Imazon Case Study: Scaling Government Partnerships in Brazil
How can a social venture stay small but still achieve large impact? This May 2017 case study follows Imazon’s efforts to create outsized impact through partnerships and open sourcing. Find the full case study here.
After a pilot reduced deforestation 90% in the city of Paragominas, Brazilian nonprofit Imazon was ready to scale its work. Knowing that it could not tackle the enormous challenge of deforestation alone, Imazon provided its product (high-quality data that tracks and reports on deforestation) open source to partners that could use that data to drive behavior change and enforce deforestation efforts.
In the case study, Imazon shares lessons learned on how to:
- define clear objectives against which to rally stakeholders and measure progress;
- adapt work to local contexts;
- be serial collaborators, while mitigating the inevitable risks of partnering;
- stay focused on core strengths; and
- leverage those core strengths for broader systems change.
This case study is relevant for any social enterprise working to have outsized impact by collaborating with partners to change systems. It is also relevant for any enterprise using data to create incentives for change.
Notable Quotable: “We are not the heroes of the Amazon. We have a big vision, but know that we are part of a village.” Beto Veríssimo, Imazon co-founder
Find the full Imazon case study here. For other scaling snapshots and case studies, visit the Scaling Pathways Scale Stories page.
The Imazon Case Study was published in May 2017. Authors are Erin Worsham, Robyn Fehrman, and Cathy Clark.
