In a world where the concepts of freedom, justice, and democracy are not as common as we might hope, it becomes increasingly important to explore how we can contribute to these ideals through our actions and investments. Our latest podcast episode delves into this very topic, guided by the insightful words of James Baldwin and our House of Trust guest, Tara Sabre Collier.

Tara, a visiting fellow at Said Business School and Director of Impact Investing at Chemonics UK, shares her thoughts on what it takes to finance social and environmental justice. She challenges us to think creatively and to be more granular in our approaches to impact investing.

From impact bonds to microfinance loans, and blended finance, many financial instruments can be tailored to generate measurable impacts alongside financial returns.

But it's not just about the money. It's about who we are listening to, who we are supporting, and who we are inviting to the table. It's about dismantling systemic barriers and promoting justice in all its forms. Tara cites the work of organisations like Adasina, Ujima Institute and Kheprw Institute, which empower under-resourced communities to finance their own growth outside conventional systems.

So, if you love to invest in social and environmental change, this episode invites you to ponder deeply and consider how you could apply more courage, boldness, and imagination to your work or practice. It's not just about the impact investing sector; it's about each of us asking ourselves what we can start doing differently to support and amplify social and environmental justice.

Useful Links

Tara Sabre Collier on Linkedin https://www.linkedin.com/in/tarasabre

Kheprw Institute https://kheprw.org/

Adasina https://adasina.com/

Criterion Institute https://www.criterioninstitute.org/

Ujima Institute https://www.ujimainstitute.com/

Connect with Servane:

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/servanemouazan/

Website: https://servanemouazan.co.uk

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>> Servane Mouazan: Words like freedom, justice and democracy, ah, are not common concepts. On the contrary, they are rare. People are not born knowing what these are. It takes enormous and above all, individual effort to arrive at the respect for other people that these words imply. James Baldwin hello, I'm Servane Mouazan and this is Be and Think in the House of Trust, a podcast to support those you who love to invest in social and environmental change and want to tell one another and the planet you matter. And in this series of shorts, I've asked guests on the show to pick up a word that matters to them. And every time I deep dive into the meaning of this particular word and invite you to wonder and ponder and use it as a filter to gain maybe new perspectives or challenge yourself in your work or practice, today we're looking at the word justice. So settle down in the House, grab pen and paper and here we go. Today's word was shared by Tara Sabre Collier who was my guest in one of the earlier episodes of the House of Trust. Tara is a visiting fellow at said business school, Oxford University, focusing on impact investment, as well as a strategic advisor to impact funds, endowments and development finance institutions. She's a director of impact investing at UH, Chemonics UK, where she supports governments and DFIs in designing, deploying and supporting climate and impact capital. And Tara's words is justice. So what is required to finance social and environmental justice? How can we show more creativity here? There's hope, I believe, when the impact investing sector and even some philanthropic organizations become maybe more academic or I mean more granular and robust in their gathering and measurement of evidence of impact. They understand that some innovative investment approaches, such as impact bonds, private equity, microfinance loans, debt products, impact plus instruments, can be specifically designed to generate measurable social and environmental impact alongside financial returns. We see more willingness from investors, donors and philanthropic funders to be open to some of the experimentation that's required. It means, for instance, listening and supporting more women led or underestimated groupled social enterprises, cooperatives, businesses committed to dismantling systemic barriers and promoting racial, environmental and social justice. So it might mean inviting, recruiting these leaders on the investment boards and reflecting on, um, the current and future human and environmental costs of not investing in these organizations. It means also creating standardized metrics and impact measurement frameworks that define and analyze social and environmental justice outcomes. For institution. It means not being just a bank after all. It means increasing the risk appetite, blending financial instruments, connecting, educating and collaborating across institutions with imagination and courage. There is an opportunity to hold leads partners and decision makers to account and influence. For this, financial institutions need to take the time to think and review their intention in a granular way and understand which behaviors, mental models, technical mechanisms and true assumptions make these change possible. This is how investors across the spectrum can show some level of creativity to amplify social and environmental justice through their financial instruments. But don't take my word for it. In an earlier episode, Tara Sable Kalier, our guest, gave us some creative routes that some organizations had taken and that we can learn from. So listen to Tara.

>> Tara Sabre-Collier: I just wanted to call out some of these just, um, so we're getting even a bit more technical and granular. But when I'm talking about the uM, experimentation and the innovation, I'm talking about things like, um, participatory grantmaking. I'm talking about impact investing that monetizes or integrates, uh, within the investment process. Knowledge, equity and lived experience. And some interesting examples that you may have come across or if you haven't, you might enjoy telling listeners about and being sure they can look know Adasina which I'm sure you've come across ADASINA, the social justice ETF. I think that's so exciting. Not only is it exciting because it's, um, holding really big companies accountable and in some ways driving impact through the biggest companies. And we often focus on the private markets and we forget about the fact that holding the biggest companies accountable can be a massive lever for impact, but they also integrate, um, the engagement with communities into the investment process and the design process. I'm talking about, uh, the Ujima Institute in Boston and Kheprw Institute in Indiana. So these are where under resourced communities come together to create their own bonds and their own mechanisms for financing, uh, SMEs and financing know, outside of the conventional system, which I think is an important narrative that needs to be held up, um, while we wait for the impact finance ecosystem to get wise and better serve us. So I wanted to call out those examples as well, so that, uh, more and more people continue to know about them and continue to think about both, um, the integration of lived experience and knowledge equity, the importance of public markets as part of the impact puzzle, um, the importance of self, um, financing from within the community, not just relying on donors. And of course, I'd be remiss to not mention, um, employee ownership, which is another important, um, leg or pillar that we tend to be overlooking employee ownership within, um, impact investing. So I wanted to call out some of these examples so it's not just high level or philosophical about innovation, but so people can look up some of these examples. I love this and get inspired. Or maybe copy.

>> Servane Mouazan: Oh wonderful. More copying. I would like to add also the Criterion Institute criterion is a, ah, nonprofit think tank dedicated to expanding possibilities for how finance can be used for social change, and they regularly offer convening platforms to lay out and implement strategies that help deploy social and environmental justice. They also reflect on how inequity and violence in society impact countries, sectors and markets. And they invite people to look at how finance defines systematic risk and how certain factors become accepted as a systematic risk where others aren't. Topics also include how to address power dynamics in the work of systems change in and around investment, or as well, systems of thought that make sense of complexity in and around investment. All of these are absolutely paramount to make that topic move further. So my question here to you, if you leave aside the current constraints, and if there were no consequence, if you knew you could show more courage, boldness, and imagination, what would you start and do differently to support and amplify social and environmental justice? I hope you've enjoyed this short exploration of how finance can be creative to grow social and environmental justice, and I look forward to our next journey with a word that matters to people who love to invest in social change. This episode of Be and Think in the House of Trust is available on all your podcast platforms, so check the other episodes on servanemouazan.co.uk

You can also listen, share, comment, and drop me a line about the specific topic or guest you would love to sit with in this House of Trust. So keep thinking, keep connecting. Bye for now. Close.