Pioneers Post

This week in the Pioneers Post newsletter: 🗣️ OPINION: Jeroo Billimoria: ‘Stop idolising individuals; real social innovation is collective’ 🫶 INTERVIEW: ‘The resilience is Herculean’: Hope and solidarity shine out from Middle East impact community | with Andrew Gharaibeh Collingwood 🌍 NEWS: British International Investment launches £300m platform for renewables in India, as UK calls for ‘fundamental reset’ in approach to development + Julie Pybus's Editor's Post ✍ (feat. the Pope) Don't miss out, read it now: https://lnkd.in/eeDaGUUx Subscribe free for weekly updates from the world of business for good: https://lnkd.in/gDu24DK

NEW: As conflict continues in the Middle East, Jordan-based Andrew Gharaibeh Collingwood shares how the region’s support organisations are continuing to develop the impact finance market and back social enterprises. Yet, he says, some investors and donors need to rethink the conditions they attach to their financing. Read the full interview: https://lnkd.in/erWzHxte Impact Jordan

[Partner post] Are you a charity or social enterprise leader in the UK exploring social investment? Then Good Finance Live is the event for you. 📅 1 July | Online + In Person (Liverpool, UK) Good Finance Live will include panel sessions, live Q&As, and — for those attending in person — an investor marketplace and 1:1 sessions where you can connect directly with a range of social investors. ✅ Online attendance — open to all ✅ In person attendance — for charity and social enterprise leaders actively seeking social investment Head to the Good Finance UK website to find out more and register here: https://lnkd.in/e_8TwYR5

Thank you photographer Mi Kelly who captured this year’s NatWest #SE100 Impact Pioneer Awards celebration event so brilliantly! Here are some more shots from Band on the Wall in Manchester. NatWest Social & Community Capital | Buzzacott | E3M | Good Finance UK | Hogan Lovells | Open Kitchen | Eloquent Dance

NEW: British International Investment, the UK’s development finance institution launched a £300m platform to boost renewable energy generation in India, as the UK government pledged to “move from donor to investor” for international development last week. The North Star initiative was announced at the Global Partnerships Conference, where UK ministers sought to improve cooperation across sectors and give more agency to countries in the global south – while development aid cuts bite. Read the full story: https://lnkd.in/eSQAmzva

Millions of hectares of degraded, dried out peatlands across Europe are a huge climate risk, leaking carbon and offering poor habitats for plants and wildlife, according to Matt Robinson of the Landscape Finance Lab. Attracting the billions of euros of private capital they need to be restored to their wet, boggy glory could lie in not only carbon, but water, he argues. Read more https://lnkd.in/edrKWTwk

[Partner post] What does it take to improve access to higher education for people in prison? For Doing What Really Matters, demand for their programmes has been growing, but scaling that work has been challenging. But, in 2024, a blended finance deal helped change that. Read more in Good Finance UK's latest case study: https://lnkd.in/eP83UVVc 

Awards celebrating visionary founders are great, but do they divert attention from the fact that change comes from collaboration? We're delighted that Jeroo Billimoria has penned a piece for us highlighting her belief in the power of working together – an opinion developed in her long career as a serial social entrepreneur. "Social change is made by whole ecosystems," she says, "policymakers, communities, civil society, business, funders, media, culture and creatives working together to smooth the pathways of innovation." But we still need to build the infrastructure to ensure social innovation thrives, she argues. She also shares her 'five Cs of collaborative systems change': ✅ Convene ✅ Connect ✅ Co-create ✅ Celebrate ✅ Calibrate Explore online now ⬇️ https://lnkd.in/e25pZkk5 One Family Foundation Government Council for Social Innovation Catalyst Now Aflatoun International Skoll Foundation Ashoka Schwab Foundation for Social Entrepreneurship

[Partner post] Demand for mental health support is rising. But for many organisations, capacity can't keep up.  So how do you scale your services when the need is growing faster than your resources? In Good Finance UK's latest case study, they explore how KEEP ACTIVE (NE) C.I.C. used blended finance to expand their services and support more people in their community. 🔗 Read the full case study here: https://lnkd.in/eghebcpf