Proven innovations to accelerate change for social inclusion

The Accelerating Change for Social Inclusion (ACSI) project seeks to catalyse the transfer of proven innovations among European cities, capturing the learning on how to transfer social innovation from one place to another. The idea is identify successful projects from abroad that could be implemented locally to solve social problems instead of creating new solutions from zero.  

250+ initiatives facing problems about children at risk of exclusion, youth unemployment and long-term unemployment were identified worldwide. The 60 short-listed innovations were selected based on the following main criteria: evidence of impact, replication experience and sustainability model. This collection highlights those with proven evidence: the positive impact has been attributed to the innovation through experimental or quasi-experimental control tests.  

A personalised, diagnostically superior, low-cost breast examination method that provides an entirely new professional path for blind and visually impaired women, leveraging their ultra-sensitive touch.
Discovering Hands
Germany
A programme that provides youth from low-income communities with holistic support to graduate from high school and move on to post-secondary education, training, or employment with the aim of breaking the cycle of poverty.
Pathways to Education
Canada
An evidence-based emotional literacy programme that brings babies into the classroom during regular school hours to improve empathy and reduce violence among children from ages 5 to 12.
Roots of Empathy
Canada
An educational project that creates learning environments for children in vulnerable social situations, such as extreme poverty or forced displacement, using a learner-centred pedagogical model and in coordination with the formal school system.
Círculos de Aprendizaje
Colombia
A project offering after-school tutorial support, mentoring and career guidance for young people from the suburbs of large cities, that provides the necessary tools for their own learning and involves them as active agents of the institution.
Ikamva Youth
South Africa
A network of college-preparatory public charter schools that equips underserved students with the knowledge, skills and character strengths needed to succeed in college and life by sharing best practices and a set of operating principles.
KIPP
United States
A peer-to-peer support system of heterogeneous teams of unemployed people who, working through commitment and solidarity, reinforce skills, generate collective knowledge, become visible and collaborate in order to obtain employment.
Lanzaderas de Empleo
Spain
An intensive, flexible, family and community-based treatment programme that addresses all environmental systems negatively affecting chronic and violent juvenile offenders’ behaviour to improve the quality of life for both them and their families.
Multisystemic Therapy
United States
An organisation that aims to improve young care leavers' quality of life by connecting them with volunteer mentors and support resources in various complex aspects of their adult lives, such as emotional education and financial management.
Punt de Referència
Spain
An organisation that provides peer-to-peer mentoring and educational support programmes to help marginalised and at-risk youth integrate into mainstream professional and social opportunities.
Questscope
Jordan
Toolkit available for these innovations. Sign up or login to get guidelines to explore local implementation.