Social Innovation Campsa toolkit for troublemakers (UNDP edition)

Do you want to...Broaden your project’s results?Attract donors?Find new partners?Source new perspectives on an issue?Place your beneficiaries at the centre of project design?

Then Social Innovation Camps are for you...

SIC in a nutshell 3

Who’s done it before in UNDP? 4

How do I sell an SICamp to my boss? 6

Where to start? 7

What next? 8

Pre-event panic ‒ a checklist 13

The Event 14

Follow up 15

Remember 16

Annex 1: Budget template 17

Annex 2: Work plan 19

Annex 3: Open vs. specific call for ideas 23

2

SIC in a nutshell

Budget$10,000 ‒ 25,000

Timeframe3 ‒ 6 months

TeamAn event coordinator,plus 2 interns

3

Mardamej 2011 & 2012UNDP Armenia hosted two Social Innovation Camps called Mar-damej. The first event involved an open call for ideas, while the second focused on combating corruption in the health and edu-cation sectors. Anna’s journey to the event and beyond is com-pelling.

OpenIdeas4UA 2012UNDP Ukraine ran its first innovation camp in 2012 and a year later spread the practice of co-design to municipalities at Smart-City E-nnovation. Check out the team’s tips on developing an open government project or running municipal innovation events.

OtvoreneIdeje 2012UNDP Montenegro hosted an innovation camp focused on open government. The team has since gained international recogni-tion for its efforts in this field.

GovCamp 2012UNDP FYR Macedonia applied the SICamp principles to advance the country’s anticorruption agenda. The team has since run social innovation challenges and set up a social innovations lab.

HuRiLab 2013UNDP Armenia again, but this time the SICamp focused on human rights and involved teams from across the Eurasia and the Arab world. The lab has since evolved to become an online incu-bator.

SICamp Asia 2013The UNDP Global Centre for Public Service Excellence (GCPSE) sponsored the public service innovation track in a series of SICamps across seven countries in Asia-Pacific and a regional summit in Singapore. Here is a great take on the big picture.

Who’s done it before in UNDP?

4

Arndt Husar UNDP Global Centre for Public Service Excellencearndt.husar@undp.org or @ArndtHusar

Jasmina Belcovska Tasevska UNDP FYR Macedoniajasmina.belcovska@undp.org or @JBTasevska

Maksym Klyuchar UNDP Ukrainemaksym.klyuchar@undp.org or @klyuchar

Marija Novkovic UNDP Montenegromarija.novkovic@undp.org or @MariaNovkovic

George Hodge UNDP Armeniageorge.hodge@undp.org or @lurglomond

Who to talk to?

5

Risk mitigationdevelop alternative entry points for your project. If your core activities encounter blockages, you will have a portfolio of different options available.

New partnershipsSICamps are agile and as such attractive to the private sector. Try pitching the initiative to businesses; they may sponsor your event.

Resource mobilisationdo the groundwork now for your next project. Find something that is achieving social impact ‘at the edge’, partner with the team, pitch to donors, and make it mainstream.

Co-creationSolutions designed by your beneficiaries, for your beneficia-ries. Develop a sense of agency among stakeholders and a bias towards action. How do I sell

an SICamp to my boss?

6

First thing first, get in touch with Social Innovation Camp Ltd. – the organisation behind the movement. UNDP has worked with the SICamp team since 2011 so they will be happy to help.

They will talk you through the process as well as source a facili-tator for your event. From the launch of the call for ideas to the main event you will need at least three months, so start plan-ning early.

Where to start?7

A few decisions to make:UNDP has tried both. Experience suggests that it is much better to arrange the event in-house. This way it is your team that deve-lops the knowledge, relationships and networks, instead of contractors.

an open call is a useful sensing exercise, but a specific challenge will produce ideas that are better aligned with your mandate. See annex 3 for more details and don’t forget to check out Maksym’s advice on linking the event to your programme.

make sure you pitch the event to the local private sector. If it aligns well with local CSR objectives, the event can be budget neutral for UNDP. Woohoo!

USD 10,000 ‒ 25,000; see annex 1.

book it before you launch the call for ideas. This gives you a date to work towards. The venue should have an open convening point as well as breakout spaces for each team.

you will need a website and social media accounts dedicated to your event in order to run the call for ideas. The website should contain all the information that applicants/participants will need, as well as an application tool. The applicants will submit their ideas through the website. Wordpress is easy to use and free. For example Mardamej and HuRiLab were built without specialist skills.

For the social media accounts, focus on the top two social media platforms of your target audience. These can be integrated into your website. For example HuRiLab uses facebook and twitter.What next?

In-house or outsource

Open vs. specific call for ideas

Partners

Budget

Venue

Web presence

8

Do this both online and offline. Many organisations operate as if all that is necessary for stakeholder engagement is the construc-tion of a “beautiful garden”... this is nonsense. You have to find the communities and engage with people in terms they unders-tand... “development speak” does not work.

Online, this involves delving into social media platforms and web fora, finding communities that might be interested in what you are trying to achieve and engaging with them in their space. If you can contribute meaningfully to the conversation, they will often find their way to your “garden”.

It helps to imagine your initiative or event as a person/mascot - what does she like/dislike; what are her values; what are her ambi-tions? Engage accordingly... For example don’t just talk about your initiative, if the national football team won last night, com-ment on that.

If you are looking for rules of thumb, 90% of your content should be photos/graphics. It is much more “shareable”. If you want to make a point, add it as a caption to an amusing/interesting photo.

It is also useful to map and write to other organisations working in the thematic area of your SICamp. Ask them if they will share their email lists with you so that you can engage with their network.

Offline engagement occurs through “itch workshops”. These are targeted at marginalised communities in order to bring the pers-pectives of excluded groups into the process. This could be based on a lack of access to public services due to location, or on a particular profile, such a people with disabilities.

Ask stakeholders to define problems that are meaningful to them and to suggest solutions. Or, if your call for ideas is more specific, ask stakeholders to suggest solutions to a pre-defined problem.

Call for ideas

9

Don’t worry if you don’t receive many submissions initially, we received about 70% of the applications in the final 48 hours before the deadline.

Either way, you need to find them and work with them directly. This means getting out of the office and around the country/region. Use UNDP’s existing networks of partners to source workshop participants. Supplement this by advertising the workshops on your website and placing posters in the target communities/schools/universities.

Itch workshops are highly interactive. You start by encouraging the partici-pants to define meaningful problems in their lives, community or society. As the participants are writing down the problems on sticky notes, you collect them and group thematically. You then pick the best four or five, explain why you think they are the best, and challenge the participants to develop a solu-tion to whichever problem “speaks to them”. They will self-divide into teams. At the end of the workshop the teams present their ideas to one another. The event closes with the facilitator encouraging the participants to submit their ideas to the event website or on paper to the team.

The advantage of the workshops is that there are no spectators. In addition, the fact that each participant writes down the problems on sticky notes prevents big characters from dominating the discussion.

During your outreach it is important to emphasise that the event is a prototy-ping opportunity, not a funding bid. You are looking for alternative ideas and approaches, not business-as-usual.

Also, it is useful to detail a few rules for your social media pages (perhaps in the “about us” section), such as “constructive comments only please”. You can use this to combat “trolling” and send a message to the other users concerning our values. FYI, never delete the offending comment. Instead respond by referring the user to the rules of the space.

10

Following the outreach, the submissions are assessed by a panel of judges. This should predominantly comprise business leaders, public officials, NGO leaders and experts in the thematic area of your Social Innovation Camp.

In order to pick the best ideas from the rest, use three criteria:

The applicant’s understanding of the social problem. Ques-tions to consider: is the problem well articulated? Do you agree that it is a social problem? [award up to ten points]

The quality of the solution. Questions to consider: does the proposed solution address the social problem? Will the proposed solution have a high degree of social impact at some point in the future (i.e. will lots of people benefit)? [award up to ten points]

The sustainability of the solution. Questions to consider: could the solution be created cheaply and quickly, or would it require a significant capital investment? Running costs? Could the solu-tion be partly sustained through revenue generation? If not, will the social return on investment provide investors with value? [award up to ten points]

The team or individual behind the idea is very important. Talk with each applicant. Sometimes an idea sounds ropey on paper but comes from a dynamic person, and vice versa. Give this due weight in the final decision. Also, you are looking for team players not egotists - if someone is a bit of a jerk, don't invite them.

Look for 'problems on the way to becoming solutions'. Look for radical innovation rather than sensible best practice. If you have the time, conduct background research ‒ has someone tried this already? What did they learn? Local context really counts, as an idea that is bland in one context can be disruptive in another. Most importantly, trust your instincts.

You may receive over one hundred submissions. In order to save the panel of judges time and effort, prepare a long-list of the thirty best ideas. The panel can then choose six ideas from this smaller pool. Also, don’t let the final six be based on statistical anomaly or tactical voting by the judges. Discuss all the short-listed ideas before making a decision.

Don’t forget to email the unsuccessful applicants. Of course they will be disappointed, but you could sweeten the situation by inviting them to the presentation session on the final afternoon of the event.

Judging the submissions

11

You now have six ideas selected by the panel of judges. Next you need to talk to/meet with the idea owners. Try to get a sense from them what they think they will need to prototype their solution/project at the event. Remember, the "idea owner" may not understand what kind of support, expertise or resources they will need. So add to their wish list based on your insights.

Then, find everything on the wish list and make it available at the event. Most experts/specialists should volunteer their time if you present the ideas effectively.

Alongside the experts you have sourced, it is useful to delve into the database of applicants. If any of the other applicants submit-ted an idea on a similar topic to the selected six, or possess a useful skill set, or stood out because of their energy and enthu-siasm, invite them along as well.

Also, it is important to think about other stakeholders in the solutions/projects. For example, will the project require action by a public institution? If so, ensure that a relevant specialist from government participates.

It is worth warming up the participants a few days before the event, for example ask them to start using the event hash tag - ''what are you hoping for out of the camp'', ''interesting links to share''.

Resourcing the event

12

ParticipantsIdea ownersOther applicants with similar ideas / skillsets / infectious enthusiasmSpecialists / geeks ‒ skills gaps, cross reference to the needs of the idea ownerMentors ‒ businesspersons with experience of agile managementCreatives / designers / social media gurusFilm crew and photographerJudges (for the presentations on the final day)Media (for the presentations on the final day)Social Investors/donors (for the presentations on the final day)

Venue/infrastructureBreakout spaces for each team - bean bags, cushions, rugs and mats; in a corner; complete the square with a pair of tables; ensure space to post ideas on a wall. The antithesis of an average office.Late opening ‒ some teams will work all nightStrong internet connection, wifi and backupServer space & LAMP stackPower extension cablesFlip charts, sticky notes, paperTwitter wall (laptop and projector)

SundryEvent programme (printed)Board meetings (see section on the event)Social media team ‒ live posting/tweeting/bloggingPrizesCertificates

requiredimportantnice to have

Pre-event panica checklist 13

The EventIn three minutes...

Welcome by the facilitator and introduction to the support teamPresentation of the house rulesIdea owners pitch their projects to the participants (two minutes each)Breaking into teams ‒ “vote with your feet”

-

--

-

Day 1(early evening)

This is the pen-and-paper stage; scoping the idea, thinking about what they have got to create, how it’s going to work, who’s going to do what, etc.

Facilitator & mentors float among the teams posing difficult ques-tions and introducing new ideas. For example, the blocking button: what would you do if your preferred solution was blocked? How would you overcome this? Think of lots of options and incorporate the best into your strategy.

In the afternoon, the teams begin building their prototypes ‒ four/five hours of build and design of the products or services, plus some time to think about how they might sustain their projects

*

the teams pitch to the mentors in a “board meeting” scenario (three minutes). Each mentor asks a question. The meeting closes with each mentor offering a piece of “heart attack” advice to the team

If you plan to live stream the opening and closing sessions, make sure you have a seprate internet connection for this purpose.

**

***

Recap and stoke by the facilitatorTeamwork *Board meeting ** (late afternoon/early evening)Teamwork late into the evening

----

Day 2(bright and early)

Recap by the facilitator and focus the participants on the presentations later in the afternoonTeamwork: additional prototyping and testing, as well as pitch preparationDragon’s Den-style pitching competition: each team has seven minutes to pitch and five minutes for questions from the judges ***Judges retire and assess each project (see the criteria in the “judging the submissions” section above)Award ceremony and reception

-

--

-

-

Day 3(bright and early)

14

The number of projects you can support following the event depends partly on your budget and on their “fit” with your exis-ting programme.

If you have invited donors or social investment funds to the final presentations, they may express an interest in supporting some of the projects.

However many projects you or other organisations can support, it is useful to bring the teams together on a monthly basis to maintain the network, as well as offer ad hoc advice and support. This should be an informal gathering in a café or online, via a webinar. It is a great opportunity for the teams to learn from one another. You may also need to connect the teams with training programmes or specialists.

It is also useful to set up an alumni group on one of the social media platforms you are using for the event. This helps everyone stay in touch and share ideas.

Grant delivery can be managed through a micro-capital grant agreement. The event is a competition, so the judges’ minutes can be used to justify the grant. Many of the teams will not have formed legal entities, and as such cannot receive a grant from UNDP. Thus you may need to use existing partners to facilitate the delivery of the grants to the teams.

Follow upsustainability

15

Be human! SICamps are all about different ways of doing things: about people doing something because they love it and about getting stuff done through networks of talented people rather than organizational hierarchies of people telling one another what to do.

This should be the spirit in which you run your event. Be friendly, approachable, open, personal, honest and human.

Always explain why you are running your event - you should not be running it if you do not believe strongly in what you are doing.

Running an SICamp is not an exact science. When you are wor-king on something that is about people doing their own thing, you never quite know what will happen. Make decisions on gut instinct... on just having a feeling that something is going to work. Adapt what you have read above to your local environment. Experiment. Take big risks and make new mistakes.

SICamps are built on the generosity of many. Your judges, partici-pants and prize-givers donate their time for free. They do it because they are interested and passionate about what you are doing. Give them some of the love back.

Be part of the network you are creating: the more you give it, the more it will reward you in return.

Source: Social Innovation Camp Ltd.

Remember

16

Budget Templateannex 1

17

Units

1111

331010

1616

11

60606060606060

6060

11111

601

6

1

Activity

Human ResourcesEvent facilitator (SIC ltd.)

Event coordinatorAssistant

InternTotal Human Resources

Staff travel

Travel - event Accommodation - event

Travel - Call for Ideas (itch workshops)Accommodation - Call for IdeasTotal travel & Accommodation

Call for Ideas

CateringVenues (provided by municipal authorities/local NGOs)

Total Call for Ideas

VenueHire - weekend

Hire - Sunday project presentation session (conference hall)Total Venue

Catering (for sixty participants)Friday night drinks/nibbles

Saturday breakfastSaturday lunchSaturday dinner

Sunday breakfastSunday lunch

Sunday project presentation drinks/nibblesTotal Catering

Participant travel/accommodation

Participant travelParticipant accommodation - event (Two nights, three days)

Total participant travel/accommodation

External suppliersWebsite (use wordpress or tumblr for free)

Photographer/film crew (for the event)Wifi & backupServer space

Projector (and laptop)Total external suppliers

Consumables

Pens, pencils, paper and sticky notesSundry

Total consumables

Total post-event project grants

Total Miscellaneous

Cost per unit (USD)

0000

0000

00

00

0000000

00

00000

00

0

0

Total

00000 00000 000 000 00000000 000 000000 000 0 0 18

Work planannex 2

19

preparationweek1 week2

call for ideasmonth1 month2 month3 month1 month2 month3

judgingT-2week T-1week

event event follow upweek1Venue

Judging venue (UNDP)

Final Venue (if required)

20

Communicationspreparationweek1 week2

call for ideasmonth1 month2 month3 month1 month2 month3

judgingT-2week T-1week

event event follow upweek1

Announce SICamp

Announce C4I

Halfway point C4I

1 Week to go

Blogging+Social Media

Announce ideas

Call for volunteers

Thanks for coming

Tell the world/post

Press release

Participant email management

Post-programme team liaising

Partner/sponsor mgmt

21

Operations

Booking: Itch workshops

Catering: Itch workshops

Travel: Itch workshops

Stakeholder map

Meet w/ stakeholders

Seed idea planning

Prize partners

Film: event

Catering: event

Tech: event

Props: event

Website management

Judges

Screen ideas

Core volunteers

Matchmake teams

Special team support

Meet idea owners

preparationweek1 week2

call for ideasmonth1 month2 month3 month1 month2 month3

judgingT-2week T-1week

event event follow upweek1

22

Open vs. specific call for ideasannex 3

23

Nature of theproblem statement

Open ended

Theme/Sector Specific

Issue Specific

Defined question

Example

open

specific

Pros Cons

Recommended

‘Find problems that matter to you, and propose solutions’

Able to sense problems from across society

Ideas submitted may not be within UNDP’s mandate

‘Find problems in the education sector, and propose solutions’

Ideas/solutions will be aligned UNDP’s mandate

N/A

‘Find problems in the area of energy efficiency, and propose solutions’

Ideas/solutions could be immediately integrated into the ongoing projects/activities

Critical issues of which UNDP is not aware may be missed

‘Please propose ideas to increase the use of public transport’

Ideas/solutions could be immediately integrated into the ongoing projects/activities

Critical issues of which UNDP is not aware may be missed

24

Written by

George HodgeDesigned by

Nané Toumanian

With thanks to

Giulio QuaggiottoMilica Begovic Radojevic

Maksym KlyucharArndt Husar

Jasmina Belcovska TasevskaMarija Novkovic

Glen Mehn