WISIR publishes final reports for IRP 2.0
Building on foundations from the Legacy Leadership Lab, WISIR Co-Director Sean Geobey led a team of researchers to support the Canadian Community Economic Development Network (CCEDNet), as an ‘Ecosystem Builder partner’ of the Employment and Social Development Canada (ESDC) Investment Readiness Program (IRP).
Through this project, WISIR has supported the Canadian social finance and social innovation ecosystem with:
- IRP partner convening & connecting
- Participatory peer-learning
- Inclusion and equity expertise, training and program oversight
- Principles-focused evaluation of the IRP program
- Participatory development of a national ecosystem mapping project
Learnings from IRP 2.0
The second iteration of the IRP aimed to grow and strengthen the Canadian social innovation and social finance ecosystem through more inclusive and integrated connections between social purpose organizations, networks, experts, social finance intermediaries, researchers and the government.
Unlocking the transformative potential of social finance requires a collaborative and dynamic approach. We invite you to join us as we delve into the transformative work of enhancing the self governance capacity of the social finance ecosystem in Canada through decolonial approaches to systems mapping, principles-focused evaluation, and tailored learning initiatives.
Collaborative System Mapping
Recommendation: Develop a centralized platform for continuous system mapping and collaboration within the SI/SF ecosystem.
Rationale: The complexity of the ecosystem necessitates an ongoing, dynamic mapping process to keep stakeholders informed and connected.
Action Steps:
- Create an Online Portal: Develop an online platform for real-time updates and sharing of system maps.
- Facilitate Regular Workshops: Organize regular mapping workshops and collaborative sessions for stakeholders.
- Encourage Contributions: Promote active contributions from all ecosystem players to keep the maps current and relevant.
By fostering a collaborative approach to system mapping, we can ensure that the SI/SF ecosystem remains interconnected and responsive to evolving needs.
Capacity Through Targeted Insights
Recommendation: Use system maps to design targeted capacity-building programs for Social Purpose Organizations (SPOs).
Rationale: Tailored programs based on system insights can better prepare SPOs for investment and collaboration within the ecosystem.
Action Steps:
- Identify Gaps and Needs: Use detailed system maps to identify gaps and needs within the ecosystem.
- Develop Training Programs: Create training and mentorship programs addressing specific areas identified by the maps.
- Provide Practical Resources: Offer practical resources and tools based on real-time data from the ecosystem.
This approach ensures that capacity-building efforts are precise, relevant, and impactful, fostering a more capable and prepared SPO community.
Adaptive Governance with Participatory Feedback
Recommendation: Establish adaptive management practices that leverage participatory feedback to continuously refine the ecosystem.
Rationale: Adaptive approaches ensure the ecosystem remains responsive to evolving conditions and stakeholder needs.
Action Steps:
- Gather Ongoing Feedback: Use participatory methods to collect feedback from all stakeholders.
- Update System Maps Regularly: Reflect changes and new insights in system maps.
- Iterate Programs and Policies: Adjust programs and policies based on feedback and mapping data to enhance system resilience and effectiveness.
Adaptive governance practices create a responsive and resilient ecosystem, capable of evolving with changing dynamics.
Principles for Navigating Complexity
Recommendation: Implement a Principles Focused Evaluation (PFE) throughout the program’s journey.
Rationale: Principles, rather than strict rules, provide flexible guidance to organizations that can be adapted to local contexts and useful throughout a program’s lifecycle. PFE supports the development, refinement, and implementation of principles through a reflective framework and shared learning environment.
Action Steps:
- Use principles from the outset: Integrate Principles in program design and program onboarding
- Advocate for principles through the life of a program. Provide positive stories and examples of effective use of the principles
- Derive and revise principles from the community. Let the community guide the development and refinement of principles for
By emphasizing the importance of context, values, and the unique dynamics of each program, Principles-Focused Evaluation ensures that evaluations are not only meaningful but also actionable.
Justice, Equity, Diversity, Inclusion + Accessibility
Recommendation: future iterations of the Investment Readiness Program and other related programs need to centre communities’ needs in their design, particularly the lived experiences of Indigenous, Black, Racialized, Gender-diverse, Neuro-diverse, Differently-abled and other equity-deserving communities.
Rationale: Justice, Equity, Diversity, Inclusion and Accessibility lenses can be built into programs from the starting if one introduces a Decolonial lens to project design.
Action steps:
- Explore and apply decolonial and equity centered approaches to program design from the outset.
- Learn from racialized and indigenous communities’ existing models and amplify those that have been successful.
Recommendation: Fund more research into and support of innovative social finance models that are embedded in more relational and inter-connected ways of knowing, doing, being and becoming.
Rationale: Equity-deserving communities are host to an interesting array of social finance models that the wider Canadian social innovation and social finance ecosystems could learn from and replicate.
Action steps:
- Document stories of interesting and innovative social finance models from equity deserving communities in mixed media format for better knowledge exchange and mobilization.
- Center alternate approaches to finance that center relationality and community-driven outcomes.
- Explore potential avenues for replicating and scaling up existing innovative and relational models for systemic finance embedded in equity deserving communities.
Access the full reports for more information.