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Experience that Empowers
"Grassroots U offers one of the world's best educational experiences in social entrepreneurship."
- Jacen Greene, Program Manager Social Enterprise Initiatives, School of Business Administration, Portland State University
Grassroots U is no longer offering open enrollment courses.
Following courses are available for by contract or design your own
OVERVIEW
This practical course teaches students to how to use design skills to craft solutions to complex social problems. Using experiential learning methods that put affected people at the center of the design process, this multi-discipline course takes students though a design thinking process while imparting concrete development experience and building practical skills for the 21st century.
This accredited MBA course is being offered through Queensland University of Technology in Brisbane, Australia is appropriate for graduate students from all disciplines interested in social entrepreneurship, design, nonprofit management, social business, and international development.
GLOBAL HEALTH & SOCIAL INNOVATION
FOR:
Healthcare professional
Graduate students -health fields
FOR: Medical & Health Professionals (doctors, nurses, administrators & managers, public health paramedics, etc.)
Graduate students in health-related fields (MD, MPH, nursing, etc.); or MBAs & Masters in development interest in working in health sector.
10 days/11 nights
*Credits available
OVERVIEW
Global Health and Social Innovation is not a traditional medical mission focused on clinical work. Rather this a global health program is about creative problem solving and innovation in health care used to detect, treat, and manage disease of poor and vulnerable populations—those living on less than $2.00 per day—in India.
Through field exercises, site visits, workshops, and consulting projects participants explore major health challenges in India as well as innovative health care approaches and management practices to solve them.
Immerse in local culture and experience on-the-ground realities of delivering healthcare by working and living in affected communities
Apply health care skills in a developing country context through projects that address clinical, managerial, technology, and systems issues in health care access, cost, appropriateness and delivery to the poor.
Gain new skills, experience and ideas working collaboratively with Indian health professionals.
Learn design skills and innovate ways to improve healthcare for the poor in expert-led design workshops.
OVERVIEW
This program is geared for the graduate student or working professional interested in gaining credible work experience in international development and social enterprise. Pre-consulting training prepares participants how to render consulting services to social enterprises and nonprofits in a developing country context.
In expert-led workshops participants learn consulting best practices then apply lessons in the field exercises. Participants learn about performance challenges and key technical issues social entrepreneurs face through sites visits and living cases.
Participants interests, skills and experience are matched to the consulting needs of client organizations. They receive technical support and mentoring throughout their consulting projects.
Discussions, planning, reflection and counseling helps participants apply Grassroots U experience to their work and personal lives.
OVERVIEW
Using an experiential "field as classroom" approach in this introductory course, students learn how social entrepreneurship addresses social and economic injustice at the base of the pyramid.
Though field exercises and peer learning, and village homestays students take a deep dive into poverty, learning to use best practice frameworks and expert tools to examine its causes, effects and costs.
Students survey a range of social innovations and entrepreneurship models with their peers and develop their own creative solutions that help break the cycle of poverty.
Students apply learning during an intensive mentor-supported project with a local NGO, social enterprise or CSR project.
Students can opt to extend their stay after this course to gain more experience through a professionally run internship program.
OVERVIEW
Social enterprise Design is about finding business solutions to poverty and other social problems. This accredited MBA course teaches the complex and messy art of identifying business opportunities in social problems and then designing solutions using business vehicles and entrepreneurship.
International business students and MBA students from one of India’s leading business schools learn best practice design frameworks, and then apply them in field exercises, prototyping workshops and consulting assignments.
Through live cases, field visits, meetings with leading Indian social entrepreneurs, and social enterprise projects students examine social enterprise models, products, processes and scrutinize their ability to create social impact.
Throughout the course, students learn about pragmatic and nuanced aspects of designing social enterprises. Expert-led technical workshops, field exercises and consulting projects broach the immense strategic and operational challenges related to designing blended value social enterprises that work in practice.