Innovation North’s Speaker Series brings together leading experts, both academics and practitioners, to share their insights and experiences on systems innovation.
On April 23, from 10:00-11:00am EST, our next event will feature Ralph Hamann and Rebecca Freeth who will present: Convening Dialogue for Social Innovation- What Does it Take?
It's become common to see multi-stakeholder dialogue as an important pathway towards social innovation, especially if we are aiming for the kind of innovation that seeks change to routines and rules underpinning complex social-ecological problems. But what does it take to convene such dialogue over extended periods, and can researchers take on such a role?
In this session, we will share some of our experiences in establishing and convening the Southern Africa Food Lab, a multi-stakeholder dialogue platform seeking to help address the problem of hunger and malnutrition in the region. We learnt about the importance of conveners' perceived neutrality and credibility, as well as our staying power, which is especially important because dialogue takes more time to become impactful than we initially expected (or hoped). We will also share stories expressing the kinds of tensions we encountered, as we faced contrasting expectations from diverse participants. We came to feel less conflicted by these tensions as part of a shift towards a "deep" form of dialogue, where the intent is not to reach consensus but to facilitate authentic engagement between diverse perspectives.
About the Speakers
Ralph Hamann is a Professor and Deputy Director of Faculty and Research at the Graduate School of Business, University of Cape Town. His research and teaching are on strategy and sustainability, social innovation and entrepreneurship, and cross-sector collaboration. Among his other roles, he is Co-Founder and Director of the Embedding Project South Africa, and the Southern Africa Food Lab, initiatives that bridge research and practice.
Rebecca Freeth is a practitioner and scholar who researches, teaches, facilitates, and writes about collaboration. Rebecca is a senior consultant with Reos Partners (Africa Office) where her work focuses on systemic issues, such as dismantling structural racism, gender-based violence, education, and organizational culture change. She leads Reos Africa's work in fragile and conflict affected contexts.
Register here for the Zoom link: https://ivey-uwo.zoom.us/meeting/register/WDSBBDTjRCuCxGek-Kj80A