Social innovators, disruptors in the service of others in situations where traditional actors or the market have failed, are needed more than ever in the current COVID-19 pandemic. This is especially true as the health and economic impacts hit the excluded, vulnerable and those in the informal economy the hardest, those who social innovators dedicate their lives to serve.
This space is dedicated to highlighting the innovative responses of the Schwab Foundation social innovator community during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Incredible initiatives from the Schwab Foundation community
- Altibbi steps in to offer Corona Hotline (111) to all Jordanians ›
- Dimagi gives out CommCare for free during COVID-19 Outbreak Response ›
- VillageReach share their action plan in dealing with COVID-19 ›
- First Book to deploy over 7 million books across the US ›
- Crisis Text Line prioritize mental health ›
- Last Mile Health share key lessons from Ebola that can help us win against coronavirus ›
- Possible provides ways to help the vulnerable ›
- Worldreader brings free e-books to students across Africa, MENA, LatAm and India ›
- Workit Health make recovery Group therapy available for everyone ›
- Dasra launches a collaborative social sector response to COVID-19 ›
- Bridge International Academies employs the Bridge@Home approach educate children ›
- doctHers provides a platform to match underutilized female doctors with health consumers ›
- World Health Partners repurposed their telemedicine solutions to connect patients and doctors ›
Join, advocate and participate in the initiatives by following the embedded links.
Testimonials from the action-oriented community:
We are developing appropriate low cost ventilators - MTTS (Vietnam)
Our people are OK for now but their neighbors are going hungry. We started a relief operations by providing food packs to 5 communities surrounding our offices - Human Nature (Philippines)
Under the "Keep Children Reading Campaign" we have just launched the BookSmart app, a library of books focused on children only, given that schools are shutting and children are out of school – Worldreader (Global)
We are operating in rural and very remote locations. Our uniqueness is that we run a community radio station. Through our radio station we are reaching last mile communities. We are going early morning i.e. 7 am in the villages and spreading awareness – Mann Deshi (India)
We donate and deliver masks along with related cleansing materials to underprivileged communities and aged people. We also offer regular assurance calls to singly-living elders in the community - Senior Citizen Home Safety Assn. & Ma Kam Wah & Co (Hong Kong)
Our sister company, Seniman Pangan, which is a rural entrepreneurship school, has shifted into online trainings with video tutorials on food innovation and processing - Javara (Indonesia)
Thought Leadership from our social innnovators on COVID19 response:
- The job description for a COVID-19 community health worker - and how this could fight US unemployment, Raj Panjabi, Last Mile Health ›
- Coronavirus is coming for the world's poor. Here are six ways to help, Duncan Maru & Sabitri Sabkota, Possible ›
- Six ways social innovators are responding to the COVID-19 pandemic, François Bonnici & Pavitra Raja, Schwab Foundation ›
- Experts explain how to manage mental wellbeing during COVID-19: Chris Underhill, Workit Health & Crisis Text Line Pavitra Raja, Schwab Foundation ›
- In Bangladesh, COVID-19 threatens to cause a humanitarian crisis, Asif Saleh, BRAC›
- Why we need social intrapreneurs now during COVID-19, François Bonnici, Schwab Foundation & Saskia Bruysten, Yunus Social Business ›
Well-being inspires Well-doing
During these challenging times, it is important for social innovators to care for themselves, so they can inturn continue to care for their communities.
The Wellbeing Project is a global initiative focused on shifting the culture of the social change field to one oriented towards inner well-being and catalysing an infrastructure of support for everyone in the field.
COVID Action Platform
In response to the pandemic, the World Economic Forum, acting as partner to the World Health Organization (WHO), has launched the COVID Action Platform. The platform is intended to catalyse private-sector support for the global public health response to COVID-19, and to do so at the scale and speed required to protect lives and livelihoods, aiming to find ways to help end the global emergency as soon as possible.
Social innovators continue to participate in the High-Level COVID Action Platform virtual meeting series together with the WHO leadership, foremost global experts, CEOs and senior deputies of our partner companies, and leaders from other key organizations from around the world.
In times like these, we need social innovators even more - they are already embedded and empower communities they represent, and are always responsive with innovative solutions. Social innovators have an innate skill to adapt to the immediate needs of the people they serve, and will be the ones to watch.