Hello everyone! I’m Susannah Friedman, Vice President of Programs at the Women’s Refugee Commission. I’m looking forward to the conversation this morning. You can also find me here on LinkedIn!
Hello everyone, I am Dr. Martin Burt, CEO & Founder of the Poverty Stoplight (Activate the potential of families, businesses and communities), a new poverty metric and coaching methodology. We are now working with more than 520,000 families and 900 organizations in 60 countries, including the US and UK. Our “Business without Poverty” program now reaches more than 300 companies in 10 countries. My email: martin@povertystoplight.org
Very happy to be joining today’s session from chilly DC as a Named Contributor and Senior Director Private Sector Engagement working for a development non-profit called Pact. We are a recognized global leader in creating social impact. Our staff have a range of expertise in areas including capacity development, public health, governance and civil society, climate change adaptation and mitigation, energy, women’s economic empowerment, fragile states, artisanal and small-scale mining communities, monitoring and evaluation, microfinance and more. Happy to connect with those of you joining today and I can be found here: linkedin.com/in/todd-kirkbride
A1: At Poverty Stoplight, we believe that the main priority for businesses who are interested in maximizing their social and environmental impact is to listen to those who know. Many times, companies know very little about the lives of their workers. Workers themselves are the ones who understand their needs and those of their families. They are the ones who should establish their own priorities. Companies must establish mechanisms to listen to their workers and facilitate their access to existing solutions for their poverty indicators. This will help companies create a better social and environmental impact plans and involve the protagonists in this process: the worker and their family. We are using our Poverty Stoplight tool with companies in the USA, Colombia, Mexico, Portugal, South Africa, and other countries to improve the quality of life of their workers and thereby increase productivity.
1 Like
A2: The most significant challenges the social impact community will likely face in 2025 is to embrace technology and evolve with it. We must stay alert to technological advancements and make the most of them to enhance our impact—or at the very least, to ensure our impact does not diminish! Nowadays, technology is no longer a “nice to have” but a “must have.” Both implementing organizations and final beneficiaries must focus on accessing cutting-edge technology because, if they don’t, the social gap will only widen.
A3: 3. The one piece of guidance I can offer to a corporate social impact leader stepping into 2025 would be to “listen to your audience.” We can no longer implement Corporate Social Responsibility programs that fail to consider the final beneficiary as the protagonist. It’s not just about asking the final beneficiary what they need: our programs must be designed to activate their agency and self-efficacy, involving them in the solution, encouraging their contribution, and fostering ownership of the outcome.
2 Likes
So happy to be a part of this forum. This feels like two new years - and lots of rethinking and reexamining what needs to be done. We’ve been doing this at the Universal Access Project of the UN Foundation, but hearing from others will be extremely valuable.
Hello colleagues - Dan Seymour here from UN Women. I’m the partnerships Director covering public and private sector partnerships.
Hello. I’m Deb Gallagher from Duke University. Looking forward to a thoughtful and hopeful conversation. My area of focus is climate justice.
Hello, this is Sarah Roberts, CEO of Practical Action. We work with partners to enable lasting change to the systems that keep people in poverty and vulnerable to the impacts of climate change and nature loss; working alongside communities to create resilient livelihoods and thriving, inclusive societies. The majority of our work is with agricultural and indigenous communities in Africa, Asia and Latin America, so my perspectives come from this experience and from working with companies in the food and agriculture supply chain and renewable energy companies.
Sarah Roberts | LinkedIn](https://www.linkedin.com/in/sarahmeganroberts/)
2 Likes
A1: When we think about the priorities or actions that companies should focus on in 2025, we must not lose sight of the fact that the main objective of a company is always the pursuit of profitability. Therefore, we must align the search for social impact with the pursuit of profitability as much as possible.
A worker who lives better is more productive. We have developed the Poverty Stoplight, a tool that allows companies to work to improve the quality of life of their workers without taking responsibility for it. To do this, the methodology activates the agency and self-efficacy of the worker and their family, and by breaking down poverty into indicators and using technology, the worker can design a plan to move forward. The company’s role in implementing this plan is connecting workers with possible solutions to their 50 poverty indicators.
3 Likes
It’s a pleasure to be here! This is Sol Urbieta, I am a Program Officer in Poverty Stoplight, a tool designed to empower and guide families and individuals in their thriving journey.
Looking forward to the insightful conversation!
A2: Undoubtedly, one of the most significant challenges we will face in 2025 is the constant technological change. Companies are possibly the organizations that are most aware of technological advancements. From companies, we must use this knowledge to incorporate technology into the social and environmental programs we develop.
1 Like
A3: One piece of guidance I would offer to any leader working in corporate social impact is to involve the end beneficiary in the implementation of any project. If the beneficiary does not feel a sense of ownership over the project, it will lack sustainability. We have to keep in mind that being an owner means having active participation, investing time, ideas, and financial resources into the initiative.
1 Like
We are looking at the question, “What priorities or actions should businesses focus on in 2025 to maximize their social and environmental impact?”, from the perspective of Wildlife Works Carbon - a company working with indigenous communities through REDD+, a position at the intersection of carbon markets, indigenous rights, and climate action.
The business community should prioritize three interconnected areas in 2025 to maximize positive impact:
First, there are many businesses who have a solid opportunity to strengthen their partnerships with indigenous communities in climate action initiatives. Indigenous peoples manage or have tenure rights over a large portion of the worlds diminishing forests, with carbon stocks crucial to addressing climate change - and which are also crucial to global biodiversity. In 2025, businesses should look at ways to contribute to investment in expanding and deepening REDD+ projects, particularly those that truly recognize indigenous rights and their protagonic role, while generating high-quality carbon credits. There are numerous such REDD+ projects already underway, which truly are helping ensure indigenous communities have decision-making power over their ancestral lands and receive equitable benefits from carbon markets.
Second, companies have a keen reputational need to evidence the integrity and transparency of the carbon markets they work with. When it comes to REDD+, this means balancing the need for robust monitoring, reporting, and verification systems that incorporate technological solutions, with valuing carbon credits that also result in strong social and biodiversity benefits and link with traditional ecological knowledge. Businesses should prioritize working with carbon developers who have proven track records of delivering both environmental benefits and positive social outcomes for local communities. The focus should be on high-integrity credits that provide verifiable emissions reductions while supporting sustainable development goals.
Third, many businesses are in the right juncture and position to advocate for policy frameworks that safeguard both biodiversity and indigenous rights. This includes supporting the implementation of Article 6 of the Paris Agreement in ways that benefit indigenous peoples and local communities and give them agency and protagonism, maintaining vigilance on safeguards in voluntary carbon markets, and helping scale up climate finance mechanisms that reach indigenous peoples directly.
Nice to meet you. We are currently managing a consortium in Peru and Ecuador with indigenous peoples organisations at its heart with similar goals. Would be good to link you with our Latin American team, particularly on REDD+ programmes that deliver for indigenous people.
1 Like
Thank you Yvette and Zahid for creating this platform to exchange ideas with a circle of changemakers like you. See you soon.
Hi Sarah! Would you be so kind as to send me an Email at lider@wildlifeworks.com? I’m heading to the field shortly after this Forum but promise to get back to you within 10 days to set up a virtual meeting and get to know each other better?
1 Like
Looking forward to the discussion today. Many urgent actions needed in 2025 to ensure we create a just, resilient and sustainable world. Collaboration across private sector, finance and foundations needed more than ever to accelerate actions. Peter here from Resonance Global, Ambition Loop, the Existence climate fund and FAST-Infra. Peter J. Hall - Resonance | LinkedIn
Hello everyone, I am Efi, Senior Partnerships Manager from Access to Nutrition Initiative. Thank you for the invitation and looking forward to the discussions. If you want to reach me, my LinkedIn is https://www.linkedin.com/in/efi-chatzinikolaou-409b10105/