Solutions Insights Lab

Organizations addressing complex global challenges partner with Solutions Insights Lab to build shared understanding, strengthen peer learning, and clarify what’s working at scale.

We’ve conducted in-person and virtual interviews across the Americas, Asia, Africa, and Europe on topics ranging from youth mental wellbeing and land stewardship to eyeglasses distribution and more. Our approach centers on listening to the people closest to the work and distilling actionable insights that help the field move forward.

The Problem We Solve

Organizations tackling complex global challenges face fragmented knowledge, missed peer learning opportunities, and isolation that prevents collective action. Practitioners working on the same problems often don't collaborate. Funders can't see how investments connect. Insights stay trapped in individual organizations instead of shaping sectors. Even when effective solutions exist, they don't spread—because there's no shared narrative, no community of practice, and no momentum for change at scale.
 

Our Approach

Solutions Insights Lab catalyzes action by using insights that emerge from deep interviews to connect people, build communities, and create the conditions for sector-wide change.

An initiative of the Solutions Journalism Network, we draw on a global network of trained solutions journalists working across Asia, Africa, Europe, and the Americas. We're experts in our disciplines, but we’re not subject matter experts in a particular field—and that's the point. Because we aren't bound by specialized silos, we can move across ecosystems as trusted connectors, bringing together practitioners, funders, and policymakers who need to learn from each other.

We start with conversations. Through in-depth interviews, we surface knowledge that exists only in the heads of those doing the work, reveal patterns across organizations, and identify what's actually working. Then we bring people together—creating communities of practice where isolated actors become collaborative ecosystems. We stay engaged to ensure insights translate into action: tracking implementation, facilitating peer learning, and building shared narratives that shift how entire sectors operate.

We complement academic research and technical expertise, but our focus is different: we don't just study problems but help solve them by connecting the people in the right places who can drive change together.

What We Deliver

We draw out nuanced information from across your ecosystem

Our journalists conduct in-depth conversations with practitioners, innovators, funders, and community leaders, using the solutions reporting framework, which includes understanding responses, evidence of their effectiveness, their limitations, and insights from which others can learn. Our researchers then study the interviews to identify patterns, contradictions, and opportunities.

We create communities of practice

We bring disparate actors together on equal footing to connect everyone’s unique insights. Through relationship-building conversations and intentional convenings, we help isolated organizations become collaborative ecosystems where peer learning flourishes.

We enable ecosystem collaborative learning

We don't just deliver insights and exit. We stay engaged to track implementation, identify blockers, and facilitate ongoing peer learning. We create shared resources—systems maps, searchable platforms, events—where knowledge flows between organizations and coordination can thrive.

We create storytelling assets that make insights actionable

Visual maps, searchable knowledge hubs, videos, and interactive tools translate complex ecosystem dynamics into clear, shareable resources that practitioners, funders, and policymakers can use immediately.

The Result

• Faster, clearer insights on what's worth scaling and what to avoid
• Connected ecosystems where collaboration replaces isolation
• Sector-level transformation including policy changes and coordinated funding
• Stronger investments directed to proven, high-return approaches
• Amplified visibility for effective solutions, helping organizations attract resources and partnerships

Why Solutions Insights Lab

We work quickly and nimbly, delivering insights faster and more cost-effectively than traditional research. We don't replace academic studies or technical expertise; we complement them by turning lived experience into system-level clarity. Most importantly, we don't just study your ecosystem—we help strengthen it by creating the conditions for connection and collective action. We help you learn from what's working, turn scattered lessons into coordinated momentum for lasting impact, and engage outward with innovative products and convenings.

Bring Solutions Insights Lab to your organization. Schedule a conversation with Ambika Samarthya-Howard: ambika@solutionsjournalism.org.