Portal:Social entrepreneurship/Curriculum/General/Understanding Developing Communities/Activities

Understanding Developing Communites

To make a social impact, engage with communities and catalyse innovation.

Select activities which best suit your learning style and take a look at the Resources page for tools which might help.

Orientation (grounded in your own experience)

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Resource type: ponder these things ...

Reflection

  • Think about communities of which you regard yourself a member.
    • What advice would you give an outsider who wanted to present an idea which might change things?
    • Is there anything you would change that would have a significant social impact?
      • If so, could this be your social entrepreneurship project?
Type classification: this is a reading group resource.

Reading assignment

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  1. Surf the web for learning materials and case studies of social entrepreneurship to find out more about community engagement.
    • While doing so, identify stories of social entrepreneurs interacting with communities.
      • Are there any common success factors?
      • Any anti-patterns? (i.e. approaches, attitudes or actions which should be avoided)
        • What advice was shared?
      • In the example(s) you have found, how would you have approached the community and facilitated engagement?
  2. Identify a case study of a community where social entrepreneurs are involved to link to or write about.
  3. Share insights with fellow students.
  4. Finally, add a link from your user page (recall) to anything you have written, or significantly contributed to.

Where to Start

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  Type classification: this is a reading group resource.
  Type classification: this is a discussion resource. Please feel welcome to join it.
  • Discuss your findings with fellow learners, and post insights on the discussion page.

Experiential Learning

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This is your first step towards community engagement. Activities here will be extended in future modules/units.

The pattern will generally be:

Preparation and planning ... field work/ quest ... learn ... come back and share ... create links under Community ....

In advance, find out as much as possible.

What questions need to be asked?

  • General background information.
    • Where can you get this information?
  • Who are the community leaders?
  • What existing community structures are already in place?
  • Are there any existing community development initiatives?

Approach the community with humility in learning mode only.

No judgements.

Document your learning.

What Next?

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The next module in this course is Social Innovation.

Alternatively, return to the main curriculum page and choose a different unit.