María Paula Torres Laverde - Colombia

Global Catalyst 

Story told by David Wygant

Change can be difficult, but not for Design for Change (DFC) Superheroes.  DFC Superheroes transform the world through the amazing and creative projects that they FEEL, IMAGINE, DO and SHARE.  DFC is about watching the kids learn that “they can” so that each can say I CAN, and in the end say WE DID.  These words mirror Maria’s words when she describes selecting winning projects in Colombia.  

“Every time we select the winning projects is an inspiring moment because each initiative is so amazing, creative and transformational.  They help us believe in the change.  For example, in 2012 our first year, the winning project was a project in which they recycled cooking oil from their school and turned it into handmade soap.”

Maria tells that what they have seen in Colombia, she is sure must be happening around the world.  During an eight month period of time she traveled around the world, and learned how inspiring it can be to discover and know other cultures, and how small the world really is.  

DFC offers many challenges and opportunities to grow.  She has new friends who share the same passions for helping Superheroes create a better world.  To gain all of these things, she has had to work hard.    

“Reaching out to many schools so that we can get a minimum number of projects has not been easy, but we have worked hard.  It has been a constant learning process.  “

I asked Maria about the rewards and specific learnings.

“In Colombia we are inspired learners now.  We are inspired by the children who are changing the world through DFC.  Every year we have learned something new.  There have been learnings about the projects, the calendar and timeline, and about our website and internet efforts.”

These days, Maria’s smile is a little brighter.  When asked about the future, she says, “I want to be a happy person, and do what makes me feel fulfilled professionally and personally.”  No doubt, both Maria and DFC can look forward to a bright future.

BIO INFORMATION

Maria currently resides in Bogota, Colombia, and was born there. She is a lawyer with a Master in Human Rights.  Her legal studies began at the Universidad de los Andes in Bogotá, Colombia.  Maria then studied  her Masters in Human Rights in Madrid, Spain, at the Carlos III University.  While in Madrid, Spain she traveled extensively in the area. 

Maria has broad international experience across several organizations including the International Organization for Migrations, the International Red Cross in Spain and the International Toledo Center for Peace.

This year’s conference, the 2014 Be the Change Conference was her first.

Carrie Tang - DFC China

Design for Change Global Catalyst

As told to David Wygant

How do you find a person who wants to bring the I CAN spirit to every kid in China?  One that is willing to do their part in reforming the education process at the same time, thereby bringing basic education to the underprivileged kids, and reformation to a system of public examination that creates great pressure and stress.

NOTE:  While on this search, don’t forget that the “dimensions” of China are almost beyond comprehension.  China is a country with a population 1.356 billion, a land area of 9,569,901 square kilometers, the third largest economy in the world behind the USA and EU, and approximately 211 million children attend school, primary through post secondary. 

Answer:  You let them find you.  Indeed, thank our lucky stars that she found herself for us.  

Let me now introduce Carrie Tang.  

Carrie is the Chairperson of the Design For Child Association and Associate Director of Playtao Education.  She publishes a free magazine called DreamMag, and volunteers with Sowergift (to spread seeds of happiness) and “Go Inside Cafe” in Hong Kong (where deaf waiters are hired). Carrie has published two books.  In 2011 she received the ATV Touching Hearts Campaign Award, followed by the Hong Kong Youth Social Entrepreneurs Award in 2013.

Carrie’s first contact with Design for Change (DFC) was at a MAD (Make a Difference) Conference in January of 2012.  Initially, she was interested in what Kiran had to say about Riverside School, but that was soon to change.  

In Carrie’s own words: “Yes, I first heard and met Kiran at the MAD conference in January 2012, but I didn't know anything about DFC. I was just attracted by her concept of Riverside school. At the conference, I didn't chat with her after her talk because of the crowd. However, later, I searched for Riverside School on the internet, and I watched her TED Talk.  At that point, I knew I must spread both her school ideas and DFC in China!”

FEEL - “Think from the heart.”

When I decided to bring DFC to China, several things spoke to me from my heart.  

I’ve always wanted to make a contribution to the birth place (China) of my parents.  We all owe much to our parents and it’s important to give back so that the “chain” isn’t broken.  I also hoped that by catching children in China in the act of doing good I might help change the view of China in other countries.  It is my hope that DFC will help build bridges with the world.  It is also important to me that I fill my life with activities that are consistent with my Christian values.  For me it feels like a “calling.”  

The most important thing is what it does for the children.  DFC builds empathy and teamwork (very weak in China) during the four steps, FEEL-IMAGINE-DO-SHARE.  These are powerful life lessons for the children to learn.

IMAGINE - “Think out of the box.”

From the beginning, using our imaginations has been critical for success.  

In China the education system is very resistant to change.  The children are busy for many hours each day.  It was impossible to add an extra class or find more time at school.  However, because social media is very popular, we used it to reach teachers, social workers and volunteers who in turn brought FEEL-IMAGINE-DO-SHARE to the kids.  Since the DFC program is “open source” and adaptable, we made it work.  It was the virtual world that brought us together.   

The amount of support DFC received from the school authorities depended on the specific cities.  We found that where they might reject a direct approach from us, if we focused on marketing and creating high quality materials, educators and policymakers would approach us instead.  In the end, sometimes there was acceptance and support, and sometimes there wasn’t.  Either way, we just kept moving ahead.  

We “imagined” three steps to help us begin:  First, I designed the DFC China website, and wrote a long “sharing letter” about my feelings toward education.  I wrote that I thought it was important to bring DFC to China.  Second, I published the “sharing letter” in Weibo (which is like Facebook in China) to look for support and connections.  I asked everyone to send me an email, and give me enough support so that I could visit them with a workshop.  Third, I built my core DFC China team.

DO - “Yes we can!”

I always think of “Soup Bowl with a Prayer” when I think of our first story.  It was really called Red Bean Share, and came out of Shanghai.  A bunch of kids thought that if the community would interact more, they would be more loving and caring.  So, they prepared red bean soup and gave it to anyone passing on the street.  When they gave the soup, they included a blessing.  In the beginning, everyone was hesitant to accept the soup, but soon more would accept both the soup and the blessing.  Through this act of giving, new connections were created.  The highlight was when the students gave greetings and love to nearly 400 staff members of Yan Yiu Factory!

The first year, a total of one thousand students became involved and created DFC stories.  We welcomed both schools and individual groups of students.

In the “DOing” we also faced challenges.  The vague and complicated laws and accounting regulations for running non-profit projects in China were the biggest challenges. 

Our first year strategy included several activities beginning with the four step process (FIDS) and a lot of passion.  We trained volunteers and restructured some of the DFC guiding materials.  Our focus was on the internet and social media.  As a result, DFC has spread to the main cities.  Now our attention has turned more toward the rural part of China.  The energy for what we do comes from our sincere and devoted hearts, and from the examples of our actions.  The energy to continue and grow has come from strangers we have met on Weibo during this entire adventure. 

Our DFC China team has eight core members including me.  We’ve recruited key volunteers as local contacts in cities (18+ now).  These volunteers promote and support the DFC tools and coordinate workshops.  One part time staff member, who is a passionate designer, is in charge of video, graphic design and promotion work. We have a bunch of regional volunteers to promote DFC for us too. 

My focus within the team is fundraising and DFC training.  Again, through social media, our story has attracted local organizations to fund and support our annual prize presentation.  Travel costs and expenses for workshops that we give are funded by the interested organizations.

SHARE - “We Can!  Now you can too!”

There have been many ups and downs.  

Looking back now, the first six months of our DFC China effort was a high point.  In spite of the fact that DFC China was new, many still supported me and my dreams.  For example, after my first “sharing letter,” I received emails from over ten cities within a week.  This was the first step in turning my dreams into the dreams of others.  

I also learned that there is a very practical side.  After the first DFC China prize presentation in 2013, we didn’t have enough money to pay all of our expenses.  With big hearts, several of my core team members (adult superheroes) contributed enough to balance our accounts.  It was a moving gesture and it drove my own dedication to new heights.

In the story of DFC China, I feel that only several lessons are most important.  Only several are most basic. It’s important to be passionate and to have faith.  When you are doing something good for society and you work hard on it, support will come.  Your hard work will earn it, and your faith will bring it.  The more you believe in yourself and your team, the more contagious you all become.

Sanjli Gidwaney-USA: Design for Change Global Catalyst

As told to David Wygant

It was a gorgeous January day, 2009. I was gathered in one of the Riverside School,  in Ahmedabad, India, classrooms with many of the students. I remember how excited the kids were. Kiran had just returned from Mexico and everyone knew she would have stories to tell.  

I’ll never forget the detail of my conversation with Kiran.  Through Design for Change, she has managed to combine education, social change, and design.  These were all things that burned like fires for me.  They ignited me.  So, when she said, “Sanjli, you know I need a partner in the USA.”  I said, “Well you have me!”  

At the time, it seemed like I was living my life waypoint to waypoint.  I had conducted creativity workshops in Kenya and the Dominican Republic, but never would I have imagined that some of my contacts at Design Continuum in Boston would have placed me in front of Kiran at that moment in time.  I was at Riverside School teaching students from the 6^th grade, MIT (Massachusetts Institute of Technology) inspired creativity workshops.  Yes, I was really at Riverside School, I was talking to Kiran, and I had just committed to bringing DFC to America. 

What to do?  The first thing I did was find a few people to join the team. We wanted to understand the educational environment in the USA.  We wanted to understand the unique needs of American educators so that we could respond in a way that helped.  Soon we piloted our first DFC project in a school so we could learn and fail quickly.  We knew that if we learned as much as possible in the beginning we would succeed later. Two schools entered the Challenge that first year.

Our first school was Pearl River Middle School in New York.  Their project was to reduce negative messaging in the media.  Their goal was to add positive ideas and messages.  The project’s link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n_yfrZh9kS0

We started by approaching individual schools where we saw opportunity.  We quickly learned that it was hard to get schools onboard with little credibility and backing.  We didn’t have an educator on the DFC USA team at the time to help us better appreciate the challenges teachers experienced when implementing such a program in terms of time and other resources.  On the teacher side, they didn’t fully comprehend the value that DFC could bring to their schools – the idea of “design thinking” was new.  Touching all of these pieces was the fact we were a team of volunteers.  There were limits to the amount of time we could give individually, but we were very committed nonetheless. We are partnering with colleges and universities through our ‘Change Agent Initiative’ to recruit students who act as mentors tasked to support projects in their communities.

  

We drew energy from our belief in what DFC had to offer the schools and students who participated.  For example, the Share component gives students who are already changemakers a way to Share their accomplishments.  Then inexperienced change makers could see the lessons already learned and move ahead more quickly with their projects.  Share is a virtuous circle of support.  

Through the DFC curriculum, classrooms and schools can once again focus on service learning while they also work on and meet the required educational standards.  The DFC curriculum is flexible and it easily overlays the core education content like reading, writing, math and many others.   We created tools that can be used to document the academic accomplishments as the service project is implemented.

There have been high points and low points.  Without a doubt, the high point thus far has been watching a team from a very resource constrained community, work its way through the DFC framework to design and implement a project they are passionate about; and then go on to win the DFC-USA challenge.  Look for them at the BTC Conference.  They’ll be there!  I’m not sure if it is a low point, but certainly one of our greatest challenges has been meeting the demands of all the schools and organizations we are working with – at a certain point, it becomes very difficult to customize our programs, given the limited size of our team – especially since we’re all volunteers.

Another highlight going for us is the hosting of two major celebrations in Dallas and Boston in May, ’14. We are also piloting a DFC USA Online portal for teachers/ mentors/ students can fully engage with DFC resources and lesson plans. The feather in the hat has really been the fundraising of $150,000 for the DFC USA operations and hiring permanent staff; while simultaneously and rapidly growing our reach through partnerships with Ashoka, Teach for America, United Way and many others. 

I think we’re learning our lessons.  

Now we know building a team and organization is a continuing effort.  So we continue to enlarge the DFC-USA team as our work requires, or, as we find dedicated people who bring a strong work ethic, a passion for the DFC mission, and a desire to do what is necessary to provide our students with the support they need. It is essential to recognize and appreciate the challenge faced by teachers in their daily lives, and how we can offset those challenges through DFC. Find the right partners, whether they are schools or other organizations.  As examples, we are currently working with Ashoka and Teach For America.

Also, build a network of supporters who understand that you are a new, growing organization and are still learning and perfecting your model. Know that there are a gazillion people out there who believe and support you – that’s what we realized through our fundraiser!

We are learning how to ask for money.  Recently, we raised $15,000 in eight weeks so that we could send the DFC team to India.  As part of that effort, we conducted our first fundraising event.  Next we are developing a compelling case to approach wealthy funders and granting organizations. 

We have learnt that visibility is important to inspire, and thus, lead change by inspiring others.  With this in mind, we are creating our own DFC USA promotional film. Also, we are redesigning our website for launch in May ’14.

 We have a lot to look forward to.  I am most looking forward to how DFC USA is going to grow and how the “I CAN” bug will continue to catch on here! We can already feel it, change is in the air and our students are going to lead that change across the country, and in the world!

Sanjli Gidwaney - Co-Director, DFC USA
Sanjli recently graduated from the Harvard Graduate School of Education, with a focus on curriculum design and non-profit management.  As Co-Director of Design for Change USA, she manages a national team of designers, educators and technologists.  Under her leadership, DFC has forged partnerships with notable organizations such as Teach for America, Strong Women Strong Girls, Ashoka, Harvard’s Good Work Team and Stanford Design School. Sanjli has also collaborated with research groups at MIT’s Media Lab, industrial design firms and various NGOs to develop and conduct several hands on creativity workshops for children around the world including India, Kenya and the Dominican Republic. She believes in a pedagogy embedded in experiential learning and cross-curricular approaches.