Social Innovation Competition – Social Innovation Relay

Περιγραφή

The “Social Innovation Relay” program is implemented worldwide by the Junior Achievement Organization, and is aimed at students aged 15-18 years (Grade 3 of Middle School & High School).

General description

The Social Innovation Competition is an interactive, online educational program designed to encourage students to develop innovative ideas and solutions to contemporary social problems while enabling them to cultivate skills they need to develop to become socially responsible professionals in future. Students participating in the educational program will become familiar with the concept of social innovation while developing their own creative and innovative solutions to real social problems.

Implementation stages

Its implementation process is easy, and simple for the participants, given that most of the program is implemented online. Indicatively, we mention the stages of the program, which may be partially differentiated in the effort to continuously improve the program:

1. One – or more – case studies are presented to the students (by the class teacher, or by a volunteer-advisor of JA Greece. The presentation lasts about an hour during which the students are presented with a successful case of a social In this process, students are encouraged to participate with questions in order to develop their knowledge in the field of social innovation and social entrepreneurship.
2. They then create their workgroup which should consist of 2 to 4 members and register on the platform as a team.
3. Students then answer a social innovation questionnaire online. Once they have completed this, they can print their individual certificate.
4. Each group prepares and submits online a 300-word proposal-exposition proposing a solution to a contemporary social problem.
5. All proposals are evaluated online. The 20 best teams will work with volunteers in 2-3 hour e-mentoring sessions to further develop their ideas.
6. The 20 selected teams submit online their complete business proposal (concept paper) for evaluation.
7. After evaluation, the 10 best teams participate in the Final Nationwide Competition, which will be held online.
8. The winning team represents Greece in the World Final competition which will likewise take place online. The ten teams will need a powerpoint presentation for the online final competition, which will last 3-4 minutes.

Learning Objectives

Students will be able to:

• Understand contemporary social challenges
• They are able to recognize social challenges in their environment
• They can recognize existing social innovation and social entrepreneurship actions and be introduced to the principles of social enterprise
• Develop and improve the following skills: IT skills, Teamwork, Communication, Presentation Skills, Confidence, Critical and Creative thinking

Benefits for teachers

• Understanding the field of social innovation and social entrepreneurship
• Familiarity with the use of an online platform
• Ability to recognize social innovations and corresponding actions

Find out about the details of the Program here.