?? What we learned about transforming public funding at UNGA

Hello,

At the 78th United Nations General Assembly, we co-hosted a one-of-a-kind side event with the Systems Innovation Learning Partnership (EIT Climate-KIC and the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency ). We discussed how designing a grant fund for learning in complex systems rather than for accountability and risk generates a more significant understanding of how to support localized systems transformation.

Guests engaged in discussions led by three key perspectives from the Systems Innovation Learning Partnership’s Experimentation Fund , which was informed by the Human Learning Systems approach.

Namrata Mehta of UN-Habitat described the need to collectively override traditional funding and decision-making practices, realising that “the power to decide… was not always easy, or even desirable, and in this case, it was deliberately distributed.”

Will Wade of Climate-KIC emphasized a need to notice the roots of concerns that arise from the vulnerability of taking a different approach. “Attention had to be paid to whether the source of these questions were from inherited practice, risk aversion, compliance, or audit concerns. Or perhaps it's not feeling able to fully articulate in an objective, calculable manner the reason for each and every decision?”

Antonia Amaranta Brock of Power Compost?illustrated the applicant microgrant as a radical step to Power Compost’s success in structuring a system-wide project, “if you truly want to see where a project can go, give it the resources to show you.”

Challenging current funding practices requires bravery and vulnerability, and transformation requires mindset shifts to reach "multi-level, multi-actor, and multi-layer transformation through micro-expressions of change."

The evening concluded with several insights and more questions to continue this collective exploration of building a new funding paradigm. Do you want to get involved?

• Join the ongoing discussion in our interactive Miro board
• Join the Systems Innovation Learning Partnership for a virtual deep dive on Redefining the Funding Paradigm on 22nd November.
• Indicate your interest in the action-learning community we’re building, where we will continue exploring transformative development approaches.

Best wishes,

Morag & Saumya

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