In Stephen Huddart’s most recent contribution to the Open Source Business Resource, he writes about Changemakers‘ method of collaboration as a promising practice to create a wider “ecology of change.” An excerpt:
As articles in this issue of OSBR attest, co-creation is how a lot of business innovation is getting done these days. This is significant in its own right, but what happens when co-creation involves collaboration across whole sectors?
Recently in Ottawa, I took part in a roundtable convened by the Public Policy Forum to explore social innovation and aboriginal youth. Speaking under the Chatham House Rule, representatives of aboriginal organizations, Indian and Northern Affairs Canada, Health Canada, and the corporate and philanthropic sectors reviewed the dimensions of a social tsunami that will influence Canada for better or worse for decades to come: aboriginal youth are the fastest-growing demographic in the country, with the potential to make a valuable contribution to economy and community or to place heavy demands on our social welfare and penal systems. Currently only 50% complete high school, so education is key.
It was evident from our discussion that no one sector can address this complex challenge alone. There is a clear need for the continuous co-creation of new approaches, requiring aboriginal leadership, involvement of young people themselves, responsive government policy and funding for education and training, private sector ingenuity and jobs, and engagement of the community sector at every level.