The Caravan of Ideas

The city of Örebro has a long tradition of shoe making. There is an old local saying: “It´s the one who wear the shoes that knows where it´s aching.” We are convinced that there are many people in the county who have ideas on how to tackle societal challenges in new, more effective and smarter ways than before. However, people from these groups or areas may not have the knowledge on how to realize their ideas. Typically when working with community development and similar topics, we organize workshops and events at a conference venue, often in a larger city with good communications. This approach works well in most cases, but there is a tendency to only reach “the usual suspects”, thereby missing important perspectives of the groups most affected. The caravan of ideas is a way to turn this practice on its head. We go to places where people’s shoes ache, with the expectation that they will have ideas on how to make them fit better.
The caravan of ideas tour is a simple idea: Put together a group of advisors from several organisations, with expertise in differing relevant fields, take a caravan and travel to the areas where shoes ache. Share a cup of coffee and listen. The group of advisors is able to consult in the development of ideas as well as on possible financial solutions. Stakeholders are citizens and communities in need of new bottom-up solutions to societal challenges.