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Fostering a Canadian Ecosystem for Systems Change 10 Years 10 Social Innovation Generation Fostering a Canadian Ecosystem for Systems Change Geraldine Cahill & Kelsey Spitz Foreword by David Johnston, Governor General of Canada 2 Social Innovation Generation Fostering a Canadian Ecosystem for Systems Change Geraldine Cahill & Kelsey Spitz Foreword by David Johnston, Governor General of Canada Social Innovation Generation Fostering a Canadian Ecosystem for Systems Change By Geraldine Cahill and Kelsey Spitz Edited by Nancy Truman www.thesigstory.ca Book design by Studio Jaywall in collaboration with Adjacent Possibilities Published by The J.W. McConnell Family Foundation Suite 1800, 1002 Sherbrooke Street West Montreal, QC H3A 3L6 On the web: www.mcconnellfoundation.ca Please send errors to: [email protected] Licensed under Creative Commons, 2017 Attribution-Non-commercial 4.0 International (CC BY-NC 4.0) Social Innovation Generation (SiG) Please feel free to circulate excerpts of Social Innovation Generation for noncommercial purposes. We appreciate acknowledgment where appropriate. First published in Canada by Social Innovation Generation, a platform founded and co-created by The J.W. McConnell Family Foundation. Printed in Canada by Flash Reproductions ISBN 978-1-7751318-0-9 Library and Archives Canada For Brenda Thank you for illuminating the paths we walk. In a complex world, you are our guide. For Katharine You uncovered critical insights from McConnell’s collaborations with its many partners and contributed to and nurtured the systems thinking that led directly to SiG’s creation. Foreword By David Johnston, Governor General of Canada One of the great privileges of serving as governor general comes in having the chance to shine a spotlight on important issues facing our country. Innovation is one such issue, with social innovation being a particularly important outlet for our creativity and well-being. While the envy of the world in many respects, Canada faces significant social, environmental and financial challenges. Such challenges — for example, poverty and homelessness, youth unemployment, demographic change and the marginal- ization of certain populations — require creative thinking and collaboration due to their complex, multi-layered nature. They call for social innovations that explore new approaches to building resilience, fostering inclusion and enhancing sustainability. The good news is Canada is home to an increasingly dynamic culture of innovation and a growing number of individuals and organizations that are working together to innovate socially. The Social Innovation Generation partnership is a prime example. In bringing together a range of partners, including MaRS, the University of Waterloo, Plan Institute and the McConnell Foundation, as well as many individual innovators, this partnership has inspired important thinking and dialogue on social innovation in Canada, as well as significant action. The story of this unique initiative is well told within these pages and can serve to inform, guide and inspire many others who are likewise seeking to change their communities, this country and indeed the world for the better. I thank and congratulate all who were involved in both the writing and making of this history. Acknowledgments There is no one SiG story. As in life, perspective, experience and memory colour our recollections over the years and we have done our best to present a narrative kaleidoscope here in such a way that as many people as possible see themselves reflected in it. To bring this book to life, we interviewed SiG principals, partners, collaborators and both current and former staff. We drew on publications and thought leadership from both inside and outside the partnership. We are deeply grateful to all who interviewed for the book and all who inspired this story. We are especially grateful for the trust the partners placed in our ability to tell this story. You are more than wise travellers; you have made it possible for us to more deeply understand the characteristics of a rich social innovation ecosystem and reflect rich learnings out through this capstone document. The seeds of the SiG dandelion have blown far and wide, but our roots have been nourished by the generosity, passion and leadership of many, from the staff at each SiG node, to the principals themselves, to collaborators across Canada and the globe. To each of these incredible individuals, thank you. For your time, teachings, fierce commitment, and continued impact on social innovation in Canada, we are eternally grateful. — Geraldine Cahill & Kelsey Spitz Preface By Stephen Huddart, president and CEO of the McConnell Foundation On June 8, 2017 the federal government established a 17-person steering committee to co-create a social innovation and social finance strategy for Canada — yet another indication that social innovation and social finance are coming of age. As this book demonstrates, a social innovation movement, with its associated tools and mindsets, has been spreading across civil society, business and finance, academia and the public sector for more than a decade. It is “social” because it addresses society in general, specific challenges, and each of us in particular. It is bringing about new cross-sector partnerships and improving outcomes for vulnerable individuals and communities. It is contributing to Indigenous reconciliation, enlivening our cities, creating jobs in the social economy, and accelerating social R&D. It is building a marketplace of ideas and outcomes from social systems change. It is connecting Canada to innovation leadership around the world. To a considerable degree, Social Innovation Generation (SiG) and those whose work is described in this volume are responsible for these developments. However, they are the first to point out that it is more accurate to speak about shared contribu- tion and changing contexts than to claim credit. It might be more appropriate to say that SiG has helped to create the conditions in which social innovation is flourishing. From this perspective, SiG’s work is largely done and the story it has to share here is both a useful record and a prelude to what must follow. For the McConnell Foundation, SiG has served as a “secondary operating system” — a way to develop and apply tools such as social innovation labs and solutions finance in our work and to share them with others. We created a Social Innovation Fund to support different stages of innovation. We began going on more learning journeys with grantees, partners and board members. New initiatives such as Cities for People, Winnipeg Boldness and WellAhead introduced the subsidiarity principle: decentralizing decision-making to the smallest or most local competent authority. As the Nisga’a told us after introducing a new, culturally appropriate child wellness program: “Thank you for letting us take the time to do this well”. Today, social innovation and social finance enable McConnell to align its resources with an exponentially growing number of philanthropic peers and diverse partners — in effect, creating human ecosystems working on systemic change. It is now open to all sectors of society to apply social innovation at scale and turn wicked problems into opportunities for inclusive growth. Whether it’s climate change mitigation, Indigenous reconciliation, or improved outcomes from social services, our urgent opportunity is to integrate social innovation with technological, scientific and economic innovation. Aligning efforts this way increases the likelihood that we will meet the UN Sustainable Development Goals, which cannot be achieved by any one sector on its own. In doing so, we can co-create better outcomes for Canadians and, hopefully, an example for the world. Contents 10 Introduction Chapter 1 18 Getting started: The SiG Story 30 Reflection: The power of a definition Chapter 2 34 Curricula: Learning is an action Chapter 3 44 Convening: The breadth-depth conundrum 54 Reflection: Scaling deep — Indigenous reconciliation as social innovation Chapter 4 58 Networks: Leaping by learning 70 Reflection: Synergies and shared learning on SiG and SIX Chapter 5 78 Experimentation: Innovation is ahead of the evidence curve Chapter 6 88 Mobilizing capital: Resourcing solutions 98 Reflection: Philanthropy and social innovation Chapter 7 100 Transforming business models: Generating shared value 110 Reflection: Venus and MaRS dance Chapter 8 112 Enabling policy: Speak to where they are listening Chapter 9 126 The shadow side: Silver bullets sell 134 Reflection: The critical role of Traditional Knowledge in social innovation Chapter 10 138 Communicating social innovation: Getting into the water supply 146 Reflection: Love the questions 150 Conclusion: An ecosystem for systems change 156 Epilogue 160 Contributors & About the writing team 162 References 166 Index 172 Timeline Introduction Nothing is permanent in this wicked world — not even our troubles. —Charlie Chaplin Our story began in a theatre. On the stage, high school students brought their charac- ters viscerally to life, transforming themselves quite beyond the control of their college student director, Frances Westley. “They took the play we were working on to a place where I couldn’t have taken it myself,” Westley recalls.1 “My job became to help them find experiences in their own life which were like the characters; then they could illuminate this and bring it to life in ways that were really transformative. I realized that you can set up certain conditions for transformation, but the
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