The 10 video interviews below are excerpts from the next stage of our evaluation. Conducted by Catalyst's learning partner, inFocus, they feature people directly involved in Catalyst activities sharing their honest reflections and individual stories of impact.

They've been selected to represent as many of the different aspects of the network as possible, and speak to a range of successes, challenges and learnings about our collective approach. As part of our commitment to work in the open, we want to share them here.

The core Producer team have written a blog reflecting on the key learnings to emerge from these stories, and across the wider network. This piece also includes a update on some additional activities which are not covered by the videos below.

Meanwhile, inFocus are analysing the full videos, alongside detailed outcomes and indicator data from each work stream. We'll share the results here as an annual learning report in June.

Activity highlights since the update report have been:

A clipart of man in a brown jumper holding two strawberries and smiling
1. Improving our networked delivery (the fruits)
A clipart of a woman in a brown cardigan holding a pot with a small growing blue tree
2. Developing our working groups (the roots)
A clipart of a man in a yellow shirt and green cardigan who  is holding a shovel
3.Strengthening the core and future of Catalyst (the core)

As Catalyst continues to shift to a more network-led approach the tree model below is a handy metaphor to capture and communicate the complexity of Catalyst and the reciprocity within it.

A purple tree that illustrates catalyst roots and fruits model. Initiative circles are the fruits of the tree represented by red strawberries, red hearts and red apples with black tops.  On the top of the tree there is a text Collaborative Network circle with hearts with different initiatives within them, on the left there is support and training text with apples/red circles around it that contain different initiatives and on the right there is reuse infrastructure circle with strawberries around it that also contain different initiatives. 

On the trunk of the tree there is the core text and in the roots there are Funder Ecology, Learning & Impact and Inclusion. There is a girl in wheelchair reaching to one of the fruits of the tree on the right and on the left there is a man with scissors with his palm pointing at the core text

Initiative circles

Initiatives (the 'fruit' of the tree) held by designated Leads from different organisations - currently thirteen key partners; services, spaces and standards in delivery; time-bound contractual arrangements, collectively governed through sociocratic circles:

A red circle with a black circle on top
Support and Training Circle
A red strawberry with a black sprout on top
Reuse Infrastructure Circle
a red heart with black drop
Collaborative Network Circle
A red circle with a black circle on top

Support and Training Circle

Partner-led service offers that support the iteration and dissemination of digital best practice, either through upskilling teams internally or connecting them to external experts

A red strawberry with a black sprout on top

Reuse Infrastructure Circle

Partner-led service offers that support the iteration and dissemination of digital best practice, either through upskilling teams internally or connecting them to external experts

A red circle with a black circle on top

Support and Training Circle

Partner-led service offers that support the iteration and dissemination of digital best practice, either through upskilling teams internally or connecting them to external experts

Core

Led by Producers; these are experiments in how we communicate, govern and operate in alignment with our values and objectives. Testing out different ways of working together across Catalyst based on needs expressed by the network, looking at different governance models, e.g. through our Steering Group for the period of transition. Connecting valuable content and learning from the roots to the fruits and vice versa. Enabling support operations and information to flow smoothly.

Roots

Ongoing streams of work that underpin all our work; cross-cutting; the ‘roots’ from which everything is sustained and nourished. No fixed end point - ongoing and foundational. These are made up of our Working Groups (WG) on Inclusion, Learning & Impact and Funder Ecology.

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