SFERA is a collaborative space for social innovation in which interdisciplinary students belonging to Ibero-American universities can work together to tackle challenges that involve social and environmental transformations in favour of the local or global community.

Sfera is supported by four pillars:

· SOCIAL: Society at the heart of every challenge.

· FELLOWSHIP: The training and listening platform, which offers online tools that guarantee personalised attention backed by a network of professionals in social entrepreneurship.

· RESPONSABILITY: The focus on promoting the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals.

· ACTION: The multidisciplinary and international ecosystem developed to increase the transfer of knowledge from university to society through entrepreneurial social initiatives.

SFERA Experience offers Ibero-American universities the possibility of participating in an annual competition, providing their students with a unique experience to make their way into the world of social entrepreneurship.

We have detected that there are many initiatives whose objective is to teach entrepreneurs “how to do” and, however, there are few that focus on the previous step, “how to know what to do”. This means they start out without doing the necessary analysis of the initial situation that leads to a high failure rate among the young (the average age of the successful entrepreneur is 45).

That is why the objective of SFERA is to guide students on “how to know what to do”. To do this, we provide an online platform from which, through a challenge-based learning, we offer training and tutoring in methodologies for systems analysis.

The platform provides teams with toolkits and explanatory videos, as well as exercises to progress through the different stages of the challenge.

In each edition, SFERA will set a major global challenge associated with the Sustainable Development Goals, and the team of students representing each university will compete in the search for the most innovative ideas with the greatest social impact. In this first edition the great challenge will be “Education in Vulnerable Contexts”.

Each member of the winning team will obtain a scholarship for the Master’s Degree in Social Impact Entrepreneurship at UCJC, in order to become professional social entrepreneurs and develop their proposals.

Programme co-funded by the Edmond de Rothschild Foundation

METHODOLOGY

SFERA is based on the Kah Methodology, a word that in Sanskrit represents the conjunction of Body // Soul // Mind // Cloud // Word // Bird. The fusion between our SELF and our PLANET. As individuals we must aspire to discover our life’s purpose and connect it with our professional development. As a global community we must accept that we are part of a system in which we are all connected and interdependent. The ultimate goal of SFERA is to bring together the “I” and the “We”, promoting from the universities a new philosophy of entrepreneurial life in which each individual’s life’s purpose and the most pressing needs of society merge.

Figure3. Kah Methodology

Inspired by Theory U[1], fostered by the Presencing Institute at MIT’s Sloan School of Management, Kah offers us the possibility of promoting an entrepreneurial life ethos through the development of a three-fold journey:

1.    CONNECTING TO YOUR ESSENCE

Its objective is to guide you on your personal journey, seeking to facilitate self-awareness and discovering the role that each of us can play as social entrepreneurs. This journey is made up of the following tools:

  • Tool 1: Identity matrix
  • Tool 2: Values
  • Tool 3: Iceberg model
  • Tool 4: Mindfulness

2.    CONNECTING WITH OTHERS

Its objective is to guide you on your team journey by showing you new ways of observing, listening and talking, which will place you in the right starting point to face the complex challenges of our society.  This trip is made up of the following tools:

  • Tool 1: Communication and assertiveness
  • Tool 2: Communication styles
  • Tool 3: The process of Nonviolent Communication
  • Tool 4: Active listening

3.    CONNECTING WITH THE SYSTEM

Its objective is to guide you on your journey in society, promoting research and analysis of the challenge you have selected based on Systemic Practice. This journey is made up of the following tools:

  • Tool 1: Near star and Polar Star
  • Tool 2: Map the 5 Rs
  • Tool 3: Interaction loops
  • Tool 4: System map

GUIDELINES FOR PREPARING THE FINAL SFERA PROPOSAL

Participants are expected to adopt a systems thinking approach to the analysis they will carry out in their research and present their findings providing the following information:

  1. System map

The map should clearly show the relationships between the different parts of the system and how the combination of these relationships is leading to the chosen challenge. Although participants are not expected to map all the components of their system, they are expected to go beyond the mere creation of a stakeholder map, demonstrating the importance and complexity of the chosen social challenge, in a simple, attractive and clear way. understandable to a wide audience.

The map can be sent in any visual format you want, for example PowerPoint, Prezi, PDF, etc.

  1. Research summary

The research summary will provide a narrative supplement to the System Map and will include the following headings:

  • Introduction
    1. Reasons for selecting the challenge
    2. Team description
  • Research:
    1. Past and present of the challenge: causes, solutions developed so far and impacts
    2. Research methods carried out in the report (interviews will be provided, detailing the reason for selecting the interviewees and a summary of the interview, referencing articles consulted, web pages ..)
  • Systemic analysis:
    1. Near star and Polar star
    2. Map the 5 Rs
    3. System forces, causes and effects
    4. Interaction loops

The research summary (maximum 3,000 words not counting the bibliography) must be sent as a Word file (.doc or .docx) or PDF.

  1. Personal journal

The journal should include:

  • Reflections extracted from each of the sessions attended
  • Summary of the repercussions that the experience lived in SFERA may have on personal and professional life

FINAL ASSESSMENT

The final assessment will take place at the SFERA Awards Ceremony in the first week of July.  This assessment will weigh your time through the programme in the following way:

  • Session attendance (25%)
  • Personal journal (25%)
  • Research report (25%)
  • System map (25%)

[1] www.presencing.org