Wasan session: Lessons from Collective Micrograntmaking
Can a small amount of collectively stewarded resources spark meaningful connection and momentum within a global network?
In this month’s session, Annika Erickson-Pearson from the Environment, Climate, Conflict, and Peace (ECCP) Community of Practice will share lessons learned from her network’s experiment with a participatory community fund. The intention was to offer small microgrants as catalytic seeds, enabling members to test ideas, convene conversations, explore collaborations, and pilot early-stage initiatives. In this session, Annika will share: The design principles behind the microgrant pilot; how participatory review was structured; what kinds of “seed” activities were supported; and what participants valued most.
About the session
What happens when a global community experiments with micro-funding? The ECCP Community Fund was launched as a lean, time-bound pilot within the Environment, Climate, Conflict, and Peace (ECCP) Community of Practice. Rather than financing large projects, this modest pool of resources acted as catalytic seeds, enabling members to test ideas, convene conversations, and pilot early initiatives through a participatory process where the community shaped all decisions.
The experiment asked: Can small, collectively stewarded resources spark momentum within a global network? The results suggest they can.
Key Outcomes:
Activating Dormant Ideas: The grants encouraged members to bridge regions and turn abstract collaborations into practical action.
Low-Risk Learning: The small scale allowed the community to test participatory decision-making and explore inclusion without high financial stakes.
Generative Tensions: While the pilot surfaced challenges regarding time and expectations, these insights provided valuable lessons on shared stewardship.
By keeping the scale intentional, the ECCP community turned a modest fund into a powerful engine for generative, low-risk growth.
About the ECCP
The Community of Practice on Environment, Climate, Conflict, and Peace (ECCP) is a global network of practitioners, researchers, policymakers, and funders working at the intersection of environment, climate, and peace. It convenes diverse actors across regions and sectors to advance environmental peacebuilding through shared learning, collaboration, and collective action.
The ECCP is a global community of more than 1,000 members that aims to strengthen networking and community building on environmental peacebuilding, conflict-sensitive conservation, climate security, and other related topics through collaboration, dialogue, and learning between institutions and individuals around the world.
More on the ECCP: https://www.ecosystemforpeace.org/
About Annika Erickson-Pearson
Annika Erickson-Pearson is a community weaver, facilitator, and strategist working at the intersection of peace, environment, business, and systems change. She convenes global communities of practice and designs participatory processes that aim to strengthen trust, shared ownership, and collective intelligence. Her work focuses on creating spaces where diverse actors, across sectors, geographies, and power positions, can move from parallel efforts toward coordinated action. She brings a particular interest in governance design, relational infrastructure, and the practical challenges of translating values like participation and equity into operational reality. Annika on LinkedIn.