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Continuing our guest blog series with comment and reflection on Chain Reaction we include here a selection of short pieces from the Young Speakers who were at the event as part of the We Are What We Do team.
Thamannah Miah:
Chain Reaction was a massive event that brought people who care about the world together. Everyone played their part in creating awareness of issues affecting our world today.
It was an amazing opportunity giving people the chance to make contact with others holding a similar view on topics including the environment, world poverty, entrepreneurship and much more. During the event, I took the chance to show my support for We Are What We Do, an organisation which encourages the idea of small actions in everyday life, carried out by lots of people, amounting to a big change in the world.
I spent my time video interviewing individuals on their view of the organisation. I aimed to record a variety of responses concerning the changes needed in the world and in particular how the youth of today could engage in building a brighter future for themselves and those around them.
As well as playing my part for We Are What We Do, I heard many inspirational speeches by different people explaining how they had travelled to various parts of the world to help the needy, from providing medical support to poor countries to meeting with world leaders in aid of creating a Peace Day. The event was an excellent way of allowing groups of people with similar targets of making the world a better place to join and discuss their ideas. It helped me remember the purpose of supporting the need for positive change around us and it gave me great pleasure to view the evidence of everyone’s hard work actually impacting the world.
Nasreen Akhtar:
It was a very different experience than anything else that I have ever done. Everyone that was there wanted to get to know everyone regardless of age and it was very exiting to meet new people with the same ideas as you, who also wanted to make a difference. The best thing I liked about the Chain Reaction event was the inspirational presentation and talk by Jeremy Gilley, because one man with one dream made a difference to the world and it just showed how everyone can do just about anything if they put their mind to it.
Roselyn Xavier:
Chain Reaction was an amazing event where I got a chance to meet so many different people from all over the world that wanted to make social change through a number of ways. We found out about so many other organisations and events that had similar goals and purposes, which we were keen to also get involved with. While we were there, we had the opportunity to take part in a number of workshops and watch discussions and speeches by several people which included Gordon Brown, James Caan and Peter Jones from Dragon’s Den. It was such a rewarding experience and I hope that there is another event next year.
Rt Hon Liam Byrne MP, Minister for the Cabinet Office
Rt Hon. Liam Byrne MP, Minister for the Cabinet Office was unable to attend Chain Reaction Yesterday as he explains below – but we do want to include his thoughts – so we have invited him to post in the Chain Reaction Blog.
Due to a three line whip yesterday I was unable to attend Chain Reaction – an inspiring event announced last year by the Prime Minister and bringing together social change agents from around UK and around the world – taking place on the South Bank in London this week.
I’m a Labour politician. So you’ll be unsurprised to hear me say that I believe that Government has a critical role to play in catalysing, driving and sustaining social change. I don’t believe that when it comes to social change, we should roll back the state. I believe we should roll up our sleeves.
But I’m also a constituency MP. Every week, I am reminded, that the greatest social change agents in our communities – yes, include our public servants – but also include everyday men and women who take it upon themselves to improve the lives of their neighbours.
And I also meet a vast array of charities, social entrepreneurs and local businesses who organise and innovate to reach the parts that Government could never have reached as well as the parts that frankly we should be reaching but haven’t got there yet.
So while I recognise that the most powerful and inspiring moments of social change can originate from one person or one movement, I believe that sustainable social change comes from the alliance of public, private and voluntary sector.
I think Government can play three critical roles in sustaining social change. The first, is to create a new model of public services where we empower frontline professionals and citizens to initiate, drive and sustain the change we need. You can read more about that in a publication from the Prime Minister’s Strategy Unit called Excellence & Fairness: Achieving World Class Public Services.
The second thing we can do, is enlist the third sector and help build its capacity. We want to extend the franchise of third sector organisations; charities, social enterprises, voluntary and community groups – to be the frontline of sustainable social change. That’s why over the last 10 years we have doubled public investment in the sector from £5bn – £11bn and created in the Cabinet Office, an Office of the Third Sector.
The third thing we can do, is think anew about the importance of “place”. I have long believed that Government must think in a far more profound way about about the collective needs of communities, and whether local strategies are the right ones to help communities realise first their requirements and then their ambitions.
This means Government should channel funds not just to services but to places.
There is no more critical a time to worry about making progressive social change than now. We all have work to do – and we will succeed best if we do it together. Thanks to everyone at Chain Reaction and elsewhere who are making this their mission.
Liam Byrne MP, Minister for the Cabinet Office
Read Liam Byrnes own blog View his Flikr site and YouTube Channel
The wonderful Sense Media have been at Chain Reaction making films about what’s been happening. Here’s what their take on the first day of the conference has been, introduced by the irrepressible Leanne Butterfield.
Part two coming soon!
Over on the Chain Reaction Social Network, there are some interesting discussions starting and questions being asked.
Amy Sample Ward would like to know why people are here:
What is the one, main, maybe general, reason why you came to chain reaction?
Clare White has blogged the Disruption Social Innovation session from this morning. Some of the interesting quotes from same:
We live in a complex world with multi-faceted challenges. One individual is unliklety to create the changes they see. If you really want to change the world you will have to work with other people.
Systems don’t change if you confront them, you have to work in a separate space which will eventually become mainstream.
A lot of social innovators have a great idea but they don’t know how to sell it to people.
People want to collaborate but they don’t know how to open their minds and hearts enough to do it. How can we change people’s consciousness enough to work for the social good and not themselves?
We all think we’re doing everything for the right reasons. If we go back to values, we can avoid getting bogged down in vested interests. Engaging people in the reality of who they are is important, as is healing people. People normally have vested interests because they feel threatened. If people are frightened, they don’t move.
We’ll be updating the Crowdvine site and this blog with more content during the day. We’re working hard to record and tweet the day for you – hopefully we’ll get there soon!
This morning’s keynote address was delivered by Jeremy Gilley, Founder of Peace One Day, an amazing initiative to create an annual day of global ceasefire and non-violence with a fixed calendar date. The UN formally established an annual day in the global calendar on 21 September – Peace Day.
Amy from NetSquared sat with Jeremy after his keynote to find out more about his project, his involvement with Chain Reaction and his hopes for the future.
Hello all and good morning. Darragh here from the Social Reporting team just checking in with some links for you:
Our official twitter stream: http://twitter.com/chainreaction
You can also follow what people are talking about through this twitter feed.
Our Flickr stream can be found here.
Our YouTube videos – look out for some interesting interviews!
You should also visit David Wilcox’s Qik videos at http://qik.com/socialreporter
You can also follow all the action on http://chain-reaction.crowdvine.com/
If you’re talking, tweeting, blogging or uploading, please use #chainreaction08 as a tag so we can keep an eye out for what everyone is talking about.
Enjoy the day, connect with people, say hello and have a coffee – it’s great!
- Linus Pauling
Linus Pauling knew a thing or two about Ideas. He is one of a small number of individuals to have been awarded more than one Nobel Prize, one of only two people to receive them in different fields (the other was Marie Curie).
His first award recognized his contribution to Chemistry. Pauling was a pioneering scientist, educator and author who also knew the relevance of the individual’s place in the world. He took his personal values as a pacifist so seriously his second Nobel Prize rewarded his peace activism.
Boundary crossers like Pauling, with international recognition in different disciplines are rare individulals. But he was modest about his success and once said, “the way to have good ideas is to have lots of ideas”.
Whilst there is not a Nobel prize on offer – not yet anyway – we would encourage you to follow the lead of Linus Pauling and submit lots of your ideas to the Chain Reaction Ideas Box, and comment on others ideas. Sharing thoughts with someone from a different sector or discipline could sharpen the idea and help bring it fruition.
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