A Calm Transformation: Why Participatory Learning Networks Could Succeed Where Davos Has Failed
Each January, the snow-dusted streets of Davos host the world’s political and business elite for the annual meeting of the World Economic Forum (WEF), a stage set for sweeping declarations and polished optimism. Since 1971, the WEF has positioned itself as a hub for shaping global agendas. But beneath the choreography of panels and vision statements, a calm transformation is beginning to unfold. It doesn’t come from the mountaintops of Switzerland, but from grassroots networks, ethical leaders, and engaged citizens who are reimagining how we learn, collaborate, and act. At the heart of this shift lies a response to the obvious need for a new architecture for change: Participatory Learning Networks (PLNs), a model designed not for performance, but for transformation.
Despite the WEF's reach and rhetoric, we find ourselves deeper into a global polycrisis than ever before. Climate systems are collapsing. Inequality is accelerating. Trust in institutions has eroded to record lows. Mental health, civic cohesion, and ecological balance are all in decline.
The WEF, for all its access and capital, has been unable to materially reverse these trends. What we are witnessing is not a failure of effort, it is a failure of structure, systems, and capabilities.
That failure is systemic. And it isn’t limited to Davos. It extends to national governments, global institutions like the United Nations, multilateral summits such as the G7 and G20, and even many universities and think tanks. These institutions, however well-intentioned, share structural characteristics that render them too slow, too exclusive, and too reactive to meet the scale and urgency of the 21st century’s challenges. They are hierarchical, bureaucratic, and fundamentally disconnected from the communities most affected by the problems they aim to solve.
In response, a new model is emerging. One that trades top-down declarations for participatory engagement. One that prioritises moral clarity over polished branding. And one that may just represent the beginnings of a learning architecture fit for the 21st century - the Participatory Learning Network (PLN) model, being pioneered by the Enlightened Enterprise Academy.
From Symbolism & Elite Dialogue to Grassroots Action
The core critique of the WEF is not just that it hasn’t solved the world’s problems, it’s that its structure prevents it from doing so. By its nature, Davos is a convening of the influential. But in excluding the very communities who live the consequences of policy failure, from smallholder farmers and indigenous leaders to urban youth and displaced families, it gives up a diversity of perspectives and ways of understanding the world for the comfort of familiarity. It becomes a venue not for learning, but for performing. This, critics argue, is not just ineffective. It’s dangerous.
It perpetuates the illusion that those who helped shape the status quo are best positioned to transform it. In contrast, Participatory Learning Networks operate on a different principle, that this is an invitation for dialog across political ideologies, the private, public and plural sectors (civic society, cooperatives, social enterprises etc.), professional disciplines, and other divides.
Each PLN is a living learning system, designed not to prescribe solutions, but to co-create them with the people most affected.
These networks are initiated and supported by the Enlightened Enterprise Academy, but remain self-directed, community-based, and values-aligned.
They begin with a "Founding Circle" - a small, diverse team representing ethical stewards, learner advocates, cultural anchors, and practitioners - who establish the learning architecture and principles for that network, consistent with the values embedded within them.
A Theory of Learning Driven Change
At the heart of this model is the Enlightened Enterprise Academy itself, a new global initiative created to catalyse an Enlightened Enterprise Movement. Its theory of change is simple but profound:
Real change begins with new ways of learning. Rather than seeing learning as preparation for life, the Academy sees it as the primary activity of transformation. And rather than viewing knowledge as something handed down from experts, it sees it as something that must be co-created through practice, dialogue, and reflection.
This approach is based on a simple but powerful idea: that learning should include many different ways of understanding the world, not just those recognised by traditional institutions.
The Academy will supports PLNs not by dictating content, but by offering suggested methods and tools for making sense of issue, how to develop the capabilities to address them, and ways to gain and maintain support throughout the process.
This is all done based on principles of equity, reciprocity and regeneration. Learning is then communicated across communities so solutions can be replicate, and impact amplified.
What Makes a PLN Different?
PLNs are not a rebrand of the traditional workshop or stakeholder forum. They are a rethinking of what learning itself should look like in a time of existential threat.
Each Participatory Learning Network operates with the following distinctive features:
Radical Inclusion: PLNs begin with the principle that everyone, regardless of background or credential, has something essential to contribute.
Distributed Authority: Decisions are made by the network, not imposed from above. Leadership is shared and often rotated.
Contextual Intelligence: Learning is designed around the real-world experiences, needs, and aspirations of local communities.
Moral Anchoring: Ethical guardians help ensure that the work remains accountable to its highest purpose.
Reflexive Evaluation: Rather than rely on standard metrics, PLNs are assessed by how well they foster learning, adaptation, leader development and impact over time.
This isn’t just a model for education, it’s a model for how institutions themselves might be reimagined.
The Limits of Legacy Institutions
If the idea of Participatory Learning Networks seems ambitious, it’s only because the current system is not just falling short, it’s no longer fit for purpose. The limitations of the WEF offer a case study in why many of our most prominent institutions are no longer capable of solving the problems they were built to address.
Governments are mired in partisanship and electoral short-termism. The UN and other global bodies are constrained by geopolitics and member-state vetoes. The G7 and G20 are club-like entities, often viewed as out of touch with the Global South. Even many universities, once bastions of critical thinking, have become siloed, market-driven, and risk-averse.
These organizations have a lot in common: they rely on top-down structures, strict procedures, and limited ways of thinking. They tend to move slowly, make decisions behind closed doors, and depend mostly on expert opinions from elites. But in today’s world, where everything is interconnected and risks are growing fast, that just isn’t good enough.
PLNs, by contrast, are networked, adaptive, and participatory. They encourage integrative thinking, and are built not to govern from above, but to evolve from within.
It is precisely this agility and moral clarity that positions them to succeed where legacy systems cannot.
From Learning to Systemic Shift
Critics may ask: can a learning network really challenge the world’s most entrenched power structures? The answer lies not in any single PLN, but in the cumulative logic of the network. Like mycelium beneath the forest floor, they are ecological networks that are designed to be interconnected and mutually reinforcing.
They don't rely on centralised scaling. Instead, they grow organically through replication, resonance, and shared values. Each PLN is autonomous but aligned, able to adapt to its context while contributing to a larger transformation.
As more networks are established, a global learning ecosystem begins to emerge, capable of surfacing new practices, ideas, and relationships at scale.
And importantly, PLNs are economically designed for sustainability. Each network develops its own revenue generation plan, aligned with the Academy's ethical framework, ensuring it can remain both financially viable and mission-driven.
The goal is not dependency but reciprocity, each PLN contributing back to the broader movement.
A Future Rooted in Participation
The Enlightened Enterprise Academy and its Participatory Learning Networks are still in their early stages. But their promise lies in what they represent: a shift away from elite consensus and toward participatory intelligence; from top-down problem-solving to co-creative system redesign.
In the shadow of failing institutions and the growing recognition of a global Metacrisis, the Academy does not claim to have all the answers. What it offers is a different way of asking the questions, a radically inclusive approach to learning our way forward, and a way for community leaders and hopeful participants to not feel isolated or alone.
If Davos has become a symbol of performance without transformation, PLNs could become the calm infrastructure of transformation without celebrated recognition. They do not seek applause. They seek real and positive impacts from the change they facilitate. And in a world as uncertain as ours, that may be exactly what we need.
An Invitation. Help Us Develop & Grow the PLN Concept
If you recognise that the challenges of the 21st century can no longer be met with the structures of the 20th, I invite you to join me, Paul Barnett, Founder of the Enlightened Enterprise Academy, in launching a new Participatory Learning Network (PLN), one dedicated to advancing and applying the concept of PLNs.
In this PLN we will refining and evolve the model, explore its use across contexts, and fully understand its potential as a foundation for systemic change. We will also look at ways to scale the idea and increase awareness and the adoption of it.
This is a call to pioneers: those who feel the urgency of our moment and are ready to co-create bold, participatory responses to complex global challenges. If that’s you, I encourage you to get in touch and help us shape a new architecture of learning and action, fit for the futures we must now build. Let’s start changing the world now. Email if you are interested in participating.
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There is a thirst for these waters of servant leadership.
Incredible stuff Paul! This aligns very much with something I'm working on which relates to resourcing planetary regeneration (I call it a 'collaborative fundraiser').
I've started thinking also in terms of these participatory learning networks (I didn't know this term though) as a key infrastructure element. I'd love to explore if we can work together on this!