Up Network
Up Network is a skills training and job matching program for unemployed youth, designed as part of the Do School’s Entrepreneurship for Good program and piloted in Duque de Caxias, a small town north of Rio de Janeiro. I worked with sixteen social entrepreneur-designers from around the world over ten weeks to research, prototype and pilot the program.
service design, participatory design, design for social innovation
Ambition
There were 71 million unemployed youth in 2016 globally and the number is rising (UN/ILO). Aiming to address this complex challenge, Berlin-based Westerwelle Foundation invited seventeen social entrepreneur-designers from around the world to the Mata Atlantica rainforest, north of Rio de Janeiro, in spring 2017. We were challenged to leverage our diverse skills and experiences towards devising innovative and practical ways to promote apprenticeships and vocational training in the emerging fields of sustainability to tackle youth unemployment.
Action
Over a ten-week design marathon we worked with subject-matter experts, government representatives and members of the local community in Duque de Caxias to understand the social, cultural, political and economic dynamics of youth unemployment. We researched, prototyped and tested design ideas focusing on education and awareness, corporate partnerships and skill training centers.
Outcome
Our final solution, Up Network, is a program that connects local youth and companies to provide vocational training and apprenticeship opportunities. This solution reflected our understanding that more important and useful than a new initiative was the meaningful connection of existing assets. The program envisions a world in which all youth are trained and employed in innovative market-driven skills to transform their communities.
Roles and skills
User research
Prototyping and testing
Facilitation
Graphic design
Branding
An introduction to the challenge and our collaborative design approach. Video by The Do School.
Context
The Entrepreneurship for Good program brought together seventeen social entrepreneur-designers from around the world to collaborate with the local community of Duque de Caxias, designing and testing ways to tackle the complex issue of youth unemployment.
Each work day started with a hike through the rainforest up to the ‘Casa do Sol’ or Sun Room where the majority of our collaborative design activities took place.
Research, ideation and prototyping
Working across disciplinary and linguistic boundaries, we developed an understanding of the cultural, social, economical and political realities of the small, low-resource community of Duque de Caxias, thirty miles north of Rio de Janeiro.
Regular excursions and discussions with local leaders were an important component of our efforts to understand the space and context we were working in. And so were formally organized presentations and exchanges with subject-matter experts.
We used human-centered design methods, such as empathy maps, to learn about the lives, aspirations and frustrations of local youth.
We also created research-based personas to guide our thinking.
We mapped our ideas on matrices such as this one, exploring immediate needs, innovative solutions and long-term sustainability.
Perspectives from seventeen countries enriched our ideation and exposed us to different ways of dealing with ambiguity and complexity. Collaborative sense making of primary and secondary research data was a crucial and constant part of our research and design journey.
Among our initial ideas was a certifying body, ‘Step Ahead’, which would promote companies that supported the local economy and created job opportunities.
Another idea was a communication and awareness campaign that would highlight the importance and benefits of vocational training.
Leveraging our team’s rich diversity, we used novel methods to build on each other’s ideas.
We carried out multiple rounds of ideation, prototyping, and dot-voting, in search of ideas that offered a balance of innovation, contextual-fit, and sustainability.
Design outcome
Our final solution reflected our understanding that more important and useful than a new initiative was the meaningful connection of existing resources. The result of our collaborative design research, prototyping and testing was Up Network, a program that connects local youth and companies to provide vocational training and apprenticeship opportunities. The program envisions a world in which all youth are trained and employed in innovative market-driven skills to transform their communities
Up Network facilitates the creation of local networks of community organizations, youth and employers to match skills with employment opportunities and to provide training. The mission is to create job opportunities through globally connected local networks where local actors are empowered to engage youth, employers, and innovators. It provides transferable and entrepreneurship skills program for Up Sites, network building training for Up Sites, Brand and Communication Materials, and matches solutions with Up Sites.
Solution Handoff
The design marathon culminated in a testing event where stakeholders were invited to learn about the program and share their feedback.
“If you talk about youth policy…the biggest challenge in our city is unemployment. In the government, we are trying to be a hub between the young people and the local companies. And that matches exactly with the work you are doing at Sinal do Vale.”
— Ana Leticia Sampaio, Municipal Government of Duque de Caxias
A key component of the program is ‘Up Sites’ — local community organizations that act as the connecting point between potential employers and local youth. Through its presence in the local community, the Up Site is also able to offer skills training to youth. The Up Site also matches companies and unemployed youth, innovative solutions with local entrepreneurs.
The Up Network idea was tested through a series of focus groups in which community leaders and youth representatives shared their feedback and local perspective
The Fellows presented their work at the end of the challenge phase at Rio’s Museum of Tomorrow
Photos by Rogerio van Kruger, Luisa Dielbold, Abigail Alabi Michael and Leyla Surkhayzade