Snapshot of SICON 2020: Making a difference in an uncertain world
The Social Innovation Conference (or SICON) is back with SICON2023 Our future with AI: From science fiction to social fiction!
Rapid advances in AI present an opportunity to harness the power of technology to help solve a wide range of real-world problems and improve social outcomes. However, advances in AI also pose threats that can have devastating impacts. As AI becomes increasingly entrenched in society, we must ask ourselves: How do we collectively design a world where AI is used for good?
SICON2023 will feature seminars (and webinars!) from renowned thought leaders between October 16th and November 16th. The sessions will cover the impacts of AI across different areas of social outcomes such as health, education, jobs and skills, amongst others. The flagship event, 'AI and Poverty' will be an all-day event hosted at the National Museum of Australia on October 16th, timed with Anti-Poverty Week. Webinars will bring together international and national AI experts and changemakers harnessing AI to create social good. The conference will close with 'Creating Connections: closing session and networking event' at Café Stepping Stone on 16th November.
This is a SICON you’re not going to want to miss!
But October is a while away, so we wanted to take this opportunity to snapshot the incredible webinars that took place at SICON2020.
Making a difference in an uncertain world was about exploring and celebrating social innovations that are making a difference in Australia and around the world. The webinar series featured a range of social changemakers who have taken a unique path to lead a life of passion and dedication towards making social impact. SICON2020 online included panelists who are making a difference across a range of social issues including mental health, domestic and family violence, disability and ageing, employment and refugee policy amongst others. We also talked to inspiring individuals who are re-designing systems and pivoting their businesses to address the challenges that lie ahead as the world grapples with the COVID-19 pandemic.
For those of us thinking about how to make a difference in a changing and uncertain world, SICON2020 online helped attendees build their personal roadmaps for building a better world.
Let’s take a look back at some of the SICON2020 key takeaways.
Moving Feast: A collective approach to changing food systems
Rebecca Scott is the CEO of one of Australia’s most innovative and successful social enterprises STREAT and the instigator of Moving Feast. In this keynote event, she discussed what it is taking to change the world’s food system.
Why was Moving Feast created?
Moving Feast is a collective approach at changing the food system in Australia.
COVID-19 made it apparent that there was going to be enormous disruptions in the systems. For entrepreneurs, disruptions bring opportunities, and it was important to Rebecca that she and other social entrepreneurs took advantage of the disruptions to bring about positive change.
“It’s important to have food coming through the food system. Not just buying food, but actually connecting to growing and to cooking.” – Rebecca Scott
What did Moving Feast do?
At the start of the pandemic, Moving Feast conducted a mapping exercise to determine which groups would be suffering from hunger the most through the pandemic. They also undertook heat mapping of Victoria so they knew of every local government area that would be really struggling.
Moving Feast planted over 750 thousand seeds. By the second half of 2020, they were ready to harvest a decent majority of that food for distribution to the identified people and communities.
“Often we are building our enterprises because there has been a system failure, that the current system isn’t working. We build social enterprises to address those problems.” – Rebecca Scott
Social innovation in Canberra: The role of public policy
Andrew Mehrton, a senior executive in the ACT government, unpacked the social innovation work being done in the ACT. He illuminated us on the amazing social policy work and its ripples on the ACT social change ecosystem.
The difference for Canberra compared to other areas is that the problems can often be a little more hidden. Consequently, how government identify and reach the people experiencing vulnerability differs.
COVID-19 shifted the types of vulnerability people experienced, how to identify people, and how to engage them.
Andrew’s team employ an iterative approach to policy creation instead of the traditional waterfall method (typically 12-24 months development period). For an iterative approach, you need to be okay testing a policy that is only 50 percent complete to determine whether it’s actually going to work for the problem you’re trying to solve.
Citizen juries are a fantastic way to respectfully have good dialogue about problems and solutions. They create the right kind of environment where people can genuinely engage with ideas and express their views and experiences, and tell government what’s important to them instead of having government guess the needs of the people and what will work.
“We actually have an opportunity now where people have kind of experienced what it's like to live with that kind of isolation and removal from social networks and services. We have an opportunity now to build something better and more suitable and inclusive.” – Andrew Mehrton
Practical responses during crisis
How do international relief organisations innovate while working with large scale crises? This webinar explored the work of Practical Action in Rohingya camps in Bangladesh and Ausrelief in Cambodia.
The focus of international relief is on improving the sustainability of the recipient. You're not going to do that if you're bringing everything in that the recipient needs. Instead, it’s about looking for the right people that can supply the goods and services locally and supporting them.
Local knowledge and working with local communities are integral to success of working with large scale crises. You need to spend time with the community to understand the context and make use of ingenuity within the communities. You cannot impose your own ideas and knowledge.
Top practical takeaways for people working in the crisis area:
1) Look after yourself and your own wellbeing
2) Preparation
3) Listen to advice
4) Be open to innovation.
COVID-19 has exposed some significant fragility of our systems, which has created the opportunity for us to rethink, relearn and reapply in two key areas:
1) Protection: address inequality, and enhance human capital recovery.
2) Promotion (of responsible behaviour): participatory public decision making, universal access to basic needs and services, and promotion of the application of research data.
Changing the narrative of employment (or how to create social change with coffee and donuts!)
A look inside STREAT and Krofne, two social enterprises that are creating jobs for homeless and differently-abled youth.
Barriers don’t belong to people. Barriers are things that have been put up by the system that work for some people but not the majority. Organisations like STREAT and Krofne are needed to help overcome these barrier through wrap-around services and work experience.
Connection, belonging, and young people being active participants in the job selection process are critical to success. If the young person isn’t connected, don’t feel like they belong, or are not interested in the job, they won’t succeed. It’s about building the environment for success.
Measuring success
There is no point having the cleverest measurement or indicator in the world if only 10-20 percent of data is captured. Instead, you’re better off having one measurement point that you can capture consistently and across services and programs.
Qualitative measurements are important because that’s what the funders and politicians want, but qualitative measurements tell the story. So marry the two up and just be clever about your questions.
Domestic and family violence in uncertain times
Professor Deborah Loxton and Dr Jananie William (webinar facilitator) are passionate advocates and researchers of women’s health. Together they are working towards understanding the lifetime health implications of women who experience domestic violence through data.
Every time we talk about COVID-19 in different circumstances it is important to think about what those circumstances are normally like and then what COVID-19 will exacerbate.
For women who live with violence, they often are already socially isolated. COVID-19 isolation only exacerbates this social isolation. There’s also the layer of stress. Employment instability is a stress for the women as it interferes with her autonomy.
But it’s also a stress for the person who commits the abuse. Coping mechanisms for the people who are abusers may also be compromised in these situations. We know that the more stressed the situation, the more likely or the more risk there is for abuse.
The Australian Longitudinal Study on Women’s Health (ALSWH) is one of the few studies in the world that has measured intimate partner violence and the experience of violence over a lifetime.
The study is composed of about 57,000 women across Australia, in three age cohorts.
During COVID-19, Professor Loxton decided to survey the women more frequently. The survey found that:
Roughly 13% reporting that they were uncomfortable with someone who is close to them, 2% were forced to do things they didn’t want to do, 0.6% said that someone had tried to harm or hurt them, 7% had been called names, put down, or experienced verbal abuse, and 2% have been afraid of someone close to them.
The youngest cohort were much more likely to report these things than the other two cohorts, and the oldest cohort were the least likely.
Social support is vitally important in women seeking help. It’s about having someone to listen to, having someone provide practical support, and having someone who’ll be non-judgmental.
Hooked? De-stigmatising addiction
This webinar explored the work of NOFFS in developing social innovations to tackle drug and alcohol based disorders. Matt explained how de-stigmatisation is an important first step.
Addiction is something that has always been viewed as a negative problem to have in society. Problematic addiction is viewed in black and white, but the actual reality of problematic addiction is grey.
This stigma hurts people. It can prevent treatment being offered to people with problematic addiction.
Research shows that addiction is fundamentally not negative or positive but instead neutral. Addiction is a fundamental part of being human.
Society will come out of the COIVD-19 pandemic with a certain level of trauma and, therefore, a certain level of problematic addictions as well. Those who were already suffering before COVID-19 will probably have their problematic addictions exacerbated. And those who might not have a problematic addiction before, might now have one.
How do we change our perceptions and think about addictions differently? Matt offered up some starting points:
1) Reflect on your on addiction because the part of the brain that desires things (e.g. tv shows, to go for a walk, a snack) is the same part of the brain where addiction begins; and
2) Remember that none of us are perfect and that making mistakes is very much part of being human and that we need to accept that part of ourselves.
Social innovation and the ABC Trailblazers
In this session, we explored the ABC Heywire Trailblazers program with Executive Producer Daniel Hirst. We talked about how the program has been creating future leaders from rural and regional Australia. We also spoke to some of the graduates of the program who are making their mark in the world!
What is the ABC Trailblazers program?
The program started as a humble radio essay writing competition where young people from rural and regional Australia told their stories. It drew people together and the energy surrounding and supporting young change grew until the program became what it is today.
The program is about bringing Trailblazers together and making connections, and then gradually expanding their networks and confidence by telling their stories in different ways and practising with different concentric circles of people.
The highlight of the program is the presentation at Parliament House, where Trailblazers stand up and share their project. Many Trailblazers reported this as a very transformative moment.
Evaluating impact
The program underwent evaluation in 2020 by ANU and SOULAB. The evaluation found that Trailblazers develops young leaders and creates positive social change in regional, rural and remote Australia.
“Going through the evaluation process gives you some objectivity on your own project, you are not making assumptions of how much you love the programme… is really about community getting the benefits from the programme to the audience, whether they are people who have invested in the programme or the trailblazers.” – Executive Producer Daniel Hirst
Advice to social changemakers on how to get started based on the challenges and successes experienced by the Trailblazers:
Talitha – “Tell someone about the idea and it will snowball from there.”
William – “Just do it. You can’t let the challenges stop you before you even start.”
Semara – “Put a value on what you know and what you already have.”
Daniel – “Once we start these kinds of journeys, the energy is infectious. Everyone wants to change the world. So if you are the one to start something, other people want to join you because it’s so energising for everyone.”
Future of social enterprise: The benefits of engaging youth in social entrepreneurship
This session outlined the various benefits of engaging youth in social entrepreneurship and how to go about doing this. The panel included young social entrepreneurs and educators.
Social enterprise, at its core, is about using business for good and serving community. As Cindy Mitchell put it, “we aren’t building businesses, we are building people”.
Initial challenges and hurdles to starting up a social enterprise
The social enterprise model can feel like a bit of a secret for young people. There is a need to bring more young people into the know.
Initial resources: knowing where to go to get seed funding and working with accountability.
Being nervous and not wanting to tell people about enterprise because worried it would fail even though telling people about it would have increased support, and failure would have still provided lessons to share.
Panelist identified “find your tribe and grow it” as one of the main ways to overcome initial challenges and hurdles.
The future of social enterprise?
63% of all jobs by 2030 will be enterprise skills intensive. Even if young people don’t want to become social entrepreneurs, the skills are important for them to get a job. FYA report said that young people with enterprise skills are 17 months ahead of their peers in gaining full-time employment.
There is a need to grow the ecosystem. This is about giving young people a tool to reframe a problem as an opportunity. Also way to resolve issues of awareness, confidence, access, and understanding where to get support first so that young people can hit the ground running.
The more people involved in and that support social enterprise, the more it becomes a sustainable model for changemaking and a viable career path.
Already we are witnessing resources increasing locally and increased different opportunities for different voices to start being heard.
Top skills for establishment of social enterprise
Cindy – “Humility: if you’re trying to make it to make meaningful change in the lives of people, you actually have to talk to them and ask them what they want. Not trying to produce more saviours, need to step outside selves”.
Sophie – “Collaboration: not about yourself, working together to achieve something bigger.”
Talitha– “Priorities and balance: being able to look after yourself and the people around you. It’s okay to take a break.”
Margaret – “Validating: getting started so you can prove the validity of product/service.”
3 Dimensions of the Future Ways of Work (FWOW)
Journeying to the future ways of work (FWOW), we discussed ways to create a safe place that fosters innovation, and knowledge transfer, whilst enhancing employee mental health. The aim of this webinar was that attendees would walk away feeling excited and driven to meet the future of work challenges head-on!
Companies seized the opportunity environment created by COVID-19 to reimagine and reinvent the future of work. They built new muscle and capabilities to come back even stronger. Workplaces increased choice and flexibility, fostered community that innovates, and centred employee mental health.
Due to COVID-19 Learning and Development (L&D) packages changed
The structure of training programs changed from a physical to virtual environment. Initially, programs were low quality because people were just taking physical programs and running them online. The programs failed because you cannot translate an offline course into an online environment.
Key learnings:
Time limit for L&D sessions is 60-90 minutes.
Short snippets of training spread out of weeks to months to give people time to try and apply knowledge in their work before getting the next session.
Moving from facilitated workshops to more self-paced learning. This allows participants to access learning materials whenever and wherever they want and at a time that suits.
The panelists provided insight on how to upskill and reskill older workers compared to young workers, who have less experience with online collaborative tools and project management.
Communicate with learners where they are at to reduce friction, e.g. slack over email.
Transition Hubs help people transition into new career by focusing on transferable skills.
Increasingly harder for people who have been made redundant to find like-for-like jobs because those jobs don’t exist anymore. Question becomes what job should they do now.
About matching a future workforce to align with future trends.
Building a better post-COVID 19 world
In the SICON2020 finale session, we talked to Professor Israr Qureshi about how to go about building a post-COVID19 world. Professor Qureshi discussed the nature and extent of the impact, a vision for the future centred around social cohesion and how we go about creating it.
A vision to establishing a post-covid world
There is an opportunity to lower the growth rate and increase sustainability via building communities that are more self-reliant and eco-friendly.
We need to identify pathways where we can strategically design how to achieve growth and achieve things in a more planned way where we are trying to save resources. We need to think strategically about how to reduce consumption of resources.
The role of ICT and social enterprise
ICT can be more inclusive of marginalised people. ICT has the possibility of reducing cost negotiation due to increased connectivity. This creates positive advantages for people who are marginalised when leveraged properly.
Social enterprise compared to corporations are very nimble. Social enterprise are lenient structures that can quickly mobilise and activate. As a result, social enterprise is able to use their existing infrastructure and limited resources to pull together in a better way to create impact.
Professor Qureshi’s advice to policymakers:
The requirement to show the impact from funders is important. However, if you are only focused on numbers then mission drift can happen.
There is a need to create the right measures to measure impact. Should incentivize measures that create a sustainable community. Intrinsically about generating social cohesion and sharing orientation.
Other webinars at SICON 2020 included:
Pivoting during COVID-19 | Masterclass: 5 ways to win social impact investor’s heart | Managing Hybrid Enterprises (guidebook) |
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Women and e-Commerce (WE) is an online marketplace created in response to the lockdown in Bangladesh. Now almost 500,000 women are using the platform to sustain their livelihoods. Razib shared about the incredible impact of WE resulting in economic empowerment for Bangladeshi women. | Shazeeb M Khairul Islam is managing director of YY ventures, a social business accelerator program that is mentored by Professor Muhammad Yunus. In this masterclass, he taught attendees what social impact investors are looking for and how to leverage it. | Dr Sally Curtis sat down (virtually) with Associate Professor Danielle Logue and Dr Gillian McAllister to discuss research insights into how to manage hybrid enterprises, or social enterprises. The discussion drew upon Logue and McAllister’s co-authored guidebook “Managing Hybrid Enterprises”. |
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