EVPA member-only webinarwhere you will learn about the need for system practices and key principles for funding system change
Many complex societal challenges we are facing require systemic answers. While there is increasingly consensus that system thinking is important to the way we deliver and fund societal impact activities, many funders and investors are still struggling to turn these principles into reality. And with an unprecedented outbreak of COVID-19 many funders may even see a contradiction between responding adequately and quickly to the emergency on the ground while remaining committed to investing in long term system change.
EVPA invites you to this member-only event where you will explore key principles for funding system change based on a recent research carried out by a coalition of system change leaders including Co-Impact, Ashoka and Catalyst 2030. You will learn from a EVPA member and pioneering system change funder Co-Impact, how in the COVID-19 context the organization translates system change principles into their funding practices. And you will have the opportunity to discuss with other EVPA members about your own system change challenges and learnings in relation to COVID-19 or others.
Anja Koenig
Anja-N. Koenig is an impact investing, entrepreneurship and sustainable development expert as well as a trained facilitator in collaborative innovation and system change processes. She has more than 20 years of professional experience in the DACH region, (Central and Eastern) Europe, MENA, Africa, Asia and Latin America working with public and private sector clients on impact strategies, innovative finance and public private partnerships as well as incubating innovative projects for impact.
Until 2018 she supported entrepreneurship development in emerging countries at Swisscontact Foundation in Zurich. In 2015, she co-initiated and led Finance for Change at the Impact Hub Berlin to promote and encourage the use of finance for impact amongst philanthropic funders, business angels, VC funds and financial institutions. Between 2010 and 2014 she researched ways to strengthen the social investment market in Turkey, supported by Rockefeller Foundation and Mercator Foundation, before designing and leading the JP Morgan Chase Foundation Social Investment Programme at the Entrepreneurship Centre of Sabanci University in Istanbul. She also worked with Financial Advisory Services of PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) in Frankfurt, including in the impact evaluation of German Development Bank KfW and with PwC Transaction Services of PwC in Nairobi. She came to Kenya in 2004 as a long-term government advisor appointed by German Development Agency GIZ. She spent several years with economic consulting companies in London, advising public and private sector clients on public-private partnerships, regulation and policies in (renewable) energy, water and telecommunications sectors.
Since 2015 she has been co-host of the Impact Investing Roundtable Berlin (now Impact for Breakfast Berlin), a member of Women in Social Finance and a mentor with impact career organization On Purpose Berlin and German women career platform MentorMe. She holds an MBA from University Mannheim/Germany, a diploma in Political Science and Economics (IEP Science Po Paris/France) and a Post Master's Certification in Development Studies (GDI, Germany). She obtained additional leadership and facilitation qualifications inter alea from the Presencing Institute at MIT (Theory U), the Generative Facilitation Institute and the LEAD Academy, both in Berlin.
Silvia Bastante de Unverhau
Silvia Bastante de Unverhau is a global philanthropy expert with over 20 years of experience working across the business, non-profit, and international development sectors. As Chief Philanthropy Officer at Co-Impact, Silvia leads the organization on partnerships and strategy to achieve its mission to support systems change initiatives that improve the lives of millions of people by advancing education, improving health, and providing economic opportunity.
Silvia Bastante de Unverhau is a global philanthropy expert with over 20 years of experience working across the business, non-profit, and international development sectors. As Chief Philanthropy Officer at Co-Impact, Silvia leads the organization on partnerships and strategy to achieve its mission to support systems change initiatives that improve the lives of millions of people by advancing education, improving health, and providing economic opportunity. Co-Impact also aims to influence supportive funding practices for systems change. Silvia was previously Global Head of Philanthropy Advisory at UBS, and worked for the Monitor Group, the Organization of American States and Amnesty International among others. Originally from Lima, she graduated from the LSE and Harvard Kennedy School and lives in Zurich with her family.
Florian Rutsch
Florian Rutsch co-created and co-leads the Ashoka Europe Fellowship program including its co-learning modules on system change, new leadership, and wellbeing as well as its ecosystem initiatives on funding and support for systems change. He co-published the report Embracing Complexity: Towards a shared understanding of funding systems change which is a collaboration among leading sector partners and based on, among others, his previous report Seven Steps for Funding System Change.
He is also a co-creator of Catalyst 2030 and a thought partner in the Ashoka Globalizer, Ashoka's leading accelerator for system change strategies. Previously, he co-founded a youth education campaign reaching 25k people in 35 countries and worked as a social impact consultant. He studied business, economics, and social entrepreneurship in the Netherlands, Hong Kong, United States, United Kingdom, and Kenya.