Design for Change is a worldwide competition that is forming the largest movement of young people creating change EVER! The contest gives children across the globe one challenge :
One Week to change One Billion Lives.
Within the period of one week students are asked to design, create and implement a project that directly benefits their school or community.
The competition asks the children to follow this simple process :
| 1. feel | 2. imagine | 3. do | 4. share | |||
| Young people identify an issue or problem that impacts their community | They speak to the key people who are connected to the issue and use their feedback to generate ideas and solutions. | The children plan and implement their solution in the space of one week. Their solution comes to life. | The process is documented. The best stories of change from each country around the world will be shown at the United Nations. |
The competition is aimed at students aged 10 – 13 years old. Design for Change has been designed to be flexible and ‘teacher friendly’ – each participating school can design its own project, in its own way, to fit with school terms, holidays, and other curriculum demands and requirements. To learn more about the competition step-by-step process, please visit our toolkit page.
There are fourteen countries currently participating, with an estimated movement of 250,000 children ‘being the change’.
Read the top 20 stories of change from the competition in India last year.
The contest started in India in 2009 at the Riverside School in Ahmedabad, India. Incredibly, the contest reached 32,000 schools.
Riverside School’s Founder and Head Teacher Kiran Bir Sethi was invited to speak about the project at the TED India Conference in November 2009 (view the inspiring presentation below).
This presentation sparked a global response and Design for Change Contests are now being held throughout the world, with more countries and regions signing up monthly. Visit the Global Website here.
We want young people to believe that change IS possible, and that THEY can drive it.
Children around Australia are involved in charity projects. The large majority of this activity is devoted to raising money for, and raising awareness about, the chosen charities vision, mission and goals. This is fantastic!
However, Design for Change is brilliantly different.
In this competition we encourage children to think beyond money, and fundraising. We ask them to get directly involved in designing and leading change in their local community. Hands on!
In every case the children amaze and inspire their teachers, parents and their communities.
The competition is designed to be flexible and ‘teacher friendly’ – allowing each participating school to design its own project, in its own way, to fit with school terms, holidays, and other curriculum demands and requirements.
Your participation will enable you to meet current priorities in tangible ways.
The documents detailing how Design for Change will meet mandatory outcomes for grade 5 and 6 curriculums in New South Wales and Victoria are available below. All other states will be available for download by the 16 July.
