Co-Impact’s goal is to ensure systems that provide the most fundamental services of health, education, and economic opportunity result in improved outcomes for millions of people. We believe that effective systems change requires a resolute focus on human rights, equality and inclusion – and needs to explicitly address discrimination and barriers on the basis of gender, and other socio-contextual issues such as race, caste, ethnicity, class, disability and sexual identity.
A major reason that systems do not work for people is that discrimination and exclusion are baked into their design and execution, often unconsciously. Where these forms of discrimination compound, it makes it particularly difficult to access opportunities and supports and live life to its full potential.
At Co-Impact, we use this intersectional lens to identify and understand the ways in which segments of the population are adversely affected by inadequate or perverse policies, misaligned incentives, and insufficient allocation of resources. This framing provides insights into ways in which certain groups based on gender, race, caste, ethnicity, class, disability, sexual identity, and other context-based drivers of marginalization are systematically underrepresented in the control and management of public (and often private) resources and excluded from exercising voice, setting agenda, and making choices. By understanding how a system fails certain constituencies, we can identify how to strengthen the system for everyone.
