Many places around the world has had painful histories of conflict, from Northern Ireland to Colombia, to South Korea. These places with legacies of conflict offer insight into how you transform societies, understanding the complexity of interactions and the soft power necessary to generate social innovation ecosystems.
Key Questions
- What can we learn about rebuilding trust from fragmented geographies and communities?
- How does the legacy of division and confrontation influence the social innovation process?
- How can fragmented geographies and communities rebuild in order to create the trust required to nurture innovation?
Our contribution
From the Unusual Suspects Festival in Northern Ireland and SIX Summer School in Bogota, we have explored the theme of social innovation in post-conflict societies. The post-conflict legacy influences and shapes the approach to collaboration and innovation in these places and provides new tangible possibilities of building transformational narratives that bring communities together. We explore the different models of reinvention and renewal of the post-conflict societies that offer lessons and hope for other societies around the world.
Featured work
I could never work with those people!
Abstract The Social Innovation community has a lot to learn about the challenges involved in collaborating. For this week’s SIX Series on social innovation and collaboration in post conflict societies, SIX invited Adam Kahane of Reos Partners to give his reflections on collaboration, from his new book entitled Collaborating with the Enemy: How to Work with People You ... I could never work with those people!
Taking a positive peace approach in Colombia
Taking a Positive Peace Approach in Colombia Michelle Breslauer, Director of the Americas Program at the Institute for Economics and Peace @MichBreslauer When I first travelled to Mexico City with the Institute for Economics and Peace, I came seeking ways to contribute to a more peaceful Mexico. For the last four years, I have strategized to ... Taking a positive peace approach in Colombia
From our friends and partners
Explore the latest insights on this theme from our team, friends and partners from our network.
Blogging from Bogota about post-conflict design, innovation and planning
Witnesses to a divided society “I had to come back from Canada when my father and uncle were murdered and there was no one to help on the family farm.” “My mother was killed and her body thrown down a well.” “My father has been kidnapped several times.” You cannot spend a week in Bogota ... Blogging from Bogota about post-conflict design, innovation and planning
How I came to be an ABSI Connect Northern Fellow
I was at work on January 22nd 2016, when an online news headline caught my eye. “Breaking News: School Shooting in La Loche, Saskatchewan.” I struggled to read the words that seemed scrambled on my computer screen, and I heard my co-worker gasp and say, “oh my God, there was a school shooting in La ... How I came to be an ABSI Connect Northern Fellow
Little actions that bring people together
Little actions that bring people together As the CEO of a grant funded organisation, a non-profit, I am often challenged to validate the importance of placemaking programmes and allied activities in a country characterised by staggering inequality, high unemployment and poverty. These issues are of vital importance and require consistent intervention by civil society and ... Little actions that bring people together
Indigenous wisdom and peacemaking
People are like trees, and groups of people are like forests. While the forests are composed of many different kinds of trees, these trees intertwine their roots so strongly that it is impossible for the strongest winds which blow on our Islands to uproot the forest, for each tree strengthens its neighbour, and their roots ... Indigenous wisdom and peacemaking
Building social innovation in post-conflict places
As part of the SIX series exploring social innovation in post conflict places, Eddy Adams, SIX Adviser, spoke with Gorka Espiau. Hailing from the Basque country, Gorka was actively involved in the peace process there, and has subsequently been involved in social innovation work across the globe. This includes experience in Colombia and Croatia, which ... Building social innovation in post-conflict places
Migrant crisis: what can cities learn about new service design?
This blog was originally published on URBACT. A message from Sicily There’s been a lot of recent talk about the additional pressure new migrant arrivals place on public services. There has been less discussion about how cities – and it is mainly cities – are coping with this. And less still about what we are ... Migrant crisis: what can cities learn about new service design?
SIX Series: Exploring social innovation in post-conflict societies
What behaviours and attitudes contribute to an effective social innovation culture? A few months ago SIX co-hosted an SIE event with the BMW Foundation to consider this question. “Transparency” Trust” and “Openness” were frequently recurring words in the discussion. This endorsed much of the established evidence about the importance of a collaborative approach to stimulate innovation. But ... SIX Series: Exploring social innovation in post-conflict societies
Innovation, integration and the migrant crisis – insights from European innovation
The unprecedented flows of migrants approaching Europe was (and still is) confronting the European Union and its Member States with a series of complex challenges. It raises fundamental questions about the social and cultural fabric of European societies. Ingenuity, vision, as well as political will and an efficient use of resources are required if we ... Innovation, integration and the migrant crisis – insights from European innovation
Options Foodlab: How food making and sharing is supporting migrant integration in Greece
Eddy Adams of SIX met Penny Travlou at the Unusual Suspects Festival in Glasgow, where she spoke passionately about the work she’s been involved in with refugees in Greece. As part of Social Innovation Europe’s Beyond Crisis Collection, Eddy interviewed Penny to learn more about this work of using food making and sharing to support migrant integration in Greece. To get us started, can you tell us ... Options Foodlab: How food making and sharing is supporting migrant integration in Greece