The EPSI Workplan currently has three projects that contribute towards a proposed Transition Goal. Project #1, the Evaluation & Learning Cohort, is being developed in partnership with Collaborative Impact.
For more please see the EPSI background paper.
If you might consider partnering with the EPSI on one of the Transition Projects below, please email mheywood@eps.institute.
Transition Project #1: Evaluation and Learning Cohort – New Economy (ELC)
Designed in partnership with Collaborative Impact.
The evaluation literature shows that effective organisations purposefully create space for reflection to assess successes and failures, in order to incorporate them into their strategies and projects. Evaluation is also necessary for effective coalition and partnership strategies.
Outside of the large NGOs like Oxfam, a review of New Economy websites (forthcoming) could not find published evaluation and learning reports regarding organisations’ own work. Bilateral exchanges with staff and leadership of New Economy organisations confirmed that, beyond donor-driven project evaluations, opportunities for structured evaluation and learning at the organisational level are rare.
The ELC provides a structured space and process for small, time-bound Cohorts of New Economy organisations to voluntarily have their individual work independently evaluated, learn from the findings (individually and collectively), and assess potential courses of action.
While existing partnerships may gain additional value from joining a Cohort, the Cohort is designed to also benefit organisations joining individually.
Collective Cohort-level reflections will be published and shared with target audiences; the publication of individual evaluation reports is encouraged but not required. The evaluation team will also capture and share lessons learned on applying a Cohort format to the evaluation of New Economy organisations.
NEW October 2026: If there is interest in potentially joining a Q1 2027 Cohort launch, please contact mheywood@eps.institute for an introductory call with the project team.
Transition Project #2: Green Capital as a New Economy force
The renewables sector is a clear candidate to become a political economy force for the Transition.
Yet despite being on track to surpass fossil fuels in terms of energy contribution, the sector is punching below its weight as a political actor, as observed by Thea Riofrancos, among others. Its advocacy efforts also tend to be focused on sector-specific objectives, such as market access and technology development.
At the same time, leaders within the sector are already making proposals to strengthen their collective voice, including first calls for renewable companies to provide political funding.
The Project “Green Capital as a New Economy force” seeks to gain a deeper understanding of the sector’s current political engagement before developing a detailed Theory of Change for the renewables sector in a New Economy role.
Concept Note – Transition Project #2 (google doc)
Transition Project #3: Transformative mobilisation – research initiative
The need for societal mobilisation to drive national-level transformative statecraft has been emphasised by Braun & Downey (2026), Benanav (2026) and Schutter (2025), among others.
Various sources have also outlined areas for future research on mobilisation, however these do not yet appear to have a dedicated research program or initiative. Fundamental challenges include the decline of formal, long-term membership organisations (unions, parties, clubs), the rise of organisations with weak membership ties (e.g. issue-specific protest groups), and understanding how these trends relate to emergent changes in material forces.
Transition Project #3 proposes a research program to start addressing these known research gaps. The research program would generate both theoretical contributions and testable hypotheses, working in partnership with political organisers, social movements and national researchers.
Concept note – Transition Project #3 (google doc)