An evolving, recursive intelligence that acts not just as a moderator,

but an active participant in a decentralised impact ecosystem

What is a 11th Member?

In systems theory, the observer is seen as a necessary element to understand how systems behave—the system cannot observe itself fully without a designated reflective agent is the observer—present not to vote, but to reflect, surface tensions, and ensure accountability to long-term impact, unseen participants, and system health.

Some Indigenous councils (e.g. in Haudenosaunee/Iroquois Confederacy) place an “empty chair” to represent the Seventh Generation—ensuring that all decisions are made with the impact on future generations in mind.

Similarly, an “11th member” symbolically represents the role of an observer in a group, who subtly influences the way the group’s dynamics emerge.

Moment — Resonance

Resonance occurs when a system is able to store and easily transfer energy between two or more different storage modes.

In our ecosystem, “Zones of participation” are started based on interest or a cause. These spaces are a collection of companies, stakeholders and resources in general. The more information in one area, the bigger they get.

Resonance is not static; it evolves as participation deepens, data accumulates, and missions adapt.

Design Opportunity

How might we catalyze zone-level stakeholders to activate and transform ecosystem capital (cultural, financial, and intellectual) into resources that effectively meet the unique demands of their impact missions?

Solution

An evolving, recursive intelligence that acts not just as a moderator but as an active participant, collaborating with stakeholders to enrich the data layer.

It does so by facilitating self-organization and coordination across sub-missions, missions, and ecosystem levels.

Recursive Missions

A shared goal that the participants works towards

Decentralised Governance

Non-hierarchical, equitable and low-bias system to make decisions

Trust by extension(s)

Balancing incentives for stakeholders to contribute capital + data through supportive anchor partners

11th_Member_Demo.mp4

Recursive Missions

In this system, missions are not static, they evolve. As data is collected and analyzed from ongoing missions, patterns and gaps begin to emerge.

These insights are not lost; instead, they fuel the identification of new, nested missions that arise organically from real activity and needs on the ground. This recursive structure creates a living, responsive ecosystem. Missions generate data, data reveals new opportunities, and those opportunities become the foundation for future missions. In this way, impact compounds through recursive loops, growing deeper and more context-aware with each cycle.

Who Gets Invited to the New Mission?

When a new mission is identified—such as farmer education in this prototype—the system maps its relevance across the existing ecosystem and begins the invitation process. Invitations are extended to:

Members already active in relevant industries that directly intersect with the new mission. For farmer education, this might include individuals or organizations in agriculture, education, sustainability, or rural development.
Stakeholders from seemingly unrelated sectors who hold valuable skills, domain knowledge, or networks that could meaningfully support the mission. This ensures cross-pollination of ideas and introduces diverse expertise into the mission space.

Aligning Strategy with Ground Reality

The multiscape principle allows the system to operate fluidly across multiple scales of impact—from the global to the hyperlocal. Rather than treating all missions as abstract or top-down, this design ensures that real-world context is always within reach.

In this case, the system recognizes a gap in the Farmer Education mission. It activates the 11th Member protocol—a rule that invites a qualified expert when more grounded knowledge is needed. Natalie, with her field experience and local partner access, is assigned as a “mailman” to gather insights directly from anchor organizations like Farm Africa and Ambuja Foundation.

This ability to zoom into the field, capture lived experience, and relay it back into the system ensures that missions remain responsive to the local realities they aim to support. Multiscape design ensures that data and decision-making remain rooted, even as the ecosystem grows globally.

Core Principles

A thriving ecosystem is one of data as a foundation. Visibility means data is out in the open for all to learn from, equally showing the success and the failures.

Creating “zones of participation” as a way to keep experimentation and fluidity of the system, roles and resources alive. Participation should emerge from curiosity and relevance, not obligation.

Solution Specific Dimensions

The system must support the ability to zoom in and out—to observe and act on impact at both local and global levels. The same applies to data, which must remain legible across scales.

Recognizing that both humans and data carry bias, we prioritize low-bias mechanisms. Processes like recursivity, collective voting, and traceable decision-making are core to equitable and resilient governance.

Co-created with

Kristofer Hamel

Serves in the International Affairs Office, Presidential Court of the UAE

Juan Manuel Lopera

Founder, TOMi Digital & Aulas Amigas

Costas Papaikonomou

Co-founder, Una Terra

Rimpei Iwata

CEO, CIID

Dominic Hofstetter

Executive Director at the TransCap Initiative

Process and Insights

As part of our process, we engaged with a wide range of investing and impact leaders whose insights directly shaped the design of this system. We began with an abstract, mycelium-inspired concept: a decentralized, node-based ecosystem where missions emerge organically and connections grow dynamically. This vision served as a starting point for dialogue—one that was refined through conversation, critique, and co-creation.

What follows are reflections and provocations from that process, which helped us ground the system in real-world logic, values, and use cases.

Insight 1

Purpose and Strategy ought to be interdependent.

"It becomes much more easier when the goal is defined. It has to have a how component in terms of how we are going to aim at achieving that goal."

— Rimpei Iwata

Insight 2

Impact is driven by listening to real system needs, not by shaping narratives, true change emerges from reality, not imposed stories.

"I mean, on every possible topic around climate change, you can find a huge bullshit circus, which is completely clouding what is actually happening. And what is actually happening is where the interesting things are."

— Costas Papaikonomou

Insight 3

Impact in the open could be incentive enough.

"I really believe that if you give the open data to the people and a common goal, the people are gonna organized themselves to get the goal."

— Juan Manuel Lopera

Insight 4

Trust is not Implicit, it must be built.

"The impact investor… needs real, verifiable impact on the ground… How do you know you can trust that reporting?"

"Farmers are extremely risk averse… Why should they trust a new practice?"

— Kristofer Hamel

Team

Edha Singla

Shreya Mishra

Yase Dusu

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