The Inter-American Development Bank-Lab wanted to test a novel idea to fund projects that pushed the envelope of learning in critical areas of climate change, technology, gender, and youth. There were two guiding principles: fully engage the private sector to ensure market-based approaches that could be scaled, and insist that some key factors be measured in state-of-the-art ways to ensure data-driven learning. With an initial allocation of $20 million, they paired companies, communities, and NGOs to leverage both additional investments and local buy-in. The vehicle became what is today widely known as the Sustainable Agriculture, Food, and Environment, or SAFE, Platform. 

The Platform engaged a system of Monitoring, Evaluation, and Learning crafted by COSA that offers members better insights into their own efforts, enabling them to course-correct as needed and thus improve their chances of success. But the shared approach to data quality and metrics also allows the institution and its borrowers unprecedented levels of collective learning. Other innovations accompanied this forward-thinking investment from the IDB Lab and it serves as a viable model for collaborative platforms interested in real sustainability progress.

 

Funding sustainability programs that deliver results: The SAFE Platform Model

Moving the Sustainability Needle, a COSA Podcast

 

Why does data matter in coffee? Part 1

SAFE Platform Podcast

 

Why does data matter in coffee? Part 2

SAFE Platform Podcast