WHAT IS THE I CAN MINDSET?

The I CAN Mindset equips every child to be
AWARE of the world around them
ENABLED with the skills to take action and
EMPOWERED to design a more desirable
and sustainable future - TODAY!

see what research says

February | Featured Stories

  • These students from India felt that elders in their community were not being respected and imagined a way to restore their dignity.

    Because Elders weren't given much importance, these children imagined a way of restoring respect by making them feel useful through: collecting folktales and songs from their grandparents, organising a storytime when these will be shared with the school and making a library to access them at home and school.

  • This group of Colombian children found out that indigenous students were ashamed of their race so decided to recover the historical memory of their ancestors.

    The students realized that they are ashamed of their race and had been ignoring the origins of their race, history, language and traditions. To address this, they created a thematic museum on their ancestor's exploitation of rubber.

  • A group of Malaysian students saw the excessive amount of plastic waste in their community and started upcycling.

    After seeing the desolate plastic dumping grounds and discovering how poorly Malaysia as a whole manages plastic waste, these children turned single use plastics into double use through creating: plastools, keychains and C-Cans and heart structures.

2019

MEET THE SUPERHEROES

Children are telling us they don't need permission to make the world a better place. Get inspired by their solutions to some of their greatest challenges.

  • Come As You Are

  • The Water Guardians

  • Healing Child Cancer Patients

  • A Safer Neighbourhood for All Children

  • Creating a Community Garden

  • The Real Social Network: Seeing Past Digital Relationships

  • The Power of Language: Wisdom of the Inga Community

  • A Toy Plane to Reforest Valleys

  • Young Environmental Leaders of Lynn

  • The Recycling Wheel

  • Response-ability: Helping a Disabled Student

  • Fighting Prejudices Against Homosexuality

  • Immigrant or Not, You Are My Friend!

  • Including Children With Special Needs

  • Bringing Light to the Dreams of Blind Kids

  • Combating High Drop-Out Rates

  • Discovering Teaching-Learning Materials from Waste

  • Securing the School Wall

  • A Canteen for All

  • Bamboo-zled!

  • Lobbying for Free Range Milk

  • Our Safe Way to School

VIEW MORE STORIES

HOW ARE WE DOING IT

  • Feel PROCESS VIDEO

    FEEL

    This step starts with asking you to slow down and 'understand' the situation before jumping to 'solve' it.

    Why is it Important?

    It develops EMPATHY.

    When you want to design a better solution, you need to move from 'assumptions' to 'insights' - this happens when you engage with the user and design solutions 'WITH', instead of 'FOR' them.

  • ImaginePROCESS VIDEO

    IMAGINE

    This step asks you to brainstorm solutions to improve, enrich, change the user experience.

    Why is it important?

    It develops ETHICS.

    When you choose to offer a solution to change the current situation, it asks you to take the 'responsibility' for the same. This mindset helps you believe that you are NOT helpless, change IS possible and YOU can drive it!

  • DoPROCESS VIDEO

    DO

    This step is about creative agency and the ability to take timely action.

    Why is it Important?

    It develops EXCELLENCE.

    'Action' that follows 'intention' results in desired 'impact'. Furthermore, the focus on details allows the action to improve the 'quality' of the experience, building a habit for excellence.

  • SharePROCESS VIDEO

    SHARE

    The final step is 'Share' - cultivating the abundance mentality.

    Why is it Important?

    It develops ELEVATION

    Elevation is the shift from 'competing' with others to 'completing' others. Inherent in this step is the belief that the 'I CAN' spirit offers hope and inspiration for further change.

    Go ahead, be a storyteller and shamelessly inspire others to 'Be the Change'!

The FIDS framework helps to develop the much required 21st Century Skills in children, builds their social and emotional competencies and promotes employability skills. The most unique feature of the Design for Change initiative is that it is not only simple and constructive, it is open-source, accessible, adaptable and replicable.

The power of Design Thinking allows both children and adults to transform the world into how they envision it - the power to create a more compassionate, empathetic world. By spreading Design Thinking globally, Design for Change was one of the first organisations to pioneer this progressive way of thinking to schools and children.

MULTIPLE LANGUAGE PROCESS VIDEOS

GLOBAL I CAN TOOLKITS

The quickest way to unleash the 'I CAN' superpower in children is to introduce the FIDS process in a week or a month. Download the toolkit to begin the process with your children.



DOWNLOAD

ONE WEEK TOOLKIT ONE WEEK LESSON PLAN
ONE MONTH TOOLKIT ONE MONTH LESSON PLAN
GLOBAL TOOLKITS

GET INSPIRED

  • I CAN CHILDREN'S GLOBAL SUMMIT

  • Kiran Bir Sethi on Make YOU Happen Show

  • Kiran Bir Sethi awarded the Vital Voice honoree 2018

  • Design for -Change A Champion of learning through play

  • Design for Change- Teacher Prize

  • A message for all the superheroes!

  • What is Design for Change?

  • Design for Change - Global Impact

  • TED talk- Kiran Bir Sethi

  • Dr Howard Gardner on Design for Change

SEE ALL STORIES

WATCH THE WORLD LIGHT UP

Participate in the Design for Change school challenge in your respective Countries and regions and submit your story.

HAPPENINGS

  • I Can Children's Global Summit

    Children from over 40 countries around the world poured into Rome at the end of November 2019 to celebrate the first ever, all faith, inclusive ‘I CAN Children’s Global Summit’!

  • Eco-Ambassador Program

    On Friday, July 12th, the Center for Sustainable Development’s Education Team, in partnership with Sustainable Development Solutions Network (SDSN)’s Global Schools Program and Design for Change, began Eco Ambassadors’ workshop to put into motion communal action to protect the environment.

  • Design for Change helping children answer their call to action

    Montserrat Del Pozo Roselló, Superior General at the Vatican, uncovers how children's projects are generating change.

  • REVOLUTIONARY EDUCATIONISTS RESHAPING THE FACE OF EDUCATION

    The Better India’s ‘Spotlight 2018’ names Kiran Bir Sethi as one of the individuals transforming the lives of thousands of students.

  • Blurring the Boundaries Between School and Life

    Kiran Bir Sethi's interview with the WISE- QATAR where she talk about the pedagogy at Riverside School which has a single-minded focus : student wellbeing. Read what she has to say about her approach to education.

  • Edutopia features Riverside School

    Glimpse through some of the most insightful practices shared by Edutopia on Riverside School that makes this school a beacon of hope today, the curriculum designed using the simple FIDS framework is shaping young lives not only at Riverside but also in more than 60 Countries and Regions across the world!!

  • Kiran Bir Sethi awarded the Vital Voice honoree 2018

    Kiran Sethi was awarded the Vital Voices Global Leadership Award in Washington DC on 4th April, 2018.

  • DFC signed a collaboration with OIEC

    The International Organization of Catholic Schools- that takes Design for Change to over 240,000 schools worldwide, and Scholas Occurrentes - the organization that the Pope created in Argenitna in 2001, to make students from public and private schools take action- that takes Design for Change to over 446,000 schools worldwide

  • DFC Recognized By hundrED

    DESIGN for CHANGE, the largest movement for children, has been announced by global education non-profit HundrED, as one of its 100 innovative education projects across the world, all of which have been gathered over the past two years.

  • Wendy Kopp shares about Riverside

    Wendy Kopp (CEO & Founder of Teach for America) Last year I visited Global Teacher Prize winner Kiran Bir Sethi, who founded the Riverside School in Ahmedabad, India, 15 years ago.

  • Riverside featured in Taking Design Thinking to School

    Taking Design Thinking to School: How the Technology of Design Can Transform Teachers, Learners, and Classrooms uses an action-oriented approach to reframing K-12 teaching and learning, examining interventions that open up dialogue about when and where learning, growth and empowerment can be triggered.

  • DFC chosen as top 10 projects by the LEGO Foundation and Ashoka

    Design for Change was selected as one of the Top 10 Champions of the Re-imagine Learning Challenge by the LEGO Foundation and Ashoka.

  • Kiran chosen in the top 10 for Global Teacher Prize

    Kiran Sethi, Founder- Design for Change was selected as one of the Top 10 Finalists for the Global Teacher Prize. Organized by the Varkey Foundation, in March 2015

  • DFC Receives Top Good Practice Award.

    Prime Minister the Rt. Hon. Perry Christie, presented the first place prize for the Commonwealth Education Good Practice Awards to Dr. Satbir Bedi, Joint Secretary for the School of Education in the Ministry of Human Resources Development of India.

  • DFC Mentioned on THE GLOBAL GOALS website

    World Leaders have committed to 17 Global Goals to achieve 3 extraordinary things in the next 15 years. End extreme poverty. Fight inequality & injustice. Fix climate change. DFC has been recognized as one of the action steps to reach these Global Goals.

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