On Wednesday, Bill Gates and a group of philanthropists announced the launch of Co-Impact, a collaborative venture which aims to tackle problems in global health, education and economic opportunity. Besides Bill Gates, the group includes Melinda Gates, Richard Chandler, Jeff Skoll, Dr. Romesh and Kathy Wadhwani, and The Rockefeller Foundation. It will invest $500 million in these areas to effect “systems change”.
“Systems change succeeds by bringing together local communities, non-profits, governments, business, donors, and others to drive lasting change beyond what any individual actor could possibly do alone,” Co-Impact said in a statement.
EkStep Foundation, co-founded by Rohini and Nandan Nilekani, will be Co-Impact’s technical partner and will support programmes with its ‘open knowledge and societal platform assets’, the statement said.
What exactly is a societal platform? Why are the philanthropically inclined billionaires interested in it? Why is Nandan Nilekani excited about it?
This article was originally published in FoundingFuel.
