The secret ingredient of flourishing research partnerships: quality time and a night out!

Well-established, trustful and equal research partnerships are essential to thrive efficient transnational, transdisciplinary and trans-sectoral research for development (r4d) projects that aim to produce new and innovative knowledge for change – social, political and economic. But what is the hidden ingredients, the single most important factor, to achieve what is formulated so nicely under the SDG 17: “…recognises multi-stakeholder partnerships as important vehicles for mobilizing and sharing knowledge, expertise, technologies and financial resources to support the achievement of the sustainable development goals in all countries, particularly developing countries. Goal 17 further seeks to encourage and promote effective public, public-private and civil society partnerships, building on the experience and resourcing strategies of partnerships.”¹

How can we achieve flourishing, sustainable, trustful, efficient and action-oriented partnerships that set free all potentials for change and development? How can partnerships achieve a mindset beyond space, time, disciplines and sectors that release all potentials of diversity and culture that each partner – from nationality, discipline and sector – does bring into the everyday life of a partnership and work-relation? How can we overcome to rate failures as negative but to embrace failures as the positive force to flourish and to thrive towards betterment? 

Working in many transnational, trans-sectoral and transdisciplinary research and development projects, I personally think the one most important ingredient is: human encounter. 

Dr Nishara giving the dancer in a peacock suit money!

But how can human encounter, and here I speak not of the professional human encounter but unmasked personal encounter, be created and happen? From experience, the best is a night out together with singing, drinking and dancing. These moments, where work colleagues encounter each other not acting and performing and displaying each other’s professional excellency but were we encounter each other in our other self, the spontaneous and emotional self that sets free other excellency and talents. Leaving once professional comfort zone and share discomforting emotions and to overcome them together helps to see colleagues in a different perspective, to encounter the humanness within each other and to find out the other that we often hide behind our professional masks. 

Our r4d group experienced this binding moment during our last yearly progress meeting in Kathmandu, January 2020. After highly professional, efficient and successful working days, we went out to enjoy a team dinner in a Newari restaurant that during the food courses performs local and traditional dances on a stage. During the performances, the stage invites the audience to become performers themselves.

The invitation was open, but emotions like: shyness, discomfort and shame did hold each individual back. But the openness, the group energy and feeling of humanness supported to flourish together. After our Indian colleague performed a special song she dedicated to her beloved and passed away parents, the partnership was re-shaped, it grew together on a different level. Emotions were shared: happiness, sadness, admiration and pure pleasure and joy. As the evening continued, we all ended up in surprise of the qualities each colleague brought to the stage and how hierarchies, positions, labels we ascribe to each other became irrelevant and insignificant. The `we` of the partnership was re-formulated after the last group dance that only showed the communality we all aspire: finding our pack that support us to grow and flourish together. 

A more serious picture on the last day of the workshop (day after our epic night out!) of our Lead Researcher René Véron giving out a token of appreciation to the Kirtipur Municipality.

¹ https://sustainabledevelopment.un.org/sdinaction

***

Story by: Dr Pia Hollenbach
Pictures by: Senashia Ekanayake

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *