Much of what is currently funded as systems change remains constrained by the very systems it seeks to transform. Across the sector, language of equity is growing and collaboration is increasing, yet a deeper question largely goes unaddressed: who gets to define what counts as knowledge, evidence and legitimate systems practice?
This session draws on The Ubele Initiative’s Learning and Practice Labs (2019–2025) and the emergence of Kujenga Njia, an African-centred systems change methodology developed across work in Manchester, London and Kenya. Kujenga Njia positions culture as infrastructure, story as evidence, and communities as collective authors of systems change, reframing systems work from technical intervention to relational and moral practice.
For funders, this raises a practical question about the kind of ecosystem we are trying to build. A stronger funding ecosystem is not only about better coordination, smarter data or more pooled funds. It also requires us to ask whether the ecosystem itself is organised around the knowledge, methods and ways of working that communities bring. Too often, funding systems still tend to favour predefined models over emerging practice, short-term measurable outputs over long-term relational infrastructure, and certainty over the kind of openness that real community-led change requires.
This session is for funders interested in building a funding ecosystem that is not only more coordinated and joined-up, but genuinely shaped by the knowledge and voices of the communities we exists to serve. Attendees will also have the opportunity to deepen their connections and share learning over lunch, between 12-1pm.