Last Thursdays
How Do We Measure Impact?
Let’s Examine the Broader Context: The Ecosystem
The social impact and development sector is at a crucial point, with global events, funding shifts, and systemic inequalities challenging traditional methods. Issues like poverty, inequality, and environmental degradation are deeply interconnected, shaping how we measure impact.
This session builds on February’s discussion on funding disruptions, focusing on understanding and measuring our role within these ecosystems. Join practitioners, funders, and researchers in rethinking approaches to achieving meaningful, sustainable change.
Watch our incredible lineup of guests and hosts for the LastThursdays February edition, presented by Development Dynamics and the East Africa Philanthropy Network-EAPN. This session will look into it the challenges posed by recent funding disruptions and shifting aid conditions. Together, we’ll explore redefining partnerships as a key advantage point, moving beyond aid dependency to strengthen African sovereignty and sustainable development.
January 2025
In the second episode, we took a step further into systems practice by breaking down the root causes of complex problems rather than addressing only key events or symptoms. Using the Iceberg Model, we unpacked how to dissect the underlying structures and beliefs that perpetuate systemic issues, with examples grounded in reality.
Feb 2025
In the final episode, we partnered with the East Africa Philanthropy Network to assess the current turbulence in the development ecosystem in light of shifting aid conditions and funding disruptions. The session focused on identifying leverage points for action, including redefining partnerships to move beyond aid dependency and foster African sovereignty for development. Visit our YouTube channel to catch up with the recording.
November 2024
The development and social impact space tries to address a multitude of complex challenges steeped in social and economic inequalities. In partnership with Food for the Hungry, Kenya, we launched our Systems Practice for Social Impact series to socialize systems thinking concepts and practice as a means to sustainable, user-centered social impact. Our first episode featured an introduction to systems practice and covered some concepts like interconnections, types of problems, mindsets, and mental models, which help us develop a more holistic understanding of complex and wicked challenges.