Empowering Young Social Innovators

Here’s a broad overview of the last several months of TakingITGlobal’s work to engage young social innovators, to build their skills and competencies while building their ideas into real, actionable projects. Since our last report, we have continued to deliver Sprout Unplugged and the Sprout e-Course with new audiences.

Sprout Unplugged was delivered in several new countries. At the Ontario Science Centre last June 2013, TakingITGlobal delivered Sprout Unplugged in partnership with Microsoft Innovate for Good, for 50 graduating high school students from the OSC. Sprout Unplugged is a team-based action learning program designed to bring large groups of young people into teams organized around an idea which is developed into a plan. Team members contribute their unique insights and abilities while exercising skills, through several modules of work which build a project plan. This curriculum was delivered in other countries, including Brazil, where our curriculum was translated into Portuguese and worked successfully for 50 participants as well.

One further cycle of the Sprout e-Course was delivered to 20 young social innovators from India, Canada, Kenya, Philippines, Indonesia, China, and Thailand, who graduated having honed their skills, developed a project portfolio, and are ready now to launch their ventures. There are now 15 students who have just started the course, and a further 20 who are due to start soon, who are sponsored with your support along with partners like Microsoft, the Waterloo Global Science Initiative (WGSI) Equinox Summit, and with youth participants from the WGSI fellowship, the Global Issues Network (GIN), and Ngee Ann Secondary School in Singapore.

Building off the success of our pilot program on mentorship last March 2013, TIG is expanding its mentorship program to match an initial group of 70 mentors. Mentorship can be one of the most beneficial and influential relationships in helping a young person develop in both their professional and personal lives. This program supports young social innovators with a structured introduction to a mentor, a written guide for them to use, and an expectation that a 1-on-1 Skype session will take place with their mentor, where participants can ask questions, get advice, and have a conversation. We’re matching our community of young social innovators with a wide range of professionals, including those from such fields as software engineering, project management, communications, and finance.

Thank you for taking time to read about our progress, and thank you for donating!