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Design for Change Contest: How You Can Be A Part Of It
By designforchangecontest.com
The contest started in India in 2009 at the Riverside School in Ahmedabad, India. Incredibly, the contest reached 33,000 schools.
Riverside School's Founder and Head Teacher Kiran Bir Sethi was invited to speak about the project at the TED India Conference in November 2009. This presentation sparked a global response and Design for Change Contests are now being held throughout the world, with more countries and regions signing up monthly.
Aug 9, 2010 - 10:15:42 AM
"The Design for Change Contest asks children to design solutions for problems that they encounter in their lives, schools, neighborhoods or communities, Implement these solutions in a week, Document their work and Send it to us!"
This is a world-wide contest, you can select your country on the website linked at the end of the article.
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 1.Make teams with not more than 5 students per team
2.Ask them to discuss about what issues bother them andwould like to see changed
3.These issues can be as simple as cleaner toilets to as audacious as ‘creating child friendly cities’ – every idea is important
Teacher tip– let children ‘feel’ that changing lives is not only about ‘others’ but about how ‘their’ lives will be changed by ‘caring’ about issues and seeing that ‘they’ can be the change
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 1.Once the issue is selected, get students to ‘engage’ with the people connected to the issue – for eg – if it is garbage in their society that bothers them, get students to speak to the society owners who dispose garbage, the help who takes it out, to the municipal corporation etc… to understand how to ’design’ a solution that really will make the desired impact and change.
2.From all the ideas generated, get the students to select the one that will have the maximum impact following the criteria listed…
Teacher tip – get children to go beyond the ‘obvious’ or the ‘first answer’. Encourage them to think of change ‘beyond’ money. Celebrate their ideas and help them see that changing lives can be meaningful and fun – also, keep helping them see how ‘they are being changed in the process’..
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 1.Each school now selects the ONE idea that they all feel has potential for most change and can get as many students involved in the implementation
2.Once the plan is shared with all ( parents too ) the children go and DO!!
Teacher tip – please remember to ‘document’ the story. You can identify a student team to document or older students who might do this for you. Do remember to get sound bites of the students before, during and after the ‘DO’….for more, do go onto our website to see the template of how to document
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 1.The documented story of change is now shared with us…
2.Each school fills up the submission form and adds their chosen form of documentation from the list suggested.
Teacher tip – help the children add their challenges, their favorite moment, their learnings, and how they not only ‘were the change’ but how ‘they were changed’…
We urgently need:
YOU! Yes - you have exceptional talents and contacts and we need you now.
People who want to roll up their sleeves and inspire a generation of children.
Organisations that can provide modest but invaluable financial sponsorship - this has been achieved so far on nothing but belief and passion.
Individuals and organisations that can drive PR and marketing activities.
Teachers and parents who can drive and support the project in your schools.
People who can inspire their social networks to become involved (Facebook, Twitter) by linking to us and applying bucket loads of moral blackmail until they get involved.
Amateur (and professional) video makers who can help schools record their projects on film for a global audience!
TV production companies and broadcasters who want to capture the story unfolding.
CONTACT : dfcglobal@gmail.com
For more information, please visit www.designforchangecontest.com
To watch a Youtube video, please click here!
Kiran Bir Sethi
Through her education curriculum and initiatives to build a healthy relationship between students and their community, Kiran Bir Sethi is changing the experience of childhood in Indian cities. Kiran believes when children are raised in nurturing environments, they in turn, create such environments for future generations and ultimately build a culture a citizenship between children and adults.
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