Doing while learning
November 18, 2014
Published by Maria A May at Nov 18 2014
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Nothing draws an audience faster than a good story. The best stories transport the listener to a new perspective, down a journey of twists and turns, moments of despair, and of course, triumph. What better way to start to untangle the complexities of scaling social impact in the context of South Asia than to focus on the stories of organisations that have made it there? Theories are great, but without deep grounding in experiences and practice, they often have little application.
August 5, 2013
Published by Amanda Misiti at Aug 05 2013
Many development organizations struggle with achieving scale—should more NGO’s consider partnerships to achieve their aims?
BRAC usually scales primarily through their infrastructure, but the success of their educational support program offers an inspiring example of the power of scaling through others.
July 30, 2013
Published by Amanda Misiti at Jul 30 2013
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We live in an innovation obsessed world. Organisations across sectors have made innovating an explicit priority. Many are devising deliberate strategies to foster innovation. In 2012, BRAC, the world’s largest NGO, developed the Social Innovation Lab for this purpose. We step out from the researcher’s cubicle and explore innovations happening on the frontlines.
April 2, 2013
Published by Maria A May at Apr 02 2013
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A week before the Frugal Innovation Forum, I came across the Ted Talk by Dan Palotta that criticized development for rewarding frugality (i.e. low rates of overhead) instead of ambition and big ideas. This is one reason why, in his opinion, progress has been slow to find solutions to address social issues.
March 31, 2013
Day 1 of our Frugal Innovation Forum sought out best practices from diverse organizations—from Bangladesh, India, and Pakistan to Myanmar and Sri Lanka—grounded in developing human capital, organizing communities, and engaging civic action. While common rhetoric around innovation tends to stress technology advances, Asif Saleh, BRAC’s Senior Director, Strategy, Communications, and Capacity, stressed that "this innovation is not about products, but is a constant process in the organization focused on impact.”
March 24, 2013
Published by Maria A May at Mar 24 2013
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It may surprise you to learn that BRAC’s Social Innovation Lab team is actually incredibly sceptical about the importance of innovation. More than once, my colleagues have asked if we could change our name to something that didn’t put innovation up on a pedestal. “Social Innovation, Improvisation, and Improvement Lab” just doesn’t have the same ring to it, unfortunately. From my perspective, this questioning is important—it keeps us grounded in terms of the limitations of the tools we can offer to the problems posed to us.