Design for Change Singapore

500 children and educators from 40 countries with their stories of change 4 days of inspirations and laughter with ONE belief EVERY CHILD CAN! …make a better world, by design. I just returned from the 15th annual DFC’s global celebration - Be the Change Conference hosted by our partners in UAE. The event, each year, is a testimony of our belief in children’s agency. We don’t design for children; we design with them. They were part of each stage of planning, development and execution stage of the event. 11year old Ansh from Bedok Green Primary School was part of Singapore delegation and got a unique opportunity to work with 12 other student council members from across the globe, on a global project on single use plastic which they presented at the event. The event is full with story sharing from our DFC young superheroes from all over the world, discussions, workshops, master classes, bonding activities and lots of hugs! It becomes a place where age and roles are blurred… We thank our DFC UAE partner Nargish Khambatta, leading GEMS Modern Academy,Dubai and her gems Ritesh Dhanak and ERIYAT LAKSHMIDEVI for hosting this year’s event and making it a BIG success. Here’s to many more years of amplifying children’s voices and seeing the ripple effects of their actions across the globe! Next year, we meet in Japan 🇯🇵. Schools in Singapore interested in being part of this unique journey with DFC Singapore can write to us to learn more! PM me or write to admin@dfcsingapore.com. #BeTheChange #DesignForChange #EmpowerEveryChild #ICanMindset

The Power of Empathy (FEEL) ❤️ Take a glimpse of our ‘Happiness by Design’ initiative 2023 that brought together over 50 children, teachers and parents to unpack and address issues related to children’s happiness. By using DFC’s simple design thinking framework Feel-Imagine-Do-Share, watch what ‘FEEL’ stage looks like in our session. Why we believe Empathy (FEEL) is the most powerful stage? ❤️ Empathy/ FEEL : The Heart of Design Thinking At DFC we give great emphasis on the first step FEEL – to allow children to pause and think and feel with their heart.  When empathy is deeply embraced, we can identify the right problem to solve and the solution becomes more relevant to the user, which then leads to impactful change. 🌟 ❤️ Empathy/ FEEL: A powerful and essential life skill 💪 Beyond design, empathy is a crucial life skill that can cultivate stronger relationships and deeper understanding in everyday interactions for better families and communities. Practicing and building this mindset, helps our children and youth to navigate human complexities with sensitivity, fostering harmony and understanding. ❤️ Promoting Children’s Voice and Agency for a better world 🗣 Building a better Singapore requires amplifying children's voices and giving them agency in shaping society. Starting young is vital,—whether 11, 8, or even 6 years old, children CAN contribute meaningfully. DFC Singapore has demonstrated in many of our projects over last 15 years. By valuing children’s perspectives, we empower them to take ownership of the nation and the world. They are not the future, they are the NOW! ❤️ A Better World Through Empathy 🌏 The world today has empathy crisis, from conflict between countries, to disconnect in relationships. As an educator, a parent or as an adult; developing this great life skill in children and youth (8-18yrs) is not only a need it’s a responsibility for a better world. At Design for Change Singapore, we are committed to building a better future by nurturing empathetic change makers today, not by chance, by design.   Calling corporates, government agencies, education institutions to jump in to empower children and be part of building a better Singapore! ------------------------------------------------- Happiness by Design 2023 was curated and executed as part of our Empactathon® series, an intergenerational engagement program to co-design solutions for a better world. It was carried out as part of DesignSingapore Council's #Learningbydesign initiative, where children, teachers and parents from Yumin Primary School, Bedok Green Primary School and Lakeside Primary School designed feasible solutions for issues like excessive homework, distractions amongst students, and teacher-student relationships. Thank you Sheena Lai, Ben Tan & team at Dsg for the support; Leena Vesonathan from DFC for an engaging student experience and all others who worked on the project. Read more more about I CAN School Programs https://lnkd.in/g5jbhY8z

It is biology that we need to address, not personality ! 😊 Research has compellingly demonstrated that adolescents are wired to sleep in and wake up later in the morning due to the release of melatonin and a change in their circadian cycle. Therefore, forcing them to wake up early disrupts their sleep, increases fatigue and anxiety, and affects a host of physiological and behavioural metrics. Yet, despite this data, many schools around the world continue to insist that adolescents come to school at the crack of dawn. Worse, when they find it difficult to comply, we often label them lazy and insolent. The Riverside 'Adolescent Reader' was designed by our very first batch of adolescents in 2008 - as a way to understand this phase and to bring the parents as allies in this journey of growth. It offers multiple insights from research, activities to do and reflective prompts as a way to know more about self and others. For this and many other designed curriculums - do check out Riverside Learning Center https://lnkd.in/dfWuTpk4

Collaborative. Calm. Connected - a great post from Rishad Tobaccowala last evening got me thinking about one of the key ways in which Heist Design has evolved over the last few years. Being collaborative is baked into our DNA, and indeed the name of our studio. My vision for Heist was always this magical assembly of great teams for great projects, and I am happy we are staying true to this principle. But it takes a lot more than the 'assembly' of the right people to make the magic happen. 💥 It takes having easy to communicate practices that define our culture and build team dynamics - short simple rituals for both studio and field. 💫 It takes leading with Emotional Intelligence and Empathy (words over used in design, but more relevant than ever). 🌸 I have learnt that it also takes the courage to spot and call out/ nip bad behaviour in the bud. No matter how senior someone is, or how talented - if they are hard to work with, given to shouting at teams or throwing all their toys out of the conference room pram - it is not going to be a happy successful collab. 🌱 And it takes reflection. Looking back at what happened with clear eyes, accepting points of failure, being graceful and seeking the lessons. Last week, we had a team dinner with Madhu Verma of DesignforChange to celebrate a successful collab - building confidence amongst JC students using the principles of prototyping. Madhu and I are both from New Delhi and had joked that our teams will be rewarded in Chai and Indian street food. Hence, a small Indian street food party graciously hosted by Madhu, with Kenneth Y. Wee Amanda Sarah Chin and others. We even had Cami Chiang, a Heist collab visiting from Taipei join us. What struck me most was the laughter around the table, stories being exchanged. Light topics and equally deep ones, curiosity and learning from each other. Sure, the spicy golgappas had us giddy but there is a certain magic when people with the right intentions, aligned vision and sense of purpose come together. This was a 'end of project, start of the next' celebration dinner and these have been consistent themes through our association with Madhu's team. I always say laughter is a measure of success, people being comfortable to be themselves is critical for good work. Some themes I have been thinking about: 1/ How do we continue to expand the network without losing the Heist way of approaching design problems? 2/ How can we bravely (but firmly) turn away from situations that are not right for us, without damaging relationships? 3/ How can we share our learnings, in an open source way with other small studios, to move away from competition and fear to courage and sharing to make us all a bit better? I would love to hear from other designers! How do you collaborate with other studios, beyond freelancers - how do you bring people into your culture and empower them to add a little something of their own? #design #collaboration #beingbetter