School of Shapers
The impact of volunteers and professionals from The Hague can be increased by bringing them together and offering a training program that creates connections.
Our city is rich with resilience building partners like our many inspirational community volunteers and professionals. To increase their impact, a training program has been created to strengthen their skills and foster connections between communities.
The Hague is home to many highly engaged citizens who are eager to strengthen communities, neighbourhoods, companies, organisations and other parts of our society. These residents make positive impacts and are seen to be the shapers of our city. Many feel they could be even more impactful with additional skills.
The School of Shapers, pioneered by Umar Mirza, is a professional education programme that further strengthens the shapers and connects them with each other. A class of 10 to 15 shapers participates in an 8 to 10 week programme that equips and motivates them to take their good work to the next level. Experts will train the shapers on topics as strategy, media, lobbying, leadership, resilience, marketing, management and governance. The shapers are coached on ways to implement their learnings into their own community or organisation.
The School of Shapers provides a platform to connect the shapers, expanding their network and strengthening their collective thinking power. By bringing our city shapers together, the School of Shapers aims to build bridges between the different communities they represent. The School of Shapers will facilitate and encourage ongoing cooperation between shapers, leading to a vibrant network of alumni. This adds to social cohesion within our city, which is essential for our resilience.
Lead:
Umar Mirza, MDI consultants
Partners:
City of The Hague (RTH, DPZ, DPS), Leiden University, Rotterdam School of Management, The Dutch National Theatre, Maatschappelijke Alliantie and others.
When and how?
- A pilot class has started in November 2018.
- Complete the pilot and evaluate outcomes and impact mid-2019.
- Refinement of the process to integrate learnings in 2019.
- Create a process to scale initiative nationally and globally.
