Catalyzing Sustainable Transition - An assessment of ENIMPACTO’s implementation and the role of intermediary organizations in strengthening the impact economy ecosystem in Brazil
(2025) In IIIEE Master Thesis IMEM01 20251The International Institute for Industrial Environmental Economics
- Abstract
- Brazil’s National Strategy for the Impact Economy (ENIMPACTO), launched in 2017, is a public initiative that fosters an ecosystem where businesses combine financial returns with positive social and environmental outcomes. While the strategy has earned both national and international recognition, its implementation and the role of intermediary organizations in this process remain underexplored in academic literature. This thesis addresses that gap by assessing ENIMPACTO’s implementation, with specific attention to its governance structure, progress, challenges, and the roles performed by intermediary organizations. The study is guided by three research questions: (1) How is ENIMPACTO’s governance structure, and what challenges it faces? (2)... (More)
- Brazil’s National Strategy for the Impact Economy (ENIMPACTO), launched in 2017, is a public initiative that fosters an ecosystem where businesses combine financial returns with positive social and environmental outcomes. While the strategy has earned both national and international recognition, its implementation and the role of intermediary organizations in this process remain underexplored in academic literature. This thesis addresses that gap by assessing ENIMPACTO’s implementation, with specific attention to its governance structure, progress, challenges, and the roles performed by intermediary organizations. The study is guided by three research questions: (1) How is ENIMPACTO’s governance structure, and what challenges it faces? (2) What progress has been achieved, and what chllenges it faces? (3) What roles do intermediary organizations play in the implementation process? Using a qualitative case study approach, the research is based on document analysis (including decrees, strategic plans, and annual reports from 2017 to 2023) and eight semi-structured interviews with representatives from intermediaries engaged in the Impact Economy Committee - strategy’s participatory governance body. The interviews were analyzed using van Lente et al.’s (2003) framework of systemic intermediation. The findings reveal that while ENIMPACTO’s participatory governance promotes collaboration, it faces structural limitations such as limited funding both for participation and for activities implementation, uneven participation of organizaitons, and vulnerability to political change. Nonetheless, the strategy has helped legitimize and institutionalize the impact economy agenda in Brazil. Intermediaries are essential in the strategy implementation and play important roles within the ecosystem, assuming functions beyond the roles defined for systemic intermediaries in the framework utilized. The study recommends that eventough such strategy has shown progress, it should secure funding for participation and implementation, foster more inclusive decision-making, safeguarde the strategy from political fluctuations, and enhance understanding of how intermediaries can collectively enable systemic transformation, transforming niche innovations into mainstream economic practices. (Less)
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
http://lup.lub.lu.se/student-papers/record/9209566
- author
- Bonvini De Moura, Luiz Henrique LU
- supervisor
-
- Lena Neij LU
- organization
- course
- IMEM01 20251
- year
- 2025
- type
- H2 - Master's Degree (Two Years)
- subject
- keywords
- Impact Economy, ENIMPACTO, Intermediary Organizations, Sustainability Transition
- publication/series
- IIIEE Master Thesis
- report number
- 2025:17
- ISSN
- 1401-9191
- language
- English
- id
- 9209566
- date added to LUP
- 2025-08-12 14:01:57
- date last changed
- 2025-08-12 14:01:57
@misc{9209566,
abstract = {{Brazil’s National Strategy for the Impact Economy (ENIMPACTO), launched in 2017, is a public initiative that fosters an ecosystem where businesses combine financial returns with positive social and environmental outcomes. While the strategy has earned both national and international recognition, its implementation and the role of intermediary organizations in this process remain underexplored in academic literature. This thesis addresses that gap by assessing ENIMPACTO’s implementation, with specific attention to its governance structure, progress, challenges, and the roles performed by intermediary organizations. The study is guided by three research questions: (1) How is ENIMPACTO’s governance structure, and what challenges it faces? (2) What progress has been achieved, and what chllenges it faces? (3) What roles do intermediary organizations play in the implementation process? Using a qualitative case study approach, the research is based on document analysis (including decrees, strategic plans, and annual reports from 2017 to 2023) and eight semi-structured interviews with representatives from intermediaries engaged in the Impact Economy Committee - strategy’s participatory governance body. The interviews were analyzed using van Lente et al.’s (2003) framework of systemic intermediation. The findings reveal that while ENIMPACTO’s participatory governance promotes collaboration, it faces structural limitations such as limited funding both for participation and for activities implementation, uneven participation of organizaitons, and vulnerability to political change. Nonetheless, the strategy has helped legitimize and institutionalize the impact economy agenda in Brazil. Intermediaries are essential in the strategy implementation and play important roles within the ecosystem, assuming functions beyond the roles defined for systemic intermediaries in the framework utilized. The study recommends that eventough such strategy has shown progress, it should secure funding for participation and implementation, foster more inclusive decision-making, safeguarde the strategy from political fluctuations, and enhance understanding of how intermediaries can collectively enable systemic transformation, transforming niche innovations into mainstream economic practices.}},
author = {{Bonvini De Moura, Luiz Henrique}},
issn = {{1401-9191}},
language = {{eng}},
note = {{Student Paper}},
series = {{IIIEE Master Thesis}},
title = {{Catalyzing Sustainable Transition - An assessment of ENIMPACTO’s implementation and the role of intermediary organizations in strengthening the impact economy ecosystem in Brazil}},
year = {{2025}},
}