It’s 10 years since we started UpSocial. Looking back, we find reasons for celebration, such as the reduction in the rate of extreme poverty or the increase in girls in school in the world, as well as important changes in public mobilization in the fight against racism, the response to the climate crisis or advances in gender equality.
However, we continue to witness many situations of vulnerability that persist and recur, limiting people’s opportunities for a dignified and full life. Despite advances in social inclusion and fundamental rights, scenarios such as the one generated by Covid-19 have only accentuated existing inequalities, highlighting the dysfunctions of political, social and economic systems and making more current than ever the idea that, in the face of aggravated needs and scarce resources to address them, innovation is an imperative and not a luxury.
Hence this look back forces us to also be critical and a first observation is that some of the things we have done are still small in relation to the dimension of the social problems to which we want to respond. In a way, it remains to address systemic change from within: that the system itself is transformed into something that can prevent social problems from repeating and persisting.
Many of the systems that affect our lives have been created for a society that no longer exists. We see it in the education system, created for a homogeneous society where today’s complexity or diversity have no place. And while there are initiatives that are proving that another educational model is possible, they are still very local.
Therefore, discovering these initiatives is not enough, it is important to understand how to take them to scale and that they are able to penetrate the system. And that once inside, they can influence a change of purpose of the system. Following the example of the education system, it is a question of starting by introducing demonstrative changes and ending by ensuring that, instead of nurturing industry, the school becomes an environment where each student can discover their potential as an agent of change and become a force for the common good.
If we are still fighting so that all the key players of the ecosystem want to be part of this change, it is that we must continue to work on creating rigorous alternatives, capable of penetrating the systems to such an extent that it is the system itself that demands innovations that respond to a new purpose appropriate to today’s society.
That’s why we wanted to celebrate this anniversary by launching a collaborative learning challenge that will help generate opportunities for reflection and joint action, especially at a time when globally we are redefining priorities to build more resilient and equitable societies.
To do this, we have spoken with people and organizations around the world. about how social changes pass, how they accelerate and how they transcend a certain project or organization and become systemic. The result we share in this podcast channel to continue learning together.
