Master in Social Innovation for Sustainable Development

Who Attends this Master?

The Master is intended for:

• Officials and/or professionals working in the public and private sectors, UN Agencies, foundations and NGOs
• Recent university graduates from developing and developed countries
• People working or interested in social innovation social entrepreneurship and related research
• Members of cooperatives

The essential requirements for admission are a university degree (minimum of three years) and fluency in English.

This one-year Master’s programme is intensive by design. It combines three phases: a distance learning component,
a face-to-face component, and home-based research.

Distance Learning Supported by a Tutoring Service

Students learn and practice through an online platform and live webinars.

Module 1: Social innovation, societal challenges and new skills

At the end of the Module, students will be able to:

• Explore the diverse set of skills to effectively address complex social challenges and drive positive change
• Explore and understand social innovation concepts
• Navigate the intersection of social challenges and social innovation
• Examine the role of social innovators from across sectors as agents of change
• Understand how social innovation can address societal challenges while nurturing vital skills for the evolving landscape
  of social change
• Delve into the key elements of project design

Module 2: Social innovation for productive employment and decent work

At the end of the Module, students will be able to:

• analyse the challenges in promoting productive employment and decent jobs
• explore the intersection between social innovation and the creation of decent jobs
• understand how social innovators can influence productive employment by fostering new competencies, opening up
  new markets, and ultimately leading to the emergence of new job opportunities

Module 3: Social Innovation policies and tools & the contribution to the SDGs

At the end of the Module, students will be able to:

• Better analyse the key drivers of change and social transformations in their respective community context
• Applying in-depth knowledge of key objectives of the 2030 Sustainable Development Agenda
• Identify and implement social innovation actions in the relevant fields
• Examine how social innovation strategies can target and tackle pivotal global challenges
  manage social innovation collaborative processes
• Single out successful social innovation mechanisms and transfer them into different contexts

Module 4: From Public Policies to Social Business: Crafting a Social Innovation Plan

At the end of the Module, students will be able to:

• Explore the social innovators’ role across sectors
• Examine how policies shape social issues and build a social economy ecosystem
• Better analysis of the key dimensions of social business and their differences from ordinary business
• Craft and apply social innovation models to the achievement of SDGs in different contexts and scales
• Identify and implement social innovation actions in the relevant fields
• Identify unconventional management models for social innovation and collaborative processes
• Single out organizational hybrids and apply them to manage
• Develop a coherent strategy for ensuring adequate scaling up of their social innovation projects and engage the most
  relevant stakeholders (PPP)

Face-to-face Phase at the Itcilo Campus in Turin

Module 5: The importance of measuring impact results

At the end of the module students will be able to:

• Explore the methodologies and tools for monitoring and evaluating the impact of social innovation on both ecological
  and societal aspects
• Understand the principles of environmental impact assessment in the context of social innovation
• Understand the principles of social impact evaluation in the context of social innovation
• Define the most appropriate methodologies and indicators for monitoring and evaluating the eco-social impact of their
  social innovation ideas

Module 6: Synergising Social Impact Finance and Sustainable Social Innovation

At the end of the module, students will be able to:

• Describe the key aspects of the social impact of finance
• Better understanding of the key elements for accessing social impact finance for development and growth
• Select different fields of application of the Social Impact Finance
• Apply social impact finance models to the achievement of SDGs in different contexts and scales.
• Single out the most apt social impact finance tool to manage social innovation actions and ensure their sustainability
  over time

Home-based Research for Thesis/Project Work

Through home-based research, students complete an original project work related to a specific environmental and/or
social challenge. The project should be testable at the country or community level. Tutors and professors will provide
guidance.

Methodology

The Master merges theoretical and practical learning methodologies that are designed to engage and motivate students. This Master draws from the ITCILO’s training portfolio, the ILO, UN-related agencies, and international organizations, the Università di Torino’s academic expertise and leading international research centres and universities. Students interact with their environment through a hands-on learning approach, which includes case studies, workshops, and group exercises. Each student develops a unique final project.

What Topics Does this Master Cover?

The Master prepares students to become leaders in sustainable social innovation endeavours.

• Innovation for sustainable development
• New skills, productive employment and decent work
• Leadership, collective intelligence, and creativity
• Public policy, social business, finance, and impact evaluation

What will I Learn?

Participants will acquire tools and techniques to anticipate change and respond to complex situations in their respective relevant fields.

• A crucial role for social innovators and entrepreneurs in the implementation of the 2030 SDGs is expected in the medium term.
• Government agencies are encouraged to seek out “the best social innovations” in their programmes.
• Entrepreneurs of tomorrow are requested to use their new models to achieve results and scale their services, including public-private partnerships.

What will I be able to Do?

Students learn how to design the social development policies and principles of the future.

• Design responsive solutions that fit the 2030 Agenda framework
• Foster collaborative networks and spark public action
• Analyse the impact of social innovation projects.

The Master's duration is 1 year with only 9 weeks of face-to-face learning activities in Turin, Italy. This makes the programme accessible and affordable for working practitioners and students from all over the world.