The Design Thinking approach allows individuals from various backgrounds to work together to solve problems within their community. Setting context and getting a clear understanding of the needs and challenges within the community is imperative when exploring ideas and solutions.
To teach adults how to effect positive social change through design thinking and to give them a comprehensive set of skills and the self-assurance to do so, we have developed our Toolkit Guide to Design for Change.
To begin social change, there needs to be wide and deep engagement between members and stakeholders to raise awareness about the value of nurturing design thinking culture in building social change. Learning centres run using design thinking will make this engagement impactful through embracing the first phase of design thinking, empathy. It is not enough to consult with only those who want social change if you want to successfully bring it about.
Our Toolkit will provide accessible learning and transferable examples of how design thinking skills advance the impact of social change makers, as well as clear steps for them to establish design thinking learning centres. These abilities will enable them to facilitate social change by teaching design thinking principles to advocates in group.
Our toolkit for establishing a Learning Centre for Social Change is a step-by-step guide designed to guide stakeholders through the process of establishing, running, and maintaining a fully functional centre. It will provide a sustainable, participatory model for community problem solving for adult educators.
The existence of this toolkit provides transferable knowledge for the method's replication across the EU. We aim to enable adults and diverse groups at the community level to apply design thinking in addressing issues and problems in their neighbourhoods by embedding Design Thinking skills in local learning centres.