Impact Global
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The Project
Aim of Project
The Graduate School is partnering with the RCITY project for a semester-long social innovation challenge. Ten QUB postgraduate students will work in transdisciplinary teams with ten young people from RCITY. The aim of the project is to create innovative solutions to social challenges and to increase the number of young people from disadvantaged communities who see university as a viable option for themselves. The programme runs from December 2018 – May 2019.
Phase 1
The students and young people will work together in four teams to gain an insight into Design Thinking, build relationships, fundraise and work on local challenges.
Phase 2
The group travel to South Africa to work alongside young people and students from local townships, using design thinking to come up with innovative solutions to challenges that the residents of the township face on a daily basis. The two-week challenge will end with a showcase event in Cape Town where the teams will present their prototyped solutions back to the local community and will have the opportunity to work with the residents to implement the solutions.
Phase 3
On returning from South Africa, the teams will work with the community leaders to devise an implementation & operations plan for their solutions, handing it over to the hosts.
Our Project Partner
RCITY Belfast
Developing young people through leadership and promoting positive youth.
The R-City project is based on the interface between the Shankill and Ardoyne areas of Belfast and is built upon an ethos of respect, regardless of religious or cultural background. R-City is a cross-community initiative, which has brought together hundreds of young people from the Shankill and Ardoyne areas of Belfast over the past five years. Initially aimed at fostering understanding between youths in the two communities, the project has evolved into a more practical venture focussing on education, employment and mental health.
