YL Community
3rd World Young Leaders Forum
November 17-20, 2011, Buenos Aires
New Technologies, Financial Models, and Collaborations for Social Innovation
After an impressive 2nd World Young Leaders Forum in Mumbai in 2009, the BMW Foundation continued its series of World Young Leaders Forums in 2011 in another fascinating city: Buenos Aires. From November 17-20, 2011 the Foundation brought together Young Leaders from the BMW Foundation’s various international programs in the Argentine capital and at the same time started its activities in Latin America. The Forum is a comprehensive effort to revitalize bonds and to create a framework in which all Young Leaders can share and combine their competencies, knowledge and energy to find effective responses to the challenges they are facing as individuals, in their private and professional lives, in their local and global communities.
This Forum focussed on the possibilities to foster social innovation through new technologies, innovative financial models, and cross-sectoral collaborations and offered participants an opportunity to share ideas, collaborate, and forge partnerships.
1st Latin American Young Leaders Forum
The half-day Latin American Young Leaders Forum on November 16 was designed so that the Latin American Young Leaders, could get to know each other and the work and mission of the BMW Foundation and to set the ground for the World Young Leaders Forum, starting on November 17. The Latin American Young Leaders were asked to prepare an introduction to the challenges Latin America faces with regard to social cohesion, including possible ways of addressing them. This agenda was then presented in the opening session of the World Young Leaders Forum. From 2012 onwards, we are planning a regular Europe-Latin America Young Leaders Forum.
Documents
Key Components World Young Leaders Forum (pdf - 0.04 MB)
Program World Young Leaders Forum (pdf - 0.05 MB)
Reader World Young Leaders Forum (pdf - 0.55 MB)
Program Latin American Young Leaders Forum (pdf - 0.05 MB)
Carbon Compensation at the 3rd World Young Leaders Forum (pdf - 0.23 MB)
Program World Young Leaders Forum (pdf - 0.05 MB)
Reader World Young Leaders Forum (pdf - 0.55 MB)
Program Latin American Young Leaders Forum (pdf - 0.05 MB)
Carbon Compensation at the 3rd World Young Leaders Forum (pdf - 0.23 MB)
Speakers
Andrea Armeni
Executive Director, The Gaia Amazon Fund, Bogotá
Sergio Berensztein
President, Poliarquia Consultores, Buenos Aires
Gabriel Berger
Professor, San Andres University, Buenos Aires; Director, Graduate Program in Nonprofit Organizations and Social Innovation Center at San Andres University, Buenos Aires
Mariana Díaz (Moderator)
Journalist; TV Host, Channel A24, Buenos Aires; Director, R12 Foundation, Buenos Aires
Gonzalo Roque
Program Coordinator, Avina Foundation, Buenos Aires
Alvaro Rodriguez
Co-Founder and Managing Partner, IGNIA Partners, San Pedro Garza Garcia; Chairman, Banco Compartamos, Mexico City
Luiz Ros
Manager of the Opportunities for the Majority Initiative, Inter-American Development Bank, New York
Lisa Solmirano
Managing Director, Fundación Fútbol para el Desarrollo, Buenos Aires
Günter Rudolf Kniess, Latin American Young Leaders Forum
German Ambassador to the Republic of Argentina, Buenos Aires
Alfonso Díez Torres, Latin American Young Leaders Forum
Ambassador and Head of Delegation, European Union in Argentina, Buenos Aires
Ian Robertson
Member of the Board of Management, Sales and Marketing, BMW AG, Munich
Image Gallery
22 Images
Site Visits
Site Visits at the 3rd World Young Leaders Forum
The site visits introduced the participants to interesting organizations and institutions that work towards the public good, introduce fascinating business models or have an innovative impact in Buenos Aires.
1 Greca – Promoting Environmental Consciousness by Designing
Inspired by the concept of silent garbage, a few people asked themselves: What could we do with all this material? Their common understanding of entrepreneurship and design led them to start Greca. Today Greca's aim is to spread environmental consciousness by showing the value of what humans dispose every day. Greca designs objects and accessories from the discards of a button factory. Each object is a fully handcrafted unique piece. Greca's designs are not made with an eye to fashion seasons since the habit of buying and disposing is not what Greca believes in. Instead, Greca is dreaming of creating objects that transcend time and fashion simply by being loved. Ecomanía is a free magazine related to Greca that attempts to promote sustainable development by means of spreading responsible consumption and joint responsibility.
2 Fundacion Flexer – Supporting Children With Cancer
The Natalí Dafne Flexer Foundation is a non-profit organization that helps children with cancer and their families. Its mission is to support children suffering from childhood cancer by helping their families obtain the necessary information in order to improve their quality of life and get them the best available treatment. The foundation is also committed to helping children and their families deal with childhood cancer by providing fairer access to support and health care services. Other activities include increasing public awareness about the severity of childhood cancer and the importance of early detection and treatment. This is why, in 2000, a house was opened by the Foundation opposite one of the major pediatric hospitals of the city, the Hospital de Niños Ricardo Gutierrez.
3 Pro Vivienda Social – Infrastructure Development for the Community
Fundación Pro Vivienda Social (FPVS) is a non-profit organization created in 1992 by a group of businessmen concerned with values of community solidarity and social responsibility. The foundation’s primary mission is to alleviate problems associated with poverty by improving housing and living conditions in low-income districts, the “bottom of the pyramid.” FPVS's projects involve primarily microfinance and infrastructure development. Within this context, FPVS works to ameliorate the discrepancy between supply and demand in poor areas. FPVS’s strategies focus on creating incentives for private businesses to invest in poor communities and helping the local population borrow money so that they can afford to purchase necessary goods and services.
4 The Argentine Central Bank and Economic and Financial Literacy
The Central Bank of Argentina is a national self-governing state institution. Its primary and fundamental mission is to preserve the value of the Argentine currency. In addition, it also provides economic and financial literacy training to children and youth, including a game for financial education, which you will learn about during this site visit. Moreover, you will be able to discuss how to improve the relations between the public sector and the communities. Finally, you will also learn about Argentine economic and financial history – including the country’s handling of its own huge debt crises in 2001.
5/6 La Base – Microlending for Worker-Owned Factories
The origins of this organization trace back to a New York screening of the Canadian documentary The Take, about worker-recovered factories in Argentina after the 2001 financial crisis. This movie inspired Brendan Martin to set up a fund and an organization to support cooperatives in Argentina with loans and capacity-building. These days, The Working World/La Base is extending the tools of microlending to groups of worker-owners in Argentina and Nicaragua and has recently started a branch in New York. This way, they are taking microcredit beyond the cottage and into the heart of the industrial economy. In this, La Base acts more as an investor and partner than a pure lender, sharing the risk and being engaged throughout each project's duration, boasting a repayment rate above 95%. One of its partners is the Ferrox-Seven cooperative, a breakaway group from a recovered factory, which makes pigments for industrial paints. The cooperative Mac Body works on the design, confection and commercialization, both in retail and wholesale, of clothing for children between 6 and 14 years old. The coop rose from the ashes of a known brand name, intentionally emptied and bankrupted by its previous owner. The workers recovered the factory and began working again in May of 2007.
7 NESsT – Developing Sustainable Social Enterprises
NESsT (Nonprofit Enterprise and Self-sustainability Team) is an international non-profit organization that develops sustainable social enterprises to solve critical social problems in emerging market countries. It has developed a firm conviction about the potential of social enterprises both to directly promote the social missions of civil society organizations (CSOs) and to be able to generate their own resources. This allows the CSOs to increase their longterm sustainability, complementing the support received from other sources. Among its activities, NESsT provides technical and financial assistance to selected CSOs in Latin America and Central Europe. Participants will visit its client Granja Andar, which wants to improve the quality of life for people with mental, sensory or motor disabilities by generating increased opportunities for participation in their communities and strengthening their family ties, thus promoting social inclusion.
8 CDI Foundation – Changing Lives through Technology
CDI Foundation for Digital Education promotes digital inclusion in several communities, using information and communication technologies as a tool to encourage social responsibility. In this way, CDI contributes to improving the living conditions of the local communities, giving new opportunities of development through the promotion of citizenship and training in the use of informatics tools. Created in cooperation with other institutions, CDI centers have an organizational structure that goes beyond the access to technology that they provide; they become centers of technological services and are constructed as part of a vision of local development, responding to local needs. Since its establishment, CDI has created 122 centers in 3 countries and 9 Argentine provinces.
9 El Alamo – Sustainable Management of Waste through an Alliance with Waste Pickers
Waste pickers are crucial for the development of sustainable recycling in Argentina, but organizational structures are often missing. The El Alamo cooperative was founded in 2003 in order to improve the quality of life and the working conditions of recycling workers and their families. El Alamo’s work aims at raising awareness regarding municipal waste. With the assistance of El Alamo, the collected material is sorted and sold to recycling companies. The cooperative organizes collective sales to increase the overall sales volume. The proceeds of the sales are distributed among all members of the cooperative according to the number of hours worked. Enhanced protection and health care for the recycling workers, a ban of child labor and extra space for leisure time and lavatories are additional benefits for the workers.
10 La Alameda - Strengthening Links between Workers and Consumers
La Alameda is an NGO that originally emerged out of a neighborhood assembly during the December 2001 uprisings in Argentina. Today, it includes a community center, a workers' cooperative, a foundation that fights human trafficking as well as slave and child labor, and a non-official garment workers union. Its most important activity is the investigation and reporting of poor working conditions in diverse economic activities, most notably in the garment industry, in farming and agriculture. Another important activity is related to the need to create alternatives to slave labor. This is why La Alameda engaged in the creation of No Chains, the first global clothing brand created and managed by its workers, based in a number of countries. It aims at making public the working conditions in the garment industry worldwide, generating ethical consciousness and creating an alternative through the strengthening of links between workers and consumers around the world.
11 Yeeeu - Social Responsibility as a Part of Business Practice
Yeeeu is a startup social company founded in October 2010. As the only call center that employs people with mobility disabilities, it seeks to earn money while also contributing to improving society. Yeeeu provides an end-to-end solution to their clients in which the employees do their jobs from home via the Internet. In order to simplify the recruitment of employees and to maximize social impact, Yeeeu has entered into several partnerships with NGOs in Argentina and is part of BAITEC, the first incubator for technologybased companies in Buenos Aires which aims to incubate new businesses by providing a support system for the creation, development and growth of new start-ups.
12 Crear Vale La Pena – Empowerment of Youth through Arts
Crear Vale la Pena was started in 1993 as a program of social inclusion for youth, integrating education in the arts, artistic production, and community service as mediums for social and individual development. It proposes to strengthen a social development model which contributes to the improvement of people’s quality of life. With this model, Crear Vale la Pena has mobilized youth in states of exclusion, helping them realize their potential and improving their quality of life. Puertas al Arte (“Gateway to Art”), a center inaugurated by the Crear Vale la Pena Community, is run by a group of teachers, young people, and neighbors and thus has started on the important transition to self-management and independence.
13 Responsibility and Sustainability in the Agricultural sector – Two Approaches: Guayaki and Los Grobo
Guayaki brings premium Yerba Mate to the market while promoting an innovative approach to business. It encourages local communities to reforest threatened rainforest areas to produce shade-grown Mate tea. Early advocates of the "triple bottom line" business model the founders now strive for "market driven restoration," a process that uses business to rebuild communities and repair environmental damage. Doing so has allowed them to address issues of carbon offsetting, fair trade, organic production, and environmental impact as part of the day-to-day operations, rather than as afterthoughts, internalizing elements of the business that are traditionally ignored. Doing so could increase the value of a company e.g. through increasing biodiversity or building a local economic infrastructure. A market based on ecosystem economics, as distant and utopian a vision as that may be, would be able to provide an answer to this question. Grupo Los Grobo is a leading agribusiness and investment company in Latin America in terms of the production and commercialization of agricultural commodities. It offers a integrated and diversified business platform that covers agricultural land development, services that go from input provision to technical and financial assistance for small producers, as well as it’s own 6 farming activities, wheat processing and commodities industrialization.In this part of the site visit you will learn about the corporate social responsibility and sustainability strategy of Los Grobo as well as the work of its foundation and how Los Grobo positions itself as a corporate citizen in society.
14 A Latin American Taste of Darkness – Dialogue in the Dark, one of the most international social enterprises, in Buenos Aires
In Dialogue in the Dark exhibitions, visitors are led by visually impaired guides through a series of specially constructed and totally darkened galleries. In the dark, ordinary routines become extraordinary experiences. A reversal of roles is created: sighted people are torn out of their familiar ways, losing the sense they rely on most – their sight; visually impaired people provide security and orientation and become ambassadors for the world of the blind. Since 1988 more than 6,5 million people have experienced Dialogue in the Dark in more than 30 countries around the globe. In Buenos Aires “Diálogo en la Oscuridad” is presented since July 2011 at Cuidad Cultural Konex.
Workshops
Workshops at the 3rd World Young Leaders Forum
The workshops were an opportunity for matching expertise and needs in the BMW Foundation's Young Leaders Community. Various Young Leaders presented the challenges they are facing in their organizations and their work and received peer feedback from up to 20 participants from a variety of backgrounds.
1 Doing More With Less – Why Does Our Health Care System Reject
Offering palliative care at home provides a much better quality service to patients in the final stages of a terminal illness and to their families. This type of care also saves a significant amount of public resources due to a more rational use of emergency and intensive care services. Despite these demonstrated facts and figures, doctors and hospital managers are still reluctant to offer their patients this type of care. What can we do about it? – Iñigo Urkidi, Director, Bilbao Social Innovation Park, Bilbao
2 Social Integration through the Power of Music: Launching a Bi-national Initiative in Haiti and the Dominican Republic
“El Sistema” is a well recognized musical education and socialization method, developed by “El Maestro” Jose Antonio Abreu in Venezuela and replicated in many countries worldwide. Through its core methodology focused on music, this approach yields a very effective socialization effect, delivering as well a solid framework supporting the growth of the individual as a responsible, autonomous and empathetic citizen. Additionally, the methodology also delivers a high quality artistic output and a lasting contribution to the social and cultural capital of the hosting society. This workshop will focus on the current efforts to transpose the “El Sistema” methodology to both the Dominican Republic and Haiti through a wellcoordinated bi-national effort, fostering Haitian-Dominican cooperation. The project is to be established through the institutional framework of a nonprofit international foundation, with an island-wide progression strategy. This will be supported by a financial and governance structure that will reflect its mandate, aiming at an autonomous and sustainable performance but closely linked to other “El Sistema” strategies around the world. – Diego Osorio, Senior Operations Officer, Haiti Reconstruction Fund, Port-au- Prince
3 Creating a Sustainable Basis for the Growth of Boxgirls
Boxgirls International develops innovative programs around the world, using boxing as a catalyst for empowering girls from disadvantaged neighborhoods. One challenge of Boxgirls is to create the infrastructure for licensing its programs and training and certifying trainers in other countries. What needs to be done in order to make this a success? What materials will have to be created? How should partnerships be structured? How can the brand be protected? What due diligence is necessary before entering collaborations? How can quality standards be maintained after a license has been awarded? The second challenge relates to income diversification. How can Boxgirls in Germany build on its offerings of motivational speeches and executive workshops to create income for its grassroots programming? What are the current trends in executive education? How can the Boxgirls project, and the women attached to it, be best marketed to create income for the program? – Heather Cameron, Founder and Director, Boxgirls, Berlin; Professor of Educational Science and Psychology, Free University of Berlin
4 Engaging Young Leaders to Partner with Indigenous Peoples and Protect the Amazon
Since outsiders first entered the Amazon rainforest, it has been viewed as a place to be tamed rather than protected, to be exploited rather than preserved for the long run. This destructive drive has often prevailed, and now the prospect of losing the Amazon rainforest poses an unprecedented risk for people, nations, and economies. At the same time, enough attention and interest exists around the world to put a stop to exploitation and help preserve this vital ecosystem. Where traditional indigenous peoples live, they are the natural stewards of the Amazon and have preserved an immaculate forest. But in the face of new threats and encroachments, they need outside support – from people like us. This workshop will explore innovative ways in which the participants can harness their collective power and play a game-changing role for the preservation of one of the world’s most valuable – and threatened – ecosystems. – Andrea Armeni, Executive Director, Gaia Amazon Fund, Bogotá
5 Building an Impact Economy in Latin America
We need to build a more sustainable capitalism that better addresses the needs of society. Impact investors seek to generate financial returns while also solving social and environmental problems. Impact entrepreneurs start businesses that harness the market to create social and financial value. To build this movement, we will need to find investors, mentors, connectors, consultants, and thought leaders, to invest social, human, and financial capital, into early stage businesses operating in some of the region's poorest communities. This workshop will focus on the work of Agora Partnerships and seek input as to the best way to build a global mentor, consulting and angel investor network to support impact entrepreneurs, using the Young Leaders’ 4 skills, resources and networks. What can we do as a community and as individuals to support this movement? Are there practical, actionable ways in which the Young Leaders Community can make a tangible impact and support impact entrepreneurship? – Benjamin Powell, Founder and Managing Partner, Agora Partnerships, Washington, D.C.
6 Youth Changemaker City – Tackling the Expansion
Over the last decade, economic and social transformations around the world have increased the pressure on young people, manifesting itself, for example, in lower starting wages, high youth unemployment and little social participation. Through its Youth Changemaker City initiative, Ashoka’s Youth Venture encourages and enables thousands of young people from all over the world to solve problems in their immediate environment and encourages their active participation in shaping their society. Besides allowing the participants to learn more about the Changemaker City Initiative, the main workshop goal is to support the presenting organization by developing a model for the program’s international expansion. The significance of Changemaker City stems from the fact that it addresses several social, economic, and political issues at once, allowing the participants to truly engage in a practical cross-sectoral discussion. Please note: Youth Changemaker City was selected as one of the winners of the 2010 BMW Foundation Young Leaders Awards competition. – Matthias Scheffelmeier, Ashoka Youth Venture Program Leader and Coordinator of Ashoka Turkey, Berlin Dennis Hoenig-Ohnsorg Program Manager, ASHOKA Germany gGmbH, Berlin
7 An “Earth Security” Agenda
This workshop asks young leaders to think “outside the box” regarding solutions to the planetary crisis we face. From climate change to desertification, water availability and the collapse of life in the oceans, new security risks threaten the well-being of people, communities, economies and nations. As military forces around the world prepare for “climate wars” due to scarce resources and extreme weather events, what solutions can we offer that lead to greater peace and sustainability? The workshop will present young leaders with two challenges: 1) How do we create and communicate an “Earth Security” agenda to multiply people's awareness and connection to the planetary limits we face? We will discuss, for example, new partnerships between artists, scientists, satellite agencies and the media that could deliver powerful awareness of our dependence on the Earth system. 2) What investment opportunities exist to support entrepreneurial models that promote a new, more resilient economy? We will explore examples, and discuss how we can better connect investors to young “Earth entrepreneurs.” – Alejandro Litovsky, Director, Earth Security Initiative, London
8 Multipliers to Leverage sosense.org – Where Donations Make a Sustainable Impact
Sosense.org is a platform managed by Socential Ltd., a tax-exempt Swiss social enterprise with a clear focus on social impact. An intermediary in the market for philanthropy, social investing and social entrepreneurship, its core service is sosense.org, which offers social investors and donors, who would like to empower innovative and sustainable solutions to social and environmental issues, the chance to engage, contribute and collaborate with outstanding social enterprises. Participants of the workshop will understand the challenges behind building successfully a multi-sector platform such as sosense.org, and brainstorm and evaluate a leveraged fundraising approach to efficiently increase social impact and identify multipliers and strategic partners. – Patrik Elsa, Co-Founder and Chief Executive Officer, Sociental, Zurich
9 How to Manage the Jane’s Walk Brand Description
Jane’s Walk celebrates the ideas of urbanist Jane Jacobs by getting people out exploring their neighborhoods. Free walking tours are led by locals who create a space for residents to talk about what matters to them in the places they live and work. The walks can cover anything from urgent planning needs to historical perspectives – from youth spaces to urban forests. They provide an incredible insight into local culture and issues. As the Jane's Walk movement grows to include more and more cities around the globe, how can the principles of self-organizing and social cohesion be maintained? How can other countries and cities build their own Jane’s Walk movements while ensuring that Jane Jacobs’ legacies of walkable neighborhoods, urban literacy, and cities planned for and by people can be upheld? How can we ensure high quality walks, and maintain our core values of bringing people together, instilling belonging and encouraging leadership? – Chi Nguyen, Project Coordinator Inclusion and Diversity, Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, Toronto
10 Project Dharma – Creating Sustainable Rural Livelihoods at the Bottom of the Pyramid
Dharma is a social enterprise that markets socially relevant products and works towards creating sustainable livelihoods for underprivileged people. Currently, the company has about 400 village-level entrepreneurs (VLEs) selling solar lights, water purifiers, smokeless cooking stoves and nutritional drinks in four states in India. Founded in September 2009, Project Dharma has a partnership with Pratham (India’s largest NGO, with access to 10,000 young men and women working directly for Pratham and a coverage of more than 300,000 villages). The company is currently looking to add more socially impactful products to its product mix and also to expand across more geographies. Scaling up across 6 three dimensions (products, people, geography) in a sustainable manner represents a significant leadership challenge. – Gaurav Mehta, Founder and Chief Executive Officer, Project Dharma/Gajam India Private Ltd. Mike D. Batra, Founder and Managing Director, WB Group of Companies, Bochum
11 How to Build Corporate Values for a Healthcare Company Serving Base-of-the-Pyramid Clients
Por ti, Familia (PTF) is a healthcare company in the service industry that caters to the base-of-the-pyramid. PTF has a substantial number of human resources, most of which have (i) preconceived thoughts on the way they have been working before (doctors, nurses, pharmacists), or (ii) have limited education and have worked under monetary incentives (sales clerks). But at PTF we do things differently in order to generate customer loyalty – PTF customers always get better value for their money – as we believe that loyal customers generate sustainable business and keep coming back. The challenge presented will therefore deal with the question of how to build up corporate values that foster employee work ethics and the desire to better oneself, while creating a strong corporate culture that aims at operational efficiency, customer service and employee satisfaction. – Enrique Coronado, Co-Founder and Chief Executive Officer, Por ti, Familia, Lima
12 New Trends in Philanthropy
This workshop will have two parts. The first part will focus on four revolutions in global philanthropy and what they mean for social innovation: the amplification of social entrepreneurship through synthesized social business; the shift from microfinance to inclusive financial services; the abandonment of the paradigm of development assistance in favor of base-of-the-pyramid investments; and the use of instruments of investment banking to monetize future savings. The first part of the workshop wants to reflect on what they all mean for our ability to make a difference, and explore how we can engage. The second part is about financing social enterprises. Social entrepreneurs promote market mechanisms to address social challenges, yet philanthropic donations are historically their primary source of funding. This is now changing. As social entrepreneurs pursue hybrid financing strategies, we want to explore which mix of funding instruments best suits their missions. – Maximilian Martin, Founder and Managing Director, Impact Economy SA, Geneva
Roundtables
Roundtables at the 3rd World Young Leaders Forum
The roundtables gave participating Young Leaders who work in the area of new technologies, financial models and collaborations for social innovation an opportunity to present their work, thoughts and ideas and to enter into a discussion with other Young Leaders.
A1 Financial Innovations and the Common Good
The financing of economic units can be classified into three sets: (i) hedge financing, (ii) speculative financing, and (iii) the so-called Ponzi financing. Ponzi financing occurs when expected income cannot cover expected interest payment, let alone its expected debt services. Financial innovations can be assessed in terms of the underlying financing practices. In practice, this means that those innovations tending to encourage hedge financing can be deemed prudent, whereas financial innovations promoting speculative and Ponzi financing can be labeled harmful. Policymakers, regulators, and investors should be weary of signing off on financial innovations without thoroughly understanding the overall funding practices and asset positions that such innovations would entail. – Tanweer Akram, Senior Economist and Vice President, ING Investment Management, Atlanta
A2 True Long-Term Thinking – an Ignored Discipline
Today, most Western societies think in quarterly results and election periods. Anything beyond these parameters is hard to imagine or to discuss in this fast-changing world. This roundtable seeks to challenge the imagination and self-assessment of the participants, in order to establish a truly sustainable society. – Stephan Augustin, Industrial Designer; Project Manager, Innovation Projects at Project i, BMW Group, Munich
A3 Technology as a Means of Helping People Achieve Democracy
How can technology be used to verify electoral results? How does technology allow the people of Egypt, Syria and other regions to evade state censorship and obtain something as fundamental as free speech? This roundtable will touch on technological possibilities of gaining and maintaining a basic level of freedom while also shedding light on some recent legislation in democratic countries limiting freedom of speech and increasing state surveillance. This is meant to lead to an understanding of how technology can be used by the people to guarantee basic freedoms and the way such freedoms are under attack throughout the world. – David Bismark, Founder and Chief Executive Officer, Recito Förlag, Stockholm
A4 Dialogue in the Dark and the Process of Social Innovation
What are the steps from prompting an idea to better the world to systematic social change? Dialogue in the Dark, an exhibition in complete darkness where blind people function as tour guides, can be seen as a successful example of social innovation. The project was launched more than 20 years ago, without a market, financing, or a detailed strategy, yet it constantly expanded and improved. Today, Dialogue in the Dark is an international social enterprise with global outreach. Its example serves as an introduction to a discussion on the overall triggers and hurdles of social innovation. – Shiyin Cai, Chief Operating Officer, Dialogue Social Enterprise GmbH, Hamburg
A5 The Quest for Growth: What Does “Quality Growth” Mean?
“Growth” is probably the most highly sought-after goal for everyone. But, what does it mean? Does it mean more cars, bigger houses and higher salaries? Or, more flood, pollution, energy and food crises? The recent World Economic Forum’s Summer Davos in Dalian examined growth from the perspective of quality growth. Multiple ideas were offered in the Forum, and attributes that repeatedly characterized quality growth included sustainability, value, shared, green, inclusive, global, happiness and equality/equity. The desirability and possibility of developing a new growth metrics was discussed as well. Pertinent questions remain: What does quality growth mean? What does it take to master quality growth? What are the key indicators to measure quality growth, and what are the requisite mechanisms for achieving the goals? – Ming-Yu Cheng Chair of Mr. and Mrs. Chua Chai Leng, Professor of Economics, Universiti Tunku Abdul Rahman, Kajang Selangor
A6 The “Save St. Lucia” Campaign and Its Implications for Social Innovation
In 1989, Africa’s oldest nature reserve – the St. Lucia Wetlands in KwaZulu Natal – was threatened by the world’s biggest mining conglomerate. This marked the birth of South Africa's environmental movement. An international alliance was formed, supported by more than 400 NGOs. The support network included entrepreneurial associations, church representatives, academics, media representatives, artists, opinion leaders, environmental peer groups, and wide national and international public participation. In 1999, ten years after the initial mining claims, St. Lucia was announced South Africa's first World Heritage Site registered under the UNESCO Convention. The St. Lucia Alliance campaign was widely recognized as best conservation practice. It still serves as a benchmark for building social alliances and cohesion. – Ulf Doerner, Owner and Managing Director, Engineering Office for Environmental Technology - Consulting, Munich
A7 The Future of Transportation in Large Urban Areas – Improving Transportation as a Means to Foster Social Cohesion?
In many large cities, transportation has become a crucial aspect of low and middle income segment participation. As transportation costs increase, the social divide between the low to middle income and the better-off groups is intensified. In addition, the design of transport infrastructure can contribute to increasing the economic or racial divides. Thus transportation is critical when talking about social issues. The roundtable will discuss design and accessibility aspects of transport as well as the impact of developments such as global warming and urbanization, in order to explore new ways of reconciling accessibility while serving social, ecological and economic goals. – Irene Feige, Director of the Institute for Mobility Research (ifmo), BMW Group, Munich
A8 Nuevos Aires and the Promotion of Responsible Leadership
Nuevos Aires is a non-profit civil organization formed by businessmen and companies from different sectors of Buenos Aires looking to contribute actively to the economically, socially and environmentally sustainable development of the community. It is committed to the role of companies promoting leadership for the new economies of low carbon businesses, inclusion and integration, as well as sustainable resource management. Nuevos Aires promotes socially responsible management and spreads sustainable practices with high impact. It is part of RARSE (Red Argentina de Responsabilidad Social Empresaria), a wider national network which has more than 400 members, and also aims to be part of a global community of knowledge. – Alan Gegenschatz, President, Nuevos Aires, Buenos Aires; Associate Partner, Emprendia, Buenos Aires; Independent Business Advisor and Thinking Partner, Buenos Aires
A9 A Culture of Life – The Diyar Dance Theater
Diyar Dance Theater is comprised of 60 dancers, both male and female, of different ages and backgrounds. The volunteer-based group is motivated by the vision of creating a forum for young adults to celebrate Palestinian culture and history through traditional dances, while promoting creativity, imagination, and freedom of expression as crucial ingredients of cultural and social development. The performances and workshops are developed by the Diyar dancers themselves. They draw on the fears and feelings of young people and empower them through dance and theater to build personal discipline and commitment toward positive change, for their personal life and success, but also in order to advocate social justice, gender equality and the promotion of social issues. – Rami Khader, Manager, Dar Al-Kalima Health and Wellness Centre; Founder, Diyar Dance Theatre, Bethlehem
A10 CSR and Sustainability as a Win-Win Challenge for Businesses – the Example of METRO
The topics CSR and sustainability have grown in importance responding to increasing social expectations and the need for business to differentiate and compete in fields other than product and price. The higher the economic level of the country, the higher are the demands for business. Yet every cent spent on other than business areas has to be well grounded from the perspective of financial analysts. Thus, virtually any initiative implies financial reasoning. This roundtable will present CSR cases by METRO clearly linking value for the community with value for the business, thus creating win-win situations, as a segue into a general discussion about this topic. – Tetyana Kretova, Head of Corporate Communications, Metro Cash & Carry Ukraine Ltd., Kiev
A11 Overcoming Traditional Mindsets for the Financing of Social Enterprises
Being mission driven has direct implications for social businesses in terms of business model structuring, which means that social businesses cannot be funded using the same logic as traditional businesses. As a result, many social enterprises perceive a lack of access to external financing as a major barrier to expansion. What makes things more complex is that many social entrepreneurs have a deep cultural aversion to the risks associated with borrowing. Yet creativity, flexibility, and analytical methodologies allow for adequate solutions. This can be seen in the case of Equitas I, the first venture capital fund for sustainable projects in Argentina, which has become a leading case of responsible investment for the region in less than a year. – Diego Luzuriaga Co-Founder and Managing Director, Equitas Ventures, Buenos Aires. Paula Cardenau, Social Business Latin America, Ashoka, Buenos Aires
A12 The Jane’s Walk Movement: Fostering Community Dialogue and Mobilization
Inspired by Jane Jacobs, a late urbanist, the Jane’s Movement has moved thousands of people around the globe to get out, explore their communities, and meet their neighbors. Since its inception in 2007, over a hundred global cities have participated in the annual walking event. The Toronto-based movement has empowered communities to understand and identify the needs in their local communities. It has become an exciting tool for community dialogue and mobilization, by providing a powerful voice for all residents. – Chi Nguyen, Project Coordinator Inclusion and Diversity, Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, Toronto
A13 Do We Need a New Social Contract?
After the last crisis, which is not only financial and economic, but rather a crisis of the way we live in advanced societies, we need a fundamental rethinking. What is important to us? Have our societies developed in the right direction? A key concept of 18th-century utilitarianism, happiness has since been somewhat forgotten, only to reemerge in the last ten years as a highly researched topic by most progressive think tanks in the UK and the United States. As one of the guiding factors of society, happiness therefore is very much on the rise these days. Is it time for a new social contract, and if so, what should we focus on? – Jernej Pikalo, Associate Professor of Political Theory, Faculty of Social Science, University of Ljubljana
A14 The Power of Commercial Microfinance – Risks and Sensitivities
Compartamos Banco currently is the largest microfinance bank in Latin America, serving over 2,200,000 clients. It can look back on a 20-year history, from its initial launching as a nonprofit food and clothes donating organization in 1990 over grand scale expansion and going public at the Mexican stock exchange, to going international up to its current standing as a regional hallmark in the development of microbusinesses. Since Compartamos transformation to a for profit organization it has also become one of Mexico’s most financially successful banks, always focusing on human and social value, rather than just economic value, as it takes pride in being devoted to people, generating social and human value. – Alvaro Rodriguez, Co-Founder and Managing Partner, IGNIA Partners, San Pedro Garza García; Chairman, Compartamos Banco, Mexico City
A15 Football and Social Transformation: Challenges and Opportunities
Football (soccer) has the potential to bring people together and to promote an educational process around key values, a healthy way of life, and a sense of community. FuDe is a non-profit organization and has been working in the field of promoting communitarian development through football for more than 15 years. With its local and regional programs, FuDe acts as a Latin American regional coordinator within the global network of streetfootballworld. Its strategy is to encourage and create better conditions for sustainability through empowerment in different dimensions, and promote networking as a means to strengthen the community response to critical issues. – Lisa Solmirano, Managing Director, Fundación Fútbol para el Desarrollo, Buenos Aires
A16 Non-profit vs. For-profit
While we are living in difficult times in terms of fighting poverty and other environmental and social issues, many organizations are struggling to scale their impact. Traditional non-profit models are exploring the adoption of for-profit mechanisms to increase their impact and find that different revenue streams in many cases can substitute for grants and charity. In some cases, non-profits are transforming into for-profits with a strong social mission. Even though this new trend has worked out for some, the social mission might be left behind in exchange for shareholder profits. There are some helpful mechanisms available for such transitions and lessons to be learned from successful metamorphoses performed by some organizations. – Rodrigo Villar, Esquivel General Director, New Ventures Mexico, Mexico City
A17 United Nations Foundation – Innovative Ways to Solve Global Problems
One of the ways the UN Foundation is working to bring new thought and innovative ideas to its work and impact is by way of the Global Entrepreneurs Council. Launched in 2010 with the idea that young executives and business leaders play a vital role in the future of philanthropy, the Council consists of ten representatives from various industries – from the corporate sector to the creative and media world –, each with a track record of entrepreneurship, philanthropy, and advocacy on global issues. Its close cooperation with the UN Foundation is meant to gain support and impact on the UN’s broad agenda. – Diana Walker Director of Partnership Initiatives, United Nations Foundation, Washington, D.C.
B1 Empowering Women Through Sports
Touché Sports is a project in the Gulf region that aims to empower women through fencing, using a threefold strategy. Firstly, it is setting up role models for girls in Kuwait through the communication of success in the field of sports. Secondly, it is creating a new perception of women as leaders and trainers by having females teach fencing to young boys and girls. And thirdly, Touché is promoting sports among young girls in schools, in order to break the walls of women’s social exclusion. The efforts of Touché Sports motivate and inspire girls to demand more involvement in all walks of life. – Lulwa Al-Ayoub Managing Partner of Capacity Building and Equality, Touché Sports Development Management, Kuwait City. Balsam Al-Ayoub Managing Partner of Marketing and Public Relation, Capacity Building and Equality, Touché Sports Development Management, Kuwait City
B2 The Social Entrepreneurship Institute in Portugal – Collaboration Across Sectors
The Social Entrepreneurship Institute (IES) is a nonprofit research and training center for social entrepreneurship in Portugal, founded with the goal of encouraging innovation and transformative projects. IES’s mission is to work with exceptional individuals and organizations to identify, support, and connect initiatives with high potential. Through this collaborative business model, IES brings together local authorities, universities and companies in order to create regional ecosystems which create knowledge and deliver highly qualified courses for actual and future social leaders. IES is active in three regions of Portugal and is targeted on expanding to other Portuguese speaking countries for which it is also looking for new partnerships. – Miguel Alves Martins, Executive Director, IES – Institute for Social Entrepreneurship, Lisbon
B3 Socially Responsible Business: The Role of States in CSR
Today, a growing number of companies are interested in the labor dimension of their production processes, adopting human resources and supply chain policies, as well as engaging in industry and multi-stakeholder initiatives. Governments also are showing increased interest in developing policies to promote CSR in trade agreements, procurement policies, disclosure and reporting policies, and general policies to promote CSR. This roundtable will look into the example of a partnership model implemented between the leading businesses and the Ministry of Labor in Argentina. Examples from other parts of the world will also be introduced, followed by interactive discussion. – Yukiko Arai, Senior Specialist, International Labour Organization, Geneva
B4 The Power of Public Domain for Social and Economic Development
While industry is spending hundreds of millions for patents and the protection of intellectual property, such endeavors can also be seen from a critical perspective. The aim of this roundtable is to encourage individuals and industries not to patent innovations by presenting revolutionary alternatives and positive public domain examples. – Stephan Augustin, Industrial Designer; Project Manager, Innovation Projects at Project i, BMW Group, Munich
B5 Making Change in a Digital Age
All media is social by the very fact of information being passed from one person to another. But the term “social media” has risen to prominence as the implications of networked and digital information sharing have affected (and in some cases toppled) governments, changed the fortunes of major companies, and made viral video stars out of ordinary citizens. The response has been mixed, with, for example, governments from China and the United Kingdom to several Middle Eastern states questioning or stopping the flow of citizen media. But the dam has broken. What happens next? This roundtable will discuss the policy, economic and community implications of our digital age. – Farai Chideya, Political Analyst, New York Public Radio, New York; Advisor, Etsy, New York
B7 The “Win-Win” in Sustainable Investment
The financial sector has seen remarkable innovations during the last two decades. Sustainable investments in particular have experienced an unprecedented growth in German-speaking countries. In 1996, some €300 million were managed by Sustainable Investment Funds, and in 2010, this sum had grown to €100 billion. The spectrum of financial innovations ranges from micro finance services and regional monetary systems to sustainable insurance products. Both civil society organizations and investors and shareholders have come to discover their mutual interest in successfully implementing sustainable policies and programs through sustainable investments. – Ulf Doerner, Owner and Managing Director, Engineering Office for Environmental Technology - Consulting, Munich
B8 The Commercialization of Renewable Energy Sources for the Bottom of the Pyramid
Various business models for commercializing renewable energy sources among the bottom of the pyramid (BoP) customers of Africa are competing for attention, each with different benefits for the poor. As conditions and demands vary between and within country settings, this is, on the one hand, a good development. On the other hand, fierce battles are fought over the “right” development model, leading to questions like who would be the “rightful” receiver of attention from the financial and political power sources: the climate savers, the market believers, the raw material defenders, the institutionalists, the philanthropists or the anthropologists? And how are commercial success, environmental damage, or cultural transformations to be viewed in this BoP context? – Peer Ederer, Director of the Human Capital Project, Lisbon Council, Brussels; Managing Director, Innovation & Growth Academy, Rapperswil
B9 Innovative Mobility Concepts for Urban Contexts – the Example of Hiriko
Hiriko is a concept car project conceived and developed at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and fabricated in the Basque region of Northern Spain. The Hiriko self folding vehicle aims to reinvent the concept of mobility in urban contexts and has been uniquely designed from new perspectives of architecture, energy, ecology, urban planning, and urban design. It redefines the user’s relationship to metropolitan use patterns such as “Mobility-on-Demand” (MoD) systems. Hiriko is funded by a novel business model based on the industrial Cooperative Corporation of Mondragon and has brought together private companies, leading universities and nonprofit organizations from around the world. – Iñigo Urkidi, Director, Bilbao Social Innovation Park, Bilbao
B10 Grow Your Pot: Do Pro Bono to Thrive
Both professionals and organizations need to “expand their pot” to keep themselves stimulated and vital. Think of it this way: you and your company start out as small plants, in a pot of a particular size. As you grow, these pots get too small – you lose energy, see the walls closing in on you, and miss that thrill you first felt going into the office. A key tool for revitalizing yourself is getting a bigger pot and to create room to expand. We will discuss how applying your knowledge pro bono gives you the chance to revitalize yourself and your organization, expanding your thinking and ability to see and realize new opportunities. – Aaron Hurst, Founder and Chief Executive Officer, Taproot Foundation, New York
B11 Architecture and Urban Planning for an Ecologically Mindful, Socially Acceptable, and Economically Viable Future
Especially in fast developing regions of the world such as Asia, architectural projects require sensible strategies to achieve an outcome that is truly beneficial for the people in these areas. Sustainability is evolving into an ever-wider spectrum beyond mere ecological issues, increasingly embracing the social sphere. This development shows in Hamburg’s latest eco-city developments, in sustainability efforts in Curitiba, Brazil, as well as in a resort project in Luang Prabang, Laos. All three examples, especially the Laos case, reveal the tension between wanting to adopt innovation while also delivering socially sensible sustainability to the community. – Sebastian Knorr, Principal, Chief Executive Officer and Architect, tecArchitecture, Los Angeles
B12 Riding or Getting Caught in the Middle of the Impact Investing Wave
Impact investing is seen by many as the “next silver bullet.” Sitawi is the pioneer of impact investing in Brazil, with a specific focus on “mission-first” social enterprises. In practice, this is the undervalued part of the impact investing space, because loan clients are mostly nonprofits that run businesses, so the chances to invest, scale-up and make a profit are very limited. On the communication side, it is difficult to compete with people promising substantial financial returns and social impact. This roundtable will tell the story of how sitawi was born, the strategic choices they made, and discuss the challenges of their impact investing focus. – Leonardo Letelier, Chief Executive Officer and Founder, sitawi, Rio de Janeiro
B13 The Wisdom of Crowds – a Concept to Improve Society?!
Wisdom of crowds or swarm intelligence is a relatively new web-based field of activity. As society is currently driving the Internet from Web 1.0 to Web 2.0, social media portals have been mushrooming and are finding worldwide acceptance by catering to apparently long-subdued social needs. Thus, the Internet lifts the advantages of existing local – offline – communities to a global scale. During the roundtable, the social media concept of crowd sourcing and corresponding business models will be introduced, followed by a discussion on how such models can be adapted to improve living standards and social development in less developed countries. The proposition: If crowd sourcing creates value for business, the power of the crowd should also create value for itself, if applied smartly. – Michael Mellinghoff, Managing Director, Sharewise GmbH, Frankfurt/Main
B14 The Challenges of Municipal Solid Waste Management in Latin America
In Latin America and the Caribbean, inadequate solid waste management still causes environmental and health problems within the population. Since urbanization is progressing, more and more solid waste is being produced and solid waste management today is a relevant topic for social innovation in the respective countries. This roundtable will discuss the challenges and different aspects of urban solid waste management in Latin America, including the very attitudes and practices of the population and the lack of a payment culture. Furthermore, the “3Rs principle” will be introduced as a potential solution, addressing the recycling potential and the role of stakeholders such as municipalities and informal recyclers and appealing to shared responsibility. – Gladys Monge Talavera, Co-Founder, Ciudad Saludable, Lima; University Lecturer on Municipal and Hazardous Waste Management, Universidad Nacional Agraria La Molina, Universidad Nacional de Ingenieria and Universidad Particular Ricardo Palma, Lima
B15 Renewable Energy Markets in Emerging Economies – What Does It Take to Promote Them?
Emerging economies in Latin America, Africa and elsewhere, are gaining importance when it comes to exploiting renewable energy resources and will play a significant role for renewable energy markets in the near future. However, relevant technologies are currently dominated by companies based mostly in developed nations. This has helped spread a belief in the emerging world that renewables are a good deal only for the developed world, which add to the many factors that hold back the regions’ move towards renewable energy. This roundtable will discuss possible instruments, technologies, development measures, and new leadership models which could effectively promote renewable energy markets in emerging economies. – Mauro Soares, Manager of Research and Planning, Tecpetrol, Buenos Aires; President Wind Committee, Argentine Renewable Energy Chamber, Buenos Aires
B16 Microfinance – Improving the Quality of Life of Microentrepreneurs
With the slogan “now the bank comes to you,” Banca Comunitaria Banesco is providing financial inclusion for the unbanked and underbanked, especially microentrepreneurs belonging to the informal sector of the economy in Venezuela. Today, it assists more than 155,000 clients. It offers microcredit and savings to more than 4,200 poor areas in 8 states of the country. A network of 188 retail agents provides the opportunity to perform the financial transactions in local stores in the communities thus reducing costs. Further, it offers mobile banking to leverage on the high penetration of mobile phones in the base of the pyramid, thereby improving the quality of life for many microentrepreneurs. – Claudia Valladares, Vice President, Banca Comunitaria Banesco, Caracas
B17 The Paradox of Collaborative Leadership
A number of skills traditionally ascribed to excellent leaders – such as charisma, authoritativeness, or decisiveness - are expressed and rewarded in different ways across the public, private and non-profit sectors. The very characteristics that attract leaders to a common table can be the same ones that inhibit successful collaborations. How then can young leaders contend with this paradox and create spaces for developing sustainable projects where the individual strengths of leaders are brought forward? Using examples from the Greater Toronto Civic Action Alliance, a multi-sectoral leadership coalition, the discussion will center on how leaders can reap the benefits of collaborative cross-sectoral leadership. – Naki Osutei, Vice President Strategy, Toronto City Summit Alliance, Toronto
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