TOR 151: Disrupting Existing Silos Of The Social Sector with Tim France of Inis Communication

Terms Of Reference Podcast

One of my favorite things about data analysis is when trends emerge unexpectedly. So often, when sifting through data we find exactly what we’re looking for. But its those moments when we’re presented with something unusual that are the real special event. This holds for why I love the monitoring and evaluation process in the social sector. So often I start an assignment with a client with a “view” about what will result from the research, only to find that after weeks - or more often months - of living with the data, conversations and documentation, I see alternative views clearly displayed.

The trend I’m pleased has revealed itself to spark this editorial is disruption of the social sector. Somehow the universe conspired to allow me to have our past two guests on the show (Paula Kravitz and Chris Blattman), both of whom have specific views on how we can evolve the sector. Today’s guest is, happily, another voice whose decades of experience have lead to our conversation about yet another aspect of our work that is overdue for a rethink: the ever present silos we find everyday in our work.

Silos are everywhere - within organizations, across humanitarian responses, within countries accepting development assistance and even within our own minds about how our worldview and approaches to our work. This isn’t a new problem, and one I can personally attest is alive and well. So much so that the term “multi-sectoral initiative” is something donors are interested in hearing and a topic that was a key focus for a recent guest here on TOR - Patrick Fine, the CEO of FHI 360 as he talked about “integrated development.”

My guest for the 151st episode of the Terms of Reference Podcast is Tim France, Managing Director of Inis Communication. Tim came to his passion for communicate through the health sector, in which he holds a PhD and has worked for the World Health Organization's Global Programme on AIDS and UNAIDS, the Roll Back Malaria Partnership, the Foundation du Présent, and the founding of Health & Development Networks.

I’m excited to bring you this conversation about a new tool developed by Inis, called SGD Insights, and how that becomes a platform for Tim and I to talk about the need for disrupting the social sector to break down our silos - and why this has never been more important