strong indications it will … and I feel that it clearly illustrates the importance of collaboration to overcome systemic hurdles. Most climate challenges are way beyond the remit of single firms to address
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Supporting innovative partnerships and pilots with social entrepreneurs and NGOs can open up and develop new concepts and business models in areas such as circularity and climate challenges.
For us engaging our co-workers directly with the social entrepreneurs and systems change thinking, allows the co-workers to become intrapreneurs who can drive change from within our own eco system.
We also adopt the Theory of Change approach to our work to provide a common strategic framework for our partnerships. Through the theory of change we set out our desired impacts, outcomes and actitvity goals. Our wanted overall impact is that People who are vulnerable and marginalised have greater opportunities to live a better everyday life within a more inclusive and sustainable society. Each partnership also includes specific output and outcomes around additional topics like circularity. Along the way, it is important to monitor, evaluate and revisit your TOC.
IKEA has the ambition to be a people, society and planet positive business and be fully circular by 2030. Working and supporting social entrepreneurs and social innovation is just one way it can achieve this.
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Well put Veronica! I would perhaps add that sometimes development partners can support innnovation and access to market as well, paving the way for business/private sector and going beyond just identifying the key issues. But your summary is otherwise spot on.
But the cautionary tale from many “collaborations” like Fairtrade and others are being abandoned by larger brands/buyers to launch their own programs…with varying degrees of oversight and third party impact evaluation but lots of PR and rhetoric.
Absolutely - and that’s really great. I see you also have projects in Tanzania?
At the VCSF the partnerships that we have funded are all tripartite: government aid, businesses, and not-for-profits are all collaborating, and each bring unique strengths to the table. Government aid brings financing, clout, and standards; the businesses bring their reach and influence in developing countries and logistical/practical capacity on the ground to influence thousands of vulnerable people’s lives for the better; and the not-for-profits bring their expertise in social impact and their experience in working with aid funds which the businesses don’t always have directly.
From this tripartite partnership model we are seeing people, planet, profit benefits in a number of projects - one of which Karen has highlighted.
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Completely agree with Anna - investing time upfront saves a lot of time later on, especially when dialogue helps create not just trust, but enables areas of concern/potential issues that arise to be addressed in a collaborative manner.
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…and they are being quite open about cost savings being part of the equation.
Not so much a strategy or tactic, but an example: We are working with the IKEA Foundation specifically to establish a social, environmental AND economic case for integrating planet-positive practices into smallholder-led value chains. Our view is that smallholder communities can embrace regenerative agriculture and still improve their incomes and grow their businesses for the long term. Our objective is to both prove this business case, and mainstream regenerative practices in our agricultural programmes, within 5 years.
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I think we’re now at the stage where we need some pretty transformational strategies and tactics. This blog sets it out a bit more: 2021: deep transformation or shallow change? | Forum for the Future but essentially we need a reset on ambition that speaks to the regeneration and justice imperative, a massive drive for the deep and broad just transition and building up that capacity in systems change (in practice, rather than on paper).
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Do you find 5 years is enough time? For the shift to regenerative practices to happen on a lot of farms here in India, you need a few years to restore soil quality, after a year or so to convince and experiment. Funding cycles can be super tricky with areas like this so very interested in your experience
Yeah interesting point. I guess maybe they don’t see value in collaborations like Fairtrade any more? I wonder why? Less consumer pressure to buy Fairtrade? Less impact from being part of Fairtrade on their success - however they define that?
Answer from Sakib: “It is a complicated question to deal as it is impossible since business is inversely proportional to climate i.e if the carbon content increases through factory than climate are more likely to decreases. However, I think some amendment needs to be done.”
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We have one small intervention in Tanzania, part of a regional project covering Ethiopia, Kenya, Tanzania, and Zimbabwe led by the Ethical Trading Initiative. @KaarenSmith can tell you more!
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Another great example of the incentive for business to invest in social and climate comes from Ghana where the VSCF is co-funding work alongside Mondelez to help cocoa farmers mitigate COVID-19 and climate shocks. An FCDO colleague asked why Mondelez would spend €2.5M in supporting the farmers (even to diversify out of cocoa) - and the answer was simple: stronger farmers = better / more sustainable produce = better business for all.
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That said, achieving succes isn’t just about delivering a strong case to individual farmers, it has to touch every level of the system. Engaging local communities, local government, academica, building links with other NGOs working on regenerative practices etc. It all goes back to the points of Justin and others regarding systems change. The business case is only one component or “tactic”. To succeed it needs to be combined with wider change in policies, consumer attitudes etc. And as someone said earlier, that goes beyond a single organisation or initiative. There has to be top down collaboration as well
We’ve supported horti-exporter Africado to develop business continuity plans as well as be prepared for C-19 outbreaks…
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In our closing moments - what’s the one take away you want to pass on to others? or your ah -ha moment today?
I’m keen to hear how you’ve bridged the communication styles and needs (linked to mindsets) of each of the tripartite players, and how you’ve managed to align their narratives. We find a lot of translation can be needed, at first at least, here in India, and you can find yourselves talking cross purposes without some deep listening!
My key take-home: businesses need to see value in having a social impact, and making this case to businesses is the best way to get businesses to adapt to having a larger/better social impact.