February 2021 Social Impact News Roundup: Building Resilient Communities

Alexandra Nemeth

Senior Manager, Content Marketing & Storytelling at MovingWorlds

In February, we were inspired by the ways that social change organizations have invested in building more resilient communities to drive systemic change from the grassroots level up. 

In its new Recovery 2021 series, NextBillion is spotlighting how the social impact sector is helping communities and businesses recover from the pandemic’s lingering effects, while building their ability to navigate future threats. 

We also saw new social enterprise support organizations emerge to help build back better from this crisis and foster resilience in the future. Resonance, the Platform for Accelerating the Circular Economy (PACE), and a global network of business, government, and civil society leaders launched the Circular Economy Action Agenda, a rallying call to accelerate the transition to a circular economy to achieve a better future for people and nature. In addition, Agora Partnerships joined forces with other leading social impact support organizations to launch The Task Force for Economic, Social and Environmental Recovery in Latin America, “Red de Impacto,” a new backbone structure for the social impact ecosystem in the region that will stand the test of time.

Agora Partnerships also released its 15th anniversary report last month highlighting (among other things) resilience-focused support in challenging contexts, and the impact of its holistic model that addresses the individual and ecosystem levels through a combination of knowledge, networks, and capital. Mercy Corps Social Ventures also released its annual report, which shares more tips on social enterprise resiliency.

At the individual social enterprise level, we saw more great examples of pivoting to build resilience. The recent three-part series by Khushi Kantha (“Happy Blanket”) about how it is regenerating the Bengali kantha tradition to create opportunities for mothers in Bangladesh by incorporating new techniques that meet the circular principles of ‘reclaim-repurpose-reuse’ and brings the cultural heritage of Bangladesh to a new audience. In addition, Phoenix Space launched its first Advanced Track lecture series to democratize access to STEM education while also raising awareness about educational challenges faced by refugees in the Middle East, and Legacy International also highlighted impact stories from young women in STEM from around the globe who are using STEM to do amazing work to improve their communities. HYCF (Helping You Community Forum) also shared a new video about how its work is transforming societies into a better place to live in through community development.

Find the latest social impact job opportunities and upcoming events below to help you take action to drive positive change from the community level:

Social impact job opportunities

Upcoming events & new programs

  • March 10th: MovingWorlds S-GRID is hosting a “Using Partnerships to Identify New Growth Opportunities” webinar panel featuring B Lab, Good Market, and the Social Enterprise World Forum. Register here.
  • March 16th: MovingWorlds S-GRID is hosting a “Resiliency & Strategy Tools for Social Enterprises” webinar with special guest Jessie Coates, Global Impact Entrepreneurship Leader at EY. Register here
  • March 16th: Resonance Global is hosting an Inclusive Innovation Exchange webinar about how to deploy strategic business models and cross-sector collaboration to expand access to non-communicable disease (NCD) treatment and deliver better patient care. Register here.
  • March 24th: Conveners.org is hosting a Masterclass, “Why we need to Accelerate Angels a.k.a. A sustainable business model for a startup accelerator begins by training Angels.” Cost to participate is $20, and you can register here.
  • March 31st: Deadline to apply to the MovingWorlds Institute Global Fellowship cohort launching in April! Learn more and apply here.
  • April 1: In partnership with ANDE, Dr. Adam Richards, Director of Impact at Social Value International, is accepting applications for a GALI Accelerator Impact Measurement and Management Training.

Congratulations to….

  • Eskwelabs for being selected from over 200 EdTech companies to join EduSpaze, an Enterprise-Singapore backed EdTech accelerator!
  • MovingWorlds for earning the #2 spot on Escape the City’s Top 100 purpose-driven companies to escape to in 2021!
  • S-GRID members for their work in partnering with the corporates sector to make it more responsible, sustainable, and equitable, including: 
    • Desolenator’s partnership with Carlsberg (featured by the World Economic Forum) 
    • Cropsticks scaling in partnership with Cost Plus World Market
    • Seabin Project presenting at IBM’s annual conference.

A final bit of inspiration

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