Crowdsourced Innovation Ideas

How often do we design with people, instead of for them? It’s easy to fall into the trap of thinking that creativity is something only designers hold the key to. But when we pause and engage with communities, we realize something powerful: Creativity thrives within the community itself—it just needs the right conditions to flourish. Take, for example, the Collective Action Toolkit (CAT) by Frog. It’s not just a tool; it’s a framework that empowers communities to solve problems by tapping into their collective strength. Through a series of activities—like clarifying goals and imagining new ideas—small groups around the world have used this toolkit to not only share their thoughts but to take decisive action that addresses their concerns. The beauty of this approach is in its adaptability. It’s not a one-size-fits-all model. Each group can mould it to fit their unique needs, ensuring that everyone’s voice is heard and valued. But collaboration, as we know, isn’t always easy. There’s often discomfort, sometimes even conflict, when differing ideas meet. Yet, as designers, navigating these challenges is where true progress happens. As Otto Scharmer and Peter Senge, leaders in organizational development, have shown, it's in this space of tension that new solutions are born. A recent contribution from @Design Impact offers a set of guiding principles for designers to keep in mind when working with communities. One of these, “Value me for who I am, not who I’m told to be,” resonates deeply. It’s a reminder that behind every design is a real person, with history, emotions, and passions. When we acknowledge that, we move beyond simply gathering feedback—we tap into real leadership within the community. At the end of the day, Social innovation isn’t just about creating a product or service. It’s about co-creating, about building alongside communities rather than handing down solutions. It’s about fostering a space where everyone’s creativity can shine, and where long-term, sustainable change is possible. Have you been part of a design process that values community leadership? What challenges—and opportunities—did you encounter along the way?

Last week 95 members of the Innovative Finance Initiative community came together to map how impact is being hardwired into the core mechanics of finance. During the session, we piloted a live community mapping exercise. Each group shared live examples of how they’re embedding (or seeing embedded) impact into 𝘚𝘵𝘳𝘶𝘤𝘵𝘶𝘳𝘦𝘴, 𝘐𝘯𝘤𝘦𝘯𝘵𝘪𝘷𝘦𝘴, 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘗𝘳𝘰𝘤𝘦𝘴𝘴𝘦𝘴. The result? A rich harvest of concrete practices, structural innovations, and collective questions for the field. Here are some of the insights that surfaced: 𝐒𝐭𝐫𝐮𝐜𝐭𝐮𝐫𝐞𝐬 💸 Blended finance stacks de-risking regenerative agriculture and climate resilience 🌱 Evergreen funds & community ownership models to preserve long-term benefit 🛡️ Steward ownership & perpetual trusts to lock in mission across ownership transitions 📜 Legal clauses & fiduciary reforms enabling investors to prioritize impact alongside returns 𝐈𝐧𝐜𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐢𝐯𝐞𝐬 📊 GP carry and staff bonuses tied directly to impact KPIs 💵 Loan pricing that rewards verified community benefit 🌦️ Guarantees & parametric insurance unlocking risk-taking in underserved markets 🏅 Certifications & reputation-based systems rewarding transparency and collaboration 𝐏𝐫𝐨𝐜𝐞𝐬𝐬𝐞𝐬 🤝 Participatory due diligence with community-designed scoring rubrics 📈 Living impact reports & dashboards updated in real time with stakeholder input 🗳️ Co-created governance, advisory panels & reviewer councils drawn from impacted communities 📖 Narrative-based reporting to capture unintended consequences & emergent outcomes 𝐂𝐫𝐨𝐬𝐬-𝐜𝐮𝐭𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐦𝐞𝐬 📚 Appetite for shared infrastructure—repositories of tools, templates & examples 🗺️ Calls for mapping actors & use cases to reduce duplication and identify gaps ✊ Embedding justice, equity & systems thinking into design, not just outcomes The takeaway? Our community is not just experimenting—it is actively redesigning the architecture of finance to be more inclusive, accountable, and purpose-driven. IFI will continue expanding the Resource Hub with the examples and resources shared, and will integrate these insights into upcoming Missions and our Community Directory. Huge thanks to my incredible team Maegan Storm Lillis Tasneem Jhetam Peter Chakaniza Daniel Bannister for their hard work and our co-facilitators for leading the conversations Maegan Moorehart Mairi-Jane Fox, PhD Juan Jardon-Pina Karim Harji Esme Verity Macarena Machimbarrena & Elizabeth Blacklin. #InnovativeFinance #ImpactInvesting #AdventureFinance #RadicalCollaboration

🌍 Who Gets to Imagine Health Care's Future? A new RWJF report on democratizing futures thinking just exposed our biggest blind spot: the people most harmed by our broken health system are excluded from reimagining it. Think about who designs health policy today. Now think about who files for medical bankruptcy. Who rations medication. Who avoids the ER because they can't afford the bill. These aren't the same people. And that's precisely why solutions often feel so inadequate. The report reveals that future-imagining is dominated by economically secure, establishment voices. Meanwhile, communities experiencing health care failures firsthand are told to wait for incremental reforms designed by people who've never faced a $50,000 medical bill. What if we flipped this entirely? 𝗧𝗵𝗿𝗲𝗲 𝘄𝗮𝘆𝘀 𝘁𝗼 𝗱𝗲𝗺𝗼𝗰𝗿𝗮𝘁𝗶𝘇𝗲 𝗵𝗲𝗮𝗹𝘁𝗵 𝗰𝗮𝗿𝗲'𝘀 𝗳𝘂𝘁𝘂𝗿𝗲 𝗿𝗶𝗴𝗵𝘁 𝗻𝗼𝘄: 🏥 𝗖𝗼𝗺𝗺𝘂𝗻𝗶𝘁𝘆-𝗟𝗲𝗱 𝗖𝗼𝘀𝘁 𝗦𝗼𝗹𝘂𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻𝘀 Partner with families experiencing medical bankruptcy to redesign payment systems. They understand the pain points us policy wonks miss. In Taiwan, citizen panels helped design their single-payer system. In Rwanda, community cooperatives shaped their universal health insurance. The expertise exists in living rooms across America. 💡 𝗬𝗼𝘂𝘁𝗵 𝗙𝘂𝘁𝘂𝗿𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗟𝗮𝗯𝘀 Young people often see possibilities we've been trained to ignore. Engage them to envision Healthcare 2050. They'll design for prevention, not just treatment. For mental health integration, not siloed care. For simplicity, not administrative complexity. 📖 𝗡𝗮𝗿𝗿𝗮𝘁𝗶𝘃𝗲 𝗗𝗶𝘀𝗿𝘂𝗽𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 Use storytelling to make solutions feel inevitable, not impossible. When Americans hear how a country's prevention centers work, we can frame it through their neighbor's diabetes needs. Make it personal. Make it urgent. Make it theirs. The report warns about "anticipatory trauma" resulting in people feeling powerless about the future. But we know the antidote: show alternatives already succeeding, then make the tools to implement those solutions locally. This isn't about making health policy more inclusive as a nice gesture. It's recognizing that those navigating health care's failures daily have the clearest vision for transformation. If we're serious about solving the health care cost crisis bankrupting middle-class families, we need to stop asking "What would work?" and start asking "Who hasn't been heard?" The future of health care belongs to all of us. It's time we all got to imagine it. #HealthPolicy #FuturesThinking #CommunityEngagement #HealthReform #SystemTransformation #DemocratizingInnovation https://lnkd.in/eYhhSKS5

You talk about sustainable development. But when local knowledge shows up, it’s told: “You don’t fit.” We praise “community-led solutions” in speeches. We reference “grassroots expertise” in proposals. But too often, when it’s time to decide what counts as evidence, What gets funded What gets published The pieces that don't sound, look, or measure like Global North knowledge get quietly pushed aside. What we call a knowledge gap is sometimes just a gap in recognition. Local knowledge isn’t missing. It’s being filtered. This isn’t about adding a token voice to a panel. It’s about changing the frame entirely.... So that what communities know by living, is valued alongside what professionals know by training. Until then, the puzzle will always be missing something essential. Here are 5 ways to redesign for knowledge equity: 1. Co-define what counts as “evidence” → Include stories, oral histories, and lived experience as valid forms of data. 2. Budget for translation, not just language, but meaning → Translate indicators, methods, and outputs across cultural ways of knowing. 3. Hire community researchers as co-investigators → Not assistants. Not footnotes. But as decision-makers in the process. 4. Use participatory tools like Outcome Harvesting or Most Significant Change → They’re designed to surface change from within, not just top-down. 5. Rethink how funding proposals are structured → Many grants require academic English and technical jargon that can exclude grassroots organisations. Push for formats that welcome diverse ways of expressing ideas, like storytelling, diagrams, or even video pitches. Otherwise, we end up funding those who know the language, not necessarily those doing the work. Until local knowledge fits by design, not exception, we’re just solving half the puzzle. #KnowledgeEquity 🔔 Follow me for content related to inclusion and equity

“We finished the project, but it faded later.” Every CSR leader has heard this line. Not because the project was bad. But because ownership was never transferred. Everything works while funding flows. The moment handover begins, engagement drops. That gap isn’t operational. It’s design failure. Most projects are built for communities, not with them. Decisions are made in boardrooms. Communities are consulted at the end. So people protect what they receive, not what they shape. Another silent killer? Short-term success metrics. We celebrate openings. We ignore caretakers. We exit fast — and call it sustainability. Here’s the truth: CSR doesn’t fail in delivery. It fails in ownership design. Real impact follows a simple sequence: Co-design with users. Build local capability. Transfer responsibility before exit. CSR ends where community leadership begins. If they can run it without you, you’ve succeeded.

What we THINK communities need vs. what they actually WANT. In my first year of community development, I saw two things I’ll never forget: A £100k skate park installed “for” young people… that they never asked for. Within a year, it was vandalised, fenced off, and removed. A community ranked the 3rd worst in Wales for health… but they ignored every initiative imposed on them by the local authority. Both were classic examples of “doing to” instead of “doing with.” That’s when I realised: data and assumptions don’t create change, dialogue does. Yes, data has value. But it reflects the past. It doesn’t capture people’s hopes, ideas, or energy for change. If you want impact, communities need to: • Identify their own challenges. • Co-design the solutions. • Own the journey. Because when people have skin in the game, they don’t just participate, they sustain change. And the proof? Five years after the failed skate park, the same community came together to design and build their own. Children designed it. Teenagers built the features. Adults installed it. It’s still standing today. Helping isn’t about providing what we think is right. It’s about listening first, then building together. How have you seen “doing with” beat “doing for” in your work? #CoProduction #CommunityEngagement #CommunityPower #DoWith

Small Towns, Big Impact: A Practical Playbook for Community-Led Design and Infrastructure Smaller cities and rural communities are showing that the most powerful “infrastructure strategy” is praxis: turning planning theory into small, community-shaped projects that can be iterated, scaled, and sustained over time. Instead of waiting for outside saviors or perfect master plans, these towns are advancing with A Plan—grounded in local values, assets, and leadership. Praxis over planning paralysis Real progress in small towns comes from listening small, thinking big, and working with what you’ve got. Praxis in this context means using plans as living tools, testing ideas on the ground, observing results, and then refining design and investment decisions in cycles. For professionals, the shift is from delivering static plans to facilitating continuous, community-led implementation. Implementation playbook in practice Three case studies anchor this approach. 1.     Millsboro, Delaware, used a phased Complete Streets program—visioning workshops, temporary bike lanes, a pop-up park, then permanent sidewalks, lanes, and CPTED upgrades—to cut vacancies, boost foot and bike traffic, and reduce crime. 2.    Independence, Iowa, launched “Paint the Town” with micro façade grants, volunteer paint days, murals, and pop-up markets, then leveraged that momentum into permanent pocket parks, streetscape upgrades, and business incentives. 3.     Truth or Consequences, New Mexico, revived an underused park through community visioning, low-cost playground and fitness upgrades, public art, and a resident-led programming committee. Principles for Practitioners, Planners and Policymakers Across these examples, the implementation pattern is consistent: start with quick, visible wins; design for incremental change; and treat data as feedback, not as a gatekeeper. Tools like community workshops, walking audits, pop-up pilots, and simple metrics (vacancy rates, foot traffic, event attendance) help local leaders adjust and scale what works. Partnerships—grants, local sponsors, volunteer labor—extend limited rural capacity without sacrificing community ownership. For professionals working in rural and small-town contexts, the role shifts from expert-director to facilitator and coach. Success looks less like delivering a glossy master plan and more like helping local leaders convene residents, pick the first small project, find flexible funding, and build structures (like downtown associations or park committees) that can carry the work forward. The takeaway:  development is a community process, and the most resilient rural strategies embed praxis and implementation—listen, test, measure, adapt—into every step. Link to the blog in the comments.  #SmallTowns #Rural #RuralDevelopment #Praxis #PlanningImplementation #CommunityLedDesign #Placemaking #Downtown #CommunityDevelopment #EconDev 

Tala Kansa: A Story of Human Elephant Coexistence Tala Kansa is a small hamlet of just 30 families, part of the larger village of Kansa, but physically separated by a steep hillock. The journey to Kansa is long and arduous, which has historically left the hamlet isolated from basic services and government schemes, including MGNREGA. For decades, the villagers lived with little support, grappling with extreme natural events and wildlife conflicts. Situated at the foot of surrounding hills, Tala Kansa is particularly vulnerable during the monsoon. Rainwater from three hills flows down into the village, causing frequent flash floods that wash away homes, damage crops, and disrupt daily life. Compounding the problem, the hills lack perennial water sources, leaving both people and animals struggling during dry periods. Elephants, in search of water, would descend into the village, sometimes damaging houses and fields, creating a persistent threat to both life and livelihood. Recognizing that conventional measures were insufficient, the villagers came together to devise a community-led solution. Their vision was to construct an earthen bund at the top of the hill, which would serve a dual purpose: it would check the flash floods during heavy rains and create a water reservoir for elephants, reducing their visits to the village. The initiative required technical guidance and resources, so the community reached out to the Foundation for Ecological Security (FES). With support from FES, the villagers designed and built the bund, mobilizing local labor and knowledge. The construction was a significant challenge, especially during periods of continuous rain, but the community’s determination never wavered. The bund was carefully designed to retain water on the hilltop, slowing down runoff and reducing the velocity of floodwaters, while simultaneously creating a safe, perennial water source for wildlife. The results have been transformative. Over the past five years, despite continuous rainfall, Tala Kansa has not suffered from flash floods, safeguarding homes, crops, and infrastructure. The water collected in the bund has become a reliable source for elephants, who now spend time drinking and bathing in the water, rather than entering the village. This has dramatically reduced human-elephant conflict, protecting both people and animals. Beyond the immediate ecological and safety benefits, the project has strengthened the sense of community and collective action among the villagers. Tala Kansa now serves as a model for resilient, sustainable, and locally-led solutions in areas prone to floods and wildlife conflicts. The initiative illustrates how simple, innovative interventions, grounded in local knowledge and supported by technical guidance, can transform vulnerability into strength. ST and SC Development Department Government of Odisha Biswabijayani Mohanty Foundation For Ecological Security (FES) WWF-India UNICEF UNDP UNDP in India

Plastic recycling has gone grassroots and it’s working. Over 2,000 community workshops across 56 countries are building their own recycling machines using open-source designs. They've recycled 595,000 tons of plastic while generating $36M in revenue. I first encountered Precious Plastic back in 2018 and have watched it grow from a student project into a global movement. Communities worldwide now build and operate their own recycling infrastructure using freely available designs. In Singapore, in Ukraine, wherever you look. Local workshops are turning waste into everything from Formula 1 merchandise to café furniture. Nearly 18,000 people now make a living through these distributed recycling hubs. Traditional recycling faces constant economic hurdles. Virgin plastic is still cheaper than recycled material, and running big, centralized facilities requires huge investment. With less than 9% of plastic globally recycled through conventional systems, distributed approaches like this show how open-source hardware can put environmental solutions directly in communities’ hands, while creating local jobs. I’d love to know—where else do you see community-scale solutions outpacing centralized infrastructure in climate tech?

It is often said that local communities do not understand how climate change or environmental realities affect them. But this notion is far from true. The real issue is the disconnect – inadequate investment in local human capital, disrupted livelihoods, and the lack of proper resilience approaches to support frontline and coastal communities to thrive, especially where government support is limited or non-existent. We become so fixated on our own definitions of what the adverse impacts of climate change or environmental degradation should look like at their level, and the solutions we invent, that we forget this: 🍃 Local, rural, and indigenous communities who live these realities daily have a major role to play in how we define and create solutions to achieve Goal 14 and other Sustainable Development Goals. Communities may not describe how climate change affects them in our scientific terms, but here’s what I have discovered over the past five years, mobilising communities for climate and policy action: 💡Communities often describe how climate and environmental changes affect them better than we assume. 💡They build resilience even where education or technological aids are limited or non-existent. 💡Backing local knowledge with technology protects traditional wisdom while creating innovative solutions that merge tradition and modern technology for climate and ocean challenges. 💡 Lastly, co-designing solutions with communities is key to sustaining and scaling impact. This ensures policies are deeply rooted to serve not just minorities, but the majority, particularly those in the informal sector with no social security, who depend on natural resources for their livelihoods. Whether you are an environmentalist or not, keep this in mind: 🍃 It is not enough for our solutions, policies, or innovations to serve minorities. True impact lies in ensuring they serve the majority, enabling people to live with dignity. And one way to achieve this is through: 💡Inclusion: ensuring communities have a seat at the table; and 💡 Integration: ensuring their wisdom, practices, and priorities shape the table itself. I hope this helps #abimbolaabikoye #communityresilience #frontlinevoices #sustainability #UNSDGs