Making positive change happen in the world starts with ideas closer to home.
Wanting to make a change or meet a need in your own life, can trigger an idea that becomes a solution for so many others. That is why at Flow In Action, we work hard to connect you to your unique creativity. Check out the story of Edwin Broni-Mensah & Give Me Tap to see how a journey from heading to the gym to get fit has lead to the success story of Give Me Tap bottles. St George's International School in Switzerland got involved, as an initiative led by IB CAS students. Frustrated by the huge numbers of plastic drinking cups being thrown away each day, they wanted every student and member of staff to have a Give Me Tap bottle.instead. They succeeded with the co-branded bottle and the sustainability initiative continues. How can you apply this same approach in your school? How can you explore sustainability and access to water? #creativity #GMT #socinn #water #flowinaction @flowinaction @elainefrancetcb @givemetap
1 Comment
Sole Searching Shoes has a photo on their Instagram account of a pair of feet in flipflops made from 2 plastic water bottles and some cord.
If ever a picture spoke a thousand words, it is this one. Ingenious and heart-breaking. I lived in Zambia as a little girl. Most of the time barefoot. I had some flipflops but they were 2 left feet and I wore them anyway. Even that was a world apart from the life belonging to those feet in that photo. There are businesses using materials like plastic bottles to make shoes, trainers, flipflops. Is it one that can work like an ethical business on the ground in places of greatest need? If you put those bottles as flipflops on a model, do they become a fashion statement? What if...the bottles could be broken down and combined somehow with 3D printing to create a new pair of flipflops or shoes or something entirely different? The scarcity that bred the innovation is incomprehensible to most of us. Try it for yourself and walk a mile in those shoes! #socinn #creativity #ideas #flowinaction #flipflops @flowinaction @elainefrancetcb Half term away from school. What did you do? What will you do? Even if you play computer games for 7 days you are learning new skills that you can use to solve problems and find answers in other parts of your life. Brilliant! Why reflect on your half term? To discover more about your creativity, even when you think you aren't doing anything. How to reflect? By using visual tools to journal and story-tell what you did. What to reflect with? Use the different tools in the mind-map to download and explore what you did. Each one gives you a key skill that will help you with learning and after-school. Reflecting is about understanding your impact - on yourself, on the people around you, on your environment. Learning to reflect means that you get use it as a problem-solving tool in everything you do, so that you overcome challenges. Download the Mind-Map and use it to guide your reflecting. #socinn #ideas #creativity #thinkingmaps #flowinaction @flowinaction @elainefrancetcb ![]()
You are your creativity in action. Your creativity is a unique blend of all of your life experiences, your knowledge, your skills and talents. It makes you unprecedented.
Imagine the incredible power of EVERY young person bringing their creativity to the table, to solve the challenges of the 21st Century. With 103 million young people worldwide not having basic literacy skills (Source: www.un.org/sustainabledevelopment/education) we are actively stopping their creativity from being part of the solution. Imagine changing that and what we might change together. I had a really interesting discussion with some students recently, about Sustainable Development Goal #1 - No Poverty.
They raised a question about 'whether it was a good thing to end poverty because of the consequences for those not in poverty and the planet?' Yep. Read that sentence above again. It kind of takes your breath away with the sense that poverty is a form of natural selection. Now these are great kids, who do really care about people and planet. Their question is a back-straightener and for that fact alone it opens up the opportunity to explore the fear of what will happen for 'us' if we end poverty for 'them.' Perhaps the fastest way to end poverty is to walk back into the fear, to explore our need to feel safe and in the words of the Yoda, 'Train yourself to let go of everything you fear to lose!' I think those kids named the elephant in the room, which in my world opens up the way to show them how to use their unique creativity to explore ideas from a social innovation perspective, rather than play a zero-sum game. #creativity #socinn #innovationforecast #sdg1 #endpoverty #ideas #whatif #creativeleaders @flowinaction @elainefrancetcb I'm a huge space fan. I love science fiction. When I was a kid, I wanted to be an astronaut! Can you imagine walking to the Moon and back, or even ON the Moon? It would be amazing... Not so much though, if you were doing the equivalent distance on Earth to get water. Combine your creativity with activity to raise awareness about the very real distances some people - mainly women and girls - travel each day to collect water. Use the Mind-Map to help you work through the process. Use your ideas to come up with your design! #creativity #ideas #water #SDG6 @flowinaction @elainefrancetcb ![]()
I know from experience that most of my best ideas for how I can make change happen come when I am walking.
Use walking as a way to be active, connect to creativity and inspire people to take action for themselves and others. Check out the Flow Map below to guide you forward. Start your research with a key phrase like 'benefits of walking' to find good data. Just by doing this, you're using your creativity to have ideas that help others. #creativity #socinn #walk #mindfulness #ideas @flowinaction @elainefrancetcb Even full-time change-makers get overwhelmed by what is going on in the world.
When you’re a kid, you can feel powerless to take action. It’s frustrating, heart-breaking, mind-blowing! So how do any of us do anything to make change happen? You need to reconnect with the thing that makes you, YOU. And that is…your creativity – the way that you think, have ideas and solve problems. It is the number 1 thing within your control and you can use it to influence change around you. One of the best ways to get reconnected to your creative thinking is simply to move. Moving changes the way that you feel, because your physiology changes immediately; you change your focus and get new perspectives. Get to it and see how the ideas and inspiration start flowing. #creativity #socinn #justmove #ideas #creativethinking @flowinaction @elainefrancetcb How will you celebrate World Toilet Day? This year, World Toilet Day focuses on the link between sanitation and nutrition. Stats from the UN indicate that 2,4 billion people do not have access to adequate sanitation. The Gates Foundation came up with a global challenge called Reinvent The Toilet in 2015. Check out the mind-map below for guidance, do your research and get people thinking about Sustainable Development Goal 6 by running your own Reinvent Toilets Challenge competition in your school. #creativity #socinn #wecantwait #flowinaction @elainefrancetcb @flowinaction ![]()
Imagine it is 2030. That's just 14 years from now. How old will you be then? Skip to the future and see yourself in your 3-D printed clothes, ready to go out and celebrate the 'end of poverty' on Earth. That's right...Sustainable Development Goal 1 is achieved. If all things were possible, within ethical boundaries, what would need to happen between now and then for that goal to be achieved? Download your thinking into the timeline. Remember, everything is possible, so watch out for your self-imposed thinking rules that block your ideas. How might gaming, apps, 3-D printing, story-telling, nano-technology or buying local help? #creativity #socinn #ideas #flowinaction @elainefrancetcb ![]()
Flow In Action's work to empower young people, is all about laying the foundations for them to become social innovators.
As 'social innovators' they will generate ideas and solutions that make positive change happen in their communities - local, national, global, online. That's the mission. It thrills me every time I take young people on this journey, equipping them with the tools and skills to take action. In true Simon Sinek style, I want each one of them to know 'why' their particular, unique blend of imagination and ideas count. I want each one of them to know 'how' to have ideas and develop them; and I want each one of them to know 'what' to do to turn those ideas into reality, reframing failure so that they focus always on creativity. We work on imagination, how to have ideas, demystifying innovation and how to use these processes to build resilience. It's not about being the best academically, it's about knowing it is okay not to know the answer and having the skills, stamina and determination to know how to find it instead. To me, every child belongs to the tribe of problem-solvers because their unique perspective counts. In 2017, the goal is for Flow In Action to reach 1,000,000 young people - one way or another - to plant the seed of social innovation in them. I want Learn To Move Mountains (c) Clubs happening everywhere...in schools, in libraries, online... How can you join the revolution? Look at the Flow In Action Workshops for Students and get in touch to talk about your requirements. Sign up for the free Flow In Action e-newspaper on the Home Page and get ideas each week to inspire social innovation and change-making in your community. #creativity #innovation #socinn @elainefrancetcb @IBOrganisation @IBWorldmag @edutopia As part of your Halloween fun make sure that you include 'Frankenstein Friday.' The book by Mary Shelley was first published in 1818 and is a classic novel. You can use the book as a basis for improving literacy through creative storytelling, drama, art and fashion. Speak to your school librarian about 'hacking' the school library with different activities and events. #creativity #ideas #innovation #frankenstein #CAS @elainefrancetcb @IB_DP @RSA_IB ![]()
Celebrate United Nations Day on 24th October 2016 as part of your global citizenship and international mindedness activities. With their theme 'Turning the World Blue' there are so many ways to get creative and 'hack' this celebration with your own incredible ideas across so many subjects. Use the Mind Map to get started! #creativity #changemaker #socinn #innovation #ideas #unday2016 @elainefrancetcb @UN ![]()
|
Categories
All
|