(Policy) Roundtable discussion Archives - Catalysing Change Week

Reimagining Social Entrepreneurship in the Islamic World

Ajit Vahadane — Tue, 24 May 2022 10:02:35 +0000

Core to our humanity is problem solving and critical thinking. That is how we evolved and survived. This means that each human being is essentially a social entrepreneur, identifying challenges and developing solutions. Civilizations and cultures throughout history have depended on this spirit to enable change and progress. In this session we attempt to use this definition to reimagine social entrepreneurship in the context of the Islamic world. There are 1.7 billion Muslims globally. Muslims are ready to give to reduce poverty, hunger and improve education and health as part of their faith. One of the fundamental tenant of the Muslim faith is Zakat (to give to those in need). We want to reimagine this giving, Zakat, in today’s world in the spirit of social entrepreneurship. In this session we bring experts from across the globe in social entrepreneurship, Islamic religion, INGOs and government as well as private funders and foundations to discuss in depth this innovation approach, the challenges to make it a reality and concrete steps to implantation. The goal is to come up with a road map of actionable items to bring this concept to reality. The impact will enable systems change and drive achieving the SGDs in record time in a sustainable fashion because of the grassroots movement this concept will instigate.

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How to Conduct Research on Program Impact Under Humanitarian Conditions

Ajit Vahadane — Tue, 24 May 2022 10:02:32 +0000

This session will be a panel sharing challenges and solutions for conducting research under humanitarian conditions to evaluate impact of programs. Speaker’s bio: 1. Rana Dajani Professor of molecular cell biology, Hashemite University, Jordan, Harvard Radcliff fellow, a Fulbrighter, Eisenhower fellow, Yale and Cambridge visiting professor. Research area: refugee youth and the epigenetics of trauma across generations and world expert on genetics of Circassian and Chechan populations in Jordan. Established stem cell research ethics law in Jordan. Advocate for biological evolution and Islam, Member UN women Jordan advisory council. Established a women mentor network, and received Partnerships for enhanced engagement in research (PEER) award 2014. Organized the first gender summit for the Arab world 2017. Most influential women scientists in Islamic World, 12 among100 the most influential Arab women, Global Changemaker Award for celebrating, President of the Society for the Advancement of Science, Technology and Innovation in the Arab World. Awarded the Jordan star of science by His Majesty King Abdullah II. Developed a community-based model “We love reading” changing mindsets through reading to create changemakers, received World Innovation Summit in Education Award 2014, King Hussein Medal of Honour 2014, UNESCO International Literacy Prize 2017, World Literacy Council Award 2018 and the Jacobs social entrepreneurship award 2018, Science, Technology and Innovation Award UN 2019, Ashoka Fellow 2019, UNHCR Nansen Refugee awardee 2020, Schwab Social entrepreneur 2022. 2- Catherine Panter-Brick Catherine Panter-Brick is the Bruce A. and Davi-Ellen Chabner Professor of Anthropology, Health, and Global Affairs at Yale University. A medical anthropologist trained in human biology and the social sciences, she holds appointments in the Jackson Institute for Global Affairs, the Department of Anthropology, and the School of Public Health. Professor Panter-Brick is an expert on risk and resilience, having spent three decades working with people affected by violence, poverty, and marginalization. Her work with Syrian refugee youth is an example of scientific research evaluating the extent to which interventions can alleviate stress, boost resilience, and improve lives in war-affected communities. She has integrated methods from ethnography, cross-cultural psychiatry, child development, and stress biology to learn about the impact of violence on youth mental health in Jordan, Afghanistan, and Nepal. She has also led interdisciplinary research projects in Ethiopia, the Gambia, Nepal, Niger, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, Tanzania, the UK, and just recently, the US-Mexico border. For her work in humanitarian areas, she received the Lucy Mair Medal, awarded by the Royal Anthropology Institute to honor excellence in the application of anthropology to the active recognition of human dignity. Prior to coming to Yale, she was a Professor of Anthropology at Durham University and a Fellow at St Hugh’s College, Oxford University. 3- Susanna Chui Susanna’s publications cover research areas in leadership and identity, social entrepreneurship, and social impact measurement. Her teaching encompasses leadership, social entrepreneurship, sustainability, corporate social responsibility (CSR), business ethics, and organizational behaviour. her research experience also extends to examining social impact measurement, CSR, stakeholder management and human resources issues in organizational contexts. Appointed by the Chief Secretary of the HKSAR Government, Susanna was part of the Social Innovation and Entrepreneurship Development Fund Task Force under the Commission of Poverty from 2012-2018. Moreover, she has been engaged in social innovation and social entrepreneurship as a Director of the Fullness Social Enterprise Society. Susanna has completed her PhD in Leadership at Durham University. Her Master of Research Degree in Leadership was accomplished with the University of Exeter. Her first Master in Mass Communications Research was obtained from the University of Leicester and she holds a Bachelor of Arts Degree in English from the University of York. 4- Heather Flowe: Professor Heather Flowe (School of Psychology, UoB) develops memory-enhancing, broad-reach, low-cost procedures that enable witnesses and victims to achieve their best evidence in criminal proceedings, particularly in the areas of sexual violence and criminal identification. She works with survivor organizations, legal practitioners (e.g., the CPS, the police) and governments to develop best practice guidelines for documenting and investigating incidents. With Professor Dajani, she leads the Rights for Time Research Network (https://www.rights4time.com, funded by the Arts and Humanities Research Council, Global Challenges Research Fund), which commissions community-led research on humanitarian protection in the Global South, as well as the CARE project

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Jordan Ecosystem Gaps and Solutions

Ajit Vahadane — Tue, 24 May 2022 10:02:31 +0000

This session is about identifying gaps in the SE ecosystem in Jordan and proposing solutions while working with stakeholders from government, private sector, civic society and academia.

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Social Justice Index

Ajit Vahadane — Tue, 24 May 2022 10:02:31 +0000

A panel discussion with stakeholders on the creation of a social justice index to support and advocate social justice within regions where populations are under a form of colonization and apartheid and injustice. Speakers’ Bios: 1. Rana Dajani: Professor of molecular cell biology, Hashemite University, Jordan, Harvard Radcliff fellow, a Fulbrighter, Eisenhower fellow, Yale and Cambridge visiting professor. Research area: refugee youth and the epigenetics of trauma across generations and world expert on genetics of Circassian and Chechan populations in Jordan. Established stem cell research ethics law in Jordan. Advocate for biological evolution and Islam, Member UN women Jordan advisory council. Established a women mentor network, and received Partnerships for enhanced engagement in research (PEER) award 2014. Organized the first gender summit for the Arab world 2017. Most influential women scientists in Islamic World, 12 among100 the most influential Arab women, Global Changemaker Award for celebrating, President of the Society for the Advancement of Science, Technology and Innovation in the Arab World. Awarded the Jordan star of science by His Majesty King Abdullah II. Developed a community-based model “We love reading” changing mindsets through reading to create changemakers, received World Innovation Summit in Education Award 2014, King Hussein Medal of Honor 2014, UNESCO International Literacy Prize 2017, World Literacy Council Award 2018 and the Jacobs social entrepreneurship award 2018, Science, Technology and Innovation Award UN 2019, Ashoka Fellow 2019, UNHCR Nansen Refugee awardee 2020, Schwab Social entrepreneur 2022. Author of the book: Five scarves, Doing the impossible: If we can reverse cell fate why can’t we redefine success, Nova Publisher 2018. Reviewed by Nature. 2. Tariq Al-Olaimy: co-founder of 3BL Associates. For his work with 3BL, Tariq was named as one of 10 Muslim men shaping the world by Mvslim.com, and was the first per- son from the MENA region to be recognized by GreenBiz and the World Business Council for Sustainable Development, as one of their “30 under 30” leaders for breaking new ground in sustainability innovation. Last year, Tariq was also honored as one of 22 Climate Trailblazers worldwide by the Global Climate Action Summit, and recognized as an Expo 2020 Global Innovator. As an educator at heart, Tariq is a certified Ubuntu Peer Peace Coach through the Archbishop DesmondTutu Foundation, a former TEDx curator, and is a co-chair of UNESCO’s Global Action Program on Education for Sustainable Development Partner Network. Tariq is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts, sits on the board of AIESEC in Bahrain, and serves on the Global Advisory Council of the World Economic Forum ‘s Global Shapers Community. He has conducted sustainability workshops and trainings across six different continents. As a sustainability and youth education policy advocate within the International Climate Movement, he has worked with UN organizations such as UNESCO, UNFCCC, UNDP, and UNEP towards the Post-2015 Development Agenda (SDGs). Tariq holds a BSc. in Investment and Financial Risk Management from Cass Business School London, has graduated from the Singularity University Executive Program, and is among the first 100 people in the world to complete a specialization in the field of Biomimicry. 3. Hatem Bazian: Co-founder and Professor of Islamic Law and Theology at Zaytuna College, the 1st Accredited Muslim Liberal Arts College in the United States. In addition, Prof. Bazian is a lecturer in the Departments of Near Eastern and Ethnic Studies at the University of California, Berkeley. Dr. Bazian between 2002-2007, also served as an adjunct professor of law at Boalt Hall School of Law at the University of California, Berkeley. In Spring 2009, Dr. Bazian founded at Berkeley the Islamophobia Research and Documentation Project at the Center for Race and Gender, a research unit dedicated to the systematic study of Othering Islam and Muslims. Prof. Bazian in Spring 2012 launched the Islamophobia Studies Journal, which is published bi-annually by Pluto Press and authored five books, hundreds of articles and a constant contributor to public debates. 4. Jason Jacobs: has an international reputation as a historian of television drama, its institutions, technology and aesthetics. He has taught film and television studies at the University of East Anglia, the University of Warwick, and Griffith University. His first book, The Intimate Screen (Oxford University Press, 2000) is a pioneering study of early television drama; his second book Body Trauma TV (British -Film Institute, 2003) explores the aesthetics of the hospital drama in relation to the contemporary cultural imagination. More recently he published Deadwood (Palgrave Macmillan/British Film Institute, 2012), as part of the BFI TV Classics series. He is currently working on an Australian Research Council funded project called “The Persistence of Television: How the Medium Adapts to Survive in the Digital World”…

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Accelerating Social Economy

Ajit Vahadane — Tue, 24 May 2022 10:02:30 +0000

Following the 2022 Pact for Impact event in Paris, which convened Ministries and leading social enterprises to adopt the Coalition Manifesto and Charter commitment toward a Social and Solidarity Economy (SSE), we are inviting you to recognise the collaborative impact we can all bring towards the progress of a mutually inclusive long-term social economy. In collaboration with high-profile advocates of social economies, we will learn how we can accelerate social economies across the globe and create an ecosystem that proactively and systematically addresses the world’s social and environmental issues.

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Pave the Way for Youth

Ajit Vahadane — Tue, 24 May 2022 10:02:29 +0000

The youth of our world has been devastated by the COVID-19 pandemic. From lost education, work experience, and social development- young people have disproportionately been affected. At this year’s Y20 in Indonesia, one of the subthemes is on youth social entrepreneurship and how this is being regarded as a viable pathway to employment for young people and an opportunity to address pressing community needs. There are numerous obstacles standing in the way of young people wanting to embark upon this path, including resource challenges, regulatory insufficiencies and skills and know-how. We are also in the midst of one of the greatest turnovers in employment history. How can the Catalyst community and beyond work together to support the next generation of social innovators and not lose the knowledge and experiences that are present in those edging towards retirement?

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Universal Data Ownership

Ajit Vahadane — Tue, 24 May 2022 10:02:27 +0000

The current discourse about data, which is being mass accumulated, aggregated and processed around the world, inevitably raises the question of what is the extent to which all this powerful information transcends the core principle of human rights, thus further widening the gap of the ever-growing challenges with inequality. It is undeniable that most of the data is nowadays being managed and controlled by developed economies, within which powerful actors have been leveraging its potential as a saleable commodity in the world economy, mostly for private wealth, often to the detriment of the billions of people and communities worldwide. We are also seeing a massive data imbalance. Data is expensive and relatively hard to obtain, thus favouring big companies and organisations to invest in a large amount of data and infrastructure for greater data control. Indeed, not complying with the established rules and guidelines about data privacy is the root cause of why such colonisation of data is possible. The Catalyst 2030 community, among many other organisations and individuals working in the social economy, relies on mass information; For people and organisations working towards a SE, the SDGs, and sustainable development, collecting and analysing data enables us to generate deep insights we need to guide our initiatives and innovation toward, thus improving our overall resource efficiency. Hence, in the silos of large multilateral organisations and on the ground through NGO and Citizen sector organisations, the sector controls much of such meaningful data, which enables us to learn about the challenges and work with people, communities, and nations worldwide proactively and collaboratively addressing these. As such, we must enact upon shared principles of data ownership, privacy and control; if not, we might become marginalised by large players in the world economy and potentially lose control of all this invaluable information.

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Technology enabling conscious consumption

Ajit Vahadane — Tue, 24 May 2022 10:02:21 +0000

Bring in stakeholders in government and senior corporates in India who work with crafts and villages to stimulate economic growth. Dialogue could involve participation of Reliance Retail, Fabindia, government advisors, master craftsmen from India, Indonesia, Italy and Belgium. The core idea is to enable a deeper dialogue that will democratize design and skilling through technological intervention, thereby reducing time and money, and bring in effective participation of cross cultural equity between its various stakeholders. Summary and closing should have a concrete takeaway enabling the 3 SDG goals targeted.

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Partnering with Empathy & Respect – Social Enterprises × Corporates

Ajit Vahadane — Tue, 24 May 2022 10:02:19 +0000

In this interactive session we will showcase best-practice examples of successful partnerships between social enterprises and corporates and share stories on how mutual respect and empathy nurture these relationships & help them flourish. We will discuss and highlight how crucial deep commitment at the leadership level, open mindsets, patience and creating an enabling environment is to allow alignment of values and goals to make such challenging cross-sector collaborations sustain and grow. Social innovators essay a more than ever critical role, as value adding partners, weaving sustainability into the corporate’s value chain to facilitate achievement of their enhanced ESG/SDG goals. To understand why despite all the hardships in this difficult marriage, SEs and Corporates choose to work collaboratively, what are the factors that bind them together, what are the building blocks & shared values needed to make these collaborations successful our session will provide direct engagement opportunities with the panelists from both sectors. The session is hosted by Sanyukta Gupta and moderated by Bharath Palavalli.

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Role of Religion to Women Empowerment

Ajit Vahadane — Tue, 24 May 2022 10:02:16 +0000

We are considering a possible PowerPoint presentation of the scope of religion in relation to human behaviour, the impact and the possible benefits to realizing SDGs faster and in a lasting manner by engaging the tool of religion effectively. We intend to share years of experience, apparatus that has been built and achievements made. We also want to show efforts made over the years and areas of collaboration for prospective partners.

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