Response/Ability

<< Background >>We applied with Response/Ability (R/A) in order to collaboratively design and trigger a series of active citizenship dynamics that can facilitate the multiplication of spaces for inclusion, empowerment and innovation regardless of whether the main target group is actually interested in undergoing a professional career as designers or not. Specifically, among the needs we addressed referred to the main target groups (young NEETs and professionals of youth-related NGOs) we have put in place a quali-quantitative research, which provided us with a series of insights related to their needs, in particular: DESIGN AUTONOMY; SOCIO-CULTURAL CHALLENGES; URBAN CONTEXT; DESIGN POSTURE; CARE. Main needs arisen and consequently were addressed throughout the project lifecycle were: - Need to acquire skills on how to organize one's own time; to have professional and personal empowering platforms, beyond volunteering; to have vocational guidance to find their path/motivation in professional life. . - Related to urban challenges: Lack of green areas, mobility, digital services, accessibility of public spaces, housing. - Related to innovative educational models. - Need to align the mismatching between skills, educational and job-search policies.<< Objectives >>The planned project outputs have been designed to enlighten about new forms of youth-led bottom-up advocacy actions for a sustainable transition. R/A acted as a device for enabling civil society stakeholders – public administrators, local NGOs, public-private organisations – to incorporate youth-driven proposal for future scenarios related to climate change resilience and urban sustainable development. Among the objective we wanted to achieve:- The opportunity to engage in design thinking and co-design practices as tools for self realisation and well-being. - Young NEETs as catalysts of new European sustainable urban environments, able to imagine and to co-create the future they want.- Supporting/inspiring stakeholders engaged in dealing with challenges that pursue common objectives towards a real and effective sustainable development. - Produce practical outputs out of a design-based learning-by-doing process that result in multidimensional impacts with regards to citizen empowerment and social inclusion.- R/A aimed to put in place an architecture of learning-by-doing activities that focus on socio-cultural value and enhance interactions among participants, focusing on cooperative learning techniques.<< Implementation >>The consortium has implemented all the activities that have been planned in the application form. In particular: Project management & coordination - management and coordination of the activities to ensure a common strategy so that project goals and objectives are met. -Development of the Toolkit for the delivery of the R/A pop-up school - from the management of a need and context analysis in the two areas of intervention to the debrief of the educational processes. -Training-the-trainer for the delivery of the R/A pop-up school - this has been the operative step in order to diffuse the R/A approach among practitioners that works with the youngsters on civic innovation and sustainable development themes.-Piloting of the R/A pop-up school in local urban contexts - we have implemented the first pilot of R/A pop-up schools together with local NGOs representatives and NEETs. -Impact management - we have designed, monitored, assessed and communicated the social impact generated by the project, through the application of quantitative (SROI) and qualitative (ToC) methodologies.-Dissemination and exploitation of results - informed on project implementation and events; we shared policy recommendations with policy makers and stakeholders.<< Results >>- Impact report, has been a non-linear activity that has been employed to understand the impact of R/A practices throughout its lifecycle- Service blueprint, a system design tool used to map, interconnect and define the multidimensional nature of both managerial and operative levels that compose the R/A project. - R/A Toolkit, intended as a guide and orientation for all persons or organizations wishing to organize non-formal training events in their cities. - R/A Toolbox, an open-source set of tools to engage young people and useful for training and adapting the methodologies of NGOs.- Policy recommendation, aimed to contain and visualise R/A impact data, to be disseminated to all interested stakeholders –especially all public and private organisations sensitive to the issue of social impact – to inform them about the positive outcomes of the project, promoting/financing its sustainability in the future. - R/A website in Italian, English and Greek language. - Codesign Toscana have written a research essay published by the digital issue of the University of Bologna - Design department. - Research reports, these documents highlight the main insights and results arising from the research phase conducted in Italy and Greece.