At the conclusion of the 10 City Bridge Run, the Design Forum will take place to consolidate what we have learnt through a Design Thinking process.

Innovation from the ground up

Designers have argued that we are entering an era of ‘distributed possibility’ where through technology we have greater access than before to build and share knowledge in ways that help to solve problems.

How we work together to find this information, and how we share it, and indeed the innovations shaping the delivery of child survival can all be seen as design questions. Can we as a global community create a ‘life bridge’ that “focuses on concrete measures…to make a tangible and significant difference in people’s lives“? (This quote is taken from the 2010 Seoul G20 Summit Declaration.)

Connect like you give a damn!
Cameron Sinclair, co-founder of Architecture for Humanity and an accomplished designer from New York, in 2008 demanded of designers at the International Contemporary Furniture Fair in New York to “design like you give a damn!” He argued:

Forget these chandeliers and overpriced sofas; forget the whole New York design scene. Look to Africa and India, to the places where design is a matter of life or death.

We are asking you to ‘connect like you give a damn!’ No one can effectively ‘do bridging’ on their own. Our networks are possibility factories, but only if we choose to use them.

What would this look like if women held the answers?
Matt writes:

I was profoundly influenced by women I met at the recent CSCLeaders conference from across Africa, India, Pakistan, other parts of Asia and the Pacific.

The efforts that are being made in their communities provide inspirational stories which demand attention, and sharing these would benefit other communities around the world. Most importantly, these proven interventions along with stories of what didn’t work described by women provide ways where anyone from around the world can get involved to making a difference, even if that is only by sharing information through social media.

Every mother, regardless of where they live, will have something to contribute on a conversation about shaping child survival, and this is a resource well worth listening too.

Delivery
The purpose of the design forum draws inspiration from the words of World Bank President Jim Yong Kim:

It’s time for the international community to compile global delivery knowledge and mobilise it for practice. Leaders in government, business, and civil society must pool their knowledge and strengths so that the most effective delivery practices can be scaled and standardised worldwide.