The transversality of the social investment portfolio

I like to compare cross-cutting processes to interdependent biological systems. Let's take the forest as an example to illustrate the thought.

In a forest, there is what the eye can see: an area of ​​land covered by vegetation. There is also something that the eyes cannot distinguish, such as the intricate chain of relationships between living beings and the soil, other organisms and the environment, giving rise to a system known as the Wood Wide Web (Wide Forest Network in Portuguese).

The forest functions as an interconnected organism, where each element plays a role. Studies show that older, healthier trees, known as mother trees, often direct extra nutrients to younger or weakened ones to keep the forest stable. Fungi, for example, establish themselves around roots to “colonize” them and thus exchange resources and nutrients, but also guarantee the trees' chemical defense.

This constant exchange not only keeps the forest healthy, but also demonstrates how life on Earth depends on collaboration and regeneration, even at the most microscopic levels.

Within this universe and its concepts, Biomimicry enters the junction between society and the forest, being an area of ​​science that seeks inspiration from nature to solve human challenges. More than copying shapes, Biomimicry delves deeper into the efficient and sustainable functioning of ecosystems, applying these principles to design, engineering, architecture and technology, among other areas of knowledge.

Just as natural systems teach us to create solutions that respect the Earth's cycles, in which residues from one process are resources for another, in the Greater Good Movement we adopt a transversal and interconnected look at our social investment portfolio . Our challenge is to understand how an ecosystem of 90 supported organizations can dialogue with each other, the social sector and other spheres.

Just as in the forest there is no way to separate sun and soil, in a portfolio there is no way to separate investments at the end from investments in strengthening the social field or investments in education from investments in productive inclusion.

I will cite as an example the child who does not have access to quality education. At first glance, we only see a child outside of school, but what the eyes don't see reveals a much more complex reality: the lack of school transport, the absence of food that guarantees their cognitive capacity to learn and the impossibility of acquiring teaching materials because their parents are unemployed.

Furthermore, there may still be invisible traumas, such as mental health compromised by living in an environment of domestic violence and the insecurity of living in a territory dominated by organized crime. Between home and school, there is a web of obstacles that cannot be broken with access to quality education alone. There is a whole network of interconnected and structural social challenges that require collaborative and robust solutions to guarantee the basic right to learn.

By diversifying institutional support and adopting a view of interdependence between the different social causes in Brazil, a portfolio of private social investments can become a living organism, where each supported organization plays an important role in building the social change we desire.

This is why the importance of a transversal look: the support for the Agbara Fund in favor of the productive inclusion of black women speaks directly to the research on the peripheries of the Pipa Initiative , which dialogues with the purpose of Gerando Falcões advocacy work of the Alliance for the Strengthening of Civil Society , which favors the activities of other organizations, such as the Iungo Institute , the Education for Kindness and Generosity or even The Human Project .

This transversality and plurality that connects different fronts of action not only strengthens the consistency and robustness of the Greater Good Movement's social thesis, but also highlights a fundamental premise: transforming Brazil requires a systemic and collaborative approach at all levels. From the micro, like caring for a child, to the macro, like advocacy that shape public policies, each interconnected effort is an indispensable piece in creating a fairer and more inclusive country.