Nobody lacks evidence, they lack influence

Thank you, Micolas. It's so exciting to be on your podcast. Thank you.

Nicolas, I think you want sorry. I'm going just to stop there. You'll have to edit. I think the question is wrong. I co-founded Graventura just one year ago, right? I worked for twenty years in development and Graventura is young. It's only one year long.

Careful. Restart. Just do the question again. I think you had it well in your somewhere in

yeah. That's fine. that's an absolutely great question to kick off this conversation, because after more than twenty years working internationally, fifteen years was with World Vision International, I realized that some of the most interesting challenges that I was encountering didn't sit neatly within just one organization or even one sector for that matter. Governments, businesses, philanthropy, NGOs, and communities may be looking at the same problem, but they often speak very different languages, they operate on different timelines and measure success also very differently. So Mica, the co-founder of Graventura and I, we saw an opportunity to build a firm that could work across those boundaries. So Graventura is really about helping organizations navigate complexity. Understanding the environment they're operating in, identifying where they can generally add value and bring the right actors together, and translated that into strategy and measurable impact. So for me, creating Graventura was an opportunity to take everything I'd learned about strategy, evidence, strategic use of that evidence, influence and partnerships, and apply it much more broadly across sectors and across organizations. So currently Graventura serves not only I NGOs or local NGOs, we also serve philanthropy, we also serve private businesses and governments and also academia.

Yes, I talked so much about evidence. You know, there is no lack of evidence. What usually there is is lack of influence. And this applies to all organizations, big or small. Whenever I start working with any organization, I often find that they have actually a lot of evidence from the field, from the communities they serve, from their beneficiaries. And there is a lot of times a vicious circle created of constantly doing more assessments to gather even more evidence, more evidence on the root causes of the issues. And often all that huge evidence never gets used strategically for influence. And that's what we do with Graventura. So when a client comes to us saying We would like to do a report because there will be a United Nations General Assembly or there will be another big event and we just want to bring the re report there. We actually ask the client another question: What would you like to achieve as change? And then we walk we work backwards. We build really a strategy to influence at the right moments with probably just the same data sample that the organization already has, and we are not asking to redo again and again and gather more evidence. We work strategically. We want to optimize the process for our clients. So from just even one good sample of evidence, we can create. A multitude and variety of strategic products. Yes, it can be sometimes a report, but it can also be a brief. It can also be a media interview. All that comes packaged in a good external engagement strategy with which we accompany our clients for a good period of time to actually see good and measurable results at the end. That's what we do.

So let's try to be practical. And let's say somebody runs a foundation and calls Graventura. And yeah, the question is like, what happens next after they book a call with us? The first question we'd probably ask isn't what project do you want us to deliver? We really go about what social change are you working on? What are you actually trying to create? We are really trying to understand the vision of our clients very well. And for a foundation, that might mean looking across portfolio and asking are these individual investments adding up to something bigger? Where can our resources have the greatest leverage? And are we using all the assets we have, not just funding, but our knowledge, our networks, reputation, convenient power, and voice? Then we help connect the dots. We might analyze the ecosystem and evidence, speak with partners, consult communities, map stakeholders and opportunities, and develop an impact, or as I said earlier, an engagement strategy to bring different actors around the table and strengthen the narrative and build practical indicators to actually understand whether the strategy is working. And that's equally applicable beyond philanthropy. A company, for example, might need help understanding a community or a social impact ecosystem and identifying credible partners. An NGO might have strong evidence, but struggle to influence decision makers. So different entry points, but the same fundamental question. How do we move from good intentions and good information to meaningful change?

That's a question that a lot of people wrestle with in our industry and I see a lot of different uses for AI. I don't think AI in the first place is going to replace the Most essential part of what the NGOs do. And that is working directly with the community and with the local partners, consulting them, working alongside them and empowering them. However, AI is an important tool that can expedite some processes for us. Yes, it can help us in processing the data more quickly. We can probably do some assessments even quicker, we can compare the analysis. It really is a tool that we just need to use to our advantage, but it certainly does. Not replace this human factor that is so important in the work precisely of the most local NGOs.

Okay, yeah, so community initiatives versus like fixing the root conditions and yeah, how to build credibility. Well, one of my biggest reflections from Winx was that This doesn't necessarily have to be an either-or choice. We absolutely need to respond to immediate community priorities, but we also need to understand the conditions that keep creating those needs. And I think credibility comes from being able to connect those two levels. So research gives you credibility. Community voice gives you legitimacy. And storytelling creates connection. But strategy is what connects all of that to change. And increasingly funders want to understand not only what did you deliver, but what changed because you were there. And that's why organizations need a clear pathway between their activities and the larger change they're trying to contribute to. So then we can broaden this beyond NGOs. I think the same applies to companies and foundations. Writing a check or launching a CSR initiative isn't enough to establish credibility. People increasingly want to know: did you understand the context? Did you listen? Were you there actually with the communities? Have you understood the people? Were the right people involved? And did you bring something generally useful? And can you demonstrate what changed? So I think we spoke with you a little bit earlier before hitting the record button. And we spoke also about this data centers coming and communities now wrestling with, whoa, we are going to have shortage of water. And here they are. And they say that they have CSR initiative, but they never spoke to us. And often the community themselves will actually have potential solutions and they probably do want to be listened to, but the company doesn't know how to do it. So that's where we also jump in and that's where Grammetura absolutely works, building that bridge between the community and the company and creating a strategy and a work plan between them.

I think AI is a hot topic, but for this particular question I will leave it aside. You're talking to me as someone who comes from international development and humanitarian affairs, and we are experiencing huge shifts. there is definitely an effect of geopolitical tensions. So we see the organizations, some of them, especially larger INGOs and UN agencies, shrinking in size. Funding is also now unpredictable. And it is probably a reflection also not just of the geopolitics but precisely of this demand for accountability, even from these large organizations. Everyone wants to see impact. Everyone wants to see efficiency. younger generation wants to actually see some positive change. You, Micolas, belong definitely to different generation to mine. You want things also faster, quicker, easier to be understood. And I'm sure you do not go to a UN website or let's say one of the I INGOs that I served to find the information. You use something else. So my prediction is that a lot is going to evolve. The NGOs will be there, but they will have to be leaner Quicker in the delivery of their promises. We will have to see a lot more local organizations. There is this term in our industry localization, and I truly believe that this is the path forward. We probably will see more philanthropy wanting to work directly with those local organizations, and we have to become more flexible in the way we precisely operate with the local organizations, giving them the room for developing, for becoming becoming sustainable and with using the resources to the best of knowledge. So the local organizations really dictating more than rather listening to what the found the funding source wants us to do.

I love that. I love that so much. So if I was having coffee with yes, with myself, that would probably have to be about almost 25 years ago. And that would resemble to coffees and conversations I have with my kids and my niece and nephew who are precisely transitioning between middle school and college. I think what is important right now is to learn life skills. The academic knowledge is a lot more accessible than before, and you can use the information amazingly. You actually are a lot better self-learners than our generation, but you really need to develop even more the skills of being resilient. Of not having fear to start and fail. And I think the world is even more unpredictable now than when I really was 20. So it is becoming far more important to be self-starters, have very entrepreneurial mindset, and actually know how to use and appreciate all the access to information that you have in the right way. If I was talking exclusively to myself, I would say precisely this: just learn how to be resilient and don't be afraid of starting something new. Do not rely on just having some job and that is your career. I think a career. Is something that's changed as a concept nowadays. You can be very creative. There are a lot of tools that actually AI can help in that way. So you can really create something that you always dreamed of and you can pilot it. You can actually find the funders on your own. You do not need to have masters for that. I would say go and try, but learn on the way how to be responsible with what you are attempting to do, especially if it's a social work. learn how to be very resilient and be ready to be very flexible and adaptable because the landscapes now change very quickly.

Well, we definitely have a website, graventura group.com, and you follow me through LinkedIn. I always respond to all of my messages there. So this will be the two best channels to get a hold of us and book a free call. And you know what? I don't even like calling it a free call because I really take with pride and honor my work. I enjoy getting calls from NGOs, even when they're very small. And I want to contribute to changing the world for a better place. So I can really spend sometimes the first few hours of working with someone in the initial phase, just getting to know them and getting to understand very well what is that they need before telling them, yes, you need our services and that's how much it will cost you. So I would invite anyone just to contact us for a consultation and we can carefully go, as I was saying throughout this interview, over what is that you want to change so we can really determine what is the best way to approach it. And I usually am extremely front-forward, like very up upfront in my conversations and I do not want to upsell. Maybe I have to learn it as an entrepreneur, but I don't think that in the area of work that I've chosen these works. It's all about personal connections. It's all about understanding very well the humans and where they want to go with their vision. And that's what I do on every single call that I hold with NGOs or CSR representatives. What do we want to build together and how can we actually help each other. I see Graventura as one more of the actors. We are not just a private firm. We are here to do social work as well.

Thank you. Thanks, thank to Miguelus and yes, thank you to your audience.