Achievements and Development

3-day conference in March 2024 – ICC We organized an alumni evening in Barcelona during the International Chapter Conference. Overall the alumni who came to the event were really engaged and it was a great way to pass down experience to the active oikees there. Since then, Michael started to reconnect with more alumni and started getting better insights from what they are expecting.
In May 2024, we created a survey as a call for interest for the oikos hike, a project led by Anna Beyer. The project is to create a list of motivated alumni who want to take part in outdoor activities.
In November 2023 we organized an alumni advice call with 6 alumni. The goal of this advice call was to get diverse opinions & ideas about services for companies and SMEs. We got really good advice and support and it was also a way for the alumni to reconnect.
Parallel and since early 2023, the alumni Facebook and LinkedIn groups have been more active whether it is onsite or online opportunities to connect.

Key Learnings

We learned that we need to nurture this community and create momentum to get this community growing by itself. With Jules and Alexandra joining the team we understood we got a lot of support and energy that we need to channel well to achieve our goals.

Touched hearts

We involved alumni on various levels – the total number of alumni is estimated at over 10k – we know that we only reach less than 10% of alumni as our alumni groups have less than 1000 members.

Stories & Highlights

“Being part of the very first generation of Viennese oikees, and later on joining oikos International, not only gave me the opportunity to gain various skills from co-developing the organization but also provided me access to a global like-minded community, through which I met some of my closest friends to this day.” 
Anna Katharina Beyer

Future Aspirations & Milestones

We are organizing a call with alumni in mid-June, this will be the occasion to get direct input from the community on what they wish for us to contribute to.
We are also hoping to finally launch the oiConnect project, which will encourage alumni to reconnect with each other and with active chapters.

Topics

History, stories, cocreation

Achievements and Development

Finalization of project phase 1
Website published
Archives (incl. guide) accessible
First homecoming campfire hosted with over 20 participants
Onsite homecoming event at the ICC in Graz (around 20 participants)

Key Learnings

• It takes a lot of time & effort from conceptualization to implementation, not to mention activation
• Having a team of 3 engaged people works well, moving to a new team at the end of a phase is difficult
• The oikos community appreciates this effort, and feels fueled by the stories that come up as we start sharing

Touched hearts

+- 100 people (team, events & legislative meeting)

Diversity & Inclusion

We included aspects of diversity & inclusion in the design phase of the project. A diversification of formats, both onsite & online, as well as support for chapters in reworking their history is planned for the second project phase

Stories & Highlights

When coming together for our fist homecoming event, recent generations of oikees met the founding fathers of our network. It was a really special moment for everyone when the ones who once started our network discovered how much it has grown & evolved ever since. A beautiful moment of connection & purpose with many good stories from the past 35 years of oikos history.

https://oikos-international.org/news/sparks-of-history/

Future Aspirations & Milestones

• Finding a new volunteer for the project (Apply here)
• Continuous hosting of homecoming events (new pattern)
• Continuous evolution of archives

Achievements and Development

Already, this initiative has allowed our team to meet with several town businesses as well as the University Sustainability Coordinator to discuss their efforts toward sustainability across a load of different criteria, with special attention being drawn to our pilot organisation, a cafe called Zest, which specializes in energy efficiency, fair trade products/coffees, as well as incredible EDI in their workforce, having hired people with disabilities as well as ex-convicts, helping them to reach their potential in a supportive work environment. If not for GreenMap, these initiatives may go unnoticed and thus the platform will serve as a way to showcase Zest’ incredible business protocols, and maybe even inspire others to do the same!!

The idea for GreenMap can be attributed to 4th year St Andrews student Oilver Walter, a dedicated oikee who initially pitched the idea to current President Madeleine Bruce in summer of 2022. As oikos started the 2022-2023 academic year, GreenMap was made a priority project as its unique concept and potential for impact was an enticing and exciting opportunity which the team at oikos St Andrews dove into full steam ahead. In addition to Madeleine and Oliver leading the platform’s development, GreenMap has been brought to fruition by a wonderful project team of 5 key individuals, including our new president Verity and new VP Aditya. Combined with a diverse male/female team from over three different countries, GreenMap has been the definition of a collaborative initiative.

Stories & Highlights

Throughout the incredible journey that has been the development of this project, ie. taking it from Oliver’s brain child to a real life platform to a force for making an active difference in our community, what is even more special is that the team at oikos St Andrews has set up a sustainable leadership structure to govern the future of the of platform so that it can continue as an independent entity all while operating under the onsite facilitation/supervision of oikos st andrews to continue well into the long term, forever putting St Andrews, and its efforts toward sustainability, on the maps of change agents everywhere.

Topics

Topics

Achievements and Development

It was the best of times,

It was the worst of times.

Times-a pretty good.

Times-a pretty bad.

Key Learnings

It was the best of times,
It was the worst of times.
Times-a pretty good.
Times-a pretty bad.

Touched hearts

It was the best of times,
It was the worst of times.
Times-a pretty good.
Times-a pretty bad.

Diversity & Inclusion

It was the best of times,
It was the worst of times.
Times-a pretty good.
Times-a pretty bad.

Stories & Highlights

It was the best of times,
It was the worst of times.
Times-a pretty good.
Times-a pretty bad.

Future Aspirations & Milestones

It was the best of times,
It was the worst of times.
Times-a pretty good.
Times-a pretty bad.

Topics

Topics

Achievements and Development

It was the best of times,
It was the worst of times.
Times-a pretty good.
Times-a pretty bad.

Key Learnings

It was the best of times,
It was the worst of times.
Times-a pretty good.
Times-a pretty bad.

Touched hearts

It was the best of times,
It was the worst of times.
Times-a pretty good.
Times-a pretty bad.

Diversity & Inclusion

It was the best of times,
It was the worst of times.
Times-a pretty good.
Times-a pretty bad.

Stories & Highlights

It was the best of times,
It was the worst of times.
Times-a pretty good.
Times-a pretty bad.

Future Aspirations & Milestones

It was the best of times,
It was the worst of times.
Times-a pretty good.
Times-a pretty bad.

Achievements and Development

The main achievement was the opening of oikos Amsterdam as well as accession as Full Chapters of Kano & St. Andrews. Few dying Chapter seems to be restarting as well.

Touched hearts

Chapter from all around the world.

Stories & Highlights

https://oikos-international.org/community/

Future Aspirations & Milestones

• Supporting Reutlingen in its reopening
• Supporting struggling chapters
• Closing Chapters no longer active

Achievements and Development

What gives us a reason to celebrate?

-Professor’s gratitude for our exciting and informative lecture, which was a great enrichment for the course and the students.

-Appreciation towards the time invested to host the lecture.

-A student asking which subjects are particularly worthwhile as free electives if you want to know more about the topic of sustainability? This means that this person was very interested in learning more in this field of sustainability and that is exactly our success, purpose and goal of our project.

-We also received very positive feedback from our target group, namely that our presentation was generally very informative and also great that it was held in pairs. Thus, it remained agile and exciting! We have been able to convey it very interesting and entertaining.

Quantitative description of perceived impact?

— approx. 70-80 students;

— diversity of nationalities.

Touched hearts

+70 students that have been pro-actively participating during each lecture

Stories & Highlights

This project has been like a journey for us. Having had intense, stressful moments, and regardless of all the obstacles, achieving our goal deserves a big round of applause for the TE Team of oikos Graz! Having worked voluntarily, for over 10 months, on a project that is going to have a big impact is already giving fruits of our labor and we even have our next steps in mind. What has motivated us each time is seeing how many students want to change education in a sustainable direction and that in the summer – during the school vacation – so many people committed to fill our survey. In the university there are many things that can be improved and it is also important to include the ideas of the students! Which in its entirety is the reason to celebrate our project.

We are very grateful that our efforts are recognized by leading professors at the University of Graz and that we get invited on a regular basis to hold those lectures.

Achievements and Development

Transforming Education sub-branding & planned communications (Camp & Academy)
LEAP events communications & supporting participants writing IDG Module articles(2022 cohort)
LEAP branding restyle and intense push for new cohort(2023 cohort)
Supporting and campaigning for fundraising projects
Revised team structure and internal processes within the IT & Comms Cirlce
Internal tools more easily available for the oikos International Team

Key Learnings

We came to a realization of the huge importance of internal processes and team structures to allow for smooth communication.
The biggest challenges were related to tight timelines and delays, leading to many last minute tasks and changes.

Touched hearts

From tens to hundreds of thousands across all social media platforms were reached by our content.
More direct emails made it more convenient and effective to reach specific audiences.

Diversity & Inclusion

Our communication reflects the work we do as an organization, so it was as diverse as our projects.
In representing the oikos Community in our communications we balanced the representation of chapters from different countries and parts of the world

Stories & Highlights

We are the ones sharing all the stories of other domains and projects and don’t necessarily have ones of our own to share per say. The best way to tell the stories of oikos Comms is to tell the stories of oikos: https://oikos-international.org/news/2022-at-oikos-international-a-year-in-review/

Future Aspirations & Milestones

*miro board stuff*
Developing a dedicated communications request form within the oikos International team for more efficient internal communication
Getting oikos Alumni more involved, with regular communications within the circle
Social media scheduling automation & content diversification

Achievements and Development

We’ve diversified our social media content, especially providing more video content gaining better interactios and enagement with the audience.
We’ve supported the fundraising efforts by creating materials for presenting our impact and offering to potential partners, including the Annual Report for the previous year presenting the entire year’s impact.
We’ve improved communication and coordination with partners, making our communication channels more open to their opportunities, which were in turn more visible to the oikos Community.
We supported a number of project teams with their communications needs.
A new internal request platform made it easier to communicate and coordinate better within the oikos International team about external communication.

Key Learnings

We grew as a communications team in terms of internally managing and coordinating our activities. The biggest challenge was coordinating internally within the oikos International team which lead to less efficiency in providing the needed support, however we’ve been working on overcoming these challenges and taking up a more pro active approach.

Touched hearts

40k+ social media impressions with 6.7% engagement rate
The biggest bases of social media followers are in EU and India, while our content reaches people across all continents.

Stories & Highlights

(not sure how this applies?)

Future Aspirations & Milestones

Further diversify our content and increase the reach across social media, while also providing the necessary support to our projects and initiatives, as well as oikos chapters.

Achievements and Development

oikos initiatives sub-branding for LEAP and Transforming Education have taken shape, with tools and resources provided to the teams to use them.

Key Learnings

Most challenges were around the limited time and working on multiple projects in parallel.

Touched hearts

These numbers can’t be accurately measured at the moment.

Diversity & Inclusion

One of the key objectives was to make the creation of oikos-branded contest is easily accessible to everyone in the Team as well as the oikos Community with most ease. Through the processes we made sure to take on various perspectives and thoughts and make sure the end product represents well both the project and oikos.

Stories & Highlights

The process included continuous brainstorming and feedback between the communications and the two initiatives’ teams and provided us the very important input which helped us create two distinctive sub-brands that address different aspects of our work and sometimes even different audiences.

Future Aspirations & Milestones

Giving the two initiatives the important visibility as well as professionalism and appeal in the way we communicate about them. Through streamlining sub-brandings and providing the teams with the tools and resources to use them, we aim to make the internal exchange around communicating about it on external channels smoother and more efficient.

Achievements and Development

It taught us how to negotiate and maintain professional and formal conversations and relationships.

Topics

Collaboration, creativity, sustainability

Achievements and Development

CAMP 2023 is taking shape as we speak. We celebrate working with an ambitious team & feeling the support of prior generations who either want to re-join or at least forward the invitation. Talking to alumni gives us a sense of the impact, both on the individuals & the projects involved.

We are happy with the development of CAMP, moving into a 3rd edition. The program starts to evolve into a well-known oikos initiative.

Key Learnings

• Integrating enough capacity & space is important when working with volunteers
• Eco-villages are fun and exciting partners to work with especially when they have costume rooms to play in 
• It is important to start reaching out to potential donors early on
• Corporates & other partnering networks are great & reliable allies when it comes to recruiting participants

Touched hearts

We are currently looking for participants for Camp 2023. Our aim is to have between 25 and 50 participants who will be organized in teams of 3-8. We hope to involve as many nationalities as possible. In our organizing team, we already have more than 4. Lastly, in regard to gender balance, we have gender balance in our team.

Diversity & Inclusion

We aim to make CAMP as accessible as possible for the whole oikos community. Diversity is important for the topic, not only when it comes to the people & their background, but also the topics of the projects that will participate. The more transdisciplinary the group, the more impactful the project will be.

Stories & Highlights

We recently invited our camp alumni to a ‘calling all campers’ session with the aim of sharing recent developments & creating a sense of eldership. The feedback we received was full of warmth & confirmation. A sign that the initiative left powerful traces with the people.

Camp 2022 – https://oikos-international.org/news/transforming-our-world-oikos-camp-2022/
Camp 2021 – https://oikos-international.org/initiatives/oikos-camp-2021/
Video – https://youtu.be/fwYfKq7EBaI
Testimonials on the website

Future Aspirations & Milestones

• Recruiting all teams for the event in July
• Fundraising for the whole budget
• Cohesion in the camp team

Topics

collective progress, sustainability, team work

Achievements and Development

The planning for CAMP 23 is evolving and we are almost ready to host our participants! We launched a communication campaign and prepared all logistics for CAMP 23.
We are in close touch with the participating teams, have our venues set and are looking forward to host the event.
We are now focusing on finding further teams and some additional funding.

Key Learnings

• it is challenging to find teams who would like to participate due to a reason of timing & availability. Many students struggle with the expectations & workload of the system
• it is challenging to find funds for our great project. Having committed partners would be very helpful
• A well-working team is the most important hing to stay motivated if a project doesnt evolve as planned.

Touched hearts

20-30 people this year.
At least 8 nationalities involved

Diversity & Inclusion

Camp is an inclusive space that helps people to experience diversity as a great opportunity. We aim to make CAMP as accessible as possible for anyone who wants to get involved.

Stories & Highlights

A touching moment was to re-connect with former camp teams for the communication campaign. Their sharing was really touching and gave us a lot of energy.

It showed us that CAMP really is a valuable space for everyone involved and worth all of our efforts!

Future Aspirations & Milestones

• finding 2-3 teams
• finding further financial resources
• designing the flow of the CAMP week
• hosting the week

Topics

Collaboration, creativity, sustainability, learning

Achievements and Development

CAMP 2023 has been taking place in July and we are celebrating a week full of collaboration, learning, relating and progress. 4 teams with around 18 people joined onsite to create a space full of warmth and community. Learn more in our article

We are proud that CAMP 23 could take place. After a long episode of struggle with funding and number of participants, we finally could render the event a reality, with lots of learnings about leading in uncertainty and working with what we have.

In 2023:

18 participants
4 project teams
11 nationalities

In total:
+75 participants
+18 projects
+21 nationalities

Key Learnings

• Integrating enough capacity & space is important when working with volunteers
• Eco-villages are fun and exciting partners to work with – and it needs very clear communication and documentation on what is agreed upon
• There is no perfect moment for such an event – it takes prosperous relationships and commitments to make it work
• 2023, the year after the pandemic, renders incredibly difficult when it comes to reaching participants for such initiatives

Touched hearts

18 participants
4 project teams
11 nationalities
We had a gender balance in the team and in the participants

Diversity & Inclusion

We aim to make CAMP as accessible as possible for the whole oikos community. Diversity is important for the topic, not only when it comes to the people & their background, but also the topics of the projects that will participate. The more transdisciplinary the group, the more impactful the project will be.

Stories & Highlights

The oikos Camp was like a garden to me, where each group brought their own seeds, nurtured them, and waited for them to grow. Over the course of a week, our seeds grew to varying degrees – some blossomed into flowers, some bore fruit, and even those that had just broken through the soil to reveal new shoots showed a promising upward future. This flourishing garden, much like the sustainable and green future we yearn for, allowed us to take home flowers and fruits, yet left our roots embedded in the Camp, preserving a part of our memories.

Camp 2022 – https://oikos-international.org/news/transforming-our-world-oikos-camp-2022/
Camp 2021 – https://oikos-international.org/initiatives/oikos-camp-2021/
Camp 2023 – https://oikos-international.org/news/lets-go-camping-oikos-camp-2023/
(opens in a new tab)

Video – https://youtu.be/fwYfKq7EBaI
Testimonials on the website

Future Aspirations & Milestones

• Recruiting a new camp team
• Making camp 2024 happen

Achievements and Development

The LEAP YOUth program 2023 concluded and another cohort of young leaders are well equipped for impactful work – in their local oikos chapters and for their upcoming careers.
We offered

• 12 Webinars & Workshops
• Input Materials for all 5 Inner Development Goals Dimensions
• Held 2 onsite meetings in DE & CH
• Facilitated 8 Peer Group Meetings
• and 9 individual coaching sessions per participant.

In the last module the participants developed 4 projects:

• A facilitation guide for safe spaces in organisations
• A board game for meaningful conversations in your family
• A sound souvenir creatively capturing the onsite midterm meeting
• A journaling / reflection guide

Still we weren’t able to hold a high participation rate over the full 10 month program and only a small number of participants achieved the target participation rate to obtain a certificate.

Touched hearts

We had 37 selected participants (out of 65 applications) from 20 countries, aged 18-36, who were supported by 53 volunteers.
With a gender rate of 22% men and 78% women.

Diversity & Inclusion

During all interactions we remind people to arrive with an open mind and heart to ensure that they are open to learn from each other. We saw that worked very well at the Midterm Meeting especially. Unfortunately, we lost all of our participants from Africa. We assume it was because of the connection issues which lead to them not being able to really connect with the cohort and topics.

Stories & Highlights

Listen to the sound souvenir from the midterm meeting here: https://drive.google.com/file/d/11r13AW2OIZf6nVgNEy1eZmBuCAdkWLyL/view?usp=sharing

Testimonials from this years participants:

“For me, LEAP is like a loving hug. LEAP means slowing down, taking time for yourself, reflecting on your past & future, connecting with yourself and nature, and making lots of new friends.”

“LEAP was an amazing journey for self-discovery but also I got to be part of an amazing community of like-minded youth and it was extremely beneficial for my personal and professional journey.”

“Hey oikees, trust me, LEAP YOUth is the place to be! It not only helps you develop personal aspects you will not develop in university but also brings you into the oikos universe and introduces you to people from the most different backgrounds and walks of life! I do not remember what motivated me to apply but I am so grateful that I did!”

“LEAP journey was a gift to me a year ago – a surprise box with a blank sheet of paper inside. I simultaneously knew what to expect and had no expectations; needless to say, LEAP’23 went above and beyond them. Personal growth and work on oneself are crucial for conscious leadership. All the coaching sessions, workshops, reading materials, reflection questions, and on-site meetings were an opportunity to create a space in my busy calendar for self-development, clearing my vision, learning new skills (like active listening), and asking myself whether I’m satisfied with the direction and pace I’m moving. Quick answer: I wasn’t and I managed to calibrate my route with my values during the program. I’m beyond grateful to every single human being I connected to this year: every organizer, facilitator, coach, workshop host, and participant – each and every one of you made an invaluable contribution to my journey during LEAP and now, after LEAP. As the life journey continues with many more opportunities to become a leader to myself and a team, I will make an effort to pro-create LEAP spirit and contribute to the leadership revolution that the world very much needs.”

“Leap meant support, encouragement and community for me in the last year. It helped me connect to my inner compass and feel the strength of a community of like-minded individuals. It fascinated me to experience the wisdom every person carries within oneself and that we can all learn by sharing and creating collective wisdom within safe spaces. It gave me trust in the process of deep personal reflection and sharing of thoughts with others to create change.”

Future Aspirations & Milestones

The LEAP YOUth program will go through a major re-strategising process in 2024.
We hope to bring a fresh and adapted program back at the end of 2024. We want to develop a more inclusive and easier accessible online experience for future participants. The goal is to have a higher participation rate throughout the program and

Topics

Conscious Leadership, Personal Development, Coaching,

Achievements and Development

We have finalized the LEAP YOUth cohort 2022 with 40 participants out of which 26 received a certificate (meaning they completed 70% or more of the program).
Out of those participants everyone would recommend the program.

We also held the LEAP Summit with over 130 participations in total from 14 countries. The Summit was a participant driven project of this year’s cohort where they brought their learnings to a broad audience.
Based on the extensive feedback of the participants and volunteers we created a strategy for the LEAP YOUth 2023.

Key Learnings

We admitted less people this year. It was quite difficult to keep everyone engaged and motivated with such a big cohort and this was reflected in the numbers of Certificates and applications for Peer Facilitators.
For 2023 we want to add open Peer Learning Spaces to take out some pressure of Peer Groups. There were a few groups were people dropped out and they did not really work well anymore, but did not have a place to come back to.
We will also simplify the evaluation process for participants. We created too much data, which took a long time for participants to fill out and for us to sort and in the end the data was inconclusive.
We want to make reflections and Inputs more engaging and are trying out a new Program called Reflect (created by an oikos Alumni). A lot of participants did not enjoy the Reflections and Input Materials and would have wished for more exercises and more tailored information.

Touched hearts

We had 40 participants & 61 Volunteers in the LEAP YOUth and 130 in the LEAP summit with in total 35 different nationalities.

Out of 40 participants 18 were male and 22 female. This is the closest we have ever come to a balance. Among the 61 Volunteers we have a balance 39/22 women/men.

Diversity & Inclusion

Given the divers group we encouraged active exchange in a safe space among the members & volunteers. However, it was difficult to build a bridge between participants of the onsite Meetings and those that could not join onsite.
Among the volunteer team we managed to connect closer again after COVID but still need to work on building the bridge between LEAP Alumni & professional coaches and also the LEAP Alumni of different cohorts.

Stories & Highlights

“I’m leading an internal responsible leadership program based on the Inner Development Goals at my oikos Graz chapter (chapter LEAP). The chapter LEAP is an empowering, inspiring internal program aimed at growing leadership competencies for personal development and professional life. It teaches you about sustainable and responsible decision-making and leadership, and helps you to get more clarity about your purpose, values, and actions.”

“What does LEAP mean to me?
It helps me support myself in a very positive and progressive way of personal development and freedom of mind.”

“As the president of oikos Kano, we have recently hosted one of the days of the oikos academy. The program is aimed to promote the integration of sustainability in universities’ curriculum. through the organisation of this event, I realised that my co-creative skills have really improved especially in team work and delegation of responsibilities. By that, we got to have a wonderful experience of the Academy Day, which has been of positive impact.”

“I have strengthened my relationships with friends and family – I am able to communicate with humility, honesty, listen actively, and compassionately. Now, I understand the differences of people better and approach it with a curious and open mind, as well as an open heart, and spreading kindness in my surroundings. Now I feel that I can make sure that the special people in my life are being seen and understood, and I can feel the same from them. It causes a chain reaction of change.”

Future Aspirations & Milestones

We started the LEAP YOUth cohort 2023 on February 25th with 37 participants from 20 countries and 53 Volunteers including 29 LEAP Alumni.
In March we will hold an onsite Meeting right before the Winterschool in Witten.
In the next three months we will also tackle the Modules Thinking & Relating.
We will also do intensive fundraising for the onsite Meetings and the LEAP salaries.

Achievements and Development

In March we started the new cohort of the LEAP YOUth 2023 with with 37 participants from 20 countries with an insight into the Thinking Dimension of the Inner Development Goals (IDG).
Beginning of April we had an onsite Meeting in Cologne with around 20 participants and volunteers.
April and May we spent in the Relating Dimension of the IDG , exploring our ways to relate to each other, to ourselves but also to nature.
5 Peer Groups have also formed and are running well.

We are struggling with commitment of the participants currently, but hope that this will get better after the exam period is over.

Key Learnings

The engagement is quite low and we are wondering whether it makes sense to host a big kick-off meeting again next year so people feel connected right away with their peers and understand the program better.
This could also help with the forming of peer groups. The Peer Space was helpful for people to get to know each other, but they needed much more facilitation (via Discord) to actually form the groups. But having Peer Groups more flexible and an additional Peer Space has been perceived well.
We are wondering why the webinars and workshops are not very frequented. How can we bring additional value to the group?

Touched hearts

37 Participants – 29 women & 8 men between the age of 19 and 36 – from 20 countries & 18 chapters.
53 Volunteers, out of which 29 are LEAP alumni and 24 are professional coaches.

Diversity & Inclusion

During all interactions we remind people to arrive with an open mind and heart to ensure that they are open to learn from each other.

We are struggling a bit to keep participants with weak internet engaged. Unfortunately, that concerns most of our participants from Africa.

Stories & Highlights

“I enjoy these reflections and I believe they are a very good way to go over the new concepts and help us pay more attention to them.”

“I appreciated the opportunity to not only explore the theoretical aspects but also engage in discussions and find common ground to generate new ideas. Collaborating with nature is essential for ensuring a sustainable future. As my grandmother always said in Turkish, “Suyun akışına ayak uydur, akıntıya karşı kürek çekme,” which translates to “Go with the flow of the water, don’t row against the current.” It emphasizes the importance of adapting to nature rather than resisting it. We have witnessed instances of regenerative nature, such as Chernobyl, where the power of nature to heal itself is evident. We just have to use the flow to our advantages without constraining the nature. “

“The workshop allowed me to broaden my horizons and look at topics that were previously unknown or incomprehensible to me. The approach presented was extremely valuable and opened my eyes to a new view of the world.”

Future Aspirations & Milestones

In June and July we will focus on the Being Dimension of the IDG.
In August we will take a break and reassess the commitment of the participants.
We also plan to host the onsite Midterm from August 20th to 27th in Switzerland, but we still need to fundraise for it.
Additionally, we started the recruiting phase for both LEAP YOUth positions and we hope that we have found at least one suitable person until end of July.

Topics

Conscious Leadership based on Inner Development Goals, especially the 1st Dimension BEING with the skills of Inner Compass, Integrety & Authenticity, Openness & Learning Mindset, Presence, Self-awareness

Achievements and Development

We have just finished the impact assessment for Module 1: BEING.
Almost 9 out of 10 people say that they would recommend this module to other change agents and all participants agreed that the module increased their knowledge, skills and capacity to become a conscious leader.

Participants report an increase in all 5 skills of the BEING Dimension: Inner Compass, Integrity, Openess, Self-awareness & Presence.
They also mentioned that several other skills of the Inner Development Goals increased, but some also decresed, we assume due to them realizing that they might have overestimated their level of skills before starting the program.

All participants feel a shared sense of belonging, connection, trust and support by their peer groups and I feel that their ideas and contributions are valued and recognized.

Over 90% of participants say that their learnings have contributed to their personal wellbeing and their resiliance as a leader.

Key Learnings

• Impact Management: We are doing it for the 1st year and we need to assess what is helpful.
• When we design the LEAP processes we need to keep team and volunteer capacity in mind.
• Fundraising & Impact need to be a priority.
• It is sometimes hard for participants to fully understand all layers of the program and therefore keep participants engaged.

Touched hearts

In the cohort 2022 we have 44 participants from 23 chapters and 4 partners. They come from 23 different countries and have agender balance of 25 female & 19 male participants. We have 66 volunteers engaged, out of which 27 are alumni and 39 are professional coaches. 

Diversity & Inclusion

Generally all oikos members (no matter what chapter/country they are from or what or financial background they have) can apply to be part of the program. This year, for the first time, we also had some people outside the organisation apply and we accepted two, one from Mexico, one from the US.
During the selection process we made sure to strive for a balance between chapters and countries of origin to ensure diversity. We even reached out to chapters that did not apply in person, giving them more time to send a representative. It was also important to take a gender balance into account. We have more female YWs in our community so we specifically encouraged men to apply as well and reached a more balanced cohort this year.
Since most of our participants are students, available funds to pay for international exchange are often limited. Some of our participants from countries like Georgia, Azerbaijan, Serbia or Egypt face harder economic situations and funding provided by the grant is in many cases the only opportunity for them to attend international projects.

Stories & Highlights

LEAP News
https://oikos-international.org/news/refreshing-the-leap-new-names-of-familiar-programs/

onsite Kick-off Meeting
https://oikos-international.org/event/leap-youth-2023-onsite-kick-off/

Module 1: BEING
https://oikos-international.org/news/being-the-leap-youth-module-1/

Testimonials:
“Having to get to meet people and listening to what they have to say about their counciousness as leaders was a great experience. I got to understand that i was not the only person having the problems i have, but is rather a common challange. This is to say that being an introvert is common amongst us. But getting to understand that self awareness and presence and openness are some of the things that make a being, I got to develop how to express myself. The breakout sessions created to interact with other participants from a different background has opened a part of me that has been closed for quite sometime. This got me to understand that my being is as well as that of others.”

“I will try to be really in the here and now (presence) to get things done in a good way, instead of thinking to much about the future and the past. In my workplace it is also important to be always open and curios to learn new things to develop even further/faster. No matter in which place I am, being honest is the prerequisite for every leadership practice.”

“This module helps me with a current conflict I helf in myself and one of my family members. It helps me to take my own responsibility and showing compassion to myself instead of only showing compassion to the otheer person, which is very exhausting. I try to trust that the other person can manage its own feelings.”

“I think it impacted me in several ways (see also above). It somehow made me more calm and self-aware. I feel like I am getting to know myself even better which is such a good feeling. I can’t say it often enough how importan self-reflection is and how great it feels to also talk about it with others. The module also taught me to become a better listener and I really appraciate that. Overall, I had such a good time during the onsite event in Graz and I am so so grateful for this opportunity and alls the great and inspiring people I get to meet <3”

“The first thing that comes to my mind is the Gallup strength assessment. I find it super helpful to see 5 of my strengths written down. I think everyone has dealt with this in some context, but it’s something else to read it in black and white. At first I wasn’t quite sure what the questions would really do for me, but I was able to identify with the attributes surprisingly well and that was also my aha experience for this block. I was very intrigued that I found myself in the descriptions, although I would not have mentioned these strengths of myself first.”

“This module was very useful for me and I can already see that I am implementing the knowledge I got in my personal life. Especially finding out my strengths was very helpful for me, because now that I know them, I can see clearly the path I should take and ways to use them.”

“As upcoming leaders or personas who find themselves in leading roles it’s challenging to make big decisions. Problem is: You’re kinda obliged to take responsability and expertise to make these decisions but very often you neglect your personal feelings, needs and wants because you priorize the task. I found myself in a lot of situations where everybody was satisfied except me. I mostly put the blame on me because I always expressed myself too little or too indistinct within those situations. Thanks to this model I noticed that being clear and frank about who I am is not only affecting the satisfaction level of my decisions but also better for working in a team where people can rely on me because they trust and respect me for my openess.”

“I found the Being Module very interesting. Express our challenges to different people in the onsite Kickoff was inspiring. Through communication I have been inspired by other people. Also opening to other people and listening carefully. With the help of this module and especially in person, I have learned to open to other people, since sometimes it is hard for me to open up to others. Also learn to ask powerful questions about a challenge, so that others can reflect on it and also learn to identify my own values and make a relationship about the chosen ones. Express our challenges through thoughts, feelings, and body postures. I found it very motivating to know in detail some of my strengths thanks to the CliftonStrengths-Assessment. I’m practicing in my daily life some of my five strengths: Adaptability, Empathy, Responsibility and Harmony. I have learned a lot of techniques in these Module regarding the relationship with myself and to others. I found the Inner compass very important. These are just issues that I hadn’t given much thought to before the LEAP Program. It is very important to understand how you feel personally. What are my values, strengths and purposes and how do they drive and impact the whole? In fact, I am reflecting on the inner compass, presence, integrity and authenticity, openness and learning mindset, and self-awareness. I have been practicing mindfulness for a long time and I found it quite interesting to have seen here in the LEAP Program how others practice this practice.”

“I am more confident about my capabilities and that my skills are not the same as everyone elses (as I thought before). I am unique and I am embracing it. I feel more free to express my opinion, and usually it seems that I was the only one thinking that way. Since then, I feel more trust from people, admiration and following the lead. It has allowed me to fulfil my role as a leader in a fast-paced environment, and people turn to me for advice and decision making.”

Future Aspirations & Milestones

In July we start with the Module 3: RELATING and we will have our onsite Midterm Meeting from 22nd to 31st of July in Churwalden, Switzerland.

We also want to focus more on Fundraising in the next months to create a basis for the next LEAP YOUth cohort 2023.

Achievements and Development

We are midway through the LEAP Program and have finalized the Modules Thinking, Relating & Being.
We had a break in August where we asked participants to recommit to the program if they wanted to continue with the 2nd part of LEAP. Out of the 37 participants that we started the cohort with 20 recommitted.
Peer Groups are still running well after the recommitting and participants are utilizing their 1:1 coaching.

We also held a Midterm Meeting with 22 people out of which 3 where from partners. One of them will join the oikos International Team as a new LEAP Program Manager and another has joined the program afterwards. During this meeting 4 project groups formed to bring their learnings of the LEAP to the public in creative ways.

Key Learnings

Once more we learned that onsite Meetings and especially the Midterm is a key motivator for the participants & volunteers.
The process of forming peer groups took longer, but most of them are running very well and people enjoy it.
One issue with the low commitment might be Discord. People are not active there and don’t enjoy it.

Touched hearts

22 participants in the Midterm from 11 different countries. 17 females & 5 males.
20 participants recommitted from 12 different countries. 17 females & 3 males.

Diversity & Inclusion

During all interactions we remind people to arrive with an open mind and heart to ensure that they are open to learn from each other. We saw that worked very well at the Midterm Meeting especially.

Unfortunately, we lost all of our participants from Africa. We assume it was because of the connection issues which lead to them not being able to really connect with the cohort and topics.

Stories & Highlights

“I did not expect it but I really enjoyed the being module. I learned a lot about myself and about my peers at Leap Youth. I was surprised how similar yet different we all are and how insightful a simple conversation can end up being. I also learned about the sides of my personality that I have to develop and pay attention to which I think is something I will not forget anytime soon.”

“I liked how I was able to look at different issues from a completely different perspective.
The workshop allowed me to broaden my horizons and look at topics that were previously unknown or incomprehensible to me. The approach presented was extremely valuable and opened my eyes to a new view of the world.”

Future Aspirations & Milestones

Until the end of the year we still have two more Modules, Collaborating & Acting.
We want to get those projects from the Midterm going and ready to be brought to the public by the end of the cohort in December.
We also need to work on Strategy in October/November and present it to the community in December for feedback.
There are two new team members in the LEAP YOUth team that need to be onboarded and handed over important information before Michael & Alexandra leave.

Achievements and Development

We successfully set up the partnership with COPERNICUS Alliance and will host their Higher Education Summit 2023 from 23-25 November. Additionally we have 5 chapters lined up for the Academy itself and each of them is meeting with a coach from the LEAP researchers program.
Additional partners for the Academy and HES 2023 include Club of Rome, SOS international and Green Offices!

Touched hearts

We actively collaborated with more than 6 oikos chapters along the process and have 6 LEAP researchers supporting them directly. The whole event is a collaboration among 5 organisations and we see high interest from more to join us. We will see more stats after November!

Diversity & Inclusion

The chapters we have this year are spread more globally (Africa, Asia, Europe) than last year. Regarding gender, age and other characteristics we include that in the program planning and will be able to report after the event.

Stories & Highlights

Will be found here:
https://oikos-international.org/initiatives/oikos-academy/
and here:
https://www.higher-education-summit.com/about-2023

Future Aspirations & Milestones

This thing can keep on growing! We will reach a way bigger audience than last year and the more we talk about it the more interest is showing. Biggest milestones in the line of events:
Chapter coaching (ongoing until December)
Academy Opening Ceremony (22nd of October)
Chapter Events (October-November)
Higher Education Summit (23-25th of November)
Debrief and Reporting (December)

Next year: We hope to be able to offer the oikos Academy in 2024 again! More chapters, more partners and more impact!

Topics

Transforming Education – What is the role of higher education in a VUCA world?

Achievements and Development

The oikos Academy is in a process of being fully reinvented. With the year 2022 it will have a completely new shape that goes beyond borders and includes several Universities at the same time. The new vision of this event already gave a spark to the chapters involved and gets the students excited to raise their voices.

Key Learnings

Impossible to do it alone. Also way more fun together 🙂
Aiming high attracts participation. Chapters are super hot!

Touched hearts

For now there are around 10 people involved. We are working together with 5 chapters and the LEAP researchers at the moment.

Diversity & Inclusion

Trying to include different styles of chapters in University & Locations. Even though we have a chapter from the African continent on board, the whole event is still quite eurocentric. We hope to overcome this in the following years and include a higher variety of backgrounds in the program.

Stories & Highlights

Hosting a great event.
Reimagining an old program to bring it back to live. Invented by two souls who reached out to a mass of energized people achieving big impact.
This is only the beginning of a story that unfolds.

Future Aspirations & Milestones

Getting 5 chapters invovled building their onsite days.
Including partners and researchers to co-host workshops.
Getting funding and support by Universities.
Getting additional funding through third parties (e.g. foundations)

Achievements and Development

The oikos Academy piloted in Autumn with 5 chapters offering onsite and online/hybrid activities towards the questions of “What is the role of higher education in a VUCA world?”. Over the course of 7 days we hosted more than 200 stakeholders from the field of HE and heard great statements from the participants.
The chapters reported that the oikos Academy was an accelerator for their Transforming Education activities. They started dialoguing with their University representatives and could network with other actors that became allies through the collaboration.
A rising awareness around the VUCA world and the responsibility of HE among the student communities (in- and outside of oikos).
It strengthened the relation of oikos International with the chapters. We can help one another <3

Key Learnings

We can achieve a lot with engaged individuals in our community! A big challenge was to facilitate the relationship with all of the chapters involved. So, plan enough time for that – it will take time! Second, communication around the event needs to start earlier and not only in our oikos community but with our partners and with the wider public using our partners networks!
For the event itself we thought about restructure it, so hybrid parts are more clustered while the onsite days can be planned more individually to the chapter’s needs.

Touched hearts

We reached more than 200 people from various backgrounds. Main drivers of the event were the chapters in Barcelona (Spain), Graz (Austria), Kano (Nigeria), St. Andrews (UK) and St. Gallen (Switzerland).

Diversity & Inclusion

We aim to have a diverse community involved and show that oikos is truly a global community. This year we had 4 European and 1 African chapter involved, but we are aiming to have a wider spread over the globe for next year.

Stories & Highlights

Please check out our micro board from the last session: https://miro.com/app/board/uXjVPHEZaEY=/

Future Aspirations & Milestones

In three months we want to have a strategy and a team ready for the next year and start communicating about it with the chapters to get them excited and get them onboard to co-host the academy 2023 with us!

Achievements and Development

Check out our new Fellowship program! NEIII & oikos International are working together on this transformative learning journey designed to empower professionals and students to gain hands-on experience and establish valuable connections in the impact investing and sustainable finance sectors. Fellows are introduced to the sector’s themes, approaches, & players through curated educational sessions, workshops, & small-group discussions. We foster opportunities for professionals, students, investors, & entrepreneurs to advance their careers & gain insights from a diverse global class of Fellows. 

Touched hearts

We’ve had an outpouring of support and there have been over 60 applications for the program. Want to learn about who is applying for the program and what we have in store? Check out this infographic on the people we have joining us.

• 2024 Applicants Infographic
  We’ve got some really cool stuff planned
• Fellowship Promo Flyer

Stories & Highlights

• AD Square 
• AD Horizontal

Future Aspirations & Milestones

We’re looking for corporate partners to make this all possible. With your support we can build a diverse and inclusive talent pipeline and empower future finance leaders for the impact investing and sustainable finance sector. To make our Fellowship a reality we count on the financial support of partners to ensure the program is accessible to a diverse group from around the globe who would otherwise not have access to this quality of program. Please consider working with us to develop a program that supports your goals & aligns with your mission to empower future leaders in the space.

• Corporate Sponsorship Flyer

Achievements and Development

– Our website (oikos.world/susfin) provides lessons, interviews, tools, and resources for self-learning and our Squad gives participants opportunities for interaction and community.
– We organize workshops/trainings and host a space for participants to develop necessary skills and knowledge on the industry.

Touched hearts

People who are participating to calls from all around the world and we also offer free access to our online ressources with interviews from diverse leaders of the sector.

Diversity & Inclusion

https://wiki.oikos-international.org/sustainable-finance/interviews/around-the-world

Stories & Highlights

https://wiki.oikos-international.org/sustainable-finance/interviews/untitled

Future Aspirations & Milestones

• Bring our website to be a Finalized Product to share with our community and supporters
• Grow our Squad members and find more students to participate in events 
• Develop training materials for participants and help them to learn more about the sector

Achievements and Development

This spring we have been hosting some informative webinars for the sustainable finance squad to learn about the industry and get access to powerful resources. We hosted the following:

The World Bank and Impact – https://youtu.be/PO9CJl68SOg
Biodiversity in Finance – https://youtu.be/mvyQgQcE7AY
Violation Tracker – Accountability and Finance – https://youtu.be/2e_x484SO_Y
Agora on Sustainable Personal Finances – https://youtu.be/Z23-6BBSB0Y

Key Learnings

The demand for sustainable finance learning continues to grow and we need to find new partners to support our work. We are looking for financial support for the work we do to provide the community with access to and learnings of sustainable finance, ESG, and impact investing.

Touched hearts

The squad of oikos members varies over time but there are about 20 or so active learners. Our events have been well attended with >10 showing up each time. The gender balance of the squad is about 50/50 with 15+ countries represented.

Diversity & Inclusion

The sustainable finance squad is open to all those who are interested irrespective of age, gender, location, and experience. Why don’t you join us to learn more and add your diverse voice to the mix. Email Stephen here to join – stephen.snider@oikos-international.org

Stories & Highlights

Stephen Snider recently completed two courses based on learnings from the development of the oikos Sustainable Finance Toolkit. These courses will soon be published and available to the oikos community to participate in. They are called:
– Certified Sustainable Finance Manager
– Certified Carbon Management Leader

Future Aspirations & Milestones

We’ll soon be posting our most recent event with Ethos ESG, so do follow our YouTube channel for more updates. Also, this summer at oikos Camp the Sustainable Finance Squad will be gathering to work on spreading the work we’ve done together to other oikos chapters and invite them to participate in future events. Do reach out to Stephen Snider (stephen.snider@oikos-international.org) if you’d like to join or learn more. See here for more about Camp – https://drive.google.com/file/d/1yzjx1iiglRj_9OXr5pDkBTVf0N4VZSxs/view?pli=1

Topics

If you would like to join the Sustainable Finance Squad and participate in the Impact Investing Fellowship being developed then you can contact Stephen (our team leader) at stephen.snider@oikos-international.org. I’d love to encourage you to learn more. 

Achievements and Development

The Sustainable Finance Squad helped to organize and implement our CAMP 2023 project. The Sustainable Finance Team
Prepared a roadmap to follow to develop a Fellowship for Corporate Partners, Young Professionals, and Students to learn about sustainable finance and impact investing. The program will be implemented this fall with partners and participants able to sign up for a multi-month learning journey that will help democratize access to training and learnings to transform the financial world. 

Touched hearts

We had 6 squad members join on site for CAMP 2023. 4 women, 2 men from the Jamaica, Spain x2, Columbia, Azerbaijan, USA.

Stories & Highlights

Outcomes from CAMP: 

• In 2021, the team developed a website of resources for students to learn about sustainable finance – oikos.world/susfin  
• In 2022, the team created and planned content for the oikos community to go deep into relevant finance topics – check out our YouTube playlist with some of the events and interviews we did.
• In 2023, the team designed and planned a fellowship for students and young professionals to learn about sustainable finance and impact investing. Check out this website to learn more about the fellowship which will be in partnership with a partner called the New England Impact Investing Initiative – https://www.neiii.org/thefellowship
  Check out our Outcome Presentation here.
  If you want to see our CAMP presentation here it is.

Future Aspirations & Milestones

It was the third year that the oikos Sustainable Finance Squad sent a team of people to participate in CAMP. Each year, the team is new people but they always bring a commitment to sharing knowledge about sustainable finance with the world in an effort to help change the financial system to facilitate a sustainable future. The team sees there is a need for access to trainings, webinars, and networking be made more accessible to those interested in it. Many universities are not yet talking enough about sustainabilty in finance and here at oikos, our squad of students are learning by doing and creating ways for others to be empowered and up-skill their financial abilities to include an understanding of impact investing, climate change risks, and many other relevant topics to include. 

Achievements and Development

This initiative received a very good response. We received positive feedback from a number of sources, including the university where we are operating. The journal has received more than 1,000 hits, which is impressive for a first edition. We have one corporate partner, and the authors of the articles were able to promote the journal on their social media, which all increased the prestige of the journal and encouraged other members of the club to create further editions.

The journal was written by members of the Polish chapter, but because it is now available in two language versions, it is now available globally.

Achievements and Development

Qualitative description of perceived impact:

-All participants will learn about the importance of gender equality in sustainability transition and reflect on that.

-Female participants get inspired and empowered and find a community where they feel supported and heard.

-A community of women supporting each other in the system fight will get formed.

-Other events or projects will come out of the networking that happened during this project.

Quantitative description of perceived impact:
All female speakers. We want to give space for women.

Achievements and Development

Qualitative description of perceived impact:

-The measures identified in the field of education through the survey, could help to achieve some of the objectives of the sustainable development.

-Our survey clearly shows that students rate the university as very influential in terms of sustainable development and teaching. But it also shows that in the eyes of the students university is responsible for adapting and changing the teaching methods towards the topic of sustainability even further.

-Sustainable development issues are for everyone very important and desired by the students surveyed, however, there is often a lack of non corresponding offer. In addition, more interdisciplinarity and more up-to-date topics are desired in the courses and course materials.

-The results of the survey also provide some ideas and suggestions for the derive implementation of the needs of the students. It would be very desirable to create a broader range of courses on sustainable development that is available to all students. This could, for example, be realized through a larger selection of free electives on sustainability.

-In addition, there could be a general integration of current topics and proposed solutions in existing subjects.

-This is of great importance because of the sustainability reference, therefore nothing additional, but becomes an elementary part of many different subjects, and thus the reference to sustainability in these subjects can be conveyed directly and clearly. Furthermore it could review the potential of the curricula and possible changes or adjustments to be considered. To this end, intensive communication with the students is established to define their needs and interests.

Quantitative description of perceived impact:
A total of 333 responses were evaluated. 237 of the survey participants were female, 82 male and 14 gave “diverse” in response.

Touched hearts

+330 participants

Stories & Highlights

We are really thankful for our cooperation partners, the Universität Graz (sustainability team) and the RCE Graz-Styria – Center for Sustainable Social Transformation, especially for their active support in our survey.
Further more we would also love to share that the value of the oikos community and the connection with other chapters, through support and advices, was something holding us throughout the whole path of creating this project. We are sooo thankful to the following oikos chapters for providing us with their insight and information: oikos St. Gallen, oikos Copenhagen and oikos Lisbon. And last but not least, we are also very thankful to oikos International for the coaching sessions that they offered us. 💙

Topics

Topics of the past AGORAs:
Chapter member recruitment, oikos CAMP bonfire mingle, Making your personal finances sustainable, Fundraising & legal considerations, Chapter LEAP

Achievements and Development

We were able to relaunch the oikos AGORA on a bi-weekly basis starting from March. To virtually gather as a community while spending our time wisely, we had a different host with a different topic at the center each week.
Especially topics that address chapter’s needs were well-perceived and attracted current oikees (e.g. fundraising and chapter member recruitment).

Key Learnings

Online formats need a clear added value for participants. With the many opportunities people have since COVID, it is hard to get a decent amount of participants to join if the value proposition is not clear.

Touched hearts

• 21 participants in 5 oikos AGORAs
• 1/3 male, 2/3 female participants
• 10 different nationalities

Stories & Highlights

Highlight: Gathering best practices from different chapters that can be used for our oikos toolbox revamp project.

Future Aspirations & Milestones

Aim for 7-10 participants in the sessions. Re-evaluate the format if this aim cannot be reached.

Achievements and Development

Since last check-in, multiple events have been organized:
– Sustainable finance led by Stephen Snider
– Mental Health
– IBCC
– Curriculum Change
– oikos stories
We experienced a slow down restarting in September with fewer events being organized.

Key Learnings

The timeline has not been properly followed, and planning is currently lagging behind. Events for agora were supposed to happen every week which was more or less happening over the summer however since September the pacing/ planning has been lagging.

Touched hearts

We had oikees from various chapters participate to Agora events.

Stories & Highlights

https://oikos-international.org/news/community-coming-together-what-is-oikos-agora/

Future Aspirations & Milestones

The main goal would be to create a team to pick it up, and start it over.

Achievements and Development

The event gathered around 30 students daily from more than 10 different universities. All the panels were attended actively, with extended discussion between the panelists and the participants in the Q&A sessions.

Also, participants took advantage of the event to get to know the speakers in sectors they were interested in for future career prospects. Moreover, some participants also asked for joining the organizing associations, so impressed they were of the event and wanted to contribute in the future.

Among the participants, we had more than 8 different nationalities, holding a relative 50-50 gender balance in participation and in speakers.

Touched hearts

+90 students attended from more than 10 different universities.

Stories & Highlights

This event is special because it was born from the friendship between members of the two organizing associations (oikos Barcelona and Post-Crash) willing to create some local impact. The atmosphere between the participants was very friendly and we managed to create strong bonds in a relatively short period of time. It was the first time oikos Barcelona was holding an event of the kind and despite all struggles and tiredness, was completely worth it.

Achievements and Development

We completed another semester of chapter pathways and made progress in engaging as many chapters as possible through the chapter check-ins and houses. Excitingly, we are in the process of getting chapter coaching off the ground through a handover project to the new board!

Key Learnings

• Some houses have been working better than others. We observed that there needs to be a “critical mass” of engaged chapters in the house for the community feeling and benefit of the house’s concept to really materialize.
• While last semester, we did not find the capacity to implement the chapter coaching, this semester we will have to take care to define realistic roles and generate a sense of ownership so that our vision can turn into a reality.

Touched hearts

We successfully completed a year of houses & learnt a lot in the process! The impact became tangible in the warmth of our semester kick-off and reflection calls, where we had really deep and warm conversations around the value of our work as oikees and the importance of community in the face of the climate crisis.

Diversity & Inclusion

So far, out of a total of 8 houses, 6 of them have been more or less functioning with 4 of them meeting regularly and doing well. Houses used to be organized by region and we are now mixing houses from different part of the world to foster more diversity in the exchanges between chapters.

Stories & Highlights

https://oikos-international.org/about_us/chapter-pathways-initiative/#!

Future Aspirations & Milestones

We are picking up the chapter coaching project and reworked on it / redesigned it in order to launch it in 2023. This way, we are getting one step closer to realizing the full vision of the chapter pathways! Rather than a shift in focus, it represents an expansion of our capacity.
Our 3 main goals are:

• Enroll 5 chapters in the pilot chapter coaching program
• Recruit a new generation of house facilitators
• Regroup houses to let more of them shine!

Achievements and Development

This fall, we have invited to the oikos orientation call (October 14th) to give chapter members an orientation of oikos International, our support offers and international opportunities. Chapter members left informed and new connections between the oikos International team and some of the chapter members could be formed.
In comparison to similar calls, the participant number has slightly increased, though not tremendously. We’d love to reach more chapters next time and have follow-up materials sent
During the the Community Reflection Call on December 9th, oikees were invited to reflect on achievements, challenges and learnings and could hear from other chapters’ experiences which fostered community feeling among chapters.

Key Learnings

• Communicate early
• Less information overload in the orientation calls
• Leave space for connection-making/networking and exchange

Touched hearts

oikos orientation call: 7 people from 4 chapters
Community Reflection Call: 6 people from 6 chapters

Diversity & Inclusion

Participating chapters:
oikos orientation call: Lisbon, Barcelona, Warsaw, Copenhagen
Community Reflection call: Kano, Copenhagen, Nottingham, Graz, Paderborn, Barcelona

Stories & Highlights

Launch of oiToolbox as digital resource for chapters to use for their chapter work: https://wiki.oikos-international.org/oikosmos/
Spread to at least 8 chapters already.

Future Aspirations & Milestones

Next orientation call: February 2024, 10 chapters present

New oikos International Board more included to foster close connection to chapters

Achievements and Development

We used the summer break after our last semester reflection to rethink some parts of our pathways initiative. Considering the diversity of our community, we realized that using “semesters” to frame this initiative is not inclusive enough. Some universities do not have semesters but rather years, term, trimesters etc. 
Thus, we’ve decided on the following reframe: 

• Semester opening (2x/year) >> oikos orientation call (2x/year)
• Semester closing/reflection (2x year) >> community reflection call (1x/year in December)

Key Learnings

Language is key!

Touched hearts

0 due to summer break 

Stories & Highlights

Constantly improving and adapting our work in a co-creative way is fun!

Future Aspirations & Milestones

Having an impactful first oikos orientation call on October 14th

Achievements and Development

A new team of people working in the chapter pathways circle was slowly able to build up connections with the chapter community to support them in their daily work. We are happy to strengthen individual connections, however, our online formats that are open to the whole community lack participation from oikees.

Key Learnings

What’s the added value of joining the virtual sessions we host?
That’s the question we need to address and actively communicate to our target group – our international chapters and alumni of oikos.
Furthermore, a constant learning is that only through personal connections we’ll be able to reach people. If chapter members don’t know anyone from oikos International, they will not engage on the international level.

Touched hearts

Four board members were conducting our bi-annual chapter check-ins and were able to have individual calls with 28 out of 43 chapters.
In our house calls, our house facilitators hosted around 15 chapters that were actively participating.
For the semester opening, 2 chapters from the international chapter community attended. The semester reflection was attended by 3 chapters.

Stories & Highlights

One of our houses was super motivated to discuss ways on reducing their carbon footprint. They will meet again soon to play the game “2 Tonnes”: https://www.2tonnes.org/english

Future Aspirations & Milestones

Re-evaluate where we put our energy. What online formats do we want to host and offer to the chapters? What is actually helpful for them to feel supported in their chapter journey?

Achievements and Development

24 teams participated, which represented over 100 students. The event increased awareness about the circular economy within Hong Kong, and what firms can do to create the critical infrastructure required for Hong Kong to truly shift to a “net zero” economy.

Touched hearts

+100 participants representing 24 teams

Stories & Highlights

With this project we have managed to expose undergraduate students to the world of responsible investing. Inspired youth to consider a career related to the green economy. Provided vital consulting experience to students – hoping that such experience will prove to be a solid foundation on which they can build on.

Topics

organizing, structure

Achievements and Development

Constitution reviewed & updated
oikos Guideline created & updated
Field guides introduced & in progress
User guides developed as an additional platform

Key Learnings

• Constitution changes are the foundation of wider shifts, but need proper communication & facilitation
• Our organization changes so fast, that after 6 months the updates are quite essential
• Starting with new processes is hard for the whole team, the effort to get going needs to be well-facilitated

Touched hearts

Around 25 team members & 40 community representatives

Diversity & Inclusion

We included aspects of diversity & inclusion in the design phase of the project. The whole structure is publicly available online. Access to field guides can be requested upon demand.

Stories & Highlights

Voting on the constitution changes was a big moment, just as much as finalizing the guideline for the first time.

Oikos Constitution: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1Dk6k4HzSw7JRJ5MO-vijHnKdiu72aRz4/view?usp=sharing
Oikos Guideline: https://wiki.oikos-international.org/organizational-guidelines/DxEUaN215EcZm59jnlXV/

Future Aspirations & Milestones

• Increased literacy of community reg. Constitution
• All field guides created for all oI circles
• Continuous process of updating field guides & oikos Guideline

Achievements and Development

We started to develop the project & can see impressive progress. The platform is evolving based on the needs of our community & we are proud of the playfulness & creativity of the project.
We recruited a volunteer & received a big affirmation from interested people.
Not to forget: we came together as a team & found our roles as we moved.

Key Learnings

• A motivated team is key, just as much as clarity of roles
• Spacious planning enhances the creative process, the latter is not linear
• Tangible projects like this are great to start new partner/donor relationships.

Touched hearts

For now, there have been only a few people involved: our team (3 persons) and the group of chapters who participated in a workshop (+- 20 oikees).

Diversity & Inclusion

We included aspects of diversity & inclusion in the design phase of the project. The whole core training will be accessible for free online & is based on self-paced learning. The systemic perspective we chose should help us to include and respect, yet not focus too much on cultural aspects, as we are zooming in on the role of the individual in their context.

Stories & Highlights

When reaching out for volunteers, we were met with lots of interest & great feedback. Answering a directly stated need from the community gives us a sense of purpose and addresses a long-time wish we couldn’t live up to before.

Future Aspirations & Milestones

• Joining oikos Camp with a SBC team
• Getting the sustainability basecamp ready for beta testing by September
• Recruiting a long-term volunteer for the project
• Successfully launching the initiative in Autumn

Achievements and Development

– In 2022, the fundraising circle started as a space to help every initiative through regular check-ins & fundraising support,
– There was a successful launch of our CrowdFunding efforts through multiple campaigns including a very impact Alumni sponsored campaign,
– Adoption and Development of new infrastructure, trying lots of new ideas and prototyping workshops to help move our efforts forward,
– Identifying our CashFlows & Budget Gaps

Touched hearts

oikees within these teams where involved:

• Fundraising Circle
• Fundraising Support 
• Fundraising Advisor
• Partnership Circle
• Co-Presidents
• Fundraising Volunteers

Our donors from our Partnership circle:

• AVIVA Investors
• European Youth Foundations
• Corymbo
• Movetia
• P4NE
• Stiftung Evidenz

Stories & Highlights

The Fundraising Circle connects all the other circles of oikos to make Fundraising efforts a central part of our responsibilities. Fundraising is no longer a centralized and silo-ed function but something we work collaboratively on as a team. Each initiative and program participates, brings leads, provides ideas & feedback, works on fundraising applications, and shares learnings. The Fundraising Circle meets bi-monthly and additionally to initiative representatives, fundraising volunteers join this call and dedicate a few hours a week to advance this plan.

Future Aspirations & Milestones

• Identify our Goals/Gaps for Fundraising in 2023: clarity on direction and where we go next with our efforts, budgeting gaps, and fundraising targets
• Pitch your program and what you do: practicing our Pitches together and how we share about ourselves to the wider world
• Prepare more materials useful for outreach to organizations and get into the “Doing” side with applications

Achievements and Development

The past months have been dominated by focusing new energy on fundraising to enable our continuity and activities of the year.

We have secured CHF 22’092.85 in revenues in the past 3 months of which CHF 12900 is funding for our general budget. The rest was raised for our projects LEAP YOUth and oikos Camp.

Key Learnings

When it comes to donor communication, one key learning among the team was to really ask specific questions on what should be included in a funding proposal early on. For instance, what kind of quantitative/qualitative impact is supposed to be shared, if a strategic vision is required and/or the precise implementation plan.
Furthermore, we have learned that it is better to navigate funding proposals together rather than working on them alone.

Touched hearts

14 individuals seemed to have been touched by our work as they have donated during our most recent crowdfunding campaign. 4 foundations have sned or confirmed to generous donations to us.

Stories & Highlights

A highlight has been an additional donation by Partners For a New Economy (P4NE), an organization who has been supporting us over the past years. They have decided to provide their current grantees with some additional financial support due to the currently challenging economic situation.

Future Aspirations & Milestones

The update of our constitution in April has opened new opportunities for sponsorships and offering services to other organizations. This new way of fundraising is yet to be explored but we have high aspirations to further approach for-profit organizations.

Topics

fundraising; organisational development

Achievements and Development

– New drive structure developed
– Finance/Fundrasinsing circle implemented with bi-monthly meetings to exchange & engage
– New support structure developed, incl. User guides & other support material being developed
– New dashboard for the whole team, serving as a map for the new territory
– Increased number of outreach & grant proposal with positive feedback
– Increased clarity on our objectives & principles, leading to clear decisions
– New volunteers engaged and integrated into existing volunteer support circle
– Established check-ins with advisors & mentors to gather feedback and support
– Researched alternative and non-traditional ways to fundraising through crowdfunding
– Joined online platforms to expand the reach and awareness of our work

Key Learnings

• Fundraising is a difficult & new topic for many. We collaboratively challenge old mindsets to money while exploring generational and societaly expectations This is also work on beliefs & cross-generational patterns
• We are lucky to have some great partners who role model the relationships we envision to embark on with future partners, as well
• It takes time & patience to develop structures & have the whole team on board, claiming their ownership
• Finding our voice and how to present oikos and our impact is an important skills we all need

Touched hearts

25 (oikos International team)

Diversity & Inclusion

We included aspects of diversity & inclusion in the design phase of the project. The topics play a big role in our fundraising efforts from several perspectives (eg. diversification of financial resources, or inclusivity of processes for all oikos Internet team members, or transparency in general)

Stories & Highlights

In one of our fundraising circle meetings, we discussed the topic of shame. For many of us the work with & around money brought up a sensation of helplessness, having to retreat which might be well-informed by how our society treats the topic of money-related relationships or how we grew up as individuals. We concluded that it is worth to look deeper into our own stories as we move ahead.

The process of writing grants and funding applications can be a long one but it becomes easier and easier the more you do it because you develop your ‘voice.’ At oikos, we are finding our path forward in learning how to tell stories about our work and convey to funders and partners the impact their support has through us.

“When I joined oikos as a president I thought fundraising would be my least favourite role. By now I enjoy learning about the philanthropic world & getting in touch with like-minded organizations on an eye-level, together with my teammates. There’s so much to discover!” – Sophie Charrois

“I’ve been very impressed by the team’s attitude and willingness to pick up fundraising. It isn’t an easy job but we all realize how important it is as it facilitates our work and impact we have.” – Stephen Snider

Future Aspirations & Milestones

• Finalize all support material (database, info material, user guide etc.) 
• New habits & behavioural patterns integrated throughout the team
• Multiple successful grant proposals & energizing new partnerships

Topics

We addressed Engaged Scholarship and Research Collaboration with program alumni during our sessions in July and September. We also had a summer break in August. Based on our midterm evaluations, the participants gained the following competencies: Communicating publicly about own research, becoming engaged scholar, improving own time management, acting in more coherence with own values

Achievements and Development

We secured the partnership with the PRMEi5 Initiative to further develop the LEAP Researchers program with 50 global participants while involving their supervisors and LEAP Researchers alumni. We will be implementing the PRMEi5 Pedagogy in the program. Togther with LEAP Researchers alumnus Stefan Siegel, we also presented a project focused on Sustainabiliy Education at the Transforming Education Conference in Bern.

Key Learnings

To change: With the PRMEi5 we would like to prepre a certified training program and set the clear criteria for the participation. We wish to have more globally represented cohorts. Also, we would like to bring Researchers’ supervisors on board to increase the institutional impact of the program. And we would like to bring PRMEi5 Pedagogy closer to oikos.

Touched hearts

We have 17 LEAP Researchers on board. The list of program participants remains the same. https://oikos-international.org/initiatives/leadership-program-leap/leap-researchers-track/ In the past sessions, some of them did not join us and we want to focus on increasing commitment in our next sessions.

Diversity & Inclusion

During our session on engaged scholars, we addressed the Global North and prestigious universities’ citation problems and talked about deeper and decolonized engagement of researchers coming from Global South.

Stories & Highlights

Q1: “I learned crucial soft skills for my PhD. I would like to learn more about the different ways on how to make your PhD, career and personal life more engaged in sustainability and sustainable transformation.” Q2: “My coaching sessions have inspired me to meditate more often again and to learn better how to say no. My coaching sessions do affect my daily life.” Q3: “On a more technical note I did indeed use my research pitch as an inspiration for my final examination, so that helped a lot. Also, on a personal note, I was reminded to decouple my personal value from my performance at work / at uni. “

Future Aspirations & Milestones

We would like to finalize the LEAP Researchers program this year and set out the future collaboration with PRMEi5 well. Furthermore, the impact of the LEAP Researchers program will be presented at the EAPRIL Conference in Belfast on November 22. We would like to hire new program managers who will hold the program with diligence and care.

Topics

Sustainability and Leadership

Achievements and Development

We have successfully launched LEAP Researchers, with high levels of engagement on social media, influence on the UN global level, newly formed Communities of Practice where the LEAP Researchers deepen connections and we apply a Regenerative Impact Evaluation establishing new collaborations.
We have an exponential growth of the program, new digital tools and collaborations, and the program reaches beyond Europe.

Key Learnings

Have more capacity in terms of experience with budgets and fundraising and also to have more support for the launch of the program, with two people more in the team running the program. A higher salary corresponding to the level of the program.

Touched hearts

134 applicants, 64 participants, 64 coaches, 51 nationalities, 57.8% women, 40.6% men, 1.6% non-binary.

Diversity & Inclusion

We read out a beautiful welcome letter from the Art of Hosting that set up a safe and inclusive space. We as facilitators recognised our privileged position and blind spots. We fostered diversity by making it a criteria for the selection process and for grouping participants in Communities of Practice.

Stories & Highlights

Kick-off
https://www.linkedin.com/posts/saloni-sinha-98a88ba2_unprme-leapresearcher-responsiblebusiness-activity-7178810074616721409-eO5i?utm_source=share&utm_medium=member_ios

Values Session
https://www.linkedin.com/posts/sarahwilliamshe_as-part-of-the-enriching-leap-researcher-activity-7188965594455539713-P139?utm_source=share&utm_medium=member_ios

Collaboration with PRME i5
https://www.unprme.org/news/prme-and-oikos-international-collaborate-to-empower-sustainability-researchers/

Future Aspirations & Milestones

Bringing highly motivated and skilled people together unravels a great potential. Also the participants being coached will reveal untapped potential. Milestones: To support exchange and community between the participants, introduce tools, frameworks and leadership skills/mindsets.

Achievements and Development

LEAP Researchers 2022
Together with the guiding team we empowered 13 early career researchers to act towards sustainability through their research, actions, and contributions to oikos community. The program was highly appreciated by all participants, and most of them recomended it to their peers. Thanks to the one to one individual calls, there were concrete outcomes and impact on participants explored. See the key points coming from the evaluation below:

GENERAL FEEDBACK VERY POSITIVE
– coaching element of the program highly appreciated as one of the most impactful elements, all participants gave it very high grade, 9/10 out of 10 points
– the program has met the participants needs and most of the participants loved the possibiblity to shape the program
– Strengths assessment provided through the program was mentioned and appreciated by most of the participants
– group sessions were generally appreciated as well, especially by participants seeking peer connections

IMPACT ON PERSONAL AND PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT OF PARTICIPANTS
– increase of self-awareness and reflection capacity which was applied in personal and career decisions (e.g. decision on my next job, decision on doing the PhD, setting and communicating own limits, decision to slow down, exploring and connecting with own needs)
– Increase of communication capacity – application of NVC practise at participants workplace, ability to ask powerful and challenging questions (e.g. new ability to say NO, giving open feedback to supervisor, demanding for less, managing conflicts at workplace, becoming more empathetic teacher and supervisor)
– increased confidence and courage (e.g. to stand up for my own different and more progressive resesarch, paradigm and sticking with own values and alternative thinking)
– exploration and application of own strengths and their conscious use in research focus decisions (e.g. analytical thinking)

CREATING VALUABLE CONNECTIONS
– this happended especially through peer group meetings
– significant collaborations as a result (1 joint article in progress with our speaker, 1 joint research project in progress, 1 ongoing collanboration on oikos Cosulting project)

PRACTICING OWN LEARNING AND SHAPING OWN INSTITUTIONS/ COMMUNITIES
partially through student projects involvement (8 LEAP Researchers got involved and contributed to oikos community and beyond. See the concrete projects here: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1zPqBxah0PcokTlXviMZne-PFJGFme7mHUS85avwfO3U/edit#gid=1287390281
– workplaces application (initiating more and deeper conections and communications in and beyond departments)
– higher quality of student supervision and and implementing sustainability in courses creation

Key Learnings

Improvement proposals coming the Strategy Meeting and from the program evaluation calls:
COMMUNICATION

• clear communication of Vision, Mission, Goals and Desired Outcomes already at the Info Calls and throughout the Program
• explanation of what is leaderhip development for us and how it will be approached, e.g. inner leaderhsip focus, strenghts, mindfulness, inner development goals (also on the website), this will happen during the Info Calls, Participants Selection Process (in case one to one interview happens, during the Kick-off and throughout the program
• clear explanation of professional development sessions, including examples of sessions, Info Calls, Kick Off and throughout the Program

INFO CALLS

• clear program structure and expectations well presented (program vision, mission, goals, timeline, methods, possible topics (based on the previous LEAP Researchers programme, commitment, student engagement projects examples: Academy, Camp, LEAP Youth Coaching

PARTICIPANTS SELECTION

• core criteria: aligment with program vision, mission, goals, clear commitment, disciplines distribution/ good balance between diversity and aligment in research topics
• option to run one to one calls with selected participants in case of a need for more clarity

PROGRAM STRUCTURE – TOWARDS A HIGHER CLARITY

• most meeting dates planning at the beginning Kick Off in March and setting fixed dates, e.g. every last Tuesday in a month
• Clear offer of the Personal Development Topics at the beginning and their selection (at least for the first half of the programme)
• Clear planning of professional development topics including LEAP Researchers involvement, in each session at least one LEAP Researchers will be more actively involved
• Clear possible student project involvement presented during the Info Calls, Kick – off, this part of the LEAP Researchers will be only optional
• Research Sharing Session will happen earlier, in May and it will focus purely on research collaboration. The Research Pitching will happen already during the Kick-off in March
• Peer Groups will be offered and formed already during May during the Research Sahring Session that will happen in this month to give participants an option to form a peer group with people who may have similar research topic (based on the Kick off meeting when people will prepare their Research profiles and pitch their research
• The Kick off and the Midterm meetings will be longer, 3h, the rest of the meetings will be 2h long
• More self studying materials will be shared to dive deeper
• LEAP Researchers alumni will be invited to the professional oriented sessions
• LEAP Researchers alumni will be offered to co-facilitate some of the LEAP researchers sessions

Touched hearts

We had originally 16 participants, 13 remained active till the end of the program.
Gender balance: 8 male and 8 female
Countries: Switzerland, Germany, India, France/Brazil, France/ South Africa, Spain/ Italy, Austria, Sweden, Sweden/ Iran

Diversity & Inclusion

We addressed this theme through participants’ diversity and inclusive approach during the sessions.

Stories & Highlights

We do not have public testimonials yet. Need to ask the participants for a permission to share.

Future Aspirations & Milestones

We are now in the process of selecting new cohort members, we have significant interest in the program, key is fundraising for this year and deciding on the future of the programe: Will it continue at oikos? Will it stop? Will it be adopted by a university? These questions should be clarified at the first part of 2023.

Achievements and Development

Tangible outputs of the LEAP Researchers 2022 are summarized in this paper we submitted to the EAPRIL conference https://docs.google.com/document/d/1qfm_8wWaMN0OoHdKokH5v0ultBXfiR4Rrtqf0N804_c/edit As of now, it is still only for internal use since it is a draft accepted for the conference and we got a feedback from the reviewers which we will be implementing. Also, you may wonder why there is not a proper name cited / the reason is that you have to submit your paper for a blinded review, therefore the reviewers do not know who (person and organization) is submitting it. This will change once we present our results at the actual conference. You can find out more about the conference here https://eapril.org/events/eapril-2023

Other achievements observed during the overall evaluation with LEAP Researchers participants

IMPACT

Teaching competencies: The higher ability to work with students, motivate and support them, improvement of supervising skills

Sustainability embedded in lectures and research: development of new courses where sustainability plays a crucial role. At least two new courses were inspired by the LEAP Researchers program and are conducted by the participants

Personal Competencies and Self-Awareness: Increase in empathy, ability to listen, ability to set own boundaries, ability to negotiate and address conflicts, knowledge of own strengths and their application on personal and professional life

Higher Intellectual Courage and Confidence: Ability to stand up for nonconventional research, higher ability to influence management at own research and education institutions

New Research and Teaching Collaborations: At least two new research projects and joint grant applications in the fields of sustainability strategy and education innovation came from the LEAP Researchers 2022. One of the was a joint grant for Movetia submitted by St. Gallen University in partnership with oikos and Fielding Graduate University

IMPACT EXPLORATION OF THE CURRENT COHORT IN 2023 IS IN PROGRESS

Key Learnings

International collaborations and financial support are absolutely crucial for the next LEAP Researchers edition in 2024. Without that it does not make sense to run it.

Touched hearts

In terms of LEAP Researchers 2022, this was already written in the last update. Regarding the LEAP Researchers 2023, we have 17 participants, 4 male and 13 female. Mostly from Europe, one participant from India, one originally from China.

Diversity & Inclusion

The program is inclusive in terms on accessibility (online), equal opportunities given to each and every participant, tailored and personally oriented support for all the participants. Furthermore, the participants co-create the program and sessions. All of them being invited to do so.

Stories & Highlights

There is one very nice story we received from one participant of the 2023 cohort: “I am so glad to be part, and each month I get more inspired. Since last month, when we had a discussion on the communication of research to the public, and after that, I brought it up to my supervisor and he could not agree more. With his support, I got to share part of my research in 4 newspaper and even got some interest.”

Future Aspirations & Milestones

Exploring (financial) collaborations with:
PRME i5
4EU+ universitites consortium
UNITAR

Building the oikos LEAP Researchers community (alumni gathering planned in September 2023

Achievements and Development

Here are four major developments of the LEAP Researchers program in the past 3 months.

1. We presented the LEAP Researchers program impact (cohort of 2022) at the EAPRIL Conference in Belfast. Link to our presentation here: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1o2v75aPqw6xyqagpDoLHZds9_js3jCJC/view?usp=sharing
2. We officially closed the LEAP Researchers 2023 program with the last session on December 14
3. We officially started preparations for the LEAP Researchers 24 edition with the PMRE Impactful 5 Initiative team https://www.unprme.org/the-impactful-five-i5/ and held first two Info Calls with interested participants in December
4. We have two new team members joining the LEAP Researchers team (Marina Henriques and Laura Vetter)

Key Learnings

• host the last farewell party already in November
• things always preview  more time then we estimate for the upcoming milestones
• set the key priorities with the new team and balance the handover and execution time

Touched hearts

Let me estimate with relation to the first three major achievements mentioned above

1. EAPRIL Conference participants – it could have been about 25 internationa participants in the workshop room to listen to our presentation (exact estimation to be checked with Marina)
2. LEAP Researchers Closing Ceremony – we had rather small turn over at the final closing ceremony (6 people). Still, we reached to all 16 program participants via follow-up email to say a proper good bye. Reason: Many people had their Christmas parties at their workplaces and some were sick
3. We had 16 registered people for the Info Call 1 and 20 people registered for the call 2 (approx 30% showed up)

Diversity & Inclusion

The most important domain where we address diversity and inclusion is the strive for a truly global community of participants for the LEAP Researchers 2024. We aim to have truly global participants’ representation in the next 2024 cohort.

Stories & Highlights

The most important stories are harvested in the EPARIL Presentation here: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1o2v75aPqw6xyqagpDoLHZds9_js3jCJC/view?usp=sharing

Future Aspirations & Milestones

1. Develop a framework for the LEAP Researchers 2024
2. Select approximately 50 global program participants
3. Organise and handover all the information to the new team

Topics

2. Concrete actions of LEAP Researchers
   The pilot LEAP Researchers’ Track program received positive feedback from its participants who also got involved in other oikos curriculum change activities, e.g. run a workshop on Ecological Economics during the our CC Squad meetings, started coaching oikos chapters on curriculum change, hosted webinar on Democratizing Academic Research in partnership with swissnex Brazil and supported us with organization of Curriculum Camp. Furthermore, one of the LEAP Researchers’ Track participants got inspired by the workshop on innovative learning methods co-hosted with WWF Switzerland and developed a new course using service learning method which is part of the Design Thinking Challenge at University of Graz. Finally, some of LEAP Researchers’ Track participants decided to get involved in designing the next program edition in 2022.

ENVISIONED IMPACT FOR THE FUTURE – next editions
– Strong stories of personal and professional development of LEAP Researchers participants
– new partnerships developed
– concrete transforming education actions in the future

Achievements and Development

– 16 ECRs joining the program in 2022
– set up of a Guiding team which is supporting the new group and works very effectively (alumni LEAP Researchers, coaches)
– 3 successful sessions run

Key Learnings

• being personal and committed – leading by example
• select the right participants very wisely and put a strong emphasis on their commitment – quality over quantity
• involve the participants and build strong connections from the beginning – maybe even having in person kick-off meeting to do so

Touched hearts

First pilot 2020-21: 12 ECRs, guided by the oikos International team: More info here: LEAP Researchers – oikos International (oikos-international.org)
Second pilot 2022: 16 ECRs, 8 women, 8 men, Europe, America, Asia

Diversity & Inclusion

By selection of rights candidates (gender, geographical…) However, the selection turned out to be balanced somewhat naturally and in the end the core criterium was motivation and commitment of participants.

Stories & Highlights

1. testimonials from the first pilot
   “I really enjoyed being part of this program as it helped me to reflect on my personal values and strengths and supported me how to use them in my private and professional life. The program with its diverse people and topics was a great source of inspiration for current and future projects and personal developments. Thanks a lot, to oikos international and the entire LEAP researcher’s track cohort for making the nine months such an exciting joint learning experience.”

– Tabea Bereuther

“It was a pleasure to get to know fellow oikees from so many different places and to explore with them the meaning and practice of our research in the LEAP Researchers’ Track. The self-led group process, the small-group discussions, and the individual coaching reinforced each other and contributed to the success of this program. It inspired my academic work and opened up new perspectives. I was always looking forward to our next meeting in which we reflected on our goals, approaches, and strengths, brought together by the ideals of support for each other, open-mindedness, and care for sustainability.”

– Oliver Braunschweig

“The LEAP researcher’s track has helped me to set the stage for my PhD in the very beginning. The programme has helped me to identify and set up the environment I need to thrive in. Additionally, I gained insights of how to apply hands-on tools to improve my way of working. All in all, I can only recommend this programme to everyone who embarks on the PhD journey.”

– Lea Trogrlic

“The LEAP Researchers’ Track has really boosted my personal development in research and teaching. Monthly meetings, 1:1 coaching, and advising university students on curriculum reform are just a few examples of this program where participants can create real impact towards greater sustainability.”

– Jakob Knauf

“The oikos LEAP researcher’s track was a thought-provoking and creative journey that inspired me in many different ways. It is a great leadership program that offers space for dialogue, co-creation, and personal development. For me, it was an excellent place to connect with like-minded people and explore new ideas together. I am very grateful for all the insightful sessions about leadership, coaching, sustainability (e.g., in higher education), and research topics during the last 9 months.”

– Magdalena Rusch

Future Aspirations & Milestones

• further develop the LEAP Researchers in terms of methodology, evaluation, impact measurement, establish it as a flagship oikos program
• replicate the program in collaboration with well selected partners and apply for more partnership grants
• establish the program at universities through alumni LEAP Researchers

Topics

organisational development

Achievements and Development

– New team structure developed & explored based on multiple conversations
– Roles introduced & used in several sub-circles
– Internal communication process/infrastructure in focus & soon to be implemented, including new meeting formats

Key Learnings

• It takes time & multiple revisions to develop as an organization with an ever-shifting team
• The team needs to be part of the process from the beginning, and understand that this is not ‘on the side’, but fundamental to what we do
• There is space for frustrations, & it helps to share them with partners on similar journeys 

Touched hearts

oikos International team (+-25 people) & external supporters (+-5 people)

Diversity & Inclusion

The journey of moving our organization into a direction of more self-organizing automatically makes our workspace more inclusive. Through the nature of self-organizing which fosters less hierarchy and more participation & responsibility for the individual, we foster a space were diversity is lived and encouraged.

Stories & Highlights

When looking at our team structure, we had several ,mind-opening moments where we all together experienced that the old model didn’t serve its purpose anymore, and that it can feel very playful and sometimes challenging to look at our organization from a different perspective.

Here some further links:
Team structure: https://wiki.oikos-international.org/organizational-guidelines/DxEUaN215EcZm59jnlXV/the-oikos-international-team-tending-the-oikos-community/working-as-a-team/team-structure

On roles & decision making: https://wiki.oikos-international.org/organizational-guidelines/DxEUaN215EcZm59jnlXV/the-oikos-international-team-tending-the-oikos-community/working-as-a-team/how-we-work-together

Future Aspirations & Milestones

• Smooth evolution of introduced structures & processes
• Adaptation of new communication habits using new infrastructure
• Exploration of decision-making process

Achievements and Development

2022 was a year full of internal developments at oikos International. Some of our achievements include:
– updating our team structure based on circles (holocracy approach)
– further working with roles
– updating our decision-making structure

Key Learnings

• Including the people who are most affected by any change is key!
• Combining self-organizing with the legal structure of an association can be challenging.

Touched hearts

9 employees, 6 voluntary board members and 10 additional volunteers currently work at oikos International and profit from our self-organized structures

Stories & Highlights

no idea @darija

Future Aspirations & Milestones

• Updating our salary structure to do justice to the diversity in the team
• Integrating our team structure more into daily workflows and processes (e.g. update of our Google Drive structure)

Achievements and Development

This year we decided to cover the Inner Development Goals as the main framework like the LEAP YOUth Program organized by oikos International. In the winter term, we reflected on the election of the framework and recollected ideas. In the summer term, we planned to run the program for six months (like in the previous chapter LEAP programs). This year the program would take place from February to July 2023 and comprises a Kick-Off session (online), five sessions (onsite and online; not hybrid), and a closing session with feedback at the end of the program. If the participants attended a minimum of 3/5 workshops, they would receive a certificate from us, also underwritten by oikos International through our cooperation for completing the chapter Leadership Program 2023. As always, we give the participants the option for an anonymous vote on which skills are they interested in. We adapt to the needs of the participants. This semester we will cover and work on the inner dimensions of being, thinking, relating, collaborating, and acting with a focus on the skills of Openness & Learning mindset, complexity awareness, appreciation & connectedness, co-creation & mobilization skills, and creativity & optimism through five workshops. The participants would also receive in addition to input (working with a workbook, etc.) also interactive activities to dive deeper into the skills and therefore understand better the selected skills of the different IDGs. The key is practice! Regarding quantitative data, we have a total of 6 registered participants and counting the organizers 9 with a total of 7 different nationalities.

Stories & Highlights

We asked Lis McNicholl if she is interested to work with us on two workshops for our program and Lis accepted and is now working together with us. We love working so much altogether and for that reason, we decided to work more on Responsible Leadership initiatives and applied for the EU Green Week 2023. Our partner event was accepted about the Inner Development Goals. Stay tuned! This year’s EU Green Week 2023 topic would highlight the importance of “green” skills – skills that will empower people to join and contribute to the green transition.

Achievements and Development

In this third edition of the PIR, students from 45 schools located in five continents and 21 countries participated in the survey. The number of student responses collected remained stable at above 8000 responses, comparable to 2021 and much higher than in the starting year 2020. With a robust average of 180 valid student inputs per school, it is encouraging to see that students from all continents are eager to express their voice. The minimum number of respondents per school remains at 50 per program (bachelor or master) or 100 across both programs . Looking back at three years of running the survey, we confirm the increasing reliability and solidity of the survey.

As in the past years, the participation of bachelor and master level students remains balanced. There is a continued slight increase of bachelor level participants across the three years (from 45% in 2020 to 48% in 2021 to 52% in 2022). The gender distribution remains balanced with 52% female participants and stable across the three years. There is a continued increase of national students (from 63% in 2020 to 70% in 2021 to 74% in 2022) as compared to international students. This reflects the continued COVID-19 related challenges to studying internationally. In terms of the number of study years, 52% of students were in their first year of study, 23% in their second, and 25% in their third or fourth year of study. While there are more first year students this year the distribution remains quite stable across the three years. Participants’ age breakdowns are as follows: 32% of students are 20 or younger, 49% are 21-25 years old, and 19% are 26 or older. The percentage of the oldest age bracket dropped by 11%, and the younger age brackets are growing compared to the 2021 Edition. This is connected to the slight increase of bachelor students overall and the younger average age at the master level.

Key Learnings

The hardest part with the Positive Impact Rating is the fundraising phase – where we communicate about the new Edition. If we had to do anything differently, would be to use more the network and PIR-friends to expand our influence reach.

Touched hearts

• 45 schools located in five continents and 21 countries;
• 8000 students

Diversity & Inclusion

Western Europe was represented with 13 schools, North America, Northern & Eastern Europe, Southern Europe, and Asia each with 6-7 schools.
Central/South America with two schools, and Oceania and Africa present with one school each. The diversity of participation increased slightly with new school participating from Australia and a few more Asian schools joining.

Stories & Highlights

All stories from the PIR Business Schools have been collected in the Positive Impact Rating report: https://www.positiveimpactrating.org/report2022

We loved involving students in the development of the case stories and students videos.
We loved the commitment of student coordinators to the project and their openness in approaching us directly.

Future Aspirations & Milestones

• Set-up a solid campaign for the 2023 Edition. The PIR needs to increase its participating numbers – we haven’t set a target for this year’s edition yet but would be great to set a +10 minimum for participating Schools.

Achievements and Development

We created a lot of the ideas for the future of the Case Stories already.
We plan a story squad, that will be initiated at the Semester Reflection Call.
The first ever StoryLab was hosted at the ICC.
Right now, we don’t focus to much on the old cases, maybe we find a volunteer for that at some point; a call for volunteers didn’t work out, but we are sure that this is something to explore.

Touched hearts

We gathered 4 stories so for from 4 chapters with around 20 people from at least 5 nationalities involved.

Stories & Highlights

You can actually read all the stories here: https://oikos-international.org/te-stories/

Future Aspirations & Milestones

We want to have 3 more stories ready to publish. We want to find a way to publish these stories also through other networks. E.g. net positive

Achievements and Development

The concept has been developed & presented to an audience of oikees (active & alumni). Several oiConnects took place to test the concept & all participants really enjoyed the gatherings.

Key Learnings

• oiConnects happen already out there. It is more about the branding & the storytelling
• People enjoy being with likeminded people, there is a big potential here.

Touched hearts

+40 people participated for now in the prototypes

Diversity & Inclusion

We included aspects of diversity & inclusion in the design phase of the project. The platform to invite for oiconnets is accessible to everyone & oikos International communication channels can be used for the spread of the invitation.

Stories & Highlights

One of our oiConnects was hosted in the garden of an Alumni. We gathered with over 7 generations of oikees & several friends of the community. The moments & stories we shared are invaluable & deserve to be spread to a wider audience.

Future Aspirations & Milestones

• Introducing the idea to the whole network (communication campaign)
• Website live
• Communication & registration mechanisms working & prepared

Achievements and Development

TE Squad actively participated in the oikos Camp 2023 . Our team dedicated its efforts to crafting an informative workshop and achieved a significant milestone. This workshop not only aimed to raise awareness but also to serve as an invitation for chapters to become part of the TE Squad. Through this initiative, we sought to encourage chapters to join our community and actively contribute to our ongoing mission.

We organized a summer campaign titled “A Glimpse into the Transformation of Education: “The journey of transforming education: One day as the rector of your school.” As part of this campaign, we gathered a total of five videos featuring oikees and alumni members of oikos chapter participated from various corners of the world.

Barcelona chapter was connected to Kai – LEAP coach to coach the chapter to launch the elective course on sustainability in Esade Business School, Spain. More updates after the meeting with Dean in October-November

Key Learnings

During the summer, we dedicated our time to charting our path for the upcoming fall season with designing the workshop for recruiting more chapters to TE squad. We made the decision to not host any TE Squad meet-ups as chapters are not active and busy with exams, vacation, internships
Looking ahead to the future, it’s essential to consider that if the TE Squad plans to be part of Camp 2024, securing funding for chapter participation will be a crucial priority.

Touched hearts

Through oikos camp, TE squad reached 15+ members including other student associations like Club of Rome & 50 percent
Through the online TE squad pitch during the camp which was recorded and posted on youtube, we have reached 82 people

Stories & Highlights

Neema Nelly: For me, working closely with the Transforming Education (TE) Squad team equipped me with the capability to adapt to diverse viewpoints and methodologies. I gained a deeper understanding of the power of collective thinking. Navigating through various opinions within the team helped me to refine my communication skills and find common ground, a skill that I believe will serve me well in any future collaborative endeavor.

Future Aspirations & Milestones

TE squad workshop is an important milestone for the next 3 months to focus on spreading awareness on TE and inviting chapters to join TE squad.

Achievements and Development

Qualitative:
TE squad has successfully fostered a culture of critical thinking and social awareness among chapters. Through engaging discussions, chapter stories and initiatives, we have created spaces for meaningful dialogue, knowledge exchange, and personal growth. Some of the qualitative impact are increased trust and safety within the group to share stories and ask critical questions during the discussions. Two chapters – Cologne and Lausanne participated in sharing TE story and having a faculty and student dialogue during the meetup.

Quantitative:
In February, TE squad had no members and now by June, we have 4 chapters actively participating ( Vienna, Graz, Kano, Barcelona) and 3 new chapters joining for one of the meetup sessions (Copenhagen, Baku, Reutlingen). Also Jamshedpur chapter will be active from June month on as they completed their internship and can dedicate time for TE squad.

Key Learnings

Key learnings:

• Individual check-ins with chapters support in having more chapters attend TE Squad meetup
• Attract chapters through interesting topics and speakers
• Networking with chapters during ICC and other chapter conference help build rapport with chapters
  Challenges:
• Consistency in chapter´s attendence

Touched hearts

25 people have been reached
13 people participated
7 nationalities – German, India, Nigeria, France, Algeria, Azerbaijan, Austria
Women: 10 I Men: 3

Stories & Highlights

Sophie Charrois inspired chapters to talk about challenges we are facing in our institutions and together during the session we found solutions and tips to overcome them.

Kai shared about inside lobbying and outside lobbying and the squad found his story inspiring and promising to take a step in their own institutions. It provided validation for some of us that students can make a difference in the university.

Testimonial by Katharina Stoisser, Graz Chapter,Austria:
For me, the TE-squad meetups have always been a great source of inspiration and motivation. Every month (except May), we met online to discuss interesting topics. I loved listening to the stories and advice from the experts, but also from oikees from other chapters. No matter whether we spoke about challenges and insecurities we’re facing in transforming education and possible solutions to them, about rethinking economics, or about inside- and outside lobbying– I always learned a lot. I also really enjoyed how interactive and open the dialogue was. What is more, I experienced these meetups as a safe space where everybody feels seen and welcomed. All in all, I am looking forward to our next meeting – and to everything that is still going to come!

https://oikos-international.org/news/te-squad-call-april-harvest/
https://oikos-international.org/news/te-squad-semester-kick-off-harvest/

Future Aspirations & Milestones

Role play activities
Workshops on proposal writing
Consistently engaging chapters
Consistency in chapter attendence
Aim to reach 2 new chapters every month

Achievements and Development

•  4 oikos Chapters from TE squad – Barcelona, Graz, Kano, Jamshedpur participated in oikos Academy
• TE squad participated in oikos Camp with 4 members from oikos community and external community worked together to create framework and workshop to attract chapters to join the TE squad 
• Created  video content from chapters from camp and LEAP midterm on redefining TE from student´s perspective

Key Learnings

• I learned not to invest all our energy in something that isn’t working. Instead, after the summer break, we took the time to strategize and find a new way for the TE squad to evolve. There’s a recognized need for a space like this for TE work, and one potential solution is to integrate the TE squad into the Academy as a valuable tool.

Touched hearts

• TE squad joined the Oikos Camp with Oikos alumni, a student from Barcelona, and a member from Oikos chapter Graz. This time, the team was made up of people with different skills and backgrounds from Africa, Europe, and Asia. This mix of people brought a lot of energy and creativity. On the last day of the camp, when the TE squad presented their work, more than 100 people watched. This helped more people in the Oikos community and beyond know about the TE squad and what they do. 
• TE squad videos were utilized to promote HES 2023, sparking significant interest and visibility for both the TE squad and oikos International on Instagram. We touched more than 1000 hearts through the communication channels within and outside the community

Stories & Highlights

Everything started with a small group of 4-6 very different people who share one dream: Transforming higher education. We want to contribute to the transformation by creating a workshop that supports students to become active and achieve the changes they want to see at their local universities.
Most of us had never met before camp, but when we got together, we soon realized that we are a great team. Our different backgrounds enabled us to see the project from different perspectives, and we also really enjoyed spending time together. To put it briefly, we had a blast during work and our free time!
We started by envisioning what our education could look like – learner-driven, open for discussion, more focused on sustainability…. we could have kept dreaming and talking for hours! But at some point, it was time to get to action. We started with many questions: How can we make others dream about what their education could look like? How can we help students leverage their impact? What struggles do they face, and how can these issues be overcome? Step by step, and with much support from the genies and the creative workshops they held throughout the camp, we found some answers and created the framework for our workshop “Take higher education one step further towards sustainability”. Currently, we are working on the details of the workshop and looking forward to sharing it with you! Katharina Stiosser, oikos Graz

Future Aspirations & Milestones

• The TE squad is set to transform into a space that facilitates increased exchanges between chapters, aligning with the Oikos Academy initiative.

• I aim to bring onboard five additional chapters to be part of the TE squad.

• I intend to engage LEAP researchers and alumni to play a role in facilitating the space for chapters within the TE squad.

Topics

Peer-coaching, Knowledge Transfer and Handover processes

Achievements and Development

The launch of the new TE Squad format is a reason to celebrate, with a rising number of chapters participating and being committed members of the Squad. Already 3 monthly meetings have been held with different topics and approaches. Learnings and experienced in the field of TE activities have been shared and spread across different chapters. Chapters keep filling out out TE Map on Miro, to capture and discover what other chapters currently do and already achieved in TE.

Key Learnings

Challenges

• participation and committment in regular meetings is challenging within the context of volontary work and study background
• academic calanders can be challenging for participants to combine with participation or taking responsabilities
• study duties vary a lot over programs and national contexts

Touched hearts

In the monthly meetings, in total over 20 participants were joining so far. We have currently 8 committed chapters from Austria, Poland, India, Nigeria, Barcelona, Switzerland and Turkey. So far, we have mostly female oikees representing the TE Squad initiative.

Diversity & Inclusion

We are striving to reach and include chapters from all over the world to join out Squad, in order to learn from each other, especially from divers environments and contexts. A broader and more divers learning is one goal we have.

Stories & Highlights

The TE Squad relaunched successfully and entered into action in full speed. Beautiful monthly Squad meetings have taken place, with lively exchange, sharing, get to know each and other and the community. We felt enthusiastic about the co-created ideas and colorful collaboration taking place, leaving every meeting with joy and motivation to keep transforming our education.

Future Aspirations & Milestones

We envision to communicate better and get clarity what the Squad offers and how useful it can be for chapters, as well as TE mentoring for the chapters to grow and get used more. To sustain the current number of committed members, to create the next Organization Team for the TE Squad and to improve the rotation of roles and responsibilities among the participants.