We are excited to announce the latest Digital Principles case study which looks at how the Digital Opportunity Trust (DOT) engaged youth entrepreneurs from all over the world to develop their new platform, Innojo. Digital Principles case studies are intended to highlight how development organizations incorporate technology into their projects and programs and use the Principles for Digital Development to guide their work. DOT became a Digital Principles endorser in March 2017.

DOT is a youth-led movement of daring social innovators who have the tools, knowledge, and networks to create opportunities to transform their own communities. The organization embraces the movement of young people as extraordinary actors in shaping the development agenda around the world. To enable these efforts, DOT has created Innojo, a platform used by young innovators to progress their social enterprises from ideas towards product development and implementation.

As a learning organization that is continually innovating, DOT is highly responsive to observations in its programming, youth network, and engagements with external experts and international networks. Through its learning, Innojo was made to enable emerging social innovators to build a support network comprised of peers and mentors. Innojo is « innovation » and « journey » combined – it supports youth on their innovation journey. Innojo is meant to guide young innovators from the end of training programs and school through the process of mapping out their business ideas and executing them in their communities. Youth social entrepreneurs utilize journey maps to organize their ideas and visualize their plans.

This Digital Principles case study outlines key activities and lessons learned by DOT throughout the design and development process as the organization learned from their youth beneficiaries, co-designed with them, and how they ultimately structured the process to incubate youth-led innovation. The goal of this case study is to provide practitioners in the development space with high-level recommendations and inspiration for new ways to approach Designing with the User.

You can learn more about Innojo and DOT by downloading the case study here: https://digitalprinciples.org/resource/dots-supportive-platform-for-young-social-entrepreneurs/

Claudine Lim

Manager at The Principles for Digital Development

Claudine first joined the Digital Impact Alliance in October 2017, shortly after receiving a dual masters in international relations and public relations from the Maxwell School and S.I. Newhouse School at Syracuse University. After working as a Program Coordinator and Researcher for DIAL’s Business Operations, she is currently working with the Principles of Digital Development.