If you build a house you need more than materials, the ground and builders.
You have to put things together in a certain sequence, you need to connect them. The craftsmen have to come in at the right time and place – and in a specific order. You need a good plan on how the house with all its elements shall look at the end. Only if all essential parts are combined well the house will appear complete.

Likewise – for making a real sustainable impact happen for people in need – be need to look at the whole system those people live in. We need more than single solutions and solution makers who invest here and there. The basic challenges such as water, nutrition, income generation, mobility, shelter, mental well-being etc, are interlinked. If one of these basic needs is not covered well, the whole “house” isn’t safe and does not allow to grow.
We need change engineers who build the links among the solutions and identify the right solution makers in the right way.

That’s what the SCN Kenya is all about: to get a “house” (and not just a part of it) done, to build and combine the solutions and solution makers, while ensuring how these solutions get robust and can be scaled. We build linkages of exchange among the communities – at various levels. They own it right from the beginning and help even others to build a house and not just getting single solution for individual challenges. The NGO partners in the SCN help each other to implement also solutions that might go beyond their own focus and expertise.
Our goal is to build a holistic pattern of change where – based on the needs of the communities – single solutions and individual solution makers invest in something that it to bigger than what they bring in. To get a full “house” done. That’s what we call impact making.

In the last week of January 2023, the System Change Network Kenya (SCN Kenya) meeting took place in our Making More Health guesthouses in Webuye, Western Kenya. GAASPP, one of our partner NGOs hosted more than 30 people from diverse backgrounds: our SCN members, a community representative from each location who locally are responsible to bring new skills and knowledge to their peers ( system changer ambassadors), MMH Fellows/ social entrepreneurs and international consultants and members from our system changer network in India.

What happened

After a first year of piloting together with eight local NGOs from Western and Central Kenya (the SCN was launched in Feb. 2022), we

• analyzed again the impact of our network structures. These structures ensure that all skills and trainings reach everyone in our eight communities.
• have built these exchange structures now also among our community ambassadors. These are people from the communities themselves who work as trainers to train their peers. They meet among each other and bring innovative solutions to all SCN locations, which might start at one location and then are rolled out. This makes a huge difference, especially when it comes to income generation activities.
• developed ideas around an ecosystem of founders
• planned the next milestones.
• discussed the financial planning, code of conduct and policies we might need
• looked into standardization of processes that should apply to all SCN members.
• developed new ideas on how to make more mental well-being possible for all involved communities.

The analyses and feedback from the past SCN year was overwhelming. We see definitely and can even prove a huge growth of outreach in the communities, a growth in terms of serving people more holistically. There is a lot of passion of everyone in the room to continue our SCN journey.

As one of our SCN members said: “ There is a a lot of hope now – everywhere in the communities. The hope that life could change… And there is hope at our site that together we can reach more than in the past. We are simply proud to be be part of the SCN and to be together on this innovative journey of change.”

The participants

Besides the leaders of the NGOs of our network we invited also the key community ambassadors of each location. They are part of the communities we work with and trained in many things. They coordinate then peer to peer trainings while making sure that we can have an exponential growth of knowledge transfer. They build also a network and visit each other to bring skills from one location to another.

Also some international guests, eg from our system changer network in India, as well as Markus Ravio, one of our Making More Health fellow, a network analyst specialist and two consultants from the social and social entrepreneurial background joined and brought a lot of valuable and innovative aspects into the SCN.

We were very happy, too for having a representative from Malteser International with us as partner and supporter of the SCN.

The three days were filled with discussions, decision making and learning. We had a lot of informal exchanges and all enjoyed the face to face meeting – because trust and human relationships is what makes things happen.

There is still a long way to go. But we are on the way!