A Colombian Renaissance
The Blended Capital Approach to Restoring Economic and Cultural Vitality
Contemplate, for a moment, some of the most destructive challenges facing development today: the increasing prevalence of natural disasters; the underfunding of development goals; the violations of the freedoms of association, expression, and peaceful assembly; the maddening persistence of poverty; and above all, the accelerating effects of global climate change.
Each problem inflicts suffering on the world in its own way, yet, as a group, they share common characteristics. Each challenge is complex, with multiple moving parts. Each is riddled with perverse incentives, which can lead local and international actors to behave in ways that do not reflect the common interest, often by denying responsibility or even questioning the legitimacy of the problem itself. Each is opaque, with dynamics that are only partially understood, even by experts. As a result, these problems can be made worse by seemingly rational and well-intentioned interventions.
What can we do to beat the odds?
For genuine progress to occur, we must recognize the hidden social and environmental costs associated with these challenges and incorporate them into the global system. Doing so will clear a path for rational approaches that sufficiently incentivize and reward stakeholders for addressing them. For this to happen, we must revolutionize measurement, reporting, and financial instrumentation, as these are the mechanisms by which we connect global problems with the resources required to address them at scale.
