Everyone Agrees This Is Broken. So Why Hasn’t It Changed?

The development and philanthropy sectors have no shortage of problems that almost everyone agrees need to change. Duplicative reporting. Inequitable funding practices. Risk pushed onto the organizations least able to absorb it. Competition where collaboration is needed. Localization commitments that stall when they reach implementation. If there is so much agreement, why do these problems persist? This session will explore the gap between shared frustration and collective action. Rather than generating another list of things the sector should fix, participants will take familiar “known problems” and examine what actually keeps them stuck. Is it misaligned incentives? Power? Institutional interests? Fragmented ownership? Competing definitions of success? Or simply the fact that no one is responsible for what happens in the space between organizations? The conversation will push beyond diagnosing what is wrong to ask what would actually have to move for change to happen. Who benefits, intentionally or otherwise, from the status quo? Who has the power to change it? Where does responsibility sit when a problem belongs to an entire ecosystem rather than a single institution? And what conditions could turn widespread agreement into coordinated action? The aim is not to produce neat solutions to deeply embedded problems. It is to understand why change remains difficult even when the need for it appears obvious, and to identify where there may be genuine openings to move. What to expect A candid working session built around real problems participants recognize from their own work. After briefly examining examples of sector-wide challenges that have moved from persistent frustration toward collective response, participants will work in small groups to diagnose a “known problem” they want to unpack. Groups will ask: What kind of problem is this really? Who would have to move for it to change? What conditions are missing? And what might unlock collective action? The session will close by comparing what emerges across different challenges and identifying patterns that could help explain why some forms of sector change gain traction while others remain stuck. Who this is for This session is for funders, civil society leaders, networks, intermediaries, multilaterals, and others across global development and philanthropy who are frustrated by the distance between what the sector says it wants to change and what it has actually been able to change. What you will get out of it A practical way to diagnose why persistent sector-wide problems remain stuck A deeper understanding of the incentives, power dynamics, and institutional interests that can block collective action New perspectives on who needs to move when responsibility for a problem is distributed across organizations Lessons from challenges that have successfully moved from shared frustration toward collective response Space to identify potential openings for action on a problem you encounter in your own work