CSJ Needs Facilitators

CSJ needs facilitators to conduct training on innovation and social entrepreneurship. Send CV or profile of company to censoj@gmail.com. The draft curriculum is reproduced below.

SOCIAL ENTREPRENERSHIP AND INNOVATION CURRICULUM

Understanding Social Entrepreneurship

• What is social entrepreneurship?
• Who is a social entrepreneur?
• History of social entrepreneurship
• Different types of social entrepreneurship
• Key characteristics of social entrepreneurship
• Defining qualities of social entrepreneurship including principles of social business
• Challenges in social entrepreneurship
• Social capital – definition, groups and networks, trust and solidarity, collective action and cooperation, social cohesion and inclusion, information and communication
• Social innovation – creating social markets, niches, etc.
• Key take-aways

Introducing Innovation, How Social Change Happens & Skills for Innovation

• What is innovation – key defining characteristics; products, processes, services, technologies, business models, etc.
• Steps in innovation – how social change happens
• Skills for innovation
• The idea of disruptive innovation
• Innovating for social change – translating frustration, fears, marginalization and challenges into new vehicles for change
• Issues around efficiency, productivity, quality, competitiveness, etc.
• Indicators and indices for measurement and ranking of innovation

Design Thinking and Human Centred Design Process

• What is Design Thinking and how relevant is it to modern problem solving?
• Human centred design thinking- creative approach to problem solving, purpose built to solve challenges of the social niche/population in focus, tailor made solutions; inspiration, ideation and implementation. who will be using this product? In what context (time, place, device, etc.) will it most likely happen?
• The stages and processes of Design Thinking- iterative, flexible and focused on collaboration between designers and users, with an emphasis on bringing ideas to life based on how real users think, feel and behave; tools and examples.
• Empathise – understanding the human need involved, real need, gaining new insights, the perpetual loop, etc.
• Define- determine the root cause of a problem, meaningful and actionable problem statement which the Design Thinker will focus on solving.
• Ideate – process of generating ideas and solutions through sketching, prototyping, brainstorming, brainwriting, worst possible scenario, research, etc.
• Prototype- producing an early inexpensive, scaled down version of the new idea, revisions
• Test and launch – continual validation
• Conclusions

Wicked Problems

• Definitions
• Characteristics- why are they wicked
• Examples of wicked problems in healthcare, poverty, etc.
• Wicked problems as symptoms of a more deeper problem
• Solving wicked problems- collaboration, multi-disciplinary research and interventions, etc.

Violent Extremism and Social Change

• Framing the question/challenge
• Issues in violent extremism and what fuels it in the NE
• VE and social change innovation
• Ideas for innovation and change
• Conclusions

Innovative solutions to resolving social, cultural and environmental conflicts in the North East (NE) 

• Formulation of social, cultural and environmental challenges- framing the challenge
• Context and backgrounds to challenges
• Are these challenges new? What can we learn from other societies?
• Employment and environmental challenges in context
• Ideas for change – throwing up several scenarios for change
• Settling down on options
• Way forward

Local problems and local solutions

• Mapping local problems
• Understanding existing capacities, competencies, coping mechanisms
• Understanding local contexts and resilience
• Synthesis of problem solving with home grown solutions

Concept Development and Brainstorming

• What is concept development?
• Why is concept development important?
• Stages and processes of concept development
• Identification of who, what, where, when, why, and how of the concept and the associated challenge. Developing specific questions to address broader issues, such as: What are the current deficiencies and gaps? What are the external constraints? What are the real-world performance drivers? What are the operational, security, and support concepts? Is it feasible technically, economically, and in a timely manner? What are the associated external and interfacing activities? What happens if any of these questions cannot be answered?
• Critical nature of brainstorming
• Highlights of effective brainstorming for problem solving
• Conclusions and moving forward