Ubuntu.Lab | Africa
Ubuntu.Lab offers official Theory U applied innovation and capacity building programs for change makers, emerging and established leaders, innovators and every active African citizen, who would like to be part of co-creating the African continent’s future. Ubuntu.Lab offers a practical response to the challenges confronting the African continent as a whole, including: poverty; unemployment; environmental degradation; poor health; corruption; and different forms of fundamentalism. It is rooted in the philosophy and life-force of the Ubuntu way, that helps us understand our individual and collective selves as part of Mother Nature.
Watch the story told by Martin Kalungu-Banda | Learn more about Ubuntu.Lab
MIT CoLab | Americas
CoLab is a MIT-based hub for collaborative action and innovation. CoLab aspires to support and create innovations with communities at the margins to democratize economies and build self-determination. The u-school | Presencing Institute partnership with CoLab focuses on financial services as an essential element of economic democracy and self-determination. Through this partnership we have supported the development of the ‘Just Money’ program and a course on ‘Banking as if Society Mattered’ that:
- Apply Theory U to financial sector transformation
- Provide capacity building in just banking
- Develop knowledge and capture best practices
- Offer free, open source learning materials to a broad audience
UID IDEAS | Asia Pacific
United in Diversity emerged from an education forum co-founded in 2003 by MIT Sloan School of Management, University of Indonesia, and GT Group Sinar Harapan, and established later as a Foundation to work with leading global and local Universities, think tanks and tri Sector partners to build trust for our Common Future. United In Diversity facilitates tri-sector leaders to create and implement sustainable solutions to the region's biggest challenges. IDEAS (Innovative Dynamic Education and Action for Sustainability) is a transformational leadership program offered by United in Diversity (UID) in collaboration with MIT Sloan Global Programs and the u-school for Transformation by Presencing Institute. The program is designed to engage leaders across sectors to jointly take on complex sustainable development challenges, that include conservation, education, and business/social enterprise across a one-year, practice-based journey. The curriculum of the program includes an introduction to System Thinking, Theory U and other problem-solving and innovation principles, building prototypes, retreats, field trips, shadowing, and other group-based activities.
Watch the story told by Shobi Lawalata and by Cherie Nursalim | Learn more about United in Diversity
Vibrant Manifestations | Latin America
Across Latin America, there is a growing movement for awareness-based systems change that has emerged out of the commitment and creativity of hundreds of practitioners and activists, making possible to bridge all u-school global initiatives (GAIA, u-lab, Global Forum, among others) with the region. A broad movement of Social Presencing Theater is using Social Arts for societal transformation. In several Latin American universities, Theory U courses are part of the curriculum for students and postgraduates. Dozens of projects, strongly related to grassroots, social and organizational entrepreneurship initiatives, are using Theory U to activate ecosystem shifts. This robust, horizontal, participatory Theory U community is a critical and valued pillar of the u-school infrastructure. And the ancient indigenous sources of wisdom are its inspiration.