The SILP Experimentation Fund takes a novel, learning-centred approach to seeding and funding experiments. In May 2023, we began collaborating with a cohort of seven projects, which all aim to affect systems change and address complex challenges, across a diversity of geographical, cultural, and socio-economic contexts.
With innovation at the core, we have experimented with a number of different approaches to funding, such as providing microgrants to support prospective applicants and selecting a ‘learning portfolio’ focused on experiments that help us learn about the nature of systems change.
Areas of interest:
- Experimenting with a shift in the power dynamics of funding, in service of supporting systems change.
- Exploring how systems can be changed by altering the practices and structures of development cooperation funding.
- Generating knowledge and insights around systemic impact through a learning-centred approach.
Meet the cohort
Asia Pacific Refugee Rights Network, Thailand
Exploring a co-leadership model for inclusive decision making and transformation.
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Join For Water, Uganda
Sustainably managing the land-river interface with women river ambassadors.
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Agricultural Research Institute, Zambia
Enhancing community farm-seed storage through the use of low-cost storage vessels and structures.
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Railway Children, India
Transforming the Indian railway network into a protection net for unaccompanied, vulnerable children.
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Development Alternatives, India
Providing safe, environmentally friendly mobility through a women-led network of e-rickshaws.
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Power Compost, Colombia
Learning how to transform the organic waste system as a collective.
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NALED, Serbia/Western Balkans
Shifting power towards local citizens in the context of urban planning.
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SILP, Europe
Experimenting with approaches to systems change through a portfolio approach.
Read More"We are as much a part of the experiment as the final cohort"
From its initial inception to the eventual launch of the cohort, the SILP Experimentation Fund has had at its heart funding for learning, the distribution of power and decision-making through participation. In that regard, we are as much a part of the experiment as the final cohort, embracing ideas of exploration, collaboration, community engagement, and capability building.
“By participating in SILP’s Experimentation Fund, we have recognised the immense power that lies in funding for learning – it has allowed us to develop this project without the limitations of a predetermined, fixed and rigid vision of results and has instead allowed us to harness the potential that exists within the local system to cocreate and catalyse sustainable transformations.”
– Javier Guillot and Antonia Brock, Power Compost
Read our Final Learnings Report
As we reflect on the journey of the Experimentation Fund so far, we recognise that the ripple effects of our work extend far beyond the immediate cohort. We see a growing appetite for learning, collaboration, and co-creation within the global systems innovation community. SILP is still finding its place in this evolving landscape, but our commitment to deep engagement, trust-based funding, and empowerment remains unwavering.
Dive into the journey of the first Cohort of the Experimentation Fund
Future Cohorts
Would you like to be part of future experiments and help develop a funding-for-learning approach?