High-Hanging Fruit

Download High Hanging Fruit here.

“Swing for the rafters” is a baseball metaphor for aiming high. Working in systems transformation requires this kind of exuberant ambition. Small, steady steps are important, make no mistake. First base hits matter, to continue the baseball metaphor. Often in community building, people can identify easy early wins… the “low-hanging fruit”.

Systems are not transformed simply by tackling this low-hanging fruit.

This report details by strategic area and theme some of the lessons we have learned in the last year. It is a transparent, vulnerable look at some of our processes. Our goal is to help others in this field also aspire for the higher goals, the high-hanging fruit, and for real systems transformation. To quote Louise’s introduction,

“Sharing what we learn is essential to our mission. By sharing our learnings about community—the things we notice up close, that are unique to each project, and the things we see better at a distance that may be applicable in other situations—we hope to continue to enrich the field of social innovation. We fertilize the soil that feeds the seeds of new change by composting our learnings and tilling it in, while at the same time, we try to ensure the right resources are in place and in balance: the sunshine of adequate funding and the soothing rain of policy shifts.”

– Louise Adongo

Download High Hanging Fruit here.