Q&A with Impacton Academy Founder, Meg Pagani
- How did you come to an idea to create/establish Impacton? What was your main motivation?
Most people don’t imagine this, but I always struggled with the way the social and environmental sectors work, at least traditionally and in most cases. Looking at the duplication of efforts, the programs run in the same way for years without improvements or innovation, the culture of starting every time from scratch… it never made sense to me, but for years I blamed my Fine Arts degree and thought “maybe you are missing something, Meg”. In 2016, right after my experience with the refugee crisis in Greece, something in me clicked and I was able to move beyond my own doubts. I saw the need to create an organisation that would focus only on identifying what already works and make it available to as many different individuals and organisations as possible. Impacton became my answer to that need.
- What was most challenging and surprising to you on your way to creating Impacton?
The #1 surprise, especially at the beginning of the Impacton journey, was to discover that most social or for-impact entrepreneurs are not necessarily open to the idea of spreading their projects so they can get replicated in more places by other people and organisations, ultimately reaching more beneficiaries and a much bigger impact. And it’s not a matter of “open source”, because the model we propose is not to disseminate the project for free (not necessarily at least), but to allow as many people and organisations to acquire the skills and knowledge required to build on projects that already work. I discovered that the culture and story of the ”hero-preneur” are very present in this sector, which is preventing successful solutions to reach all the places and people in need. But of course, we’re working on it!
- Is there an achievement or contribution that you are most proud of?
I felt very proud when we started seeing replicators and originators from different countries and backgrounds coming together to work around the same model and implement it in places like Argentina, Chile, Cameroon, Bolivia… at the same time. They’d use our toolkits to coordinate the activities and a cross-language WhatsApp group to share progress and insights. But I have to say I’m also incredibly proud of how we came together, as a team, during the first wave of the pandemic and over the last year. As an organisation that doesn’t have investment to support us, we needed to find our way through and looking at where we are today I cannot be more proud of our capacity to adjust, to find new ways to serve our cause without ever leaving our core values.
- As you are launching Impacton Academy, could you tell us what is the main goal of it, what problem this program solves? Why is it called a Non-Academy?
Over the last years we have seen an increasing number of people caring about the planet, society , justice and inclusion. At the same time though, most content on these topics is overwhelming, complex, abstract and only focused on the problems. This is the opposite of what our brains need to feel empowered, especially when we feel the urgency to identify how we can contribute to this shift with our key skills and perspectives. The impacton academy as the goal to become the space where people from all around the world can come together to learn from experts of social impact and sustainability, practice around projects that already work and connect with people who share the same interests and urgency to focus on how to build a meaningful career and be part of the solution. It’s called a non-academy because instead of theoretical and abstract it focuses on actionable knowledge, with an ongoing, modular program that offers every month a different topic to explore and take action around.
- What is there at Impact(N)on Academy that you don’t find in university courses?
In the impacton academy you find: a modular and adaptable program to explore all sectors and angles of impact and sustainability learning directly from professionals and real-life solutions, Live and interactive sessions with experts, proven projects and case studies to replicate in our local communities, and exercises to acquire key skills and knowledge to embed social impact and sustainability in your own career or journey. For us it’s all about actionable knowledge, and a community to learn with and from.
- How do you see the future of Impacton and ESTIEM?
I consider ESTIEM one of our most aligned partners in terms of values and mission. I can see many programs being created by such a strong base in common, and I’d love to grow the academy together for it to become a point of reference for all ESTIEM students and partners who are moved by the desire to grow professionally while contributing to a more just and inclusive society.
- Tell us about your image of Impacton in 10 years.
When I manage to think that far in the future, I always imagine Impacton as a decentralised network and community more than an organisation. I dream of millions of local members, partners and hubs creating, sharing and replicating projects and best practices. I also envision our actions able to inform policy, guiding the future of policy making with the unique perspectives and wisdom of our own local contexts.
- What would you say is your favourite project you had the chance to see?
So many of them! In general I love projects that understand that the best “solutions” are never solutions: are human-centred processes to iterate over time, where the main piece is never about high-tech but people and capacity building. When there’s a component of technology it is always soft-tech, which also makes these projects compatible with most places and cities on the planet (compared to high-tech ones, that require a lot more infrastructure). A few of them are: 3construcciones, Bloom from Glocal Impact Network and Prison Pet Partnership.
