have spent the last six years developing cutting edge content to help think tanks do their job better. We’ve also developed this content into short workshops and longer courses, following requests from a range of organisations, networks and programmes.
The On Think Tanks School aims to make these training packages accessible to a much broader set of think tanks and policy entrepreneurs. Starting this year, the School will launch the Evolving Think Tank Series – a programme comprised of six short online courses covering variety of topics, from M&E and communications to management, funding and more (see full list below). Each course has been developed by experts, in close collaboration with On Think Tanks. They provide an introduction to individual issues and are designed to complement longer courses and mentorship programmes, which will be available in the second half of 2016.
This series of courses is particularly targeted to busy thinktankers who seldom have the time to learn about (and discuss) the critical issues facing their organizations. Conducted entirely online, through facilitated online discussions and live webinars, the courses aim to provide the tools needed to address key questions like:
- What is the best governance and management arrangement for our think tank?
- Do we need to re-think our funding model and seek new sources of support?
- Is our research agenda relevant to our policy audience?
- Is the long research report a thing of the past? How can we better translate our research to reach different audiences more effectively?
- How can we use data-visualisation to make our ideas go viral?
- Is monitoring, evaluation and learning from our policy influence worth the effort and viable?
Participants can choose to enroll in the whole six-course series or pick and choose the course(s) that are most relevant to them. Over the eight month programme, they will have the opportunity to learn and apply new approaches, engage with highly-experienced trainers and network with other thinktankers from around the world.
Each short course will consist of the following:
- A background note that sets the tone for the training;
- An online forum to share comments, experience and direct questions to trainers and other participants;
- Two live webinars facilitated by the experts; and
- The delivery of a practical exercise to apply the lessons learned to your organisation, which will receive personalised feedback.
Course schedule
The series will be led by different experts and will take place in the following dates (note that the courses start 1 week before when you’ll receive a Background Note and an invitation to join a Forum):
| Module | Experts | Webinar 1 | Webinar 2 | Delivery of exercise |
| Monitoring, evaluation and learning about policy influence: are results worth the effort? | Dena Lomofsky from Southern Hemisphere and Vanesa Weyrauch from Politics&Ideas | April 5th
|
April 19th | April 21st |
| Re-thinking your funding model | Leandro Echt and Vanesa Weyrauch from Politics&Ideas | May 10th | May 24th | May 31st |
| Think tank publications: writing to achieve policy impact | Carolina Kern, Strategic Communications Consultant | June 15th | June 29th | July 1st |
| Doing policy relevant research | Leandro Echt and Andrea Ordoñez from Politics&Ideas | September 6th | September 20th | September 27th |
| Data visualisation for think tanks | Jeff Knezovich, Nuffield Trust and On Think Tanks | October 4th | October 18th | October 25th |
| Governance and management of think tanks: getting the foundations right | Enrique Mendizabal, Founder On Think Tanks | November 8th | November 22nd | November 29th |
The specific time of webinars will be determined based on where most of participants are based. Each session will be recorded for those who cannot attend.
Cost
The cost per participant is as following:
- Participation in one Short Course is USD155.00
- Participation in the whole series of six short courses: USD710.00
Payment should be made via Paypal (via Eventbrite) or bank transfer following the instructions for each Course (if you need to make a bank transfer please get in touch via [email protected]).
For this time only, we will make 5 spaces in every course available at a discount. The first 5 to sign will receive a discount on the price of a single Short Course and the Whole Series.
Other information
As mentioned, individuals or organisations can choose to enroll in the entire six-course series or pick and choose the individual courses that are most relevant.
As a way of benefiting from the various courses, organisations are encouraged sign-up for the entire series and thus allow different members of staff to participate in most relevant courses for them.
For more information, contact [email protected].