LocationsBy UNDP Peru Accelerator Labs
Where diverse people connect, solutions blossom
3 de Enero de 2023
When people are driven by meaning and their work is rooted in a sense of purpose, change happens. Moreover, when people become part of a diverse community strengthened by different stakeholders, when they feel part of something bigger than themselves, a contribution to systemic change happens. Therefore, we believe in order to see change at a systems’ level and reach the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), a transformation is required for and from a whole-society perspective.
Young changemaker have that drive to change the future and do it today. The launch of our game-method was proof of it. We saw how passionate they were in connecting with others, allowing themselves to question their own beliefs and feeling eager to make change for the better. Their feedback about keeping open lines communication and allowing co-creation to happen were inputs for us to create our Futuro Ahora (“Future Now”) platform: a decentralized and digital community with a diversity of solutions in the scope of the SDGs.
Our platform was ready to be tested online by the time we started our second frontier challenge. Our second frontier challenge involved strengthening healthy, fair and sustainable food systems and understanding the role of changemaker youth as part of the transformation of the system. During a week of debate on the different aspects of food systems and the problems that the current COVID-19 crisis is unfolding in the Peruvian gastronomy, we conducted a workshop as part of the PUCP's "El Sabor del Futuro" festival with more than 150 attendees that came from the public, private, academic and civil society.
As we finished our workshop, we walked participants through the platform and through the challenge divided by three steps, as shown below. It was essential for us to observe and test the attendees' user experience: since they registered to the moment they became involved interacting with others by building a directory of innovative solutions, as part of the challenge for food systems. This allowed us to collectively learn about who and where the pioneers of the transition to sustainable food systems are, and above all how to accelerate it.
We want to highlight that as a team the Peru Accelerator Lab doesn’t have many non-negotiables, but one of the few is that technology is a means to achieve something, not an end in itself. Our modular and evolvable Futuro Ahora platform is not an exception to the rule as it revolves around our users' needs and not the kind of technology itself. Now, we want to share it with you so you can be part of our online community too.
So, how can I get involved?
The Accelerator Lab is leading the conversation by taking a systemic change approach and, for instance, designing roadmaps for public policies from a bottom-up perspective. As an organization, you might want to generate a dynamic space to connect with citizens (or a specific audience) and start a conversation with them that feels familiar and designed for them.
All of this can be done in Futuro Ahora “Future Now” through tailored surveys, a collective debate, an idea collection, crowdfunding, or even participatory budgets. And any way you choose to engage with your participants, you can evaluate your impact and make meaningful decisions by following up the interaction through a real-time data-based dashboard.
Do you want to gain more knowledge from your audience and engage with them? Whether you want to join us in building a more inclusive community, ask questions and/or share solutions, we are looking forward to co-creating with you and your communities at the center of our process. Please email us at acclab.pe@undp.org a and also stay tuned for the following blog. We hope to see more organizations bringing citizens together!