Kiran Bir Sethi, an Ahmedabad-based educationist — who won the BL Changemaker Award for social transformation in 2024 for her ‘Design for Change’ initiative — is currently focussed on not only expanding the global reach of her ingenious concept, but is also looking to host the first ever ‘I CAN Teachers’ Summit’ this November.
Design for Change works on a simple formula where children are asked to talk about an issue plaguing them or their surroundings, imagine a solution to that problem, act in a way to bring about a change and share this story of change with the world.
In this way, every idea or solution that the child brings to life not only breaks down barriers of conventional education but also proves that age is not a bar to usher in change.
Expanding network
Having floated an initiative in 2009 that goes beyond teaching and encouraging school-going students to solve everyday problems they face, the visionary founder of Riverside School in Ahmedabad, is now looking to expand the network of Design For Change (DFC) to 74 countries this year, thus reaching new communities and creating more young changemakers.
“This year, we are hosting the very first ‘I CAN Teachers’ Summit — a unique celebration of how teachers are using the FIDS (Feel, Imagine, Do and Share) process not just for service projects, but as a powerful pedagogical tool to foster critical thinking, agency, and active learning in classrooms. We are proud to collaborate with our Japan team as they lead preparations for the annual global Be The Change Celebration this November — a beautiful moment to showcase changemaker journeys from across the world and celebrate the impact of the DFC movement. These strategic areas reflect our shared vision of a world where every child believes in their ability to make a difference,” says Sethi.
Today, this concept has spread to more than 30,000 schools in 70-odd countries where 1.11 lakh teachers and 20 lakh children have participated.
“We have also compiled 15 innovations as our DFC Innovation playbook — practical, proven methods that expand the ways DFC is implemented across different contexts. We are redesigning our global resource platform to be a vibrant space where our partner educators can share the rich resources they have created, learn from one another, and collaborate to co-create new tools that deepen the DFC experience,” she added.
Published on September 16, 2025
Leave a Reply