“Parents create safety, love, play, and connection, but their work is often invisible and under-supported, so the logic becomes clear: to invest in children, we invest in parents. If children are the future, then parents are the foundation” Rushda Majeed, Chief Programme Officer at the Van Leer Foundation
In February, we brought challenge innovators from across Latin America, sub-Saharan Africa, and Southeast Asia together in person at the Good Start Summit in Nairobi, Kenya. As well as the innovators, we gathered funders, experts in neuroscience and behavioural science, capacity builders, and storytellers to ask a fundamental question: what would the world look like if systems worked for parents, rather than against them?
The Summit provided a collaborative space to explore how we can better support parents and caregivers, particularly those in disadvantaged communities, with several core themes emerging:
The power of creativity, storytelling, and connection
For our innovators, exploring the art and power of storytelling as a tool to achieve impact was a key part of their Summit experience. Solutions - whether products or services - need to be relatable. They need to break through the stigma, assumptions, and expectations that people, specifically parents and caregivers, face. Effective storytelling can dismantle these assumptions and create linkages between people and across communities, which is a critical precursor to creating positive change and impact.
Building a collaborative ecosystem
The Summit served as a powerful reminder of the irreplaceable value of being in the same room. While virtual convenings have become the norm, there was a palpable joy in the face-to-face connections in the coffee-break chats and the generous exchange of feedback, which built a level of trust and nuance difficult to replicate online. At the heart of this experience were our 22 innovator teams who, rather than working in isolation, embraced a spirit of mutual support, peer learning, and open collaboration. This physical presence transformed a group of individual finalists into a cohesive cohort, with several teams already exploring new partnerships and a renewed energy to scale their solutions. In fact, there was a distinctive shift from individual competition to collaborative ecosystem building, which is key to creating systemic change and impact.
The importance of scaling - and scaling deep!
There is a compelling case for the cumulative power of local work, proving that 'small' is often the first step toward systemic change. Ory Okolloh, a groundbreaking Kenyan activist, lawyer, and innovator, passionately reminded us at the Summit that “the sun does not forget a village just because it is small” and that in the Global South, where communities are tightly knit and interdependent, “when you touch one person, you’re touching ten… Scale is not always width, sometimes scale is depth”. Many innovators are working in contexts where resources are limited, but the connection to the end users is strong, and commitment to impact is unwavering. When considering how to scale their solutions, innovators are encouraged to explore the many forms scaling can take: impact need not be measured by reaching millions, but can instead lie in being deeply grounded in the realities of the communities they serve.
What’s next for our innovators?
The 22 innovator teams are developing a diverse range of solutions, from digital platforms providing 24/7 mental health coaching to community-led support networks that break parental isolation in remote areas. By integrating fields like behavioural science and getting expert advice on scaling strategies, these projects aim to shift the narrative around caregiving, build a more supportive, parent-friendly ecosystem globally, and create sustainable scale to widen (or deepen!) their impact. To find out more about our innovators, check out our Finalists’ page here.
Looking ahead, the journey for our 22 finalist teams is just beginning as they focus on refining and developing their solutions, and leveraging the rigorous support package we are providing, including expert masterclasses and personalised coaching. Later in the year, the teams will deliver their final submissions for formal review by our panel of judges, who will select up to six winners, each of whom will receive 200,000 euros to help scale their impact and reach more parents and caregivers.
The Good Start Challenge, funded by the Van Leer Foundation, the LEGO Foundation, the Fundação Maria Cecilia Souto Vidigal, and FEMSA Foundation, aims to move the dial on parental and caregiver wellbeing at a global scale by identifying, funding, and strengthening promising solutions through evidence-based growth. To find out more about the Good Start Challenge, check out our website at goodstart.challenges.org
If you’re interested in becoming a partner or supporting any of our innovators on their scaling journey, please reach out to Cleo at goodstart@challengeworks.org
