How can carbon finance do more to strengthen rural livelihoods and empower the communities on the frontlines of climate change? Social Impact Pioneers - Anna Kilpatrick, from PUR, Ann Vaughan & Lilian Gwazayo of CARE, and Olaf Westermann, from Catholic Relief Services (CRS) explore this critical question.
The conversation, in turn, hears from people implementing carbon finance programmes with a focus on deepening livelihood benefits in countries from around the world, including Mr. Matola Sigele in Malawi; Karimi in Cambodia; Emmanuel and Joshua in Uganda.
Together, they unpack how nature-based solutions, carbon markets, and community-led restoration can deliver climate impact rooted in equity and sustainability. The conversation dives into payment for ecosystem services, carbon equity, and the importance of long-term investment in communities that steward forests and farmlands.
You will hear how carbon projects are reshaping livelihoods—improving food security, empowering women, and restoring degraded landscapes. And also some of the challenges - in making these programmes work - whether land rights, short-term rewards, or understandable skepticism.
This episode offers practical insights for businesses, investors, and NGOs seeking to align carbon finance integrity with inclusive development.
Listen now to explore how climate finance can be a cornerstone of sustainable livelihoods—not just a co-benefit.
This conversation is hosted by Yvette Torres-Rahman, co-founder of Business Fights Poverty.
Social Impact Pioneers:
- Anna Kilpatrick, Chief Strategy and Impact Officer at PUR, whose agroforestry projects help global companies decarbonize agricultural supply chains while improving smallholder incomes.
- Ann Vaughan, Associate Vice President for Resilient Futures at CARE, leading work to unlock climate finance that reaches 25 million people, especially women and girls.
- Olaf Westermann, Senior Technical Advisor on Climate Change and Agriculture at CRS, connecting conservation, livelihoods, and equity in nature-based carbon projects worldwide.
- Lilian Gwazayo, Field Advisor, & Environmental Scientist, CARE, Malawi.
Links:
Redd+ Projects: https://unfccc.int/topics/land-use/workstreams/redd/what-is-redd
PUR: https://www.pur.co/
Catholic Relief Services: https://www.crs.org/
Care: Malawi We Staan Nog Steeds: https://www.carenederland.org/verhaal/malawi-we-staan-nog-steeds
Care: Malawi: Herstel van groene vegetatie draagt bij aan duurzame toekomst
https://www.carenederland.org/nieuws/malawi-het-herstellen-van-groene-vegetatie
CARE Malawi LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/care-international-in-malawi/posts/?feedView=all
CARE Nederland: https://www.linkedin.com/company/care-nederland/posts/?feedView=all
Restore Africa: https://www.evergreening.org/restoreafrica/
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How can carbon finance do more to strengthen rural livelihoods and empower the communities on the frontlines of climate change? Social Impact Pioneers - Anna Kilpatrick, from PUR, Ann Vaughan & Lilian Gwazayo of CARE, and Olaf Westermann, from Catholic Relief Services (CRS) explore this critical question.
The conversation, in turn, hears from people implementing carbon finance programmes with a focus on deepening livelihood benefits in countries from around the world, including Mr. Matola Sigele in Malawi; Karimi in Cambodia; Emmanuel and Joshua in Uganda.
Together, they unpack how nature-based solutions, carbon markets, and community-led restoration can deliver climate impact rooted in equity and sustainability. The conversation dives into payment for ecosystem services, carbon equity, and the importance of long-term investment in communities that steward forests and farmlands.
You will hear how carbon projects are reshaping livelihoods—improving food security, empowering women, and restoring degraded landscapes. And also some of the challenges - in making these programmes work - whether land rights, short-term rewards, or understandable skepticism.
This episode offers practical insights for businesses, investors, and NGOs seeking to align carbon finance integrity with inclusive development.
Listen now to explore how climate finance can be a cornerstone of sustainable livelihoods—not just a co-benefit.
This conversation is hosted by Yvette Torres-Rahman, co-founder of Business Fights Poverty.
Social Impact Pioneers:
- Anna Kilpatrick, Chief Strategy and Impact Officer at PUR, whose agroforestry projects help global companies decarbonize agricultural supply chains while improving smallholder incomes.
- Ann Vaughan, Associate Vice President for Resilient Futures at CARE, leading work to unlock climate finance that reaches 25 million people, especially women and girls.
- Olaf Westermann, Senior Technical Advisor on Climate Change and Agriculture at CRS, connecting conservation, livelihoods, and equity in nature-based carbon projects worldwide.
- Lilian Gwazayo, Field Advisor, & Environmental Scientist, CARE, Malawi.
Links:
Redd+ Projects: https://unfccc.int/topics/land-use/workstreams/redd/what-is-redd
PUR: https://www.pur.co/
Catholic Relief Services: https://www.crs.org/
Care: Malawi We Staan Nog Steeds: https://www.carenederland.org/verhaal/malawi-we-staan-nog-steeds
Care: Malawi: Herstel van groene vegetatie draagt bij aan duurzame toekomst
https://www.carenederland.org/nieuws/malawi-het-herstellen-van-groene-vegetatie
CARE Malawi LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/care-international-in-malawi/posts/?feedView=all
CARE Nederland: https://www.linkedin.com/company/care-nederland/posts/?feedView=all
Restore Africa: https://www.evergreening.org/restoreafrica/
Measuring impact and impact per dollar with Gilad Tanay
Social Impact Pioneers
41 minutes 2 seconds
10 months ago
Measuring impact and impact per dollar with Gilad Tanay
How can we measure impact and outcomes from social programmes that work for business? Our Social Impact Pioneer today believes that ESG initiatives need a unified impact measurement scale – impact per dollar.
Meet Gilad Tanay, Founder and Chairperson of the ERI Institute. “Impact per Dollar gives investors a tangible percentage figure or impact unit of a particular initiative, i.e. how many people lifted from poverty per $10k invested.” Says Gilad.
Gilad founded the ERI - which stands for the Effective Research for Impact – and that is what they do. ERI is a pioneering research organisation dedicated to identifying and maximising “Impact per Dollar” in philanthropy, ESG investing, with business and global development initiatives.
With a background spanning academia and high-impact consulting, Gilad’s work has informed strategies for governments, major NGOs, and philanthropic funds worldwide.
Before establishing ERI, Gilad co-founded and served as a director of Academics Stand Against Poverty (ASAP) and lectured on the Global Justice Programme at Yale University.
Recognised for his insights on global inequality and poverty alleviation (including a TEDx talk at Yale – see below for links), Gilad left a traditional academic career to solve tangible, high-stakes problems.
His approach centres on creating unified, evidence-based impact measurement frameworks—tools that empower investors, companies, and donors to truly understand the return on their social investments.
In this conversation, we’ll unpack why the current ESG landscape often fails to deliver systemic change, and how “impact per dollar” can revolutionise social impact. Gilad discusses how unified metrics—similar to a financial ROI—let funders identify which initiatives genuinely lift communities out of poverty. He highlights the importance of direct cash transfers, skill-building programs, and fair labour practices to break the poverty trap, emphasising that businesses can become powerful agents of change when they address root causes rather than apply superficial fixes.
Get ready for a thought-provoking dialogue on aligning profits with purpose, the urgent need for standardised impact metrics, and how the business sector can seize its unique position to tackle the world’s most devastating poverty-related diseases and inequalities. If you’ve ever wondered how to make social impact capital more transformative, this episode is your roadmap to higher-impact social investments.
Links:
• ERI Institute - https://eri-institute.com/about-2/
• Gilad’s TedX - https://www.youtube.com/watch?app=desktop&v=hchXtBPSAZ4
• Gilad Tanay’s LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/gilad-tanay-798b8a/
• 14 million people die a year from poverty-related diseases - https://www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/noncommunicable-diseases
• ERI Institute Unified / Systemic impact per dollar method - https://eri-institute.com/impact-per-dollar/
• Robber Baron mentality – business zero-sum game & Adam Smith liberal democracy - https://www.economist.com/interactive/essay/2024/10/31/when-politics-is-about-hating-the-other-side-democracy-suffers
• Additional link - https://www.economist.com/leaders/2024/11/21/the-opportunities-and-dangers-for-trumps-disrupter-in-chief
Social Impact Pioneers
How can carbon finance do more to strengthen rural livelihoods and empower the communities on the frontlines of climate change? Social Impact Pioneers - Anna Kilpatrick, from PUR, Ann Vaughan & Lilian Gwazayo of CARE, and Olaf Westermann, from Catholic Relief Services (CRS) explore this critical question.
The conversation, in turn, hears from people implementing carbon finance programmes with a focus on deepening livelihood benefits in countries from around the world, including Mr. Matola Sigele in Malawi; Karimi in Cambodia; Emmanuel and Joshua in Uganda.
Together, they unpack how nature-based solutions, carbon markets, and community-led restoration can deliver climate impact rooted in equity and sustainability. The conversation dives into payment for ecosystem services, carbon equity, and the importance of long-term investment in communities that steward forests and farmlands.
You will hear how carbon projects are reshaping livelihoods—improving food security, empowering women, and restoring degraded landscapes. And also some of the challenges - in making these programmes work - whether land rights, short-term rewards, or understandable skepticism.
This episode offers practical insights for businesses, investors, and NGOs seeking to align carbon finance integrity with inclusive development.
Listen now to explore how climate finance can be a cornerstone of sustainable livelihoods—not just a co-benefit.
This conversation is hosted by Yvette Torres-Rahman, co-founder of Business Fights Poverty.
Social Impact Pioneers:
- Anna Kilpatrick, Chief Strategy and Impact Officer at PUR, whose agroforestry projects help global companies decarbonize agricultural supply chains while improving smallholder incomes.
- Ann Vaughan, Associate Vice President for Resilient Futures at CARE, leading work to unlock climate finance that reaches 25 million people, especially women and girls.
- Olaf Westermann, Senior Technical Advisor on Climate Change and Agriculture at CRS, connecting conservation, livelihoods, and equity in nature-based carbon projects worldwide.
- Lilian Gwazayo, Field Advisor, & Environmental Scientist, CARE, Malawi.
Links:
Redd+ Projects: https://unfccc.int/topics/land-use/workstreams/redd/what-is-redd
PUR: https://www.pur.co/
Catholic Relief Services: https://www.crs.org/
Care: Malawi We Staan Nog Steeds: https://www.carenederland.org/verhaal/malawi-we-staan-nog-steeds
Care: Malawi: Herstel van groene vegetatie draagt bij aan duurzame toekomst
https://www.carenederland.org/nieuws/malawi-het-herstellen-van-groene-vegetatie
CARE Malawi LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/care-international-in-malawi/posts/?feedView=all
CARE Nederland: https://www.linkedin.com/company/care-nederland/posts/?feedView=all
Restore Africa: https://www.evergreening.org/restoreafrica/
