Welcome to another episode of the How Could We? podcast, brought to you by EIT Climate-KIC. This podcast series is dedicated to exploring transformative solutions and nurturing hope for a climate-resilient, inclusive, and beautiful future for all. In each episode, we engage in thought-provoking conversations with individuals who are pioneering systemic change.

This season features insights from the Systems Innovation Learning Partnership (SILP), a collaboration between the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (Sida) and EIT Climate-KIC.

In the third episode of Season 4, hosts Anne-Sophie Garrigou and Solla Zophoniasdottir continue their exploration of redefining development funding to better serve communities. Over the past two episodes, they delved into the power dynamics in development funding and the experiences of those on the receiving end of a fund designed for inclusivity.

Meet our guest: Marion Iceduna

Today, we continue this series with another insightful conversation with Marion Iceduna, of the Join for Water organisation in Uganda. In this episode, Marion shares the inspiring work she is doing to strengthen the capacity of women in knowledge development and conservation planning. With funding from the SILP experiment fund, her team was able to experiment with establishing WORIAs groups (for WOmen River Ambassadors) and identifying the conditions under which they can operate.

“When we talk about river management, in most cases, we talk about the main river and forget about the small streams that feed into the main river. One of our findings and something that was very interesting for us is around how we visualize the main river as the heart, and the small streams are the small veins that feed the big heart. So the spatial distribution of the women brought an understanding that if we manage these small streams at the level of the WORIAs, then at the end of the day, it’s going to cause a greater impact on the health of the main river that fits the entire landscape,” says Marion Iceduna

This episode is a must-listen for anyone interested in innovative funding mechanisms. It provides a comprehensive look at how we can collectively reimagine funding practices to support transformative change on the ground.

Episode highlights

Listen to this episode if you are curious about:

• Marion Iceduna’s experiences and insights from the Women River Ambassadors project, including the role of women in driving positive environmental change,
• The importance of balancing cultural, social, environmental, and economic aspects of such development projects and how this resulted in integrating men as champions to support women, and recognising women as citizen scientists,
• How SILP flexible funding enabled Join for Water to explore their ideas, involve communities in proposal development, and adapt the project based on field insights,
• The challenge of finding future funding that supports continuous learning to ensure the sustainability and evolution of the Women River Ambassadors initiative.

This episode underscores the importance of rethinking traditional funding mechanisms to foster inclusive, innovative, and adaptive development projects. It highlights the significant impact that even small, flexible grants can have on empowering marginalised communities and driving systemic change.

Listen now on Apple Podcasts or Spotify

Lear more about the WORIAs project here.

If you have missed it, listen to the first episode of the season with Any Sulistyowati, one of the Community Grantmakers for the SILP project, where she talks about the importance of participatory decision-making, and the second episode with Kanika Verma and Shrashtant Patara, from Development Alternatives, who received funding from SILP and talked to us about their experience.

Make sure to follow the podcast wherever you listen, and stay updated with EIT Climate-KIC on social media for the next series.

This podcast is produced by Bárbara Mendes-Jorge.