I just read Segal Family Foundation Executive Director Andy Bryant’s article on the Forbes.com Skoll World Forum and was intrigued by the use of the term Place Based Innovation. As Bryant explains, from the floor of the Social Capital Markets conference (SOCAP), Place Based Innovation refers to “multi-dimensional, multi-stakeholder solutions that are applied in communities to generate an economy for good.” This was the first I had heard of this phrase, but the revolutionarily simple notion underlying it seems familiar to me. For my work with Hope Through Health, a nearly ten-year-old not-for-profit organization operating in the small West African nation of Togo, this concept resonates. It aligns with Hope Through Health’s fundamental identity as an organization founded and led by local community members, which exists simply because other organizations, for a variety of valid and not-so-valid reasons, have chosen not to work in the villages, towns and districts where our patients live.
For an organization like ours, that a concept like Place Based Innovation is gaining air time at a conference like SOCAP is a breath of fresh air and possibly a sign of changing times. But before I jump on the Place Based Innovation bandwagon, I’d like to explore some of the fine print, which may represent the harsh realities behind what I hope will become the next big buzzword. Place Based Innovation is by nature, slow. Multi-dimensional, multi-stakeholder solutions are not born overnight. Gaining buy in from multiple parties, especially local communities and local authorities, is a process built on trust, which requires genuine investments of time and understanding. Quick fixes and magic bullets, especially those representing “innovative ideas” envisioned by a westerner after a short visit to a foreign country, do not usually have significant buy in from the local community, leaving them vulnerable to the very common problem of delivery failure. These are the stocked store shelves across Sub-Saharan Africa that Bryant eloquently describes. These are the stories of health clinics used to store grain that warned me in my days as a Peace Corps volunteer.
The countervailing forces to these well-known tales are the examples of incredible potential that can be unleashed when true partnerships with communities are formed. This is the model so inspiringly illustrated by Tostan in West Africa and BRAC in Bangladesh. For a more detailed look at these types of successes, and the logic behind them, read Atul Gawande’s article entitled Slow Ideas. This is the type of long-term success that Hope Through Health strives for, contrary, as it may seem at times, to the wishes and demands of donor institutions. It is encouraging to hear that Place Based Innovators are being allowed to rub elbows with the product and distribution innovators. Maybe one day, hopefully soon, product and distribution innovators, and their investors, will realize that they need Place Based Innovators as much as we need them. Multi-dimensional, multi-stakeholder solutions built on solid foundations of trust and respect for the input and engagement of local communities may be the magic bullet we have been searching for in the field of health care delivery.
Place Based Innovation is best positioned to influence long-term changes in the very communities left behind by traditional development approaches. If we can accept these facts then I believe we can take an important step forward in promoting investments in innovations that will have a tremendous and sustainable impact. The question is will we have the patience to make the right investments?