Partnering for Vocation and Engagement
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Go to Changeshop: Partnering for Vocation and Engagement.
My idea is to start an online vocational training/civic engagement match program with multinational corporations (MNCs), universities, and university students as partners. MNCs benefit from fresh and cost-effective knowledge, universities offer unique opportunities to their students, and students win most through building practical skill-sets by hands-on experience on projects with social impact.
About You
Name Your Entry
Partnering for Vocation and Engagement
About You
About Your Organization
Organization Name
Ashoka
Organization Website
Country where this project is creating social impact
United States
Is your organization a
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This Entry is about (Issues)
Innovation
The Need: What problem are you trying to solve?
I'm trying to solve the problem of inadequate educational training in emerging markets due to a lack of private sector engagement.
The Solution: What is your solution? Be specific!
My idea is to start a vocational training/civic engagement program with multinational corporations (MNCs), universities, and university students as partners. My idea involves providing a portal for MNCs to be connected with university students in emerging markets (such as Mexico) to have the students engage in project-based learning. The students would engage in projects that could range from product development to country-specific consulting projects (e.g. market research) in order to provide professional development opportunities, in addition to offering the students academic credit through their univeristies. Eligible projects that MNCs could propose would be ones designed with a social impact in mind. These projects would be the catalyst for students to employed at local subsidiaries of the MNCs, or serve to strengthen the employability of the students in general.
The Model: Walk us through a specific example of how your solution makes a difference; include your primary activities
Primary activities would be connecting universities and students through an online portal where both interested students and interested MNCS could post their desire to work on projects. One of the benefits of using an online solution is that MNCs can receive country-specific knowledge of the same project is worked on in two countries, say Mexico and Tanzania. The online platform would also provide a space through which students share updates on their progress with the company (it would look like an online project-management tool). Furthermore, the online solution would include a blog or Twitter that the companies could use for their CSR activities.
The Marketplace: Who are your peers and competitors? Identify others also working to address the needs you are and what differentiates you from them. What challenges could these players pose to your success or growth?
Many MNCs and their CSR departments have taken it upon themselves to identify international opportunities such as this one. Many American universities might be partnering with MNCs to offer something like this in the States, though there is no search or matching platform for companies to offer such vocational training in developing countries.
 | 39 weeks ago Manny Peralta updated this Competition Entry. |
| 40 weeks ago Manny Peralta updated this Competition Entry. |
| 40 weeks ago Manny Peralta submitted this idea. |
