Social Change Approaches

Societies face multiple and interrelated social issues, such as climate change and sustainability, inequalities in health and well-being, reconciling work and care, and social cohesion and diversity. Effective approaches are needed to parry these challenges.

What did the collaboration entail?

In the 'Social Change Approaches' course, students in the Master's programme 'Social Challenges, Interventions and Policies' are trained to design approaches to address these challenges, evaluate their effectiveness, and plan their implementation, working with stakeholders.

Students worked on challenges submitted by the Red Cross, Gooi & Utrecht district, among others. For example, one student team conducted research on what motivates young volunteers and how to attract them. Another student team gave advice on measuring diversity and inclusion within the organisation.

Goal of collaboration in education

Social issues are often not easy to solve. By working on real-life problems during this course, students gain insight into their complexity. Students can apply their knowledge, design solutions that match real needs and challenges, and learn how to effectively implement their ideas in society. For stakeholders, this collaboration offers an opportunity to benefit from new perspectives and fresh ideas from students. The aim is to come up with innovative solutions that have a real impact on society.

The recommendation of the students gives us a good start to start working on this matter.

(Intended) result

The student teams deliver final products relevant to the organisations they work with. These final products can be in any form, such as a description of an intervention they have done, an evaluation report, an implementation plan, as well as a webinar, workshop or presentation, or more creatively, such as a theatre piece or a photo exhibition.