Unprecedented challenges also call for unprecedented efforts to tackle complex problems. Applying a systems change perspective allows actors as diverse as non-governmental organisations, businesses, and governments to create interventions that address the underlying root causes of complex problems and tackle the drivers of poverty and inequality.

What is systems change?

According to the Observatory of Public Innovation, systems change requires working across organisational boundaries and scales. By applying a systems lens to complex problems, organisations can map the dynamics of the system they’re trying to improve, explore the relationships between different actors in the system, and identify suitable interventions. The method requires a shift in mindset from linear thinking to embracing the complexity and interconnectedness of systems, individuals, and problems. 

“System change is about confronting the root causes rather than the symptoms by transforming structures, customs, mindsets, and power dynamics,” said Charlotte Brunnström, strategy lead at H&M Foundation.

Since 2020, the foundation has been implementing the so-called Collective Impact method, a highly structured collaborative model where a diverse group of actors come together in partnerships to solve complex social challenges. The aim of the method is precisely to achieve this deeper systems change, explained Brunnström.

“As a philanthropic foundation, we can engage in long-term initiatives that are not just about head-counting or finding a quick fix. And as a non-profit, we can engage in activities that focus on perception change and behaviour change, but also trying to change power relations and resource flows, which takes time,” she said.

How does the Collective Impact method work?

The CI method consists of a cluster of implementing partners each providing an intervention. Together, they provide a holistic solution to the primary actor – sometimes referred to as beneficiaries in other models – through deep collaboration coordinated by one, neutral backbone organisation.

In Bangladesh, for example, the H&M Foundation has set up a CI initiative called Oporajita – meaning “undefeated” in Bengali – to help prepare and equip women garment workers for the changes brought about by increased automation of the ready-made-garments, or RMG, industry. The livelihoods of women garment workers are particularly at risk. “The reason for this is two fold. Many women lack the necessary skills and are sometimes also illiterate. But the big problem is that there are a lot of deep-rooted stereotypes in Bangladesh, saying that women cannot work with advanced tech and that they aren’t capable of leadership positions,” said Brunnström. That’s why only providing skills training isn’t enough – the initative also works to change these harmful gender norms, but also to ensure women have access to childcare and create a decent work environment.

The Asia Foundation, as the backbone organisation, coordinates the efforts and communication between the 11 implementing partners which jointly offer interventions ranging from creating sustainable livelihood alternatives for unemployed workers to addressing gender-based discrimination and harassment. 

Another CI initative supported by the H&M Foundation is Saamuhika Shakti – meaning “collective strength” – in India, which works to enable informal waste pickers to have greater agency to lead secure and dignified lives. To many of India’s rural population who migrate to larger cities such as Bangalore in search of better economic opportunities, waste picking is often a gateway occupation until they manage to get settled and make more connections, explained Akshay Soni, the executive director of Saamuhika Shakti and a managing director at The Nudge Institute, the programs’ backbone organisation. 

Waste pickers also play a crucial role in ensuring materials such as plastics are recycled. Globally, only about 9% of plastic gets recycled. In India, that number is over 30%, and it’s mainly because of waste pickers, explained Soni. Despite their crucial role in the recycling ecosystem, their work is often met with stigma and prejudice from the rest of the population. 

Working with partners to offer a holistic solution

The benefits of the CI method lie in bringing together specialist organisations to jointly address a multi-layered, complex problem, explained Soni. Organisations that run all sorts of different interventions for a community rarely manage to scale because they are generalists. “And generalists who are doing a lot of different things are unable to lower the cost of the intervention on a per-person basis, to give a great ROI [Return on Investment] on philanthropic money,” he said.

Specialist organisations, on the other hand, look at one problem really deeply and “solve for it by uncovering the layers of the onion right down to the root causes,” he said. The CI method allows you to bring together a group of specialist organisations to solve for a single community, explained Soni. “So you’ve lowered the cost of the intervention by using the specialists and getting them to come together.”

“The CI method allows you to bring together a group of specialist organisations to solve for a single community”

Akshay Soni

In the case of Saamuhika Shakti, that means some organisations are focusing on providing vocational training and life skills for the waste pickers, while others are working to improve professional pride among waste pickers and to encourage Bangalore’s general population to respect and value waste picking.

When Sivalami was 13 years old, she used to go waste picking with her mother whenever the family needed some extra income. She has experienced the stigma that comes with the profession firsthand. “If it was a male who was waste picking, they [the community] would still have some respect for them. But because it was a woman leading the family and going waste picking, they would often accuse us of being thiefs, of stealing,” she said through a translator. 

However, she would also feel pride in ensuring the plastic she picked got recycled. ”The knowledge that when I pick up plastic, I’m making sure it’s getting made into something else. And if I don’t pick it up, it will just be there in the soil and not degrade for years and years,” she said.  

Sivalami stopped waste picking eight years ago when she got married, and now works as a community health care worker and has also participated in the tailoring classes offered by the Saamuhika Shakti initative.

The CI method also places a lot of importance on engaging directly with primary actors who have lived experience around the issues each program is trying to solve. During the design phase of the inititive, the backbone organisation ensure their needs and views are taken into account when creating each intervention. “They need to also be part of the solution,” said Soni.

Implementing the Collective Impact method

The CI method is built on a shared vision, shared agenda, shared goal, and unique metrics for each organisation, explained Brunnström. At the beginning of a program, all the implementing partners are convened by the backbone organisation to jointly develop this common agenda and metrics. The shared measurement system includes different indicators linked to each implementing organisation’s specific intervention, but also indicators that are linked to the common goal and the common agenda, explained Brunnström. 

This helps to track progress, but also to ensure mutually reinforcing activities, coordinate each partner’s activities, and encourage continuous communication so that everyone knows what others are working on. The evaluation of a CI initiative is not quantitative and simple, for example, counting the number of people engaged in an activity is not super important for us, added Brunnström. “We are more focused on other kinds of more long-term results such as changing policy, power dynamics, or resource flows.”

A key part of each CI initative is a strong and neutral backbone organisation – which is carefully selected by the H&M Foundation –  consisting of a local team dedicated to coordinating the work of the cluster. The backbone is not an implementing organisation itself but works like our extended arm in-country, coordinating the daily work of all the implementing actors, explained Brunnström, adding that it’s also crucial for fostering cross-sector communication. 

“The CI method is built on a shared vision, shared agenda, shared goal, and unique metrics for each organisation.”

Charotte Brunnström

One of their key responsibilities is to get actors within the cluster to collaborate. At the start, The Nudge Institute assumed that organisations would collaborate – but they did not, explained Soni. A lot of nonprofits have the so-called “not-invented-here-syndrome,” meaning they are often reluctant to implement other organisation’s interventions even if they might be effective, he explained. The CI method works to change that mindset and they ended up introducing collaborative KPIs to incentivize collaboration – and it worked, explained Soni.

“The backbone organisation plays this cohesive role because they have the overview of the entire program, they understand who’s doing what and how we can leverage each other’s strengths,” said Saurabh Dey, manager at the Circular Apparel Innovation Factory, one of 11 implementing partners in the Oporajita initative in Bangladesh as well as a partner in Saamuhika Shakti. 

“The backbone organisation plays this cohesive role because they have the overview of the entire program, they understand who’s doing what and how we can leverage each other’s strengths”

Saurabh Dey

Each implementing partner is responsible for or “leading” at least one workstream and is then encouraged to collaborate and support other organisations on theirs. The Circular Apparel Innovation Factory, for example, works on three different workstreams: identifying alternative employment opportunities with a circular economy lens, ensuring micro-entrepreneurs adopt circular practices, and promoting circular innovation in the textile R&D space, explained Dey. They lead the work on the first workstream and support other organisations in the cluster on the other two. 

To him, the greatest benefit of the CI method is “targeting an intervention based on a primary actor rather than focusing on a huge geography and [having] each organisation trying to come up with their own agenda…it allows you to ensure the primary actors get the holistic support they require,” said Dey. 

Lessons Learned from Collective Impact

One of the biggest benefits of the CI method is precisely the collaboration it encourages, but for that to work, funders need to be willing to invest in the added cost of a backbone organisation and also accept that not all impact will easily be traced back to each and one of the organisation. “Most philanthropic money globally is focused on breadth of intervention, not depth of intervention, which is where it starts to fall apart. So that is the problem of actually getting people to collaborate,” said Soni. 

Funders such as H&M Foundation have the opportunity to catalyze change and impact with big bets and collective actions. “As innovators, philanthropic organisations can test new ideas and adopt innovative approaches, so philanthropy should use these advantages to focus on the root causes of the current broken systems,” said Brunnström.

It’s also important to invest time and funding for everyone in the cluster to establish relationships and to build trust. “I think that’s a prerequisite for everyone to be transparent about the challenges that they’re facing, and ways to help each other,” said Brunnström. 

Together with the backbone organization we need to ensure coordination and accountability among all the members of the cluster and foster the trust needed to achieve long-lasting and collective change, she added.

The two new partners are Stichting Enviu Nederland (Enviu) and Intellecap’s Circular Apparel Innovation Factory (CAIF). Together with the existing collective, they will include waste workers already within the Saamuhika Shakti program into two work streams:

• A micro-entrepreneurship model on textile waste
• A circular B2B linen enterprise

“Our goal is to generate additional income streams through textile waste”, says Maria Bystedt, Strategy Lead, H&M Foundation. “Historically there has been minimal income opportunities for waste pickers in textiles, mainly because of the lack of interested buyers. Through this initiative, we are promoting inclusive circularity and improving waste pickers’ livelihood opportunities. This involves setting up grassroots waste enterprises that are managed by waste pickers, establishing connections to resellers and recyclers, and educating the public on proper handling of their textile waste.”

Manjula, Nadiya and Radhika are all involved in waste picking and part of Saamuhika Shakti.

India accounts for 8.5% of global textile waste generation. Out of total textile waste circulation in the country, domestic post-consumer collection contributes 51%, 42% comes from pre-consumer sources, and 7% is imported post-consumer waste. Furthermore, it is estimated that up to 25% of fabric is wasted during the cutting process in apparel production. Innovations in textile waste management are emerging, but as of yet, the economic value chain bypasses the waste picker. 

This new setup within H&M Foundation’s initiative Saamuhika Shakti is contributing to a larger multi-year textile-recycling program across India, adding on a social perspective, ensuring that the voices of waste pickers are part of the equation. The larger program is also seed funded by IKEA Foundation.

“Our goal is to generate additional income streams through textile waste. Through this initiative, we are promoting inclusive circularity and improving waste pickers’ livelihood opportunities.”

Maria Bystedt, Strategy Lead, H&M Foundation

“At Enviu, partnering with Saamuhika Shakti allows us to collectively work towards creating better economic opportunities while addressing systemic challenges, and social issues and creating a circular fashion ecosystem. By joining forces, we strive to create a more dignified future for waste pickers and contribute to building a sustainable world.”

Jiska Coppoolse, Program Lead, Enviu

The women who were part of our Global Program with CARE were from Burundi, Côte d’Ivoire, Guatemala, Indonesia, Jordan, Nepal, Peru, Philippines, Sierra Leone, Sri Lanka, Yemen and Zambia. Through the program they were equipped with what’s needed to become successful and empowered entrepreneurs, and to further develop and grow their businesses. These women became entrepreneurs and business leaders in a world where women are consistently refused the same access as men to education as well as financial services and bank loans.

Based on the learnings from our programme, CARE has created Women’s Entrepreneurship Guidance Note –  which showcases their global experience of promoting women entrepreneurship in low income countries. They have also released the report CARE Partnerships with Financial Service Providers. In this report, CARE provides the results of a study that had the following purposes: first, to provide a dataset of the financial service providers (FSPs) that CARE has partnered with over the past 10 years across the confederation, and second, to expose the key aspects and lessons learnt from developing partnerships with financial institutions to better serve the needs of the women and communities CARE works with.

Both reports can be downloaded below.

Now, the H&M Foundation donates USD 12 million (SEK 100 million), and the Hong Kong Government’s Innovation & Technology Fund gives additional funding based on the H&M Foundation’s donation under existing funding mechanism, which results in a total estimated budget of USD 100 million over five years.

“To our knowledge, this is the most ambitious program in our industry to move the needle in this field.”

Edwin Keh, CEO HKRITA

“Our partnership with the H&M Foundation is guided by speed, scale and impact. Our goal is to find technologies and solutions that we openly share with the industry to ensure rapid scaling and positive impact. To our knowledge, this is the most ambitious program in our industry to move the needle in this field, and we are very excited to start discovering the breakthroughs that can change the game,” says Edwin Keh, CEO of HKRITA.

Projects within Planet First

One of the projects within the new Planet First portfolio is a spinoff from the successful Green Machine developed in 2018, by HKRITA and H&M Foundation. The cellulose powder generated from the Green Machine is clean and toxic-free. The research team together with Japanese fiber producer Daiwabo Rayon, are piloting to make new garments out of it. Moreover – as a lucky unintentional consequence – the powder with its superabsorbent characteristics could be interesting for farming purposes. Together with Shahi, one of India’s largest apparel manufacturer, a small pilot with cotton farmers was successfully implemented.

“We found that HKRITA’s superabsorbent powder increased cotton crop yield by 20%.”

Anant Ahuja, Head, Organizational Development, Shahi Exports

“In a pilot study carried out by Shahi in India, we found that HKRITA’s superabsorbent powder increased cotton crop yield by 20%. We believe this is because the powder improves water retention of the crop, especially under extreme water stress conditions. The quality of cotton grown this way was better and the fibers were stronger and longer. These improvements can potentially enable farmers to receive a better market price. In spring 2021 we plan to run a larger pilot. We believe this research can help both cotton farmers and also benefit the environment by enabling the use of textile waste as an eco-friendly superabsorbent powder and by reducing water consumption in cotton production,” Anant Ahuja, Head, Organizational Development, Shahi Exports.

What if textiles could sequester CO2? This is another topic for research which has already resulted in a prototype. As a consumer, you could potentially help decrease carbon dioxide in the air by simply wearing these clothes.

A third example of the Planet First program is a first-of-its-kind open factory where innovators, researchers, suppliers and brands can meet, test new ideas and scale faster. By doing this, the program partners are offering a solution to one of the pain points for innovators today – access to equipment and the industry. The lab will be opened in Hong Kong. More information will follow in 2021.

“We don’t know what a planet positive fashion industry will look like, no one does. This goal is directional and requires innovation and thinking outside the box in every step of the fashion value chain. By signing up for five more years with HKRITA, we not only dip our toes but take the plunge with this partnership to figure this out, and we look forward to making the Planet First program a revolutionary one.”

Erik Bang, Innovation Lead at the H&M Foundation

MORE INFORMATION OR TO SCHEDULE INTERVIEWS, PLEASE CONTACT

Malin Björne
Communications Manager, H&M Foundation
malin.bjorne@hmfoundation.com
+46 (0)70 796 39 75

• Download press images here.
• See the digital press event with Edwin Keh and Erik Bang (30 mins) below:

The goals we set

• Reach 145,000 children, parents, teachers, government officials, and other influencers with Early Childhood Development programs, so that every child can have the best start in life.
• Facilitate collaboration within national ministries in Mali, Timor-Leste, Vietnam and Egypt to enable implementation of Early Childhood Development services.
• Develop a tool to highlight the relevance of Early Childhood Development efforts for tolerance, cooperation, and respect to prevent conflicts and bring communities together.

Global Program for Water – with WaterAid

The goals we set

• Provide 150,000 people with access to water and/or sanitation services.
• Improve policies for delivering sustainable access to water, sanitation and hygiene services in Uganda, Ethiopia, Pakistan, and Cambodia.
• Launch a global, evidence-based report on learnings and best practices for promoting a sustainable service of safe water, sanitation, and hygiene.

• 100,000 women from low-income communities in seven countries worldwide have adequate conditions to become successful and empowered as entrepreneurs.
• Successful and proven enterprise models with female entrepreneurs are developed and showcased in seven countries, and mechanisms to take success to scale are applied.
• The value proposition for enterprise development with women from low-income communities is proven and presented in a Global Report.

Global Program for Equality – with CARE

The goals we set

• 100,000 women from low-income communities in seven countries worldwide have adequate conditions to become successful and empowered as entrepreneurs.
• Successful and proven enterprise models with female entrepreneurs are developed and showcased in seven countries, and mechanisms to take success to scale are applied.
• The value proposition for enterprise development with women from low-income communities is proven and presented in a Global Report

HANDS ON SOLUTIONS TO HEALTH PROBLEMS

Untreated health problems like these are ultimately keeping children in low-income communities from achieving their dreams. Together with Children’s Health Fund and The Earth Institute we have developed a program to screen the children for health-related barriers to learning and then connected them with the care they need. The project has also worked on teacher and parent engagement to give the adults around the children the tools they need to help address these health-related learning barriers.

INFLUENCING OTHERS TO REPLICATE

The next steps of the program is to work to scale up and reach more public schools in New York City while also preparing the model to be tested and scaled nationally. The aim is to prove that by addressing health-related barriers to learning in a holistic way with all stakeholders involved; health care, students, parents and schools, the attendance and ultimately the learning among these children can be improved.

HUGE INCREASE IN INCOME AND SAVINGS

By the end of the project the women stated that they had increased their income by 500%. And while 70% of the target group did not have any savings in the beginning of the project, this number was reduced to 3.6% in 2018. As a result, the women improved the quality of their enterprises, increased their income and, ultimately, were able to take out and repay loans.

The women also expressed how aware they were of not only their own development, and their family’s, but also their mark on the community; how they could make a positive impact in the community that they live in.

It’s such a privilege to be able to catalyze real and lasting change in people’s lives through our partnerships. These results are not only amazing, but they are sustainable and will live on long after we have phased out our support.”

Maria Bystedt, Program Manager at H&M Foundation

Significant steps have been taken in recent years to finally bring Colombia’s decades-long internal conflict to an end – but its effects are still being felt by the nation’s youth. All sections of society have been directly affected by the conflict. The nation’s schools have been especially hard hit – with many children unable to claim their right to an education.

Colombia’s Ministry of Education has chosen to implement fundamental peace building elements as part of the national curriculum – and War Child is one of the organisations that has been tasked with assisting this important process. The Peace Circus initiative represents a major part of these efforts and has been designed to influence and education young people in order to boost their resilience.

When we offer the children the right conditions, they have the opportunity to build the future they dream of.

— Emilia Molin, Head of War Child Sweden

The primary goal of the Peace Circus at the grassroots level is to influence Colombia’s nascent peace process. Children, teenagers and adults will be equipped with tools that will support them to create a culture inspired by peace – which they can then pass along to their friends, family members and relatives.

”Through our partnership with War Child we would like to contribute so that children in one of the most violent areas of Colombia have the possibility to break free from a destructive spiral. The travelling Peace Circus aims to promote a culture of non-violence in order to strengthen children’s self-esteem. The project will also contribute towards a safe school environment, which will encourage equal treatment and prevent discrimination and harassment. To encourage human equality and equal rights between men and women does not only help to improve the standard of life for the individual but has also a greater purpose; namely to encourage a more peaceful and including society that strives towards a more positive and sustainable development, says Diana Amini, Global Manager H&M Foundation.”

”We are incredibly proud over the fact that H&M Foundation has chosen to collaborate with War Child.” says Emilia Molin, Head of War Child Sweden. ”The Peace Circus is an innovative and an engaging project that makes the most out of the shared will of Colombia’s youths to create change. When we offer the children the right conditions, they have the opportunity to build the future they dream of. To form the project as a circus feels very right – it is a universal symbol: When the circus is in town, every one wants to join. It is a magical world: at the circus the impossible becomes possible.”

About War Child

War Child works exclusively to improve the psychosocial wellbeing of children forced to live with the effects of armed conflict. We work directly with children and young people in 14 countries to provide vital psychosocial support, protection and education.

War Child Sweden has a 90-account and is collaborating with, among others, IKEA Foundation, Queen Silvia’s Foundation – CATCH and H&M Foundation.

War Child works inside Colombia to improve children’s psychosocial wellbeing and strengthen their capacity to cope with the violence they experience. We work together with local communities to boost protection mechanisms and prevent the recruitment and use of children by armed groups. We also work with schools in the country to ensure vulnerable children have a protective and safe learning environment.

“When the brains and bodies of young children are protected from violence and pollution, stimulated through love, play and early learning activities, and nurtured with responsive care-giving and nutritious food, they have the best possible chance of developing fully, learning effectively, and contributing to their economies and societies when they reach adulthood,” says Pia Britto, UNICEF Chief of Early Childhood Development.

“UNICEF is grateful to H&M Foundation for its commitment to helping provide life-changing support to young children, in particular those with disabilities.”

Pia Britto, UNICEF Chief of Early Childhood Development

The initiative aims to scale up existing UNICEF early childhood development programs in Bulgaria, Peru and Uganda to make them more accessible and tailored to the needs of children with disabilities and their families. Around 20,000 family members and caregivers will be reached with support to help them provide young children with the good nutrition, stimulation and protection they need through health, education and social services.

“Through our new partnership with UNICEF, we hope to transform the lives and futures of thousands of young children with disabilities. We hope this initiative inspires the private sector to invest in children’s early years – helping them reach their full health, happiness, wellbeing and learning ability”, says Diana Amini, Global Manager at H&M Foundation.

The support provided to UNICEF’s early childhood development programmes through the partnership will help better assess babies and young children for disabilities and developmental delays, improving their chance of receiving specialised early childhood development care at the earliest opportunity. Creating a more inclusive support system aims to reduce discrimination that young children with disabilities may face.

Giving young children with disabilities the best chance of reaching their optimal development also helps considerably reduce the costs of special education, unemployment and institutionalization.

This initiative is the newest in a longstanding partnership between H&M Foundation and UNICEF, who have collaborated since 2014 to provide quality education and early learning opportunities for the most vulnerable children.

About UNICEF

UNICEF works in some of the world’s toughest places, to reach the world’s most disadvantaged children. Across 190 countries and territories, we work for every child, everywhere, to build a better world for everyone. For more information about UNICEF and its work for children visit unicef.org. Follow UNICEF on Twitter and Facebook.

Media contacts

Malin Björne
PR & Communications Manager, H&M Foundation
+46 70 796 39 75
malin.bjorne@hmfoundation.com

Ingeborg Ekblom
Public Relations Officer, UNICEF Sweden
+46 70 995 59 16
ingeborg.ekblom@unicef.se

The donation will be directed to the AMINA Programme, a collaboration between Missing Children Europe and H&M Foundation. It is indirectly H&M’s customers that are financing the programme by leaving unwanted clothes to the garment collecting program in H&M stores. The surplus from this program is donated by H&M to the H&M Foundation and 50% of the total surplus is allocated to inclusion of marginalized groups.

The programme will ensure that children in migration know where they can get basic support like medical care, food and shelter through a mobile app. The app will map services and information on their rights in the country they find themselves in. It will be available in the languages they speak and will protect children’s privacy. All this will support migrant children to complete their journey across Europe, without having to turn to those who mean them harm. The programme will also address the worrying issue of missing children in migration for reasons linked to trafficking and exploitation by supporting actors working with children to be better equipped to work together at national and transnational level and by delivering specialised training.

Thanks to the financial support of the H&M Foundation, Missing Children Europe and its partners will be able to better address the needs of children in migration.

Delphine Moralis, Secretary General, Missing Children Europe

The AMINA programme will also launch a campaign to challenge the negative narrative and the distorted reality that often surrounds the topic of children in migration. A total of 50,000 people in eight countries will be targeted with the campaign, focusing on the opportunities for growth and empowerment for our societies and economies. In addition to this, the programme will work with policy and decision makers at national and EU level in ensuring that all decisions impacting life and the status of children in migration are based on their best interest.

The activities that are part of the AMINA programme will be the result of a collaborative effort with over 30 organisations from all over Europe. More information about the participating organisations is available on the Missing Children website.

“Thanks to the financial support of the H&M Foundation, Missing Children Europe and its partners will be able to better address the needs of children in migration. We now have the support and environment these children need to feel safe, have access to education, be reunited with family and become part of a story of dignity, love and unity that every child is entitled to”, says Delphine Moralis, Secretary General, Missing Children Europe.

For more information, please contact:

Federica Toscano
Head of Programme for children in migration, Missing Children Europe
Federica.toscano@missingchildreneurope.eu
+32 2 894 74 53
www.missingchildreneurope.eu

Malin Björne
PR & Communications Manager, H&M Foundation
malin.bjorne@hmfoundation.com
+46 (0)70 796 39 75