Jobtech Alliance: Systemic principles in engaging global talent
Image: Africa Jobtech Summit, Nairobi Kenya, March 2024
In 2023, Small Foundation partnered with Jobtech Alliance, a programme of Mercy Corps, to strengthen its systemic capacity and support the documentation of its use of systemic tools, resources and practices.
As part of this engagement, we are pleased to share a new blog post around our shared systemic ambitions.
This post – part two of a three-part series – explores why the Jobtech Alliance’s systems change approach necessitates intervention to grow global demand for African talent. It identifies shared systemic constraints limiting the global demand for African talent, and insights leading towards solutions to this challenge.
Image: from Jobetch Alliance, ‘how systems change happens in the jobtech sector’
This series continues to document the application of a systemic approach by the Jobtech Alliance team. It highlights the value of a systems change vision and difficulties of engaging complex problems, particularly ones which no individual or project can resolve alone.
The systemic approach detailed by the Jobtech Alliance also points towards intentionally building collaboration as a key lever. Under the banner of ‘Get everyone in. Do the work together’, the post describes collaborative activities it has undertaken for ‘quick wins’ and building longer-term collaborative approaches to shift perceptions in the African jobtech ecosystem.
Image: the Jobtech Alliance team meeting with counterparts to discuss global demand for African talent
The focus on collaborative activities and engaging complex problems resonates with Small Foundation’s systems strategy. The former is at the heart of the ambition of the network approach, and engaging complex problems cuts across our work as an investor and grant funder.
Read the blog series from Jobtech Alliance:
- Part One: Why we need to look beyond Africa
- Part Two: A system-based approach to expanding global demand for African ICT talent
- Part Three: Promoting African talent isn’t magic
