From ideas to action - children as change-makers

Children make up half of the world’s population, but are least responsible for the greenhouse gas emissions, deforestation and other hazardous practices harming our environment. The present generation has inherited a heavy responsibility to manage to change the world and to achieve a new globalization into sustainable development and a circular economy. The world we are living in requires creative problem-solving skills that can help prepare children, who are the future of the world, to take on challenges that require thinking outside the box and perhaps without any box at all. Designathon Works' works with children around the world to learn and understand about the world they live in and unlearn the “take-make-use-dispose” behaviour and unpack the concept of regenerative economy by engaging in Designathons using a collaborative and creative thinking approach. The methodology encourages them to come up with local solutions for global social and environmental issues, linked to Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).   

At Designathon Works, we see children as changemakers: engaged citizens, activists, scientists and inventors. We empower children (aged 8 - 12) around the world to design sustainable futures using simple technologies. We do that with a proven, collaborative design process, called ‘Designathon’. Using a 7-step experiential process, linked thematically to all 17 UN SDGs and global challenges such as water scarcity, poverty, deforestation, loss of biodiversity, pollution, gender equality, citizenship; we engage children in a process to develop skills that help equip children to develop solutions to problems that exist and that may exist in future.

The Designathon method is a structured and open-ended process where children (8-12) design, build and present their ideas. The children gain knowledge on the chosen SDGs, gain 21st century skills (such as creative thinking, global citizenship and technological literacy) and gain agency to take action in their own communities. The methodology covers learning objectives as specified by:

• OECD’s Future of Education 2030 

• Unesco’s SDG’s Learning Objectives

By taking part in a Designathon, children discover unlimited possibilities, for themselves and for the world. Our methodology, lesson materials and network offer a pathway for children to identify problems in their own communities and develop their capacity to take action for a world they want.  

Designathon Works is passionate about bridging the digital divide and sees all children as change-makers - engaged citizens, activists, scientists and inventors. Our proven methodology, lesson materials and network offer a pathway for children to further develop their capacity to take action towards a more sustainable future. We believe in the importance of participatory learning of children and their representation by their voices being heard and recognised and want to encourage young people to take action. 

At Designathon Works', we primarily target early adolescents (8 to 12 years), which is a unique age group in the context of foundational development for long term sustainable impact. We work with a diverse population, at least 50% of whom come from disadvantaged backgrounds across the globe. 

Efforts to sustain a liveable planet must not only account for the unique needs and vulnerabilities of children; they must also include them in the solutions. Children and young people have critical skills, experiences and ideas for safer, more sustainable societies. However, for most part, children and their ideas and voices are not taken into account, nor are they given the opportunity to learn 21st century skills - the current education system is not futuristic and the innovative programs (far and few) are only available for children from high income groups. 

By doing a Designathon challenge, children discover that their possibilities are unlimited and they think beyond their borders, literally and figuratively. The method focuses on building the inner abilities of all children, regardless of their gender, race, class, skill-level or learning situation. Children gain knowledge on the SDGs and develop 21st century skills to collaboratively develop new solutions, use new technologies and take action. The methodology is innovative as it is truly inclusive, child-centred and focuses on learning by doing. The approach is streamlined, simple, highly contextual and provides easy to use lesson materials for children as well as teachers, with a focus on design, simplicity and engaging communication materials. Further, the Designathon projects are unique as they are used for research into children’s needs or their vision on a topic and generating evidence on children’s needs for lobby and advocacy. 

Impact on children:

• Children gain knowledge on the theme of climate change and Sustainable Development Goals.

• Children develop 21st century skills such as creative thinking, communication and collaboration, and competences to prosper in today’s extremely complex and rapidly changing word.

• Children gain empowerment to take action.

Impact on teachers/facilitators involved in the program:

• Teachers expand their professional development on

  • SDG themes,

  • project-based learning and 

  • Maker Education methodology

Impact on the community:

• By listening to children, community gains new perspectives on issues, and children are motivated to become its active member.

• Their new perspectives might influence the decision making process.

• The feeling of ownership creates stronger bonds and empathy within the community.

• Children can be powerful role models in the community by demonstrating positive values and behaviours. 

• Children’s actions inspire other children as well as adults to follow in their footsteps and work towards making their community a better place. 

Designathon Works has developed a strong reputation and expertise in the area of future of education and using design thinking methodologies to empower and engage children across geographies in solving real-world problems. 

We believe in power of collaboration for wider impact and we have network partners (NGOs, innovation hubs, design studios) in over 50 countries who have been trained in our methodology. Together with them,  we have been able to reach a huge diversity of children and provide them with the opportunity to get social and environmental education, develop their skills and have their voices heard. Our network partners have a wealth of knowledge and capacity in their region that helps us co-create theme based curriculums and facilitate learning. Together we are learning and developing new ways of engaging society for inclusion of children, influencing decision makers, measuring our impact and developing new context-relevant approaches. 

We also have a Youth Council that helps bring valuable youth perspective on various issues that help shape projects and implementation model in the contexts where we run the project. Designathon process ensures that children are encouraged to bring their own experiences and insights to the table, and they can help ensure that programs are designed with the needs and interests of local children in mind.

Founder and Chief Learning Designer at Designathon Works' - Emer Beamer is an Ashoka Fellow and has co-founded both Butterfly Works. The eLearning programs she co-created, such as ‘the World starts with Me’ (Uganda 2004) and ‘Learning about Living’ (Nigeria 2007) have been adapted for 15 countries in Africa and Asia and won prizes from amongst others the United Nations. 

Designathon methodology enables us to have a deep understanding of how to engage and motivate young learners. We have developed age-appropriate design thinking methodologies that are tailored to the specific needs of children, which allows them to create engaging and effective learning experiences.

We have designed and implemented projects in a variety of contexts, including schools, community centres, libraries and museums. We are a diverse team from a variety of backgrounds, including design, education, policy, research and child psychology. This interdisciplinary approach allows us to bring a range of perspectives to the projects and ensure that we are able to design projects that are both engaging and effective.

Designathons require resources, including money, to develop and implement programs, train facilitators, and purchase equipment and materials. Lack of funding is one of the most common barriers we face although there is huge demand and buy-in for our programs, especially from the non profit organziations and schools. Another challenge is that while we have a network in over 50 countries, we realize we have not been able capitalize on the network fully. We are keen and working towards forming a Community of Practice that brings together all our network partners and we can be more strategic about visibility of our shared impact and look at multi country funding opportunities.  We believe Solve can help by providing mentorship, access to networks, need based skill development linked to scaling with impact, exposure, and funding opportunities. This, we believe can increase our chances of success to achieve greater impact in communities around the world.

Designathon Works is an innovative solution because it combines design thinking and social impact to create solutions for global challenges. We work with early adolescents (8 to 12 years), which is a unique age group in the context of foundational development for long term sustainable impact. The methodology engages children and young people in collaborative, creative, and immersive experiences that foster empathy, curiosity, and problem-solving skills. It helps participants to identify and address the root causes of problems and create solutions that are effective, sustainable, and scalable.

The approach is streamlined, simple, highly contextual and provides easy to use lesson materials for children as well as teachers, with a focus on design, simplicity and engaging communication materials. We place children at the centre of the design process, recognizing their creativity, curiosity, and unique perspectives. The model empowers children to become agents of change and encourages them to use their skills and talents to create solutions to real-world problems. 

Designathon Works has a global impact focus, addressing social and environmental challenges that affect communities around the world. The innovative approach encourages participants to think beyond their local context and consider the global implications of their solutions. The approach fosters a sense of community and encourages participants to develop social and emotional skills such as empathy, communication, and leadership.

Designathon Works partners with a range of organizations across sectors, including education, technology, and social impact. These partnerships provide access to resources, expertise, and networks, and help to amplify the impact of the model.

Further, the Designathon projects are unique as they are used for research into children’s needs or their vision on a topic and generating evidence on children’s needs for lobby and advocacy. 

Our impact goals for next year are also linked to our vision of reaching 1 million children across the world by year 2030 through diversity of partnerships to bridge the digital divide and work towards sustainable impact. 

We aim to grow our parter network across all geographies over the next five years, with a goal of expanding the program to new regions and communities, and a special focus on reaching children from the marginalized communities. 

We also intend to strengthen our community engagement strategy. Together with network partners and on-ground expertise, we intend to gain a deeper understanding of the needs and challenges of the community we engage with.  

For this, we intend to build our business development engine to get funding (from a diverse revenue streams) for projects with sufficient revenue, global ambition and impact. 

Over the next 5 years, we also intend to use research and insights from our work that includes children's ideas and voices for policy and advocacy work on future of education and investing in children for progress on SDGs.  

At Designthaon Works, we are not driven by profit but by impact. We measure our impact through the Measuring and Evaluation framework, which consist of a set of Key Performing Indictaors (KPI’s) based on our Theory of Change and by producing The Global Voices of the Next Generation reports.

The goals for measuring impact include:

1. Level of knowledge of children on specific SDG theme that is selected for the project

2. Assessing children's level of skills

- Harvesting information on the project’s impact as it progresses - from team members/facilitators, children, community members and other stakeholders. 

- Sharing insights relevant for the continuation of the program. These include learnings, challenges, children’s testimonies, proof points etc.

At Designathon Works, our focus is on using simple technology - Makerkits, to encourage children to learn through hands-on exploration and experimentation. These kits typically include various components and materials, include recyclable waste material that children can use to build or create prototypes of their ideas linked to specific SDG themes. We choose the components of makerkits carefully to allow children to learn through experimentation and exploration. Along with this, we use robotics, drones, mobile apps, audio visual media among other during the process. 

Diversity, equity and inclusivity is at the core of what we do at Designathon Works. Our team reflects the diversity of the community we serve. We also have a Youth Council represented by children. This helps ensure that diverse perspectives are represented in decision-making processes. We organize designathons across different geographies where children get a chance to connect with each other across cultures and sharing their ideas and prototypes with each other. By learning about different cultures, experiences, and perspectives, children also develop empathy and understanding towards each other. This helps to break down stereotypes and biases, and promotes global citizenship.

We have reached over 100,000 children in over 50 countries. We work with a diverse population, at least 50% of whom come from disadvantaged backgrounds. Some are growing up in the slums of Nairobi, some are regular school children in Amsterdam and some are winners of the Shanghai Science Fair.

Our business model currently involves a variety of revenue streams - funds, grants, commissioned work and soft loans. We amplify impact globally by working locally together with our network partners. So far, we have reached over 100,000 children in over 50 countries. We have created one of the world’s largest networks of young change-makers. We are aligned in mission and vision on a common purpose with our funder / donor that enables us to pitch and implement the program. Sometimes, funders and organizations reach out to us to help build their skills, skills of their team on our methodology and for designing curriculums and implementing workshops directly.  In each SDG-linked challenge we host, we strive to set up rich collaborations between our Network Partners and our sponsors: companies, social enterprises and NGOs. Together, all the actors in our ecosystem align to influence decision makers & policymakers, ensuring the voices of youth are heard on topics such as clean energy, bio-diversity, water scarcity, inequality, and sustainable food systems. Several ideas generated by Designathons have been implemented through local partnerships.

We realize; and want to work intentionally towards developing a sustainable funding model. As a first step, we are exploring different revenue streams - grants, donations, partnerships and consulting services. We feel we can also get into product development and sale but we need revenue to build on this aspect. 

We feel we have a very strong foundation of work and are known for the quality we deliver but we need to be able to tell our story better. Our research and impact reports are powerful but we need to work on a strong social media presence to building a strong brand identity and build trust with stakeholders.

We also need to capitalize on our worldwide partnerships that enable us to demonstrate impact at scale. 

As a non-profit organization, our funders base so far have been corporates and Government bodies. Some of our key funders include: Ashoka, Patagonia, Tony's Chocolonely Foundation, ASML Foundation, Bugaboo, Dopper, Microsoft, ERASMUS PLUS KA2 Strategic Partnerships+ and WWF. Most of our projects have been funded under the small grants program of donors we trageted, ranging from 10,000 Euros to 100, 000 Euros.