Eco-systems for social change

Eco-systems matter because the systemic change we seek does not happen because of the campaign or policy success of a single organization: the biggest and most durable reforms hinge on sustainable and resilient coalitions

Do we realize there are over two million NGOs and quite a few more social enterprises in our country? And many philanthropists, impact funds and corporate as well as wealthy foundations willing to do their bit to build a more equitable society. What then stops social change happening at a more rapid pace? A panel I spoke at the recent Asian Venture Philanthropy Network summit in Singapore, addressed this issue of strengthening eco-systems to move capital towards more effective impact and provided some ideas for scale.

As Marissa Tirona of Ford Foundation, New York, rightly said, eco-systems matter because the systemic change we seek does not happen because of the campaign or policy success of a single organization: the biggest and most durable reforms hinge on sustainable and resilient coalitions enabling courageous collective actions to tackle the important problems of our times. Eco-systems that function well, typically incorporate a “bridge-building” organization (Social Venture Partners and Pune City Connect are two that spring to mind) that connects different parts of the eco-system to one another, support innovation and experimentation and enable donors to channelize their investments into tools or pathways towards sustainable change as well as the capacities needed to sustain that change. Research, leadership development, legal validation and even narrative shifts are investments eco-systems will need to remain valid and vibrant in the long-term.

Benjamin Bellegy from Wings Brazil, Krisztina Tora of Paris based Global Steering Group and panel moderator, Paul Carttar, one of the founders of the Venture Philanthropy Network in Africa all pitched in with their thoughts on the kind of organizations that could play a role in developing an effective eco-system for social change. However, what stood out was our own working model of Pune City Connect, recognized by Social Venture Partners, the Aspen Institute and other national and global bodies. It has emerged as a true exemplar, bringing in as it does the Municipal Government, CSR Funds, other funding and enabling organizations and volunteers in a well-crafted mission to deliver a “Sampoorna Pune” by 2022. With over twenty digital empowerment centres and buses in place, eight municipal schools being selected for transformation into “model schools” and the sixth Skills Lighthouse of Pune being launched in July, the mission has already changed the lives of over forty-thousand youth in the city and aspires to enable over two lakh sustainable livelihoods in the next three years. Something that inspires all of us who have co-founded this entity and continue to be passionate about its present and future!

This approach to eco-system funding is gathering momentum around the country and the world. For every superb non-profit entity like Educate Girls, where founder Safeena Hussain has an empowering vision of over ten million out-of-school girls in the poorest villages of the country to be set on a school going steady path by 2024, there are many others like Mann Deshi and Vrutti, both supported by Social Venture Partners in India who are building eco-systems that will impact livelihoods of rural women on one hand and farmers around the country on the other. AVPN featured many such scaling eco-systems, in Bangladesh, Ghana, Australia and China and supportive philanthropists from all parts of the world who are aligned to this model and will work to make it successful.

Value of eco-systems has been recognized not just by Government, corporates and philanthropic funders but also by well meaning organizations

The beauty of eco-systems is that they can exist within micro systems of social organizations as well. To come back to the example of Pune City Connect, micro-systems exist within the Lighthouses programme where over twenty skills partners work within the larger Pune City Connect eco-system and are managed centrally by the Lighthouse programme team. Each Lighthouse mobilizes, counsels and takes responsibility for over seven hundred youth per year and the skilling partners play an integral role in providing the critical inputs needed to shape job readiness. Add to this, the capital equipment and infrastructure provided by the Municipal Corporation and the operational expense funded by corporates in the city and the virtues of an eco-system where everybody plays their appointed roles becomes evident. On the education front as well, while the model schools serve as showcases for the full impact of the inputs provided to students in enhancing learning outcomes across the board, the horizontal interventions of the Shishak Sahyogis who serve as master trainers and mentors to the entire teacher community of schools in the city play a critical role in strengthening the city’s eco-system.

The value of such eco-systems has been recognized not just by Government, corporates and philanthropic funders but also by well-meaning organizations seeking to make transformation happen in other parts of the world. In a meeting with the African group, consisting of leaders from South Africa, Nigeria and Ghana and supporters from the US and Europe (see picture) the interest was evident and when the group heard of our hands-on experience in Johannesburg, first at Aptech and then at Zensar where our Learner ship Centre for Black Economic Empowerment was first appreciated and then funded by the Government, the desire to replicate and enhance with technology and global funding was immediate. We seem to be on a roll here and what could be better for all citizens of the world?