Civic ecosystems are complex adaptive systems that emerge and self-organize to address specific social problems. They are vehicles for social innovation that leverage complementarity and have distinctive characteristics:

Iavor and Marika pioneered the idea of civic ecosystems to capture what they have learned from two decades of studying social innovation and working with civic actors and practices addressing some of the world’s most complex and intractable problems. Their experience revealed the analytical value of ecosystem thinking to understand how the interactions and interdependence of civic actors shape their impact both individually and collectively. It also revealed the practical value of complementarity as a mindset and strategy.
Iavor is Research Fellow and Director of the Civic Ecosystems and Social Innovation program at the London School of Economics. Marika is Policy Fellow at the London School of Economics and Director of the Civic Engagement Project.

Chris helps civic actors at risk understand and manage their holistic security risks. He has a particular interest in scaling impact through the use of open resources and remote support. He is the lead author of the Holistic Security Protocol for Human Rights Defenders, the Minimum Operating Travel Security Standards (MOTSS), and Frontline Policies. In 2011, Chris founded Open Briefing, a non-profit that provides physical, digital and psychosocial security support to civic actors at risk around the world. He was previously the deputy director of the Oxford Research Group and an honorary research fellow in the Centre for Governance and International Affairs at the University of Bristol and in the School of Social and International Studies at the University of Bradford.

Amy is an impact adviser working with families to design philanthropic strategies and incorporate impact investing in their portfolios. She specialises in building consensus across families to develop values-aligned frameworks for achieving social impact. Amy is particularly interested in the implications of the civic ecosystem model for resourcing social change, responding to the need for beneficiary-led solutions and the different ways in which millennials give and engage with social causes compared to previous generations. Amy is a partner at Acorn Capital Advisers and has extensive experience in the private and non-profit sectors.

Andrea is a Colombian policy adviser with extensive experience leading human rights, rule of law, and civil society programmes. She is particularly interested in the interactions of grassroots and top-level civic actors in driving sustainable development and peacebuilding, and in the political economies sustaining protracted armed conflicts and violence. Andrea has worked globally on developing people-centred approaches to public security and preventing democratic backsliding while at the Open Society Foundations, and innovating ways to expand civic space at the World Alliance for Citizen Participation (CIVICUS). She has provided strategic advice to the U.S. Institute of Peace and led groundbreaking programs at U.S.A.I.D in Colombia.

Poonam helps independent philanthropy respond more strategically to the issue of closing civic space by advising funders on effective strategies to counter restrictions on freedom of assembly, expression and association. She has a particular interest in the trends that will shape the future of civic space over the next decade, including the increasing use by governments of counterterrorism and security laws, technological tools and discourse to criminalise, surveil and delegitimise civic actors. Poonam is the director of the Funders Initiative for Civil Society. Prior to this she was the Executive Director of the Sigrid Rausing Trust, and Director of the European Office for the Fund for Global Human Rights where she gained experience of supporting civil society in MENA, Balkans, South Asia and CEE.

Dina is an independent consultant and participatory action researcher working at the intersection of climate adaptation politics and finance, international development, and public participation. She is a policy advisor and facilitator bridging research, communications, philanthropic grantmaking, advocacy and programmes for climate and social justice. Dina is interested in civic ecosystems as a tool for understanding complex social change and the role of civic activism and public participation in shaping policy. She is Associate Fellow at the Carboun Institute and serves on the Advisory Council of Alliance Magazine and the Board of ACTS Foundation Kenya. She has extensive experience working across sectors, including journalism, multilateral institutions, academia, civil society, and philanthropy.