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KS News, events & blogs

The Open Issue 2025 is out now! The Open Issue has become an annual feature of AI Practitioner. It is the one issue that doesn’t have a linking theme for the articles. Instead, authors share their thoughts, their interests and their passions related to Appreciative Inquiry.

Last week colleagues Pieterjan, Remko and Saskia visited colleague Martine for a working visit to Rwanda. One of the activities: Supporting Dieudonné Gakire with the opening of his hub. A place for young and old to meet and learn from and with each other. A community hotspot in the countryside.

As owner of RB Konnekt, Roos Beerkens has dedicated herself to creating an inclusive society, especially through organisations. From her rich experience, she is committed to diversity, equality and inclusion (DGI) with heart and soul. These values also drive her mission for her. Derk van der Pol talked to her about it.

The September issue of AI Practitioner, the International Journal of Appreciative Inquiry, is out. This is the second bilingual English-French issue, giving us a glimpse into appreciative inquiry practices in French speaking organisations and communities. The issue holds stories from France, Morocco, Canada, Senegal, Belgium and Switzerland.

In the newest episode of Inspiring Impacts Luc Verheijen speaks with Dr. Lindsey Godwin about how to use appreciative inquiry and learning networks to address challenges, improve performance, and create energized workplace environments.

What if we choose even more radically to place all of life – including the more-than- human world – at the centre of everything we do? What might it look like if we made more space for non-human voices? How can we work more explicitly with and in nature? How do we broaden our perspective from human flourishing to a thriving planet? These are the central questions of the special issue of the International Journal for Appreciative Inquiry (AIP) that was guest edited by our K&S colleague Joeri Kabalt.

Gistermiddag om kwart voor twaalf zaten we met een grote groep belangstellenden klaar in het auditorium van de Vrije Universiteit: onze collega Martijn van Ooijen verdedigde zijn proefschrift en kreeg de doctorsbul uitgereikt! Met deze feestelijke gebeurtenis sluit Martijn een uitgebreid onderzoek af waar hij de afgelopen jaren met een schier onuitputtelijke bron van energie aan werkte.

Special news: Kessels & Smit, The Learning Company is now also based in Rwanda! Also here we hope to contribute to movement and impact with our people-oriented approach to organizational development. Colleague Martine van Es is in Kigali with her family to set up and expand the activities of K&S Rwanda. First insights into the market show that attention to organizational and leadership development is growing. Taking an appreciative, learning perspective on e.g. midterm reviews, collaboration issues or culture change is also gaining traction. And we as K&S are excited to contribute to that.

Why are some getting sick and others not? You might be thinking, "healthy people don't get sick". Nothing could be further from the truth! A person is supposed to be sick now and then. After all, there are a lot of pathogens flying through the air and a well-functioning immune system protects us by triggering reactions that we consider 'being sick'. So actually, symptoms of illness are a sign of an effective immune system.

The question of the effectiveness of learning programmes has probably been asked for as long as structured learning programmes have existed. How do you know if a learning programme is meeting its objectives?