Giving Compass' Take:

• Sanjay Fernandes details how a movement uses tech to empower communities in Colombia to collaborate on solutions for pressing issues.

• Why is it important we make sure technological innovations are available to all members of communities? What are you doing to study the impact of tech solutions to conflict and violence in communities around the world?

• Read more about how some innovators are using tech to address gun violence.


Decades of armed conflict and violence have silenced residents in Colombia. In 2014, SOLE Colombia began a project to break that silence. SOLE (Self-Organized Learning Environments) is part of a global movement to use technology to empower groups to learn, collaborate, and most importantly, to solve real-life problems! In Colombia, they have reached more than 450,000 people of all ages in 2000+ schools, public libraries, and public spaces in collaboration with the government, private companies, the social sector and citizens.

SOLE Colombia convenes diverse participants from across Colombia to discuss issues such as gender, education, and the economy.

As groups explore issues that they care about, they gain ownership to collaborate for positive change. Fostering belonging and momentum are key to the success of these groups, especially in this unprecedented remote environment, and this is the challenge that the LabStorm forum addressed. Here are the highlights from the conversation:

Redefine belonging.

How can SOLE discern what motivates people to engage in self-organized learning groups?  Participants encouraged SOLE to create multiple feedback loops to better understand why people engage and why being self-managed and autonomous is powerful.

Create space for networks to self organize.

Social movements around the world are linking networks of networks and SOLE can apply this design to accelerate decentralized empowerment and collective impact.

Lean into the power of the human element using technology. 

Participants shared apps that enable learning group members to have asynchronous conversations that SOLE can analyze and pull insights from. LabStorm attendees encouraged SOLE to continue to be creative and adaptive because if people see their impact, they’ll be motivated to stay engaged, even if it is online.

Read the full article about using tech to empower communities by Sanjay Fernandes at FeedbackLabs.