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Beyond the Dots: A Conversation with the IAC Berlin Network
April 9, 2026 / SnapshotOn January 22, Root Change’s Rachel Dickinson joined a networking call with members of the IAC Berlin community to offer an introduction to Social Network Analysis (SNA)— what it is, why it matters, and how network coordinators can put it to practical use. The session was designed as a hands-on
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Introducing the Youth Equity Index: Measuring What Really Matters in Youth Engagement
August 12, 2025 / White PaperToo often, youth are invited to the table only to be handed a script someone else wrote. At Root Change, we believe it’s time to flip that script and the Youth Equity Index (YEI) is our latest step in doing just that. Developed under the USAID-funded Youth Excel program (2020-2025),
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Introducing Dynamic Reporting for Strengthening Development Ecosystems
May 3, 2022 / AnnouncementsThree and a half years ago, Root Change launched the Pando platform. Using collective intelligence to crowdsource relationship and feedback data, Pando is an online participatory network mapping tool that makes it possible to visualize, learn from, and engage with the systems where you work. The technology is the culmination of more than a decade
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Pando Equity Mock Report
May 3, 2022 / ToolkitThe Pando Equity Report is part of our Pando tool suite and draws from social network analysis (SNA) and feedback data to help users learn more about equity and local ownership in the systems where they are working. Analytics included in this report are based on our Pando Local Learning
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Pando Network Foundations Mock Report
May 3, 2022 / ToolkitThe Pando Network Foundations Report is part of our Pando tool suite and draws from social network analysis (SNA) and feedback data to help users learn more about key actors in the systems where they are working. It includes network analysis of four key actor roles: resource hubs, active networkers,
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Using the Malawi Social Impact Map to Strengthen Organization Networking
August 30, 2021 / Program UpdatesThis post was written by Sabine Sleijffers, a Root Change Communications Intern based on interviews with Madalitso Juwayeyi and Daniel Mvalo. In 2019, Segal Family Foundation (SFF) launched the Malawi Social Impact Network Map on Pando with the goal of learning more about the organizations and relationships that make up the innovation ecosystem and to
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Launching the Global Youth Excel Network Map
June 9, 2021 / AnnouncementsWhat if you could connect with other youth-led and youth-serving organizations out there who are passionate about the same cause? What if you could access additional knowledge, skills, or funding to advocate for youth in your community? Or what if you could share what you’ve learned with important sector leaders? Could you grow your impact?
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Ushirika Hub: What We Learned from a Social Systems Network Analysis of the Cooperative Ecosystem in Kenya
November 13, 2020 / ReportThis blog is a follow-on to our post Ushirika Hub: How Three Organizations Came Together to Conduct Participatory SSNA of the Cooperative Ecosystem in 6 Counties in Kenya. It was written by Tindi Sitati, Collaboration Learning and Adaptation (CLA) Officer for Global Communities, with contributions from: Rachel Dickinson (Root Change), Pamela Kaburu (Global Communities), Lydia
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Social System Network Analysis (SSNA) Baseline
November 13, 2020 / ReportRoot Change partnered with the CDP Partners to conduct a Social System Network Analysis (SSNA) baseline of the cooperative ecosystem in six counties in Kenya from September 2019 to February 2020. This final report is the culmination of the analysis, findings, and recommendations.
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Ushirika Hub: How Three Organizations Came Together to Conduct Participatory SSNA of the Cooperative Ecosystem in 6 Counties in Kenya
September 21, 2020 / Program UpdatesContributions from: Tindi Sitati and Pamela Kaburu (Global Communities), Lydia Omamo and Virginia Brown(NCBA CLUSA), Fridah Kanana(WOCCU) Starting in 2019, three implementing partners of the USAID Cooperative Development Program (CDP), Global Communities, NCBA CLUSA, and WOCCU, joined forces to conduct a Social Systems Network Analysis (SSNA) in Kenya with support from Root Change. The CDP
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The Root Change “Pracademic” – What We’ve Learned from Bridging the Academic-Practitioner Divide in Partnership with the Harvard Humanitarian Initiative (HHI)
June 8, 2020 / ReportAs an INGO whose staff works to design, implement, and iterate programs, projects, and initiatives around the world, by most accounts Root Change is a practitioner. But sometimes we dip our toes into the academic side of the international development field. This is evident in our mission to “question assumptions” and “think deeply” but tends
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Pathways to Power – Strengthening Relationships in the #ShiftThePower Movement
June 3, 2020 / AnnouncementsEarlier this year, the Global Fund for Community Foundations and Root Change co-hosted a virtual global meeting to reflect on the #ShiftThePower movement, the efforts that have been made to weave together the movement since the Pathways to Power Symposium, and surface insights from the Pathways to Power relationship map on the Pando platform. You
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Thinking and Working in Systems Online Course
January 13, 2020 / AnnouncementsHappy New Year! As in the case of many folks who start the year with a list of new year’s resolutions, we too stepped into 2020 reflecting upon what we want out of this year at Root Change. Intentional learning from, and sharing of our knowledge and resources with fellow development practitioners made it to
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Measuring Local Ownership in International Development Projects
January 6, 2020 / White PaperThis post was originally published by MERL Tech on December 17, 2019. It is the result of an opportunity to present a five-minute Lightning Talk on Pando LLS at the MERL Tech DC conference in Sept 2019. “Localization”, measuring local ownership, USAID’s Journey to Self-Reliance… We’re all talking about these
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Pando Localization Learning System
November 15, 2019 / White PaperThe Pando LLS White Paper lays out the theory and methodology behind the Pando Localization Learning System. It describes why a new theory of measurement for localization is needed, how system-based approaches of network analysis and qualitative feedback provide a solution, details on of a set of four localization metrics,
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Pando Localization Learning System (LLS)
September 18, 2019 / SnapshotPando Localization Learning System (LLS) is a new set of measures and an approach that helps projects and practitioners track progress towards strengthening local systems to own and lead initiatives that address development problems. The heart of the LLS is a dynamic online platform called Pando that collects social network
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