In studying successful equitable social-change efforts there are pivotal organisations, often working behind the scenes, that are the key to progress. This category of social-change makers is known by different names – we call them ‘field catalysts’ or ‘systems orchestrators’ – but what the organisations do is more important. Namely, these actors serve as a kind of nerve centre for the matrix of activity that is necessary to transform inequitably designed systems. They do this by driving and harmonizing the multifaceted work of myriad actors devoted to a common issue or social problem, often including diagnosing and assessing the core problem and ecosystem working on it; galvanizing, connecting, and organizing the field around a shared aim; and advocating for the issue and those working on it.

For instance, millions of Africans die from treatable illnesses like malaria, pneumonia, and diarrhea because of lack of access to essential health care. Hoping to change that, Financing Alliance for Health (FAH) is an African-based and led partnership that works with governments, donors and the private sector to address systemic financing challenges to scaling community health programs across sub-Saharan Africa. To complement the in-country work with Ministries of Health and Finance, FAH advocates for the prioritization of community health and more effective funding mechanisms for integrated community health services at global levels. So far FAH has successfully partnered with 18 governments across 12 countries to develop national community health strategies and financing pathways, the organization has also helped secure more than $200 million in financing for at-scale community health systems, and has contributed to the official recognition of more than 415,000 Community Health Workers.

Results like that are why we at the Skoll Foundation (Skoll) and The Bridgespan Group (Bridgespan) see a huge opportunity for philanthropy to support systems orchestrators/field catalysts more deeply and expansively[1]. Given the scale of impact these organisations are helping drive, it’s hard to imagine a scenario in which the big, audacious goals that civil society has set for ourselves can be achieved without them.

Read the full article about equitable systems change by Don Gips, Lija McHugh Farnham, Emma Nothmann and Kevin Crouch at Alliance Magazine.