Solving for Coordination: The Missing Piece for Impact at Scale
About the session
There is a very good reason (and, frankly, a defensible one) why the social sector remains stuck in an endless loop of calls for reform with the seasonal cast of reports and panels, while meaningful change remains elusive.
At the core is a coordination problem.
Actors across the system fail to align their actions even when it is in their best interest to do so. The result: the system defaults to fragmented efforts and suboptimal results.
This is not a failure of commitment, but one of design. It is the logical conclusion of a system that lacks the conditions that make coordination the rational, rewarded choice. For most actors, going it alone makes more sense than aligning with others. Not because they don't care, but because the incentives don't make coordination worth their while.
This session explores what it takes to shift that dynamic.
Rather than calling for more advocacy, the conversation focuses on how to design for coordination—how to create shared expectations, incentives, and structures that enable collective action to take root and scale.
Bringing together funders, practitioners, and system-level thinkers, the session will examine how the sector can move from fragmented effort to aligned action, and from intention to impact.
What to expect
This will be a candid, discussion-led session focused on the “meta” challenge of systems change: how coordination actually happens. Participants will engage with the question of what it takes to make cooperation both viable and valuable across actors.
Who this is for
This session is for funders, implementers, policymakers, and system leaders interested in unlocking greater impact through better alignment and collective action.
What you will get out of it
A clearer understanding of coordination as a core systems challenge
Insights from leaders advancing issues that require coordination, from global governance to social sector reform
Opportunities to connect with others focused on moving from intent to impact at scale
Speakers
Caroline Burrage, Co-founder & Strategy Lead, Latitude Global
Nadait Gebremedhen, Founder & CEO, Hagush; Co-Chair, Shifting the Funding Paradigm, Catalyst Now
David McNair, Global Policy Advocate, The ONE Campaign
Chilande Koluba-Warria, Founder & Managing Director, Warande Advisory Centre; Co-Chair, Compliance Conundrum, Catalyst Now
Chris Proux, Co-CEO, Humentum