iAM Vol 9 Call for Submission
What is iAM?
iAM: Ideas, Actions, Movements is a multimedia e-Magazine published by the Ontario Council for International Cooperation (OCIC) that promotes an increased awareness and understanding of global issues among Canadian youth. iAM encourages critical thinking and presents new perspectives from a variety of actors, through articles, photo essays, graphic design, podcasts, videos and more. iAM examines how theory and action intersect, looks at how to put reflection into practice, and unites marginalized voices from around the world in the name of global social justice, human dignity and participation for all. View past volumes at ocic.on.ca/iam.
What is Innovation? Why does it Matter?
Innovation, is often viewed as a buzzword because it can be understood in multiple ways. In a broad sense, innovation is the application of ideas that are new and generate useful solutions to complex issues. Innovation for development is a transformational process that seeks to find tangible and actionable solutions to existing challenges for sustainable development.
In the International Cooperation sector, innovation is about engaging in new approaches to business models, technologies, and partnerships that add value for all stakeholders of development. Innovation is about nurturing dynamism within communities. By co-creating innovative products and services, local populations have more agency and ownership of development within their communities and are empowered as change agents.
Outlined in the UN 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, indicator number 9 Innovation and Infrastructure aims to “build resilient infrastructure, promote inclusive and sustainable industrialization and foster innovation”. The UN Report on the SDG’s suggests that it is through “enhanced international and domestic financial, technological and technical support, research and innovation, and increased access to information and communication technology” that innovation can be utilized to foster economic growth. However, innovation is not always positive or associated with economic growth and in some cases creates more challenges than solutions to development. iAM Vol 9 seeks to push beyond the conventional narrative of innovation leading to economic growth and focus on the process of innovation. Innovation for development is not only about creating new ways of doing, it is a philosophical change in thinking and is about sparking new opportunities for individuals and communities to combat the challenges facing the world today. For example, gender inequality, climate change and war are not constrained by borders, they are issues that need cooperation among all people and countries to solve.
iAM Vol 9 will critically explore how the application of new ideas can create value-added solutions to the challenges of sustainable development, or perhaps create more complexities. Innovation, is particularly significant for our increasingly globalized world and by bringing together a plethora of knowledge agents on the subject matter, iAM Vol 9 seeks to create a dynamic and constructive conversation about the nature and types of relationships, the use of information and other technologies, increased partnerships, shared best practices, and diverse ways to develop knowledge, processes, products and services that can facilitate development innovation.
For iAM Volume 9 looks for multimedia pieces including…
- Articles
- Photo Essays
- Case Studies
- Videos
- Podcasts
- Music
- Visual Art
- Infographics and Data Visualization
… that creatively and critically explore areas such as:
- Social Innovation
- Innovation towards Gender Equality
- Innovation towards Social Justice and Resilience
- Innovation towards Accessibility
- Innovation towards Technology
- Toolkits for Effective Innovation
- Core challenges for NGOs
- Innovation in Community Based Peacebuilding and Reconciliation
- Innovation towards the SDGs
- Innovation by Whom for Whom?
- Innovation within Indigenous Communities
- Innovation Challenges and Critics
- Innovation and Implementation
…and more
Submissions should inspire critical thinking and reflective practice, as well as represent diverse perspectives. We highly encourage submissions using creative, innovative media, infographic visuals, and that touch on relevant, accessible topics for a young, Canadian and global audience.
View OCIC’s iAM Vol 9 Call for Submissions
View past volumes of iAM
Email your submission to communications@ocic.on.ca by October 31, 2017 at 5:00PM EST