As YMCA continues to learn from diverse partners and industry leaders to serve our communities better, we had the pleasure of attending ImpactFest 2023 in The Hague, Europe’s leading impact event. The event is held annually and brings together startups, scale-ups, investors, knowledge institutes, corporates, policymakers, and passionate individuals to share ideas and insights on how to make a positive impact on society and the environment.
The day featured a dynamic blend of keynote speeches, panel discussions, and interactive workshops that allowed for the exchange of best practices and ideas from various sectors on how best to achieve impactful solutions to global challenges together.
Additionally, ImpactFest provided an opportunity to connect with like-minded organisations who are pioneering new approaches that look to address the causes of problems not just the symptoms. These advances are built upon the principle of collaboration and this event helped to facilitate those relationships.
During the event, we had the occasion to reflect on the drivers of a changing labour market which is predicted to lead to a labour shortage which will span the next 30 years. This shortage will be a great challenge for society and through the interactive session it was explored how a multistakeholder approach to life-long learning as well as a re-envisioning of HR practice that supports a new generation of workers (GenZ) can be utilised as solutions.
We were also able to attend an inspiring session on the power of collaboration where four examples of multisector consortiums were presented. The groups were able to share about their projects and explain how they are achieving positive, transformative change at the community level together. From this session, we took away key insights on how diverse consortiums can drive positive change, mobilise impact capital through collaboration, and revolutionize the funding ecosystem through revolving funding models.
Lastly, we joined a presentation on impact measurement management where the challenges of it were discussed as well as how to start cultivating a culture around it. It was highlighted the increasing importance of impact measuring as a fundamental tool for differentiating and amplifying genuine positive impact.
In conclusion, ImpactFest 2023 was a great opportunity for us to exchange insights and ideas with an array of stakeholders and a powerful reminder of our collective impact and potential to drive positive change and shape a brighter future.
