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Created by the Public Governance Directorate

This website was created by the OECD Observatory of Public Sector Innovation (OPSI), part of the OECD Public Governance Directorate (GOV).

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Validation that this is an official OECD website can be found on the Innovative Government page of the corporate OECD website.

Toolkit

Grounded Change

Grounded Change is an approach and social innovation methodology used by the company InWithForward. It means flipping the order in which most social policies & services are made. Rather than start at the top, in boardrooms, they start at the bottom, with user needs. They have named 7 kinds of interactions that they believe are the most important to weave into policy, procurement, service delivery, and community activities. This resource contains the context, reasons, and mechanisms of Grounded…
Toolkit

MaRS Library

The MaRS Library contains articles, templates, reports, workbooks, reference guides and videos covering a range of topics, including accounting, funding, governance, intellectual property, leadership, legal issues, marketing, product management, selling, social innovation, strategy and talent. It is intended for an entrepreneurial context, but it can be adapted for a public sector organisational context.
Toolkit

Models of Impact

A Role-Playing and Ideation Game That Simulates The Process Of Launching A Social Enterprise. The game walks players through a series of activities in order to simulate the process of ideating and launching a social enterprise in four steps: Learn, Invent, Program, and Report. It is available via a pay-what-you-want digital download, and includes instructions for gameplay, a glossary of 200+ business models, and a suite of other resources.
Toolkit

DIY Learn

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DIY Learn is a set of online modules to help development practitioners understand and embed practical tools to support social innovation in their work. It contains a series of free, 2-hour courses as well as a trainers handbook. It was created for international development practitioners but is applicable for public sector staff as well.
Toolkit

Scenario Exploration System (SES)

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The Scenario Exploration System (SES) is a serious game for future simulation (2035 and 2050). It involves participants exploring their long-term objectives in contrasting scenario-related contexts while interacting with other stakeholders. By creating a realistic journey towards the future, the SES generates a safe space to simulate possible responses connected to any issue of interest to the participants. There are two editions: "Sustainable Transitions" and "Food Safety and Nutrition…
Toolkit

Game of Life 2050

Basic BASIC:
Allows reuse
The Game of Life 2050 draws on scenarios for a sustainable European society in 2050. It is an interactive board game in which players consider four scenarios that describe the radical changes needed to be living within key environmental boundaries by 2050. The game takes a minimum of 2 hours to run (ideally 4 hours) and involves 5-7 actors (each played by one person or in pairs) and one Games Master. Play consists of three ‘rounds’ in which actors are given a set of circumstances that have…
Toolkit

Project Cycle Hackers Kit

The Hackers’ Kit supports different types of discussions around project and program design. It's aim is to normalise innovation in a large organization by embedding new practices in key project management business processes. Worked on and tested with over 25 project teams in the United Nations Development Programme, the toolkit is intended for an international development context but could be applied to any large organisation with a desire to innovate. It includes a wall map of the process,…
Toolkit

The Social Design Methods Menu

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The toolkit provides an approach and methods those looking for a new way to tackle social and policy issues by making services more valuable to customers and users, easier to use, with fewer resources wasted on implementing the right ideas in the wrong way (or on the wrong ideas entirely). This approach involves spending time understanding people’s experiences and resources on their own terms, taking methodical steps to analyse and address these with their active participation, and pushing for…
Toolkit

Innovation Labs: A Do-It-Yourself Guide

Basic BASIC:
Allows reuse
This document gives you the information you need to create your own lab. This could be a UNICEF lab—or could simply be a space of creativity that is aimed at solving significant global problems through the application of dedicated local resources. It provides background on labs, defining a lab's purpose, budget and scoping, and examples of different lab models (outreach/training, product development, service development, operational research, and content broadcasting). It also includes…
Toolkit

The Service Design Playbook

This resource describes a comprehensive method for the BC Public Service (BCPS) to design services for British Columbians, although it is also applicable to other governments. The Playbook is intended to help ensure public service designers have the necessary tools and corporate support to make change. It includes an overview of service design, a discussion of when and how to use it, as well as detailed guidance and tools for the various methods used in service design. The methods are organised…