Learning is regularly cited as one of the main reasons that motivates Grow Asia’s partners to participate in the network. Grow Asia has an extensive portfolio of learning events covering fact-based knowledge (e.g. case studies, market opportunities, production, and postharvest innovation) and experience-based

knowledge (e.g. building effective partnerships, learnings from inclusive business projects, and facilitating mentorship programs).

 

In 2020, aided by the increasing embrace of using virtual conferencing tools, Grow Asia and our Country Partnerships organized 58 learning events, drawing an aggregate of 7,146 participants. That is more than double the number of learning events we ran in 2019, reaching four times the number of attendees. Not sacrificing quality for quantity, our post-event satisfaction surveys averaged at 83%.

 

In addition, Grow Asia also introduced a new event format in 2020 – a closed-door "confessional” series where selected partners are invited to engage in open and honest conversations around their challenges, successes and, crucially, failures around building inclusive and sustainable value chains. These sessions run under the Chatham House Rule – whereby participants are free to use information received without attributing it, nor revealing the identity nor the affiliation of the other participants – to encourage candor.