Andrea and Barry Coleman, a British couple and avid motorcycle racers, took a trip to Somalia with Save the Children many years ago, and were shocked to see “hemorrhaging women being carted in wheelbarrows to the nearest clinic” and “health workers covering distances of twenty miles of tough terrain a day by foot.” That was surface problem.
Digging deeper, they encountered “countless vehicles left to rust by the side of the road or stacked up against buildings.” “What good," they asked themselves, "was a health-care system without reliable transport”? That was the essence of the problem.
That led them to a two-fold set of insights:
So, they focused on the system upon which a viable health-care depended, and in particular, the fleets of vehicles that were best suited for the rugged terrain. And their solution? They made the system more reliable in the delivery of services, and in the years that followed, the Riders for Health model been implemented in seven sub-Saharan African countries.
According to thought leaders Roger Martin and Sally Osberg, the Coleman's work has “shifted the equilibrium of health-care delivery in Africa.” In other words, the Coleman's effected positive change by focusing on the weak links in the supply chain of an underperforming equilibrium. This is why we "make a map" and then "mind the gaps" in order to "build the app."
Digging deeper, it is in such underperforming systems that social entrepreneurs do their best work. And specifically it is by focusing on systemic "channels" -- those dynamic pathways that connect intentions with results -- where they get the best return on investment.
To learn more about this essential element in changemaking, click on this description of dynamic pathways. To gain greater access to these gaps and pathways situated within them, consult our gaps checklist.
And to learn more about the systemic nature of changemaking, click on The Physics of Changemaking and the Three Systemic Variables -- Channels, Energy and Leverage.
Digging deeper, they encountered “countless vehicles left to rust by the side of the road or stacked up against buildings.” “What good," they asked themselves, "was a health-care system without reliable transport”? That was the essence of the problem.
That led them to a two-fold set of insights:
- First, that the most reliable vehicles for this transportation system were motorcycles.
- And second, that it was the transport management system itself that needed attention. And with it the need to create a preventative maintenance system -- by training local mechanics and riders, creating supply chain for parts and fuel, and fleet management contracts with governments.
So, they focused on the system upon which a viable health-care depended, and in particular, the fleets of vehicles that were best suited for the rugged terrain. And their solution? They made the system more reliable in the delivery of services, and in the years that followed, the Riders for Health model been implemented in seven sub-Saharan African countries.
According to thought leaders Roger Martin and Sally Osberg, the Coleman's work has “shifted the equilibrium of health-care delivery in Africa.” In other words, the Coleman's effected positive change by focusing on the weak links in the supply chain of an underperforming equilibrium. This is why we "make a map" and then "mind the gaps" in order to "build the app."
Digging deeper, it is in such underperforming systems that social entrepreneurs do their best work. And specifically it is by focusing on systemic "channels" -- those dynamic pathways that connect intentions with results -- where they get the best return on investment.
To learn more about this essential element in changemaking, click on this description of dynamic pathways. To gain greater access to these gaps and pathways situated within them, consult our gaps checklist.
And to learn more about the systemic nature of changemaking, click on The Physics of Changemaking and the Three Systemic Variables -- Channels, Energy and Leverage.