Moving from activities to results – The S4D Mantra

By Philip W Lule - S4D CEO

For a quite a while now, trillions of dollars have been poured in several development initiatives aimed at addressing challenges facing the developing world.?However, the results do not equate the money and efforts expended.?Within the public health development sector, the myth of sustainability has lingered around for a considerable period without making headway.?Several factors can be attributed to these challenges, but one key issue that stands out is how the current implementation mechanisms work.?A lot of efforts are spent focusing on cumulative activities and less on impactful results.?Performance evaluation is more concern with how many activities done, and not how they have impacted the intended beneficiaries.?Innovative approaches are limited, and digitization has been slow to adopt. At S4D we believe that there’s a dire need to transform the current way of doing work.?A time to introduce both innovative and agile approaches focused on impact driven work, in short runs. We know first-hand that universal blueprints do not have the same impact as country-based solutions when addressing needs and building platforms for sustainability.?If we are to see return on investment, we believe it’s time to change the current implementation mechanism. Let us take opportunities to use modern digitization and data efforts where applicable to drive performance and results and expedite change. There has never been a right time like now, especially when we are facing multiple disruptions from pandemics to wars.