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POP Foundations: Learning That Leaves a Legacy
Words by Sam Valéry
📚 Introduction: Why Collective Learning Matters
At the Power of Pop Fund, collective learning isn’t just a process — it’s a core value. From day one, we’ve believed that learning together strengthens our work, our partners, and the communities we serve. As such as share most of our learnings publicly and transparently, with the hope that shared learning might be useful for others too.
In November 2024, following some changes in our team, we faced an important task: recruiting a new Learning Coordinator. But we didn’t want this to be “business as usual.” Being power-aware — it’s literally in our name — we asked: “Who should make this decision?”
The answer: our funded partners and Community Council members. Comic Relief had a stake in the strategic fit, but the voices of those most involved in collective learning would bring perspective, expertise, and ownership.
How We Did It: A Participatory Approach
As the Monitoring, Evaluation, and Learning Manager, I mapped out several options for involving our stakeholders. From reviewing the Terms of Reference to shortlisting candidates, we identified opportunities to share decision-making power while being realistic about resources.
Our chosen approach had five key steps:
Collaboratively develop the Terms of Reference with funded partners and Community Council members.
POP Fund staff shortlist 3–4 candidates based on eligibility, budget, and proposals.
Initial interviews by the staff team to narrow down to 2–3 strong candidates.
Remaining candidates’ proposals shared with a decision-making panel: two funded partner representatives and one Community Council member.
The panel conducts final interviews and makes the appointment decision.
Our representatives were compensated for their time, and interest in participating was immediate — minutes after sending the opportunity, we had volunteers!
We also held a start-up briefing, explaining objectives, roles, and the process. The panel co-created interview questions while we conducted the first round of interviews. Throughout, we prioritised transparency, trust, and feedback — including tailored responses for all six high-quality applicants.
✅ Lessons Learned: Would We Do It Again?
The process was exhilarating. Involving other voices made the experience richer and more inclusive. As Maxine, POP Fund Lead, reflected:
“I learnt so much during this recruitment. It was our joy to really let our funded partners and Community Council drive this process.”
We also learned some key lessons:
1. Transparent Communication Clear briefings and explanations of the process helped everyone understand their roles and contribute meaningfully.
2. Power Dynamics and Remuneration 💡 To recognise effort, we offered gift cards as a token of appreciation. Feedback showed us that the value sometimes felt disproportionate to effort. In future, budgeting for participation and clarifying intentions upfront will help reduce unintended power imbalances.
3. Collective Decision-Making Having the final decision solely with the panel was empowering, but it also highlighted a challenge: integrating strategic considerations from the Fund. Next time, we might facilitate a joint discussion after interviews to ensure all perspectives inform the final choice.
The Takeaway
This participatory recruitment didn’t just fill a role — it embodied our values in action. It strengthened relationships, honoured our commitment to community leadership, and provided a real-world test of our principles.
Would we do it again? Absolutely. Would we recommend it to others? Without hesitation. 🌟
Since then, our Learning Coordinator has been working incredibly hard to complete our End of Pilot Report, which directly follows this series. Keep reading to arrive at Plot Your Own Course, a collection of three years of learnings from the Power of Pop Fund. Before we get there, stay with us to learn more about our approach to participatory decision making from our fantastic Community Council.
