Spring 2017

Issue

Spring 2017

Volume 15, Number 2

All too often people use intuition, along with trial and error, to devise social programs. But we now have a large and growing body of knowledge about how people interact with their environment and with each other. The cover story in the spring 2017 issue of Stanford Social Innovation Review, “The New Science of Designing for Humans,” discusses how the social sector can draw on behavioral science to design more effective programs.

Features

Design Thinking

The New Science of Designing for Humans

By Piyush Tantia 8

The rise of behavioral science and impact evaluation has created a new way for engineering programs and human interactions.

Essentials of Social Innovation

Stop Raising Awareness Already

By Ann Christiano & Annie Neimand 22

It’s time for activists and organizations to adopt a more strategic approach to public interest communications.

Education

Embedding Education in Everyday Life

By Guy Stuart, Jorrit de Jong, & Linda Kaboolian

A growing number of organizations are experimenting with ways to embed learning in everyday encounters as a way to connect with hard-to-reach youth and adults.

Government

Data Disrupts Corruption

By Carlos Santiso & Ben Roseth

Document leaks, big data, and open government are reviving the fight against global graft.

What’s Next

Technology

A Different View of Mapping

By Noël Duan

New platforms are using crowdsourcing and open-source technology to challenge Google’s dominance over how we see the world.

Education

Civics for the Internet Age

By Jamie Stark

A new, bipartisan curriculum aims to help US students make sense of a highly polarized country.

Environment

From Eats to Electricity

By Kristine Wong 1

A British entrepreneur hopes that by transforming food waste into biogas, his plant can help a community gain a sense of local environmental stewardship.

Field Report

Arts & Culture

Collaborative Fundraising

By Sarah Murray

The Contributor Development Partnership is revitalizing public broadcasting with a fundraising model that can help other large nonprofits with local affiliates.

Health

Health-Clinic Entrepreneurs

By Michael Seo 1

South Africa’s Unjani Non Profit Corporation is boosting community health by helping nurses launch their own clinics.

Social Enterprise

Workers of the World, Buy!

By Brandon Keim

iCare is enabling Southeast Asian workers to purchase the basic goods of middle-class life without falling into debt.

Case Study

Government

Social Innovation Comes to Pennsylvania Avenue

By Monica Potts 3

President Obama experimented with radically new ways of maximizing the impact of social programs.

Viewpoint

Philanthropy & Funding

In Defense of Pet Causes

By Ian David Moss 7

The effective altruism movement could be more effective if it encouraged adoption of its principles within causes and geographies, not just across them.

Environment

Marine Conservation 2.0

By Steve Rocliffe

Saving the oceans requires the buy-in of coastal communities directly affected by environmental protections.

Education

Opening Prison Doors

By Dirk Van Velzen 1

We must create educational opportunities to reduce recidivism among prison inmates and empower them to lead successful lives post incarceration.

Research

Social Enterprise

Banking on Microfinance

By Corey Binns

Transforming into banks has given microfinance institutions greater sustainability, but perhaps at the cost of mission drift.

Business

Executive Inaction

By Corey Binns

Executives fail to support corporate social responsibility more from a lack of moral motivation than from ignorance of the facts.

Economic Development

No Strings Attached

By Corey Binns

Worries about the negative effects of unconditional cash transfers to relieve poverty are greatly exaggerated.

Social Services

Too Many Welfare Orgs?

By Corey Binns

While communities can benefit from the entry of more welfare nonprofits, there is a point after which greater numbers are counterproductive.

Book Reviews

Review

Human Rights

The Façade of Post-Feminism

Review By Vanessa Iarocci 2

A new book shows why—despite the supposed ascendency of women and girls—feminism can’t rest on its laurels.

Review

Philanthropy & Funding

A Rational Gut Check

Review By Benjamin Soskis 2

A Yale psychologist offers a passionate account of the negative effects of passion but ends up with a more temperate conclusion.

Review

Economic Development

Is Housing a Human Right?

Review By Michael B. Tietz

Has capitalism failed to provide adequate housing, and if so, where do we go from here?

Review

Collaboration

Collaborative Cues

Review By Mark Kramer

Ben Emmens provides a primer on collaboration between different organizations and sectors.

Last Look

Technology

Internet on a Bike

By Eric Nee

Google and Tata Trusts partner to bring the Internet to women in rural India.

Social Innovation and Social Transition in East Asia

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- What’s Next
  
  New approaches to social change
- Field Report
  
  Profiles of innovative work
- Case Study
  
  An inside look at one organization
- Viewpoint
  
  Insights from the front lines
- Research
  
  Highlights from scholarly journals
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  Reviews of new and notable titles
- Editor’s Note
  
  Perspectives on the print magazine issues from SSIR's editor-in-chief
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- Last Look
  
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