Workshop on "Empowering the Underprivileged through Innovations"

Center for Social Initiative & Management presents

One day workshop on

"Empowering the Underprivileged through Innovations"

24th May, 2009 Sunday

Venue and Timings
Auditorium of Center for Economic and Social Studies (CESS), Ameerpet, Hyderabad
9:00am - 6:00pm
Registration of participants starts at 9:00am

Who can attend
Anyone interested in learning about the Innovations that drive the Empowerment of the Underprivileged are invited to attend this workshop.

Registration Fees
Rs. 200/- per participant
Rs. 100/- for college students with their college ID cards
(The fees includes a lunch and two tea/snacks and a workshop kit)

About the Workshop

This Workshop will bring together experts in varied aspects of societal development. These experts could be social entrepreneurs – experienced or budding; One common characteristic running through all of them is that they will talk about innovations that are either being used or have the potential to be used as a potent tool to address prevalent social issues.

Themes for the Workshop

Healthcare and Nutrition
Water and Sanitation
Literacy and Education
Livelihood
Shelter
(Micro) Finance

Need for a Workshop

India has leaped when it comes to numbers like the GDP growth rate; it has crawled, in fact slipped, on key parameters like the Human Development Index. This has further widened the chasm between the haves and have-nots.

White collar employment opportunities created in the last decade have led to the formation of a self-reliant and socially aware section in our society. This part of society, having freed itself of questions of bare necessities, recognizes the existence of a vast populace which is disadvantaged when it comes to access to even the most basic of necessities; and it wishes to be a part of the solution to this imbalance.

Many professionals want to volunteer but do not know for whom. Some want to donate but do not know where. Some want to implement ideas but do not know how. Most importantly, some just want to do “something” but do now know what! Answers to such questions can be found out if there is a platform which can “Develop” the social consciousness among people, which can “Inform” those in need of answers and which can “Empower” those in need of support for their ideas.

Today we stand at a juncture where innumerable innovations have lowered the barrier for serving the disadvantaged. These innovations could be technological, financial or process-related in nature. The need of the hour is to ensure that knowledge of such innovations reaches every socially conscious individual who in turn can leverage it to progress on his/her mission.

Marching towards the Conceptual Age...

This is my first post on CSIM Vision. I am happy to get a new platform to share my ideas about the world.

I am a huge supporter of social media like blogging, social networking sites like Orkut, Facebook and Twitter. It helps me connect and reach more people. I have made so many friends from these platforms which has helped me broaden my vision.

I start off my first flight on CSIM Vision with a "thought".

Human beings as a species has come a long way. We were initially cave people, hunter-gatherers, nomads, took up cultivation and agriculture, cattle rearing, settlements, tools making etc. All this gradually led to the "Industrial revolution". The Industrial revolution phase was transformed into the "Information Age" thanks to internet, books, printing etc.

Are we still in the "Information Age"? This is a serious question.

Daniel Pink the author of the brilliant book "A Whole New Mind" gives a very good answer.

We are slowly moving onto a "Conceptual Age".

Dan says in his book:

We are moving from an economy and a society built on the logical, linear, computerlike capabilities of the Information Age to an economy and society built on the inventive, empathic, big-picture capabilities of what's rising in its place, the Conceptual Age

The future belongs to a very different kind of person with a very different kind of mind - creators and empathizers, pattern recognizers and meaning makers

We have lot of information on hand. Infact, more information than all of us can handle. The world we are moving into will depend on "how we make use of this information"

The growing awareness of "Social Entrepreneurship" combining the ideas of leadership, innovation, social change, business etc makes me believe that we as the "human race" are taking our first steps towards this new Conceptual Age.

What qualities or tools to use to succeed in this Conceptual Age? Do share your views. Probably we need a "Whole New Mind"

We will explore more about this in my next post.