Kudos to organisations that truly support social innovation

Do you remember the last time you came away elated from a meeting? I did just yesterday!

The STARS Training team met with Te Pou leaders, Manase Lua and Rob Gill:

It was heartening to feel the genuine interest that Manase and Rob expressed at supporting the S.T.A.R.S Training and how our social entreprise plans resonated with them - yes we need support to pilot the idea and evaluate our outcomes, but we have long term goals and a mission to build capacity in the Disability sector - we are engaged in designing a good life for our kids. The amount of interest generated by our early activities and sharing is indescribable... disabled people and their families, service providers and decision makers are all onboard!!

This is the stuff mentioned in Question 47 of the recent Productivity Commission report about developing more effective social services:

"Does the commissioning and purchasing system encourage bottom- up experimentation? Does the system reinforce successful approaches and encourage reform of less successful ones?"

We are committed to applying the formidable Let's Get Real framework because so much great work has been put into working on the issues that matter and paying attention to the outcomes that will make a difference in people's lives. We will be looking to integrate this framework working with the organisations and people that are as committed as we are.

Yes... I've attended many meetings in my life - but few with so much energy and passion for social innovation when decision makers are thinking with us about helping families lead social change! 

And of course, when the meeting was over, we took a photo!

  

In an interesting turn of events, this meeting room is the one I sat in just over a year ago, training with the SPARK-NZ team (http://www.tepou.co.nz/supporting-workforce/evidence-into-practice) who mentored me in developing a methodology to capture and disseminate the voice of disabled people and their families. An omen!