This document provides guidance on organizing a Social Innovation Camp (SICamp) event. Some key points: - SICamps are 3-6 month events that bring together idea owners, experts, and mentors to prototype solutions to social problems over 2-3 days. - The document outlines the stages of the process from securing a venue and budget, to promoting a call for ideas, selecting submissions, resourcing the event, and following up afterwards. - Guidance is given for running pre-event outreach workshops to source local problems, as well as tips for judging submissions and supporting teams during the event through mentors, experts, and prototyping sessions.

1. Social Innovation Camps
a toolkit for troublemakers (UNDP edition)

2. Do you want to...
Broaden your project s results?
Attract donors?
Find new partners?
Source new perspectives on an issue?
Place your beneficiaries at the centre of project design?
Then Social Innovation Camps are for you...
SIC in a nutshell 3
Who s done it before in UNDP? 4
How do I sell an SICamp to my boss? 6
Where to start? 7
What next? 8
Pre-event panic ‒ a checklist 13
The Event 14
Follow up 15
Remember 16
Annex 1: Budget template 17
Annex 2: Work plan 19
Annex 3: Open vs. specific call for ideas 23
2

4. SIC
in a nutshell
Budget
$10,000 ‒ 25,000
Timeframe
3 ‒ 6 months
Team
An event coordinator,
plus 2 interns
3

5. Mardamej 2011 & 2012
UNDP Armenia hosted two Social Innovation Camps called Mar-
damej. The first event involved an open call for ideas, while the
second focused on combating corruption in the health and edu-
cation sectors. Anna s journey to the event and beyond is com-
pelling.
OpenIdeas4UA 2012
UNDP Ukraine ran its first innovation camp in 2012 and a year
later spread the practice of co-design to municipalities at Smart-
City E-nnovation. Check out the team s tips on developing an
open government project or running municipal innovation
events.
OtvoreneIdeje 2012
UNDP Montenegro hosted an innovation camp focused on open
government. The team has since gained international recogni-
tion for its efforts in this field.
GovCamp 2012
UNDP FYR Macedonia applied the SICamp principles to advance
the country s anticorruption agenda. The team has since run
social innovation challenges and set up a social innovations lab.
HuRiLab 2013
UNDP Armenia again, but this time the SICamp focused on
human rights and involved teams from across the Eurasia and the
Arab world. The lab has since evolved to become an online incu-
bator.
SICamp Asia 2013
The UNDP Global Centre for Public Service Excellence (GCPSE)
sponsored the public service innovation track in a series of
SICamps across seven countries in Asia-Pacific and a regional
summit in Singapore. Here is a great take on the big picture.
Who s
done it before
in UNDP? 4

6. Arndt Husar UNDP Global Centre for Public Service Excellence
arndt.husar@undp.org or @ArndtHusar
Jasmina Belcovska Tasevska UNDP FYR Macedonia
jasmina.belcovska@undp.org or @JBTasevska
Maksym Klyuchar UNDP Ukraine
maksym.klyuchar@undp.org or @klyuchar
Marija Novkovic UNDP Montenegro
marija.novkovic@undp.org or @MariaNovkovic
George Hodge UNDP Armenia
george.hodge@undp.org or @lurglomond
Who
to talk to?
5

7. Risk mitigation
develop alternative entry points for your project. If your core
activities encounter blockages, you will have a portfolio of
different options available.
New partnerships
SICamps are agile and as such attractive to the private sector.
Try pitching the initiative to businesses; they may sponsor your
event.
Resource mobilisation
do the groundwork now for your next project. Find something
that is achieving social impact ‘at the edge’, partner with the
team, pitch to donors, and make it mainstream.
Co-creation
Solutions designed by your beneficiaries, for your beneficia-
ries. Develop a sense of agency among stakeholders and a
bias towards action.
How do I sell
an SICamp
to my boss? 6

8. First thing first, get in touch with Social Innovation Camp Ltd. –
the organisation behind the movement. UNDP has worked with
the SICamp team since 2011 so they will be happy to help.
They will talk you through the process as well as source a facili-
tator for your event. From the launch of the call for ideas to the
main event you will need at least three months, so start plan-
ning early.
Where to start?
7

9. A few decisions to make:
UNDP has tried both. Experience suggests that it is much better
to arrange the event in-house. This way it is your team that deve-
lops the knowledge, relationships and networks, instead of
contractors.
an open call is a useful sensing exercise, but a specific challenge
will produce ideas that are better aligned with your mandate.
See annex 3 for more details and don t forget to check out
Maksym s advice on linking the event to your programme.
make sure you pitch the event to the local private sector. If it
aligns well with local CSR objectives, the event can be budget
neutral for UNDP. Woohoo!
USD 10,000 ‒ 25,000; see annex 1.
book it before you launch the call for ideas. This gives you a date
to work towards. The venue should have an open convening
point as well as breakout spaces for each team.
you will need a website and social media accounts dedicated to
your event in order to run the call for ideas. The website should
contain all the information that applicants/participants will need,
as well as an application tool. The applicants will submit their
ideas through the website. Wordpress is easy to use and free. For
example Mardamej and HuRiLab were built without specialist
skills.
For the social media accounts, focus on the top two social media
platforms of your target audience. These can be integrated into
your website. For example HuRiLab uses facebook and twitter.What next?
In-house or outsource
Open vs. specific call for ideas
Partners
Budget
Venue
Web presence
8

10. Do this both online and offline. Many organisations operate as if
all that is necessary for stakeholder engagement is the construc-
tion of a beautiful garden ... this is nonsense. You have to find
the communities and engage with people in terms they unders-
tand... development speak does not work.
Online, this involves delving into social media platforms and web
fora, finding communities that might be interested in what you
are trying to achieve and engaging with them in their space. If
you can contribute meaningfully to the conversation, they will
often find their way to your garden .
It helps to imagine your initiative or event as a person/mascot -
what does she like/dislike; what are her values; what are her ambi-
tions? Engage accordingly... For example don t just talk about
your initiative, if the national football team won last night, com-
ment on that.
If you are looking for rules of thumb, 90% of your content should
be photos/graphics. It is much more shareable . If you want to
make a point, add it as a caption to an amusing/interesting
photo.
It is also useful to map and write to other organisations working in
the thematic area of your SICamp. Ask them if they will share their
email lists with you so that you can engage with their network.
Offline engagement occurs through itch workshops . These are
targeted at marginalised communities in order to bring the pers-
pectives of excluded groups into the process. This could be
based on a lack of access to public services due to location, or on
a particular profile, such a people with disabilities.
Ask stakeholders to define problems that are meaningful to them
and to suggest solutions. Or, if your call for ideas is more specific,
ask stakeholders to suggest solutions to a pre-defined problem.
Call for ideas
9

11. Don t worry if you don t
receive many
submissions initially,
we received about 70%
of the applications in
the final 48 hours
before the deadline.
Either way, you need to find them and work with them directly. This means
getting out of the office and around the country/region. Use UNDP s existing
networks of partners to source workshop participants. Supplement this by
advertising the workshops on your website and placing posters in the target
communities/schools/universities.
Itch workshops are highly interactive. You start by encouraging the partici-
pants to define meaningful problems in their lives, community or society. As
the participants are writing down the problems on sticky notes, you collect
them and group thematically. You then pick the best four or five, explain why
you think they are the best, and challenge the participants to develop a solu-
tion to whichever problem speaks to them . They will self-divide into teams.
At the end of the workshop the teams present their ideas to one another. The
event closes with the facilitator encouraging the participants to submit their
ideas to the event website or on paper to the team.
The advantage of the workshops is that there are no spectators. In addition,
the fact that each participant writes down the problems on sticky notes
prevents big characters from dominating the discussion.
During your outreach it is important to emphasise that the event is a prototy-
ping opportunity, not a funding bid. You are looking for alternative ideas and
approaches, not business-as-usual.
Also, it is useful to detail a few rules for your social media pages (perhaps in the
about us section), such as constructive comments only please . You can use
this to combat trolling and send a message to the other users concerning
our values. FYI, never delete the offending comment. Instead respond by
referring the user to the rules of the space.
10

12. Following the outreach, the submissions are assessed by a panel
of judges. This should predominantly comprise business leaders,
public officials, NGO leaders and experts in the thematic area of
your Social Innovation Camp.
In order to pick the best ideas from the rest, use three criteria:
The applicant s understanding of the social problem. Ques-
tions to consider: is the problem well articulated? Do you agree
that it is a social problem? [award up to ten points]
The quality of the solution. Questions to consider: does the
proposed solution address the social problem? Will the proposed
solution have a high degree of social impact at some point in the
future (i.e. will lots of people benefit)? [award up to ten points]
The sustainability of the solution. Questions to consider: could
the solution be created cheaply and quickly, or would it require a
significant capital investment? Running costs? Could the solu-
tion be partly sustained through revenue generation? If not, will
the social return on investment provide investors with value?
[award up to ten points]
The team or individual behind the idea is very important. Talk
with each applicant. Sometimes an idea sounds ropey on paper
but comes from a dynamic person, and vice versa. Give this due
weight in the final decision. Also, you are looking for team players
not egotists - if someone is a bit of a jerk, don't invite them.
Look for 'problems on the way to becoming solutions'. Look for
radical innovation rather than sensible best practice. If you have
the time, conduct background research ‒ has someone tried this
already? What did they learn? Local context really counts, as an
idea that is bland in one context can be disruptive in another.
Most importantly, trust your instincts.
You may receive over one hundred submissions. In order to save
the panel of judges time and effort, prepare a long-list of the
thirty best ideas. The panel can then choose six ideas from this
smaller pool. Also, don t let the final six be based on statistical
anomaly or tactical voting by the judges. Discuss all the short-
listed ideas before making a decision.
Don t forget to email the unsuccessful applicants. Of course they
will be disappointed, but you could sweeten the situation by
inviting them to the presentation session on the final afternoon
of the event.
Judging the submissions
11

13. You now have six ideas selected by the panel of judges. Next you
need to talk to/meet with the idea owners. Try to get a sense
from them what they think they will need to prototype their
solution/project at the event. Remember, the "idea owner" may
not understand what kind of support, expertise or resources they
will need. So add to their wish list based on your insights.
Then, find everything on the wish list and make it available at the
event. Most experts/specialists should volunteer their time if you
present the ideas effectively.
Alongside the experts you have sourced, it is useful to delve into
the database of applicants. If any of the other applicants submit-
ted an idea on a similar topic to the selected six, or possess a
useful skill set, or stood out because of their energy and enthu-
siasm, invite them along as well.
Also, it is important to think about other stakeholders in the
solutions/projects. For example, will the project require action by
a public institution? If so, ensure that a relevant specialist from
government participates.
It is worth warming up the participants a few days before the
event, for example ask them to start using the event hash tag -
''what are you hoping for out of the camp'', ''interesting links to
share''.
Resourcing the event
12

14. Participants
Idea owners
Other applicants with similar ideas /
skillsets / infectious enthusiasm
Specialists / geeks ‒ skills gaps,
cross reference to the needs of the idea owner
Mentors ‒ businesspersons with experience of
agile management
Creatives / designers / social media gurus
Film crew and photographer
Judges (for the presentations on the final day)
Media (for the presentations on the final day)
Social Investors/donors (for the presentations on the final day)
Venue/infrastructure
Breakout spaces for each team - bean bags, cushions, rugs and
mats; in a corner; complete the square with a pair of tables;
ensure space to post ideas on a wall. The antithesis of an
average office.
Late opening ‒ some teams will work all night
Strong internet connection, wifi and backup
Server space & LAMP stack
Power extension cables
Flip charts, sticky notes, paper
Twitter wall (laptop and projector)
Sundry
Event programme (printed)
Board meetings (see section on the event)
Social media team ‒ live posting/tweeting/blogging
Prizes
Certificates
required
important
nice to have
Pre-event panic
a checklist 13

15. The Event
In three minutes...
Welcome by the facilitator
and introduction to the support team
Presentation of the house rules
Idea owners pitch their projects to the participants
(two minutes each)
Breaking into teams ‒ vote with your feet
-
-
-
-
Day1(early evening)
This is the pen-and-paper stage; scoping the idea, thinking about
what they have got to create, how it s going to work, who s going to
do what, etc.
Facilitator & mentors float among the teams posing difficult ques-
tions and introducing new ideas. For example, the blocking button:
what would you do if your preferred solution was blocked? How
would you overcome this? Think of lots of options and incorporate
the best into your strategy.
In the afternoon, the teams begin building their prototypes ‒
four/five hours of build and design of the products or services, plus
some time to think about how they might sustain their projects
*
the teams pitch to the mentors in a board meeting scenario (three
minutes). Each mentor asks a question. The meeting closes with
each mentor offering a piece of heart attack advice to the team
If you plan to live stream the opening and closing sessions, make sure
you have a seprate internet connection for this purpose.
**
***
Recap and stoke by the facilitator
Teamwork *
Board meeting ** (late afternoon/early evening)
Teamwork late into the evening
-
-
-
-
Day 2(bright and early)
Recap by the facilitator and focus the participants
on the presentations later in the afternoon
Teamwork: additional prototyping and testing, as well as pitch preparation
Dragon s Den-style pitching competition: each team has
seven minutes to pitch and five minutes for questions from the judges ***
Judges retire and assess each project
(see the criteria in the judging the submissions section above)
Award ceremony and reception
-
-
-
-
-
Day3(bright and early)
14

16. The number of projects you can support following the event
depends partly on your budget and on their fit with your exis-
ting programme.
If you have invited donors or social investment funds to the final
presentations, they may express an interest in supporting some
of the projects.
However many projects you or other organisations can support,
it is useful to bring the teams together on a monthly basis to
maintain the network, as well as offer ad hoc advice and support.
This should be an informal gathering in a café or online, via a
webinar. It is a great opportunity for the teams to learn from one
another. You may also need to connect the teams with training
programmes or specialists.
It is also useful to set up an alumni group on one of the social
media platforms you are using for the event. This helps everyone
stay in touch and share ideas.
Grant delivery can be managed through a micro-capital grant
agreement. The event is a competition, so the judges minutes
can be used to justify the grant. Many of the teams will not have
formed legal entities, and as such cannot receive a grant from
UNDP. Thus you may need to use existing partners to facilitate
the delivery of the grants to the teams.
Follow up
sustainability 15

17. Be human! SICamps are all about different ways of doing things:
about people doing something because they love it and about
getting stuff done through networks of talented people rather
than organizational hierarchies of people telling one another
what to do.
This should be the spirit in which you run your event. Be friendly,
approachable, open, personal, honest and human.
Always explain why you are running your event - you should not
be running it if you do not believe strongly in what you are doing.
Running an SICamp is not an exact science. When you are wor-
king on something that is about people doing their own thing,
you never quite know what will happen. Make decisions on gut
instinct... on just having a feeling that something is going to work.
Adapt what you have read above to your local environment.
Experiment. Take big risks and make new mistakes.
SICamps are built on the generosity of many. Your judges, partici-
pants and prize-givers donate their time for free. They do it
because they are interested and passionate about what you are
doing. Give them some of the love back.
Be part of the network you are creating: the more you give it, the
more it will reward you in return.
Source: Social Innovation Camp Ltd.
Remember
16

18. Budget Template
annex 1
17

19. Units
1
1
1
1
3
3
10
10
16
16
1
1
60
60
60
60
60
60
60
60
60
1
1
1
1
1
60
1
6
1
Activity
Human Resources
Event facilitator (SIC ltd.)
Event coordinator
Assistant
Intern
Total Human Resources
Staff travel
Travel - event
Accommodation - event
Travel - Call for Ideas (itch workshops)
Accommodation - Call for Ideas
Total travel & Accommodation
Call for Ideas
Catering
Venues (provided by municipal authorities/local NGOs)
Total Call for Ideas
Venue
Hire - weekend
Hire - Sunday project presentation session (conference hall)
Total Venue
Catering (for sixty participants)
Friday night drinks/nibbles
Saturday breakfast
Saturday lunch
Saturday dinner
Sunday breakfast
Sunday lunch
Sunday project presentation drinks/nibbles
Total Catering
Participant travel/accommodation
Participant travel
Participant accommodation - event (Two nights, three days)
Total participant travel/accommodation
External suppliers
Website (use wordpress or tumblr for free)
Photographer/film crew (for the event)
Wifi & backup
Server space
Projector (and laptop)
Total external suppliers
Consumables
Pens, pencils, paper and sticky notes
Sundry
Total consumables
Total post-event project grants
Total Miscellaneous
Cost per unit (USD)
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
Total
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
18

20. Work plan
annex 2 19

21. preparation
week1 week2
call for ideas
month1 month2 month3 month1 month2 month3
judging
T-2week T-1week
event event follow up
week1
Venue
Judging venue (UNDP)
Final Venue (if required)
20

22. Communications
preparation
week1 week2
call for ideas
month1 month2 month3 month1 month2 month3
judging
T-2week T-1week
event event follow up
week1
Announce SICamp
Announce C4I
Halfway point C4I
1 Week to go
Blogging+Social Media
Announce ideas
Call for volunteers
Thanks for coming
Tell the world/post
Press release
Participant email management
Post-programme team liaising
Partner/sponsor mgmt
21

23. Operations
Booking: Itch workshops
Catering: Itch workshops
Travel: Itch workshops
Stakeholder map
Meet w/ stakeholders
Seed idea planning
Prize partners
Film: event
Catering: event
Tech: event
Props: event
Website management
Judges
Screen ideas
Core volunteers
Matchmake teams
Special team support
Meet idea owners
preparation
week1 week2
call for ideas
month1 month2 month3 month1 month2 month3
judging
T-2week T-1week
event event follow up
week1
22

24. Open vs. specific call for ideas
annex 3 23

25. Nature of the
problem statement
Open ended
Theme/Sector Specific
Issue Specific
Defined question
Example
openspecific
Pros Cons
Recommended
Find problems that matter
to you, and propose
solutions
Able to sense problems
from across society
Ideas submitted may not
be within UNDP s mandate
Find problems in the
education sector, and
propose solutions
Ideas/solutions will be
aligned UNDP s mandate
N/A
Find problems in the area
of energy efficiency, and
propose solutions
Ideas/solutions could be
immediately integrated
into the ongoing
projects/activities
Critical issues of which
UNDP is not aware may be
missed
Please propose ideas to
increase the use of public
transport
Ideas/solutions could be
immediately integrated
into the ongoing
projects/activities
Critical issues of which
UNDP is not aware may be
missed
24

26. Written by
George Hodge
Designed by
Nané Toumanian
With thanks to
Giulio Quaggiotto
Milica Begovic Radojevic
Maksym Klyuchar
Arndt Husar
Jasmina Belcovska Tasevska
Marija Novkovic
Glen Mehn