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HOW ARE WE DOING IT

The FIDS framework helps to develop the much required 21st Century Skills in children, builds their social and emotional competencies and promotes employability skills. The most unique feature of the Design for Change initiative is that it is not only simple and constructive, it is open-source, accessible, adaptable and replicable.

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January | Featured Stories

Bangladesh: Expand the knowledge of the community

The children realized that they wanted to learn beyond the limited knowledge in school textbooks. They decided to feed their curiosity by gathering used books and tirelessly making bamboo bookshelves to create a beacon of knowledge; their very own library!
Brazil: Amazon as a natural laboratory for scientific exploration

The lack of a laboratory and other scientific facilities made learning in Maira Belem State school feel boring. So the students decided to change that by going into the Amazon Rainforest and examining its many wonders to explore scientific concepts in action!
Malaysia: Saying No to body shaming

Fighting weight issues and body shaming, children from SMK LAMPONG LAUT Malaysia came up with innovative ways to campaign and spread positivity and awareness for the ill effects of body shaming on mental health.

February | Featured Stories

GHANA : Environmental Wardens

The Environmental Wardens of International Community School discovered the lack of hygene plaguing their community. They decided to fix this by spreading awareness around the importance of staying clean and mantaining a garbage free community.
IRELAND: Caring For The Homeless

The children of The Donahies Community school wanted to make a difference in the lives of the homeless people in their neighbourhood by raising awareness and taking care of their needs. They toiled tirelessly to create presentations and different carepackages which, ultimately, helped improve the livelihood of the homeless!
POLAND : Hotel for insect

The students of Linde Primary School realized that bees were growing sparce in their community. They realized that their habbitats were getting destroyed and thus decided to create "Hotels" for pollinating insects on school grounds. In the spring, they recieved their first bee tenants, and are expecting many more to arrive!

March | Featured Stories

PALESTINE: Lets Make It Beautiful

The Children of Al Naqura Primary School wanted to make their school a happy place for all. To do so, they wanted to bring a positive atmosphere to the school. They worked hard to uplift, clean, and improve their school so that students would feel very motivated to learn.
MACAU : Fresh Veggies Everywhere

The students of Pui Ching Middle School found out that there was a large amount of plastic bag wastage in their school. So, they introduced reusable plastic bags and contacted other organizations to spread awareness around the importance of recycling.
LITHUANIA : Noise No, Active Breaks

After discovering that their recess time was inefficient due to children not being physically active, a group of students decided to introduce a variety of fun games to recess to make it very productive.

April | Featured Stories

BRAZIL: AWARENESS, COLOUR AND ART

Students at Escola Milton Pessoa faced a difficulty in recognizing themselves in their quilombo communities due to distinctions in colour and race. In response to this, students started racism talk circles which fostered pride in the student's perception of their skin colour and identity.
ZAMBIA: MY SISTER'S KEEPER

The students of Yengwe Combined School noticed most of their peers came from deprivileged backgrounds, such as orphanages, and had a shortage of resources. They identified certain impacted students and created social circles of support which helped restore greater mental health and realign the impacted student's focus towards academics.
BULGARIA: Z-GENERATION DESIGN

Ever groaned towards the youth who simply seem to "have it too easy"? The children at Yane Sandanski Secondary School attempted to debase the stereotype attached to Gen-Z by developing five different business models to showcase the creativity / entrepreneurial skills of today's youth and their 'I CAN' willpower.

May | Featured Stories

CANADA: SAVE YOUR ENERGY

A student from Canada beat the summer heat by developing a game to help combat the power shortages during the summers. The game raised awareness towards sustainable appliances and how to efficiently use electric energy to prevent wastage and move one step closer to a sustainable world.
: SOLAR AND WIND ENERGY AS ALTERNATIVE RENEWABLE ENERGY SOURCES

Students at Institución Educativia La Herradura had unstable electricity making their classroom environment in-conducive to learn. The students banded together to use renewable energy sources to create a central lighting system that illuminated not only the classrooms, but also the faces of 249 students who could now engage better with their education.
INDIA: NEIGHBOUR KATTA

Students at Zilla Parishad Primary School showed their relentless dedication to their education as they continued their studies during the lockdown despite the absence of access to the online medium. They created a network of students to play and study simultaneously, spreading the message through social media, welcoming over 265 children to keep learning.

June | Featured Stories

ECUADOR: CELESTE'S TALE

The students of Unidad Educativa Nuestra Señora de la Sabiduria have been quick to notice the pandemic's impact on care for the elderly and decided to create a blog. They started it off by writing a real-life story of an elderly woman, while mixing it up with fiction, to help spread awareness
INDONESIA: MINGGU KREASIK CREATIVE AND FUN SUNDAY

The climate emergency is knocking at our door, and the students of TK Al Azhar Salatiga have been proactive and taken charge over the drying lake Rawa Pening. They wanted to cleanse the lake and learnt how to make daily use items from water hyacinth and organised a workshop on the same which was attended by 20 children.
IRELAND: 52 BRAINY ACTS

Students of St. Vincent Secondary School, Cork, have decided to create a rich and positive learning environment themselves and increase biodiversity at school by helping pollinators with food and shelter. The funds raised through a sale were used to fund this project resulting in a profound impact on students with special needs.

July | Featured Stories

Israel: Rubik's Cube Final

The job of a child is to play, and when we combine play with learning the results are baffling. The children of Remez School Nahariya found it hard to learn spellings and so they looked towards solving a Rubik's cube to learn how to spell and in the process enjoy and make more friends.
Japan: Let's Help Bangladesh

It is time to cross the borders and embrace our global family. At Nakanoshima Chuo Elementary School, the children realised the need to help build a school in Bangladesh and started a fundraiser by selling rice. Using FIDS, they raised thrice as many funds as the previous year.
Macau: Charity Flea Market and Carnival

Consumerism has plagued the world and the students at Pui Ching Middle School wanted to raise awareness towards a sustainable culture. They set up a flea market advertising green buying and collecting second hand goods. They sold harvest all over the world and donated their income of USD 14,085 to charity.

August | Featured Stories

Jordan: Give and Grow

Tina Alawieh along with their mentor Fida Taher noticed that students in Jordan were unable to make it to school due to poor access to shoes and winter jackets. They started a fundraiser selling kits to grow your own flowers which resulted in collecting JD1500 and impacting 150 children, allowing them to come back to school.
Kenya: Agri-Covid Garden

The 2020 lockdown created a strain on resources for multiple families. In an attempt to help lift some of the burden off their parents the students of Aracia Green Academy, Kenya, engaged with agriculture innovatively by establishing a sack farm complemented by a green house and sustainable methods of procuring manure through vermiculture.
Lebanon: Beirut Will Never Die

The August 2020 explosion in Beirut was a shocking sight for the world. The students at Dawha Makassed School were proactive in helping the community. They ran social media campaigns and worked for days packing food, sorting clothes and collecting stories and games.

September | Featured Stories

Malaysia: Education 4 All

Students from SK Rajah Bahar participated in creating an equitable education for the differently abled through creating a multi-purpose smart dustbin and taking the special needs students to a pizzeria to learn how to make pizza. The project was shared on social media and a crowdfunding website with a resultant gain of MYR 960.
Peru: Germinating Help

The COVID-19 pandemic had affected multiple family's economic status and created a barrier for access to distance learning. Students created resources to foster entrepreneurship and financial self-sufficiency for the families in their community and built a more supportive society.
Russia: InRoute

Many times we lose our way, not only outdoors but indoors, when we're at a new office or a mall for instance. So step aside Google, because the students at Pokrovski Kvartal have developed an app to help us navigate our way inside buildings and have helped millions of people save time.

October | Featured Stories

Lebanon: Stop Smoking

Smoking is not cool, and the students at Ecole Sainte Jeanne-Antide wanted to communicate that clearly to their peers. They met up with a politician to educate themselves on the law of smoking under 18 and proceeded to share this information with their peers. Most of them quit smoking, and two even joined sports teams.
Russia: Zero Plastic

Plastic is choking our planet and the efficient way to solve this crisis is by working at a macro level with industries. Students have come up with a model to help offices separate and recycle plastic waste. While one start-up has adopted this, they plan to now expand to thousands of businesses.
Serbia: Souvenir from Sremski

The students of Karlovačka Gimnazija weren't happy with the souvenirs being sold to tourists. They designed small and mass producible souvenirs that better represented their community with QR codes on each leading to information about Serbia. They connected with local communities and spread the project to over 100 people.

November | Featured Stories

Saudi Arabia: Shoes Boxes

By paying attention to simple tasks your life can be more organised. The student Abdulaziz Elyas found their shoes to get misplaced with the rest of their family members. So they created a storage box with labels to recognise which shoe is whose. They shared this with other families who went and applied the same mechanism.
Spain: Consumo Deroche

Plastic, water and energy are used carelessly resulting in a lot of wasteage. The students of Nazaret Oporto wanted to raise awareness on resource conservation and used multiple mediums such as videos, posters, games and stories to bring across their message.
Malaysia: Food Save Thank

The students from SMK Kubang Kerian, Malaysia, saw that the food wasted could be managed better to create more food for those in need. Through the development of games, waste tanks and distribution systems they spread their message and filled not just the stomachs but the hearts of numerous people in their community with lack of access to food.

MEET THE SUPERHEROES

Children are telling us they don't need permission to make the world a better place. Get inspired by their solutions to some of their greatest challenges.

Come As You Are
The Water Guardians
Healing Child Cancer Patients
A Safer Neighbourhood for All Children
Creating a Community Garden
The Real Social Network: Seeing Past Digital Relationships
The Power of Language: Wisdom of the Inga Community
A Toy Plane to Reforest Valleys
Young Environmental Leaders of Lynn
The Recycling Wheel
Response-ability: Helping a Disabled Student
Fighting Prejudices Against Homosexuality
Immigrant or Not, You Are My Friend!
Including Children With Special Needs
Bringing Light to the Dreams of Blind Kids
Combating High Drop-Out Rates
Discovering Teaching-Learning Materials from Waste
Securing the School Wall
A Canteen for All
Bamboo-zled!
Lobbying for Free Range Milk
Our Safe Way to School

VIEW MORE STORIES

The quickest way to unleash the 'I CAN' superpower in children is to introduce the FIDS process in a week or a month. Download the toolkit to begin the process with your children.

DOWNLOAD

GET INSPIRED

Kiran Bir Sethi talks on empathy and problem solving.
I CAN CHILDREN'S GLOBAL SUMMIT
Kiran Bir Sethi on Make YOU Happen Show
Kiran Bir Sethi awarded the Vital Voice honoree 2018
Design for -Change A Champion of learning through play
Design for Change- Teacher Prize
A message for all the superheroes!
What is Design for Change?
Design for Change - Global Impact
TED talk- Kiran Bir Sethi
Dr Howard Gardner on Design for Change

SEE ALL STORIES

WATCH THE WORLD LIGHT UP
Participate in the Design for Change school challenge in your respective Countries and regions and submit your story.

HAPPENINGS

Design for Change has been selected as one of the 7 innovations to enter the first ever Hall of Fame category!! These innovations are selected for demonstrating sustained impact and growth and is implementing a leading education solution!
EnlightED 2021 - Kiran in conversation with Howard Gardner
The Riverside School is one of the 5 schools from the world that is featured in the unique Happiness at Schools Project - Initiated by documentary producer and director Martin Meissonnier.
Newsletter October 2021
Newsletter July 2021
'CAN'VERSATION with Wendy Kopp, Ceo/ Co-founder Teach for All. Lessons on Leading with Hope and Courage.
NEWSLETTER April 2021
Kiran Sethi joins some of the leading minds in a conversation celebrating The International Day of Education by UNESCO
Fixing the Future 2020 Education
Conversation with Kiran and Stephanie long from International Baccurelate on empowering and inspiring students
Kiran Bir Sethi's Podcast for Vital Voices "Power to Empower"
Is Covid-19 a Speed Breaker, Bridge or a Launch pad? An engaging MasterClass with Mr Andreas schleicher
In a conversation with Dr. Howard Gardner - Moderated by Kiran Bir Sethi, Founder The Riverside School and Design For Change
Hundred Keynote by Kiran Sethi where she shares the insights on scale and impact
I Can Children's Global Summit

Children from over 40 countries around the world poured into Rome at the end of November 2019 to celebrate the first ever, all faith, inclusive 'I CAN Children's Global Summit'!
Eco-Ambassador Program

On Friday, July 12th, the Center for Sustainable Development's Education Team, in partnership with Sustainable Development Solutions Network (SDSN)'s Global Schools Program and Design for Change, began Eco Ambassadors' workshop to put into motion communal action to protect the environment.
Design for Change helping children answer their call to action

Montserrat Del Pozo Roselló, Superior General at the Vatican, uncovers how children's projects are generating change.
REVOLUTIONARY EDUCATIONISTS RESHAPING THE FACE OF EDUCATION

The Better India's 'Spotlight 2018' names Kiran Bir Sethi as one of the individuals transforming the lives of thousands of students.
Blurring the Boundaries Between School and Life

Kiran Bir Sethi's interview with the WISE- QATAR where she talk about the pedagogy at Riverside School which has a single-minded focus : student wellbeing. Read what she has to say about her approach to education.
Edutopia features Riverside School

Glimpse through some of the most insightful practices shared by Edutopia on Riverside School that makes this school a beacon of hope today, the curriculum designed using the simple FIDS framework is shaping young lives not only at Riverside but also in more than 60 Countries and Regions across the world!!
Kiran Bir Sethi awarded the Vital Voice honoree 2018

Kiran Sethi was awarded the Vital Voices Global Leadership Award in Washington DC on 4th April, 2018.
DFC signed a collaboration with OIEC

The International Organization of Catholic Schools- that takes Design for Change to over 240,000 schools worldwide, and Scholas Occurrentes - the organization that the Pope created in Argenitna in 2001, to make students from public and private schools take action- that takes Design for Change to over 446,000 schools worldwide
DFC Recognized By hundrED

DESIGN for CHANGE, the largest movement for children, has been announced by global education non-profit HundrED, as one of its 100 innovative education projects across the world, all of which have been gathered over the past two years.
Wendy Kopp shares about Riverside

Wendy Kopp (CEO & Founder of Teach for America) Last year I visited Global Teacher Prize winner Kiran Bir Sethi, who founded the Riverside School in Ahmedabad, India, 15 years ago.
Riverside featured in Taking Design Thinking to School

Taking Design Thinking to School: How the Technology of Design Can Transform Teachers, Learners, and Classrooms uses an action-oriented approach to reframing K-12 teaching and learning, examining interventions that open up dialogue about when and where learning, growth and empowerment can be triggered.
DFC chosen as top 10 projects by the LEGO Foundation and Ashoka

Design for Change was selected as one of the Top 10 Champions of the Re-imagine Learning Challenge by the LEGO Foundation and Ashoka.
Kiran chosen in the top 10 for Global Teacher Prize

Kiran Sethi, Founder- Design for Change was selected as one of the Top 10 Finalists for the Global Teacher Prize. Organized by the Varkey Foundation, in March 2015
DFC Receives Top Good Practice Award.

Prime Minister the Rt. Hon. Perry Christie, presented the first place prize for the Commonwealth Education Good Practice Awards to Dr. Satbir Bedi, Joint Secretary for the School of Education in the Ministry of Human Resources Development of India.
DFC Mentioned on THE GLOBAL GOALS website

World Leaders have committed to 17 Global Goals to achieve 3 extraordinary things in the next 15 years. End extreme poverty. Fight inequality & injustice. Fix climate change. DFC has been recognized as one of the action steps to reach these Global Goals.