How do you break societal norms to be creative in spaces that are unfamiliar? These were some of the thought-provoking conversations that evolved during Hivos East Africa’s 100 days of learning. Convened by the Age of Wonderland on 16 February 2017, the two-day event featured discussions on how to foster inspiration, trust and learning.

Age of Wonderland’s 100 days of learning involved sharing the knowledge and experiences of creatives with Hivos’ staff and showed us new ways of learning and engaging in global social innovation.

Beyond breaking the stereotypes surrounding social innovation, the event allowed staff to simply step away from their daily responsibilities, reflect on what makes them happy and share their passions. This first-of-a-kind forum was novel in that it enabled staff to access different parts of their hearts and minds, generate curiosity and listen to each other’s stories.

‘’Your passion mostly defines who you are. This cannot be separated from your day-to-day responsibilities. These are some of the spaces where ‘togetherness’ can generate momentum and good will and churn out powerful outputs,’’ said Hivos East Africa’s Regional Director, Mendi Njonjo.

Some of the key take-aways from the learning event involved learning in uncomfortable spaces through a combination of listening and sharing.  Notably, “unlearning” was also marked as an enabler of embracing new ways of knowledge sharing.

‘’My biggest win from this gathering has been regaining the desire to revolutionalise my career from broken dots of inspiration,’’ said Hivos East Africa’s Junior Programme Officer for Freedom of Expression, Sylvia Musalagani.

About Age of Wonderland

The Hivos Age of Wonderland programme fosters an informal, personal approach to authentic learning. By learning together, teachers become students and students become teachers. This process can be adopted by other partners involved in the programme and evolve to grow new, strong global networks, contributing to social innovation worldwide.

The 2017 edition of Age of Wonderland will centre on developing methods, tools and ideas for knowledge transfer based on commonalities rather than potential differences. This edition will go beyond time and space where artists, researchers, frontrunners, social entrepreneurs and designers will execute their own 100 days of learning events in their own cities.