We are change agents working to unlock the potential of people and power.
We work in partnership with governments, philanthropy, civil society and communities to challenge the status quo, shift mindsets, and bridge the gap between people and those in power.
By helping people develop the skills needed to do their work differently, they can build trust, better serve their communities, and tackle problems that matter.
What we do
As a charity, our European team helps those working in and around government by acting as a learning partner, supporting them to centre their work in learning and experimentation.
We co-create every partnership based on the unique organisational context and community we’re working with.
We push the boundaries of our current understanding, exploring topics critical to the future. We share what we’re learning and provide a platform for people to share their stories about how they’re spearheading change worldwide.
We offer training to help people think and work differently. We support them in transforming structures and cultures to put learning at the heart.
We connect changemakers to accelerate collaboration and learning in response to complex challenges.
We work with philanthropic organisations to address major societal challenges and innovate on how to fund and support public and social impact. Our global programmes lead to healthier systems and meaningful outcomes for communities worldwide.
Our impact
governments and organisations supported
public servants and changemakers supported
community members engaged
Sparking real change
In 2023, we worked on various projects to shift the status quo. This includes advancing tech innovation for social good, supporting the next generation of climate leaders, and helping governments shape public services that better meet people’s needs.
Delve into our report to explore the innovative projects and partnerships shaping a more inclusive and resilient future.
Our work
Partnering with Google.org to support workers most impacted by AI-related workforce transitions through the AI Opportunity Fund: Europe.
Supporting the UNDP and Government of Italy’s Youth4Climate Challenge, a global initiative that supports youth-led climate solutions.
Urban Imaginaries is a 10-month learning journey supporting cities across Eastern Europe and Central Asia to develop solutions to their most pressing urban challenges, co-designed and delivered with the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), thanks to the support of the European Union.
Partnering with Google.org to advance innovative AI solutions to accelerate progress towards the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
Working with Improvement Cymru to foster people-led systems transformation and enhance leadership across diverse sectors.
Working with the University of Nottingham’s Rights Lab to co-design new support pathways for survivors of modern slavery.
We hosted a group of democratic innovation practitioners, researchers, urban planners, journalists, social entrepreneurs, and policy experts from Abuja to Belfast to collectively reimagine local democracy.
Working with cities to lead the charge towards a net zero resilient future.
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Partnering with Google.org to build a more inclusive, sustainable and resilient Europe through the Tech for Social Good Impact Challenge.
Supporting Greater Manchester and regulatory and inspection partners to design more collaborative ways of working together to improve public services for those who experience multiple disadvantage.
Helping places and organisations apply a Human Learning Systems approach to planning and delivering public services.
Partnering with the Live Longer Better (LLB) network to enable Active Partnerships to learn collectively and encourage active ageing.
Working with the London Borough of Redbridge to help their community hubs thrive by supporting them to establish the systems, processes, and culture to learn as they work.
Helping local authorities in England to rethink children’s social care and design new approaches to enable social workers to do their best work.
Supporting Bloomberg Philanthropies in designing and implementing the European Digital Cities initiative. This 18-month programme helped 19 European capital cities accelerate digital innovation, providing them with the tools and capabilities to design citizen-centred services that deliver better results for residents.
Who we work with
We’ve worked with public sector organisations, government, academic institutions, charities and foundations across Europe to explore how we can make government more effective and trusted to work for everyone.
Testimonials
"We greatly enjoyed working alongside the CPI team. With their rigour and warmth, we successfully co-created a human-centered design learning journey called Urban Imaginaries for city teams in Armenia, Georgia and Moldova (under the EU funded Mayors for Economic Growth). All city teams saw their grant design and implementation improved and positive effects and scalability of the learning, including securing additional funding. Change in local bureaucracies is no quick fix and ultimately depends on the human tissue of trust and safe spaces to experiment and learn. People change systems, the CPI team understood that and showed much adaptability and relevance to that end."
"CPI worked with the Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation (UK Branch) to understand effective ways to engage the public on meaningful behaviour change that can aid in achieving net-zero emissions goals. CPI was able to activate its network and deep knowledge to interpret our brief and deliver a sophisticated output that resonated with policy-makers and practitioners."
"CPI has been invaluable to Frontline and has filled our skill gaps patiently and expertly through a partnership of equality where Frontline can bring its subject matter expertise and its networks, with CPI contributing expert project management, government relations abilities and policy excellence. Without CPI we would not have advanced our “Blueprint for Children's Social Care” to a live test and learn site."
"Working with CPI was a great experience. They brought rigour, creativity and challenge to our work together, taking our initial brief and developing it flexibly with us, in response to what we were learning as we went along. Their work was instrumental in helping us develop and refine our programmatic theory of change, which identified our core purpose, and the means by which we could achieve that purpose – in our case, to build trusting relationships, through effective and structured collaboration."
We are an experienced international team of former civil servants, researchers, and communicators who are passionate about reimagining government.
Insights from our work
Get in touch
Are you ready to reimagine government with us? Then, get in touch and let’s talk about how we can work together.
Centre for Public Impact UK is a charitable company limited by guarantee, registered in England and Wales, company number 12436197, charity number 1193597. Our registered office is 3 More London Riverside, London, SE1 2RE, United Kingdom. You can find more information on CPI's overall governance structure here.
Join the conversation
Are you exploring how government can be better?
If you’re looking for inspiration and examples of government innovation, or interested to learn how the current models of government are evolving to shape a new future, that embraces complexity, values relationships and prioritises learning, then we want to hear from you.
Get in touch to share your story.
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