What does impact mean to Busara?
The overall aim of the framing is to unpack another one of the creative tensions Busara continuously navigates: on the one hand we know that change is multi-dimensional and happens through sustained engagement. We know that in the kind of work we do, we need the time to learn what the right change even should look like, particularly when it comes to changing norms. And if we are honest, we also know that change often comes in surprising ways.
On the other hand, we have the ambition to have–and amplify–impact. We are also often asked (or feel obliged) to declare the impact that we have had in stark and usually numerical ways: so many lives improved, so many programmes influenced. And of course, when we are asked for impact measures–for a proposal, for a talk–we provide them. But they are never really convincing: are the numbers correct? Do they capture how people have experienced our work? Do they represent change that is actually beneficial? What do the numbers miss?
In 2025, one of the areas in which we want to clarify our thinking is impact measurement. In the spirit of honesty and transparency that we see at the heart of our work, we are seeking to find ways to articulate what more comprehensive, holistic–and yes, I’m saying it–human ways to understand impact of knowledge work in global development could look like. Tafakari 2025 is the beginning of that journey. We think this is crucial not only for Busara as an organization, but as a response to demands for greater accountability and shifting interests in how the development sector thinks of itself and works.