Design Thinking for Social Change

Design for Change partners were motivated to address the gap they experienced for adult education/ community-driven interventions in development projects. Simply including communities in planning is insufficient for success. This insight was based on a study by Brown and Mickelson, which highlighted that community engagement often fails to capture the heterogeneous nature and complete needs of communities who need deeper, more intensive community engagement for effective interventions. The key need was that top-down solutions often do not align well with the actual needs and conditions of communities. This can be particularly acute where disadvantage is prevalent and persistent. Thus, Design for Change sought to involve adult educators, NGOs, and activists in a more equitable and innovative problem-solving process, using Design Thinking for Social Change. With this foundation, real issues at local, regional and even EU level could be addressed with new tools focused on empathising with communities, understanding and defining priority problems, ideating inclusive solutions, prototyping to overcome barriers, and testing these solutions.

he primary aim of implementing the "Design for Change" project was to upskill adult educators, social change actors, policy stakeholders, and other relevant individuals involved in fostering social change. We sought to integrate Design Thinking (DT) principles into their approach for identifying and addressing community issues, exploring solutions, & implementing projects. So, our objectives were to -Upskill our target groups, partners, & associate partners in creating social change benefits by using DT principles -Develop resources that strengthen the position of community change-makers & civil society, thereby empowering them to effectively tackle key community issues. -Apply DT to Human Rights and Social Inclusion as a powerful mechanism for deeper engagement from local /regional level via our Learning Centres through to EU Policy Makers at European Parament and Council of Europe. -Create a synergy through learning centres by mixing adult educators, local authorities, NGOs changemakers, university, entrepreneurs, 6 experts to think together on local challenges. Combine our target groups and give space to adults to learn more and to be active in social life and to promote the power of social design thinking contest to society.

In implementing the Design for Change project, we implemented activities that delivered four key Project Results (PRs), each benefitting from activities of pilot testing, high-impact dissemination, evaluation and Multiplier Event actions. In all we delivered 44 activity focused KPI (Key Performance Indicators). To be specific: - • Toolkit to establish a Learning Centre for Social Change (PR1): Research, content creation, piloting a practical resource that helps adult educators to make real, impactful changes in their community. It offers a comprehensive range of tools that walk them through every stage of the Design Thinking process. Localisation into 4 language versions. Also based on the recommended activities in the Guide, six learning centers were established in Italy, Spain, Ireland (2) and France (2). • Research, content creation, and piloting the Design Thinking for Social Change Guide (PR2) with a range of tools for designing solutions effective for social change. Localisation into 4 language versions. • Research, content creation, and piloting a set of Open Education Resources - Design Thinking for Social Change Training Course + Facilitators Guide (PR3). Localisation into 4 language versions. • Research, content creation, technical realisation and piloting of an interactive learning platform (PR4) working as both a content dissemination platform and an interactive knowledge centre, ensuring wide and free access of all produced resources. As can be seen in our results section, we worked hard on our dissemination activities were multifaceted, including targeted activities to introduce the project to our target audience and other stakeholders. Other key activities include TPMs, a robust project management process and planning and hosting Multiplier Events in our partner countries.

Outputs and Project Results: • PR1 – total of 707 downloads so far broken down as ENG 226, FR 183, ES 134 and IT 164 • PR1 – establishment of 6 Learning Centres – playing a key role in project sustainability post funding • PR2 - total of 1,079 downloads so far broken down as ENG 344, FR 311, ES 246 and IT 178 • PR3 - total of 1,199 downloads so far broken down as ENG 645, FR 231, ES 140 and IT 183 • PR4 - During the span of our project, the platform attracted 38,433 distinct visitors • 5 Multiplier events 253 attendees • Dissemination o The project social media channels delivered: 196 posts, 12905 reached and 1606 interactions o Partner channels achieved 9,847 Social Media Reach across partner and project specific channels