Since 2018 the Center for Socially Engaged Design (C-SED) at the University of Michigan has been partnered with the Setco Foundation based in Gujarat, India. Setco Foundation is the corporate social responsibility (CSR) arm of Setco Automotive, an automotive parts manufacturing company. In India, CSR initiatives are governmentally mandated of companies of certain value. Setco Foundation is a model CSR working in women’s and children’s education, health, and nutrition initiatives.

In 2019, through many conversations with the president of the Setco foundation, and after partnering on a design fieldwork project that involved undergraduate students working directly with community members to prioritize assets and challenges that the foundation might address, we saw an opportunity to collaborate on a socially engaged design learning lab where members of the broader corporate social responsibility community in India be introduced to the framework of socially engaged design while using it to share and problem solve around challenges facing their organizations and communities they serve. 

Myself and co-facilitator Ann Verhey-Henke designed and executed a 2-day executive education session in Mumbai in November 2019 that was a mixture of discussion, case study examples, hands-on activities, and practice. Topics included: stakeholder mapping, preparing design interviews, data synthesis, ideation, and prototyping. Throughout the two days, there were reflection points embedded for participants to document ideas and processes that might resonate in their work. Portions of these reflections were shared on post-its and synthesized collaboratively for the sake of group learning and active community reflection.

Participants: education leaders, corporate social responsibility leaders of various sized companies, community organizers, teachers, healthcare workers, and NGO leaders from across Gujarat and Maharashtra.

Facilitators: Charlie Michaels and Ann Verhey-Henke