The Better World Agenda
Bridging Academia and Philanthropy
Shifting norms, not just conversations
Strong institutions already exist. But we need to rethink and change how we work together. The Better World Agenda turns dialogue into prototypes, commitments, public learning, and durable norms in service of communities.
The rapid rise of artificial intelligence, the weakening of global multilateral institutions, democratic backsliding and the climate crisis are all reshaping the world at extraordinary speed.
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This moment of deep disruption can either accelerate paralysis and despair, or it can be seen as an opportunity to do things differently and to rethink the role of universities and large philanthropic organisations, each of which has a role in shaping society.
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The Better World Agenda is a distributed global platform to reset university-philanthropy collaborations and convert insight into institutional action. Through an initial series of interconnected global dialogues, the Better World Agenda connects leaders across the globe to surface effective co-created, community-centred practice, with the goal of translating that dialogue into tools, actionable models, commitments, and public engagement.
Why we need a Better World Agenda and why now?
We are operating in a world that is multipolar, uncertain, and institutionally contested.
The global community faces a sobering truth: despite collective ambition and significant philanthropic investment, meaningful progress on equitable development, tackling climate change, and sustaining resources and biodiversity has been slow and uneven.
Between 2020 and 2024, 40 of the world’s largest private foundations invested over USD 53.3 billion towards development efforts, with cumulative spending of USD 90.9 billion over the last decade (2015–2024).
This scale of investment is not translating into commensurate global progress. Old models, ideas, and ways of working are no longer enough.
This moment calls for renewed alliances - alliances that help rethink what collective change can look like, and transform each other in the process.
The opportunity
Universities and philanthropic organisations both hold many important assets - expertise, legitimacy, resources, and convening power. Yet too often, they operate in parallel, with weak mechanisms for building
on each other's strengths, little shared learning, and misalignment on community-centred practice.
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​How can major institutions behave differently together?
Better World Agenda - The missing bridge
The Better World Agenda is designed to engage global leaders to rethink universities-philanthropies partnerships, not in isolation, but together. By bringing together the strengths of both institutions - research, imagination, networks, leadership development, proximity to communities - there is an opportunity to:
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Challenge universities to continue to innovate, and align incentives to more effectively serve the broader social good
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Reset philanthropic approaches to match the scale and urgency of global challenges
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Redefine how institutions from the Global South and Global North learn from each other as equal contributors
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Model what responsible, inclusive, future-focused leadership looks like
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Develop mechanisms for ongoing practice, learning and adaptation
The BWA model - a unique approach
The BWA aims to be a paradigm-shifting global cross-section collaboration. This is a truly global initiative, engaging institutions that can learn across geography, ideology, and experience, especially as Global South institutions rise as major contributors to global knowledge, innovation, and leadership.
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There are 5 interlinked components of the Better World Agenda, which feed into and learn from each other. The BWA will create both institutional and system-level change, simultaneously.
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Curated global dialogue conversations - Small, high-trust conversations across geographies and sectors
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Action labs and working groups are driving experiments and prototypes - Institutions, with communities, make commitments to test new collaboration models
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An annual global convening - small enough to bring learning together and create change but with actors who have the power to make change happen
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Annual commitments and constant co-creation of a live public Better World Agenda
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Tangible outputs feed the commons and shape the next cycle
Through repeated ‘collisions’ across universities, philanthropy, and community-facing intermediaries from across the global North and South, we can generate constructive discomfort, break entrenched patterns, release institutional capacity, and shift incentives. New relationships and peer accountability will then convert into commitments and action.
Dreamers and Advisors
This initiative is led by a Steering Committee of leaders from University of Toronto's International Office in partnership with Antara Advisory (India) and Mastercard Foundation (Canada and Africa) .
Joseph Wong
Vice-President, International, University of Toronto.
Professor Joseph Wong is Vice-President, International, University of Toronto, where he is also a Professor of Political Science. He held the Canada Research Chair in Health, Democracy, and Development for two terms from 2006 to 2016, and the Roz and Ralph Halbert Professor of Innovation at the Munk School of Global Affairs and Public Policy from 2013 to 2023. He was selected to be a Pierre Elliot Trudeau Foundation mentor and fellow in 2023.
Prior to being appointed Vice-President in 2021, Joe was U of T’s inaugural Associate Vice-President and Vice-Provost, International Student Experience, and before that, the Director of the Asian Institute, Munk School of Global Affairs and Public Policy. He has authored several books, including the latest From Development to Democracy: The Transformations of Modern Asia in 2022, published by Princeton University Press. ​Professor Wong founded the Reach Alliance.​
Gwen Burrows
Assistant Vice-President, International Engagement and Impact, University of Toronto
Gwen Burrows is Assistant Vice-President, International Engagement & Impact in the Office of the Vice President International. Gwen collaborates with colleagues across the university and internationally to advance U of T’s global engagement and impact in research, in teaching and learning.
Gwen leads a team located in six different countries, who together implement the university’s international strategy across multiple dimensions, with a particular focus on region-specific engagement strategies and the development of respectful, reciprocal partnerships to maximise U of T’s global impact. She has led the development of several signifiacnt international initiatives that bring together the strengths of the university and philanthropy in India and in Africa, as well as having contributed to the development of several global university alliances. Gwen was awarded the University of Toronto’s Influential Leader’s Award in 2026.
Louise Pulford
Senior Advisor & Social Innovation Expert.
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Louise was CEO of SIX (the global Social Innovation Exchange) for 15 years. Louise secured the next chapter of SIX through a new partnership with EdelGive Foundation in India and is now a Senior Advisory. Louise is also an Antara Associate.
Louise has played a pivotal role in strengthening the social innovation field globally and elevating its visibility on both national and global agendas. Louise is a global bridge builder and has worked closely with public institutions, foundations and universities around the world to help them embrace social innovation and prepare for future challenges.
Aparna Uppaluri
Founder & Principal Advisor, Antara Advisory
Aparna Uppaluri is a seasoned global executive with deep expertise in strategic planning and implementation across philanthropy, research, and policy. She has led programs and initiatives spanning gender and climate justice, public health, education, livelihoods, governance, arts and culture, and academia.
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Aparna is Founder and Principal Advisor of Antara Advisory, a practice rooted in Global Majority knowledge and practice. She previously served as Chief Operating Officer at the Tata Trusts and as Senior Global Program Officer for Gender Justice at the Ford Foundation.
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In 2024, Aparna was named Philanthropy Professional of the Year by the Hurun Report, India. At present, she serves on the global advisory bodies of EM203, Empower Foundation, Reach Alliance, Centre for Health Equity and the Sustainable Futures Collaborative.
Payaswini Tailor
Co-Founder & Head of Research and Operations, Antara Advisory.
Payaswini Tailor is Co-Founder and Head of Research and Operations at Antara Advisory. ​ A strategy and research professional with experience across philanthropic, multilateral, civil society, and research institutions, she has led large-scale studies and contributed to programme design and grant portfolios at the Ford Foundation and Tata Trusts.
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At Antara, she oversees research design, operations, and strategic communications, and is committed to strengthening knowledge ecosystems that centre diverse worldviews and the priorities of Global South social change actors.
Ashley Collier
Director, Higher Education for Transformation, Mastercard Foundation
Ashley Collier is a senior leader in education transformation with a focus on advancing inclusive, systems‑level change across Africa and Canada. She currently serves as Director, Higher Education for Transformation at the Mastercard Foundation, where she leads large‑scale collaboratives that strengthen universities, research ecosystems, and leadership pipelines to enable young people to drive equitable social and economic development.
With nearly a decade at the Foundation, she has led global teams to forge partnerships that unlock transformative impact at scale. She is focused on aligning diverse stakeholders around a shared vision and delivering measurable, system-level results.