Strengthening our connective tissue

We are good at gathering. Sometimes we're even good at following up. But the relationships and infrastructure needed to connect and nurture promising efforts over the months or years they may need to come to fruition are often much weaker. This conversation asks what it would take to strengthen our collective “connective tissue”: the relationships, practices, skills, and structures that help people stay connected beyond individual events, organizations, and funding cycles. How do we turn a promising conversation into sustained collaboration? What helps a network remain useful when the initial energy of a gathering fades? The challenge is partly relational and partly structural. Strong connections require trust, attention, and people willing to invest in relationships over time. But they may also require better models and infrastructure for sharing knowledge, coordinating efforts, and helping ideas travel between communities. What already works, and what might we need to build differently? This session will explore what makes connection durable and useful. Participants will draw on their own experiences of collaborations that flourished, stalled, or disappeared, looking for practical lessons about what enables collective work to continue. The hope is that this conversation itself can become an experiment in stronger connective tissue, creating relationships and shared learning that continue after the gathering and potentially generating models that others can test and build upon. Discussion Group Leaders Bonnie Koenig is the principal consultant of Going International with a focus on helping leaders strategize around impactful international engagement. Joy Zawadi is the executive director of Akili Dada an advocate for women's and girls' rights with a knack for strategy, storytelling and collaboration. Vahe Mirikian is the director of Peace Direct's US Office with a focus on developing advocacy strategies and navigating challenging times. What to expect An interactive, facilitated discussion shaped by the experiences of people in the room. Co-hosts will offer prompts and examples, but the emphasis will be on participants comparing what they have learned about sustaining relationships, networks, and collaborative efforts over time. The group will explore practical models and practices worth testing, with an invitation for interested participants to continue the conversation virtually or in person after the session. Who this is for This session is for anyone interested in strengthening the relationships and infrastructure that make collaboration possible, particularly network builders, conveners, funders, social entrepreneurs, organizational leaders, and others whose work depends on connecting people and efforts across organizational or sector boundaries. What you will get out of it Perspectives on why promising connections and collaborations often lose momentum; Practical ideas for nurturing relationships and collective efforts beyond individual gatherings; Examples of models, skills, and infrastructure that can strengthen ongoing “connective tissue”; Space to reflect on what has and hasn't worked in your own collaborative efforts; Connections with others interested in testing and sharing better ways to sustain collective work Hosted by Bonnie Koenig, Going International