Three marvellous additions to the Australian social change scene:
The Australian Innovation Exchange
An initiative led by Steve Lawrence, ex-CEO of WorkVentures. The site is energetically leading the creation of a community of practice amongst social innovators in Australia. Read their feed at http://www.asix.org.au/page/rss-feeds
The Australian Centre for Social Innovation
Beginning as an initiative of the SA government, it’s now announced the 8 winners of its $1m social innovation challenge. Read their feed at feed://www.tacsi.org.au/home/rss
A consultancy of Sarah Schulman and Chris Vanstone, ex of the USA and UK respectively, who bring a heap of experience at the leading edge of social innovation in government.
I’m really excited by InWithFor’s arrival and their imaginative, clear-headed approach. Just check some of their back-projects at http://www.inwithfor.org/what
Their website, itself a nice example of user-centred communication, has a diagram (below) that beautifully illustrates what on earth innovation has got to do with the design of social change programs. It shows how transforming the problem definition and the outcomes are just as important as coming up with smart tactics.
Read their feed at http://www.inwithfor.org/feed/
Given the so often myopic approach to social change in Australia – something so amply illustrated by the NT Intervention – these are great initiatives.
This example is based on their work on Loops project in the UK.