Diciendo y Haciendo - Movilizatorio

Even though some youth around the world and in Colombia do not have the opportunity to access  education and dignified jobs, they still want a possibility to consolidate a career path and generate solutions to their local issues and grievances. Through participatory processes and social innovation we strengthen leadership initiatives that have the potential to generate solutions to local problems but need help to consolidate. This proposal is scalable globally because the methodology can be replicated in any context taking into account each unique angles that youth and its communities have around the globe

The pandemic has harnessed the youth employment and education situation around the world.   According to OIT 64 million, young people are unemployed and more than 145 million young people live in poverty. In Colombia, the unemployment rate of young people is 23,5% and it is even higher among young urban people in lower classes (from 28,5 % to 26,4 %). 

Additionally, education has also been threatened while dealing with the COVID-19 crisis around the world. According to UNESCO half of the students have been affected by educational closures. And in Colombia for more than one year students had difficulties learning virtually and this leaves a gap between students who have an internet connection and those who do not. 

In sum, these problems leave young people without educational and formal employment opportunities. Even though developing countries have been struggling more, these opportunities have been threatened all around the world because of the pandemic.

To combat the educational gap exacerbated by the pandemic, this proposal promotes developmenting hard and soft skills in low-income and postconflict communities in Colombia through a boot camp that encourages social entrepreneurship and technology. The project starts with a context analysis, a call for proposals, and a selection of initiatives that participate in a bootcamp to ideate and co-create projects. For more than 9 months the participants receive mentoring to initiate their project. Finally, the methodology promotes a gathering in which different participants know each other and create a local network to pilot solutions.

It combines Human-Centered Design, Lean Startup, and Job To Be Done in a single methodology to address co-designed solutions, identify a specific challenge to be solved and go through three main phases: Listen, Create and Deliver.

Movilizatorio has reached over 230 young people in rural areas in Colombia affected by armed conflict such as Cordoba, Urabá Antioqueño, and Caqueta. The methodology From Saying to Doing chooses local young leaders with less access but powerful ideas to mentoring processes, use of technology and social innovation. 

Throughout the Colombian territory, especially in rural areas, young people are working towards the SDGs and innovative projects for each community. Nonetheless, the different leaderships and grassroots organizations don't know each other. Since 2018 Movilizatorio has worked with this methodology to strengthen the network and promote encounters so that young people can meet and work articulated towards the same objectives.

Our methodology for social innovation prioritizes community engagement and  co-creation with leaders so that they acquire the necessary knowledge and continue with the idea or project even after the mentoring program.

From Saying to Doing addresses under-resourced populations in Colombia with development and strengthening skills outside the formal educational system. Through mentoring, Bootcamp and the creation and strengthening of a network, we create better opportunities and overall well-being for young people. The methodology addresses the consolidation of initiatives with social impact through the formation of soft and hard skills from theory to practice. Previous versions of T prize have addressed rural young people with fewer opportunities and seek to strengthen the network so that with its entrepreneurship ideas they can have more opportunities and take advantage of the use of technology.

The solution has already been tested, in over 3 years more than 230 young leaders in Colombia have been part of From Saying to Doing. We have co created more than 8 initiatives successfully and have gathered a network in rural communities among Colombians. We believe this robust methodology should be expanded, impact  even more leaders, and create an expanded network in Colombia and in Latin America.

The solution takes advantage of local knowledge and social innovation to empower social change in the community. The methodology seeks to develop local solutions through the use of technology, leadership formation and the strengthening of their communities. This means that not only young participants will acquire the skills to create local solutions but also it will generate a network that creates a broader impact on the community and on other young people that didn't join the program. The last version of From Saying to Doing has demonstrated the importance of building a network to maintain the initiatives created and gather new ideas and initiatives so that the community is involved in its own solutions.

Additionally, promoting co-created solutions to its own community creates a sense of responsibility and ownership that makes young leaders continue with its solutions even if the program has ended. All these components in the long term generate better opportunities to increase its well-being.

From saying to doing relies on technology to function since it's a key component of all projects to catalyze and strengthen the social  innovation process in each region. 

Especially, each group of participants chooses and deliberates which technology could fit better regarding the problem they want to solve so that technology is in favor of social causes and change.

Some examples of past experiences in which leaders chose different technology platforms are: the app OJO in which social leaders can activate an early warning system in which the leaders are the source of information. Also we have  created landing platforms, digital campaigns, online music festivals and interactive maps, among others. All have been piloted and tested within the process.

Within the development of the methodology: From saying to doing, we have co-created technologies adapted to the local context with participants. An example is the app OJO, developed to give social leaders a tool for their protection in the complex security context of the country. OJO is an app for Android phones that allows the creation of anonymously alerts from the entire territory in real-time. It works as an early warning system for social leaders at risk, with which information on a security incident can be located geographically but does not collect personal information.  It works only for Android because in the initial research we identified that  human rights leaders and social leaders at risk in Colombia majorly use this type of technology. As described, OJO is a less common technology created from scratch by Colombians who suffer from these problems. 

Another campaign created within From Saying to Doing is “Todos Al Aula” an initiative that promotes extracurricular activities in the school to fight school dropouts and forced recruitment by illegal armed forces.

To date we haven't made a risk analysis of our technologies.

Movilizatorio has engaged more than 230 young leaders and together we design, test, and scale civic technology in the regions of Antioquia, Caquetá and Cordoba. The number of people we will serve in one or in five years would depend on the projects and the regions we can reach. However, the methodology is ready to scale and impact the majority of people possible in Latin America.

For the next year, we look forward to expanding the youth network of entrepreneurs in Colombia and implement our methodology with more leaders and more territories. In the next 5 years, we envisioned a powerful network in Colombia and in Latin America in which leaders and their organizations have installed capacities to continue with its processes and projects. Empowerment and impact are fundamental to Movilizatorio, that is why our methodology empowers organizations and leaders to continue without Movilizatorio´s help.

Movilizatorio has a system of Balance Scorecards in which every 6 months it measures goals and important indicators that evidence the social impact we envision and plan to have in Latin America. Also, this is how we ensure traceability and impact measurement.

45 full time

Movilizatorio´s team has more than 4 years of experience in the creation and implementation of this methodology and between each version of the project implementation we gather lessons learned,  which we pilot and improve. The methodology has the adequate tools of design thinking and social innovation to allow beneficiaries to be involved completely in the project. Without the input of beneficiaries, the methodology does not make sense. 

This methodology aligns entirely with the principal objective of Movilizatorio, social innovation and citizen engagement lab that seeks to strengthen collective leadership as the engine for social transformation. We believe some tools are essential to our main objective: research, technology, innovation, strategic alliances, communication, and strategy.

Movilizatorio is committed to build and strengthen a diverse, inclusive and equitable team. That is why 80% of the directive team is conformed by women and 82% of the team has LGTBI+ members, women, and victims of the armed conflict.

Movilizatorio has a proven methodology that works to empower local leaders and build powerful networks within. From Saying to Doing is ready to scale and impact youth in Latin America, especially by using technology and social innovation. Latin America and the world are still dealing with the pandemic crisis and two years have almost passed. Local leaders and young people should have opportunities to develop and contribute to their local context and their own future

As the solution has already been tested, From Saying to doing needs financial partnerships so that it could have more impact and scale.