Yes, at times.
Particularly between NGOs and Mining industry.
I believe in breaking down barriers and currently working with 3 such companies. It can be a very positive collaboration
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This is really true on the investing in time to collaborate. Weāve been in conversations here in India about the importance of collaboration beyond projects - collaboration as solidarity - particularly in the pandemic but also longer term - but noone wants to fund organisations to build those kinds of relationships and trust without there already being some sort āpointā to it already. Solidarity and trust should be recognised as the point - and from them flows the ideas, initiatives, and impact.
I love the re-framed question! āweā is a much better question!
A brief story of systemic change catalysed by the pandemic and leading to both climate and pro-poor impact - they key has been facilitationā¦
COVID-19 disrupted global supply chains as never seen before. It has highlighted the reliance of air freight for many sectors ā including vegetables, fruit and flowers ā from Africa to Europe. The flower industry, with highly perishable products, was particularly badly and many flower farms are still struggling. A relatively small amount of our VSCF project funding has enabled supply chain actors to trial the use of sea freight instead of air freight. The results have shown that this is technically viable, is cost effective and that the carbon cost of the flowers is reduced by 95%****!
The project was made possible by the facilitation of expert consultants who were not involved in commercial flower transactions but were able to independently help farms and exporters to co-ordinate sea container trials and navigate a range of logistical hurdles. The private sector were willing to take risks (e.g. flowers may not be saleable after a long sea journey) and some costs were incurred. The reasons these risks were taken by businesses was that the project funding provided essential support to trial an innovation with long term benefits. We are seeing several farms and business now already independently shipping some of their flowers from Kenya to UK/Europe by sea, demonstrating that they see it as commercially and environmentally attractive ā system change is happening.
Not only does sea freighting flowers reduce carbon, but it mitigates the ongoing lack of air freight and its increased costs. This means using sea freight can help flower businesses remain resilient during ā and beyond ā the pandemic, hence protecting worker jobs and livelihoods.
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We need to look holistically, climate change hits the poorest in the world hardest, the only difference between social en environmental issues is time.
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Yeah agree. And also agree with you that āwhere the money comes from mattersā. The āfinance needs to careā - hence why āgreen financeā and āESG investmentsā etc are such an important and cool change in recent years. If those giving you the money want to see a social outcome, you are incentivised as a boss to deliver it!
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Yes agreed, and often this can be helped by clarifying the roles and responsibilities of the Board itself in terms of supporting the sustainability and long term financial wellbeing of the organisation. That can help incentivise Boards to look at new forms of partnership or sources of income f.ex. all of which helps establish ways of working that support societal innovation
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Culture eats strategy for breakfastāno doubt! Leadership is key in setting it but there is much more we can do to tweak culture. For instance, create and tell stories about social innovation in the organisation (or start with those outside) and celebrate them.
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Agree - it is changing.
Quicker on the NGO side than the private side perhaps?
I find, especially with a lot of government funding having diminished, this is a great opportunity for the private sector to have an influence on global development?
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Collaboration and involvement of partners in both the public, private, development and academic sectors. The public sector will play a key role in creating an enabling environment through development of policies that support social and climate innovations especially at inception phase, which is crucial. The private sector will play a key role in providing technology, innovation and access to market mechanisms which results in efficiency and profitability. Development partners will play a key role in identifying pressing social and climate issues and the extent to which they affect the society, advocacy and strong linkages with community based organizations resulting in creation of awareness. Finally research initiatives by academia on the opportunities, challenges, impact, benefits and any arising issues affecting social businesses.
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Mario, thanks for the details, what canāt be solved with a business case? 
On a more serious note, 100% on your page about the need for low-cost, frugal experiments. We always try to spend as little as we can to validate our hipotesis before building a full asset, be it tech, logistics or operations.
Con mucho gusto to continue the conversation.
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From Sakib: " I believe that language and the local culture is one of the first barriers that most of us face. We can overcome by including interpreter and also include as many recent graduate as an intern to find an outcome through as I mentioned in the first question through a case studies with researcher and scientists. Also, a productive report needs to be made. This is as my point of view to tackle the hurdles. "
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Seeing the just transition in its full potential I believe as one key strategy. Acting on the climate emergency in ways that increase all types of justice and tackle some of the deep structural issues we face as societies is the only way that we can ensure we thrive into the ever evolving long term. Thereās a couple of fantastic foundation resources out there on this: the CISL justice paper is fab Business, justice and the new global economy | Cambridge Institute for Sustainability Leadership as is the thinking on the different depths of just transition: Mapping Just Transition(s) to a Low-Carbon World | Publications | UNRISD
I do hope eventually weāll see a win for business being the same as a win for society and the climate. It feels like the current business and economic paradigm is so out of touch with the true needs of humans and nature, and I hope that one day instead of trying to find ways that working to climate or social goals can be profitable for business, weāll be running profoundly different business models with radical purpose that is divorced from extractive, materialist and individualistic mindsets.
Love this. A form of creative TED TALKS for social businesses.
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I recommend this non-linear 5Ps strategy:
Purpose: stablish a purpose that can be translated into impact KPIs and targets, what do we want to achieve? What is our social innovation aspiration in terms of measurable and achievable outcomes?
Policy: make bold commitments and secure financial and non-financial resources to enable the environment to explore and evolve ideas.
People: engage people within the organization and out of the organization. Who should be involved and how? What capabilities/skills do we need?
Process: have a clear process from finding opportunities to test solutions to scale.
Profit: ensure there is a social innovation business case that is aligned with the expected outcomes of living our Purpose.
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Wow Karen, that is a fascinating example. Will be interesting if this takes hold and continues post pandemic.
In many situations, entrepreneurs are not aware of the real impact their business can have on the climate - if you add to this that they have no knowledge of potential solutionsā¦
Tactic 1: By sharing the right information, through the right channels and media, we can transform traditional MSMEs into intermediaries, who are willing to educate their customers and community.
+ 
Tactic 2: From our experience with informal MSMEs, aligning business improvement objectives with environmentally sustainable practices can be of great help to start action.
Econecta (Yucatan, Mexico) = A social venture that aims at connecting local entrepreneurs in the tourism sector, with a double objective: uniting them so they are more visible to customers (1), and helping them develop eco-tourism practices that preserve their environment (2).
Tactic 3: Helping informal and vulnerable entrepreneurs in carbon-intensive industries develop their business in a sustainable way for their community.
Reciclamos Juntos x Essentia (Cartagena, Colombia) = Formalizing entrepreneurs in the garbage and metal collection sector (creation of cooperatives, predefined routes, alliance with garbage producers such as hotels and residential complexes).
Tactic 4: Giving access to premium, highly sustainable products and services
** to economically and socially vulnerable populations**
EcoBodegas (Peru, Colombia, Bolivia) = a First-mile to Last-mile social venture to bring healthy, local products from smallholder farmers directly to insecure populations, leveraging 2500 local pop and mom shops as a distribution channel. Prices are kept accessible by aggregating demand and through price agreements with producers.
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Very true Justin. We can also have culture-specific goals to be achieved at all levels
From a business/commercial standpoint, before looking at strategies and tactics around this space I would take it back a notch - firstly in terms of looking at this area in terms or Revenues (incl. future growth opportunities), Risks (esp. from a Climate perspective, considering e.g. TCFD and other investor led dynamics) and Reputation, also in terms of positive customer/consumer sentiment. The broader narrative and discourse around these issues help to inform discussions and then from there can help to inform the strategic direction that engagements will (or need to) take.
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Weāre definitely seeing lots of the NGOs we work with in the facility establishing longer term partnerships with private companies - partly because aid budgets are being cut all over the place, but also because I think they realise the influence and impact that large private companies have and the good they can do if this is channelled correctly
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