Playing for Social Change

John Elkington

November 12, 2010

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I missed this when it first launched—but find it a fascinating initiative.  Playfulness didn’t appear in the founding set of values for Volans—but it should have done. One of the key reasons I have been so thrilled to be involved in the work of Aflatoun: Child Savings International, is the cross-connection to the more serious aspects of the world of child learning and play. And a key reason why we set up Volans, and opted for our 2 Bloomsbury Place HQ, was that we wanted to create the sort of playful environment that can stimulate creativity in all people of all ages.

In any event, Playing for Change is a major Swedish initiative that seeks to promote social enterprise focusing on the right of children and young people to play. In 2009, it issued a call for creative and innovative social entrepreneurs around Sweden to come up with ways of making the world a better place. Out of thousands of respondents, they selected 8 winners.

The vision is a world that acts swiftly and creatively to deal with global challenges – a world in which all children have the freedom and right to play. Playing for Change actively seeks out, supports and invests in social entrepreneurs who introduce new ideas that promote the right of children to grow and develop and to empower themselves and others through play.

The eight social entrepreneurs that were selected as winners are to be awarded a fulltime salary for up to three years, and professional guidance and coaching by some of Sweden’s top managers, and will also have access to expertise in the fields of entrepreneurship, business law, marketing and communications.

Hugo Stenbeck’s Foundation and the Kinnevik Group investment company are behind the initiative. The foundation was launched in 1968 by Hugo Stenbeck, the grandfather of its present head, Sophie Stenbeck. “We want to encourage the kind of freedom of thought and ingenuity that leads to real development,” Sophie Stenbeck says. “I’m absolutely convinced that Playing for Change will generate revolutionary ideas.”

The criteria

In assessing the social entrepreneurs who applied for support, Playing for Change used the following criteria:

  • The social entrepreneur’s idea must in some way promote the right of children and/or young adults to play.
  • The entrepreneur starts or runs a socially-oriented/community-oriented company or organization where the aim is to create a better society.
  • The entrepreneur is results-driven and keeps going until the idea has been put into practice.
  • The entrepreneur is creative and has the ability to think along new lines, to be flexible and to adapt whenever required.
  • The entrepreneur is reliable and is driven primarily by a desire to bring about social change.
  • The entrepreneur thinks globally and acts locally.

This is a scheme that really does deserve to go global.

Thanks to Andrea Spencer-Cooke in Australia for flagging this up for me and more here.