NextBillion - An Initiative of the William Davidson Institute at the University of Michigan

Achieving UN’s Sustainable Development Goals [SDGs] requires an all-hands, coordinated effort across stakeholders globally and working at population scale. The role of the social sector in achieving global impact is crucial but social sector organizations [SSOs] often work in isolation and are not able to connect their impact creation with the larger global picture. Traditional, uncoordinated direct-services approaches have produced limited impact, way short of what is required to achieve UN’s SDGs by 2030.

There is therefore the need to transform how the world sees and addresses global challenges. Local projects need to connect with regional and national ones which in turn need to connect with global goals since all of these challenges are one continuum. What is becoming very clear is the need to look at problems systemically and address them by changing the rules that underlie systems.

The actors involved in global systems change are many and diverse. They include civil society, social enterprises, businesses, governments. and individuals. What has the potential of binding them together is the science and art of systems thinking and its foremost application of systems change. In this webinar, PYXERA Global, in collaboration with Ashoka, brings together Anshu Gupta, Founder of India-based Goonj and an Ashoka Fellow along with Odin Muehlebein, Partner with Ashoka Germany, Systems Unit, Ashoka Globalizer and Shakti Saran, Senior Fellow at PYXERA Global. Anshu and Odin, in conversation with Shakti, will dwell on what needs to be redefined in social impact missions to achieve systems change and create a new generation of changemakers.

Time: 06:30 PM in Mumbai, Kolkata, New Delhi l 9:00 AM EST

Over 11 million girls may not go back to school after the COVID-19 crisis, according to UNESCO. These young women and girls do not only face structural barriers to their education rooted in poverty, but also in gender inequality and child, early and forced marriage.

However, women-led peer networks can play an important role in protecting vulnerable girls and ensuring their rights are respected. There is tremendous power to be harnessed in local women leaders who can change the status quo from within. So how do we support them?

This event, hosted by Devex in partnership with the Hilton Foundation, will explore how the power of communities can help keep girls in school and ensure that future generations can, in turn, become future leaders – inspiring young girls to pursue the education needed to improve their economic, social, and political power. Together with global and local leaders with lived experiences around these issues, we’ll also draw attention to what must be done to scale their impact and support these organizations to reach even more girls.

Conversations will draw on the far-reaching ripple effects of education – from decreasing child, early and forced marriages to encouraging women entrepreneurs – and highlight why we need to invest more in women-led communities to support the local and sustainable change needed to break cycles of poverty for women everywhere.

Speakers

Dr. Shungu Gwarinda, Director of Programmes of the Graça Machel Trust

Fadzi Whande, Senior Diversity & Inclusion Adviser, Executive Direction and Management, Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights

Angeline Murimirwa, Executive Director – Africa, CAMFED

Moderator: Kate Warren, Executive Vice President, Devex

Time: 10 A.M. ET/ 4 P.M. CET