Better communication and feedback loops

Open communication, listening and co-creating with the people and communities are the cornerstones to a more collaborative future where impact can make a more lasting imprint.

“We can really develop different beliefs when we talk to people and exchange ideas. Some people tell me that these are like phony credits (referring to digital carbon market), but there are still a lot of things happening on the ground. It's not necessarily working well on the market side, but on the ground, there is still action that works, even though maybe it's not reaching the initial objectives.”

— Raphaël De Ry / CEO, allcot.io

“It was a participatory process, where various workshops were held to map out the needs and prioritize them. Then, solutions were mapped out and prioritized, followed by a secondary prioritization based on financial feasibility. If the number one priority requires a budget that is 10 times the available funds, the community would have to be informed and given the option to either fund one project or choose from the lower priority projects that can be covered with the available funds.”

— Marunn Indreboe / Norec


“Top down programs invented by people who aren't living the lives that they want to affect are, to me, fundamentally flawed in their conception. What it needs to be is, think about what your values are, and then support, listen to the people who are, who are who you want to benefit from your support and your generosity, and then help them to achieve what they want to achieve.”

— Deborah Marton / Executive Director, Van Alen Institute

“You can't build trust overnight, but regulations, accountability, and transparency, and sharing stories of impact are needed. Everyone has a role to play.”

— Anolette Walsh / Deputy Director, Centre for Asian Philanthropy & Society


“I think just in general, across different stakeholders across profitable nonprofit, in the capitalist world people are very fixated on the idea that there's always competition and that's kind of engineered into how we think business. Now. I think impact is very much a thing of the nature that requires you to kind of break that cycle in order to really impact because the answer is there is no one organisation or one individual that can make the change. You need to work with different people, different organisations and industry change.”

- Cintia Nunes / Director of The Mills Fabrica

“There's a reason we follow social justice movements, not only because we want to advance their goals, but also because it's a more efficient way of making an impact. They're already working on the issue, raising awareness, right?”

— Rachel J. Robasciotti /  Adasina Social Capital

Insights

Move beyond milestones, embrace feedback loops

Creating impact involves recognizing that progress on the ground may not always be reflected in milestones. Hence, it is important to consider a range of metrics and indicators, which requires understanding the context, building of relationships with stakeholders, and engaging in ongoing dialogue. 

Feedback loops are important for efficiency and scalability because they enable us to identify gaps and continuously improve our interventions. Creating the right conditions for success is essential for sustainable impact by understanding the broader system and identifying the key drivers of change.


Respecting experiences and deep listening is key

Creating effective impact requires focusing on listening to and supporting those directly affected by issues, rather than relying solely on outsider perspectives.

This means valuing the knowledge and expertise of those with experience in the field, and avoiding the trap of funding only flashy, innovative ideas at the expense of proven initiatives that may be perceived as boring.


Fostering collaboration between stakeholders as way to mitigate risk

Seeing the world through a mindset of competition won’t allow for impact occur, let alone scale. There is a strong need to organisations, communities and different stakeholders to work together as there is no one place of absolute knowledge. We need to build on each other’s understanding, unique experiences as well as know-hows. 

Therefore, there is a strong need to find a way of collaboration, sharing and listening to each other in order to ensure a long standing impact.

Design challenge

How might we help people transition from a competitive mindset into a collaborative one by 

  • Shared empathy?

  • Shared fate?

  • Shared vision?

  • Shared identity?

Design challenge

How might we use deep listening and empathy to uncover hidden connections and nurture emotional bonds?