Draft:Social Innovation Academy

The Social Innovation Academy (SINA) is a framework for self-organized residential learning communities that aims to equip marginalized young adults with tools on how to start their own social entreprise.^[1][2] It consists of a structure that assists young adults to adopt a non-tradition education.^[3] It seeks to help their participants become job creators, turning challenges into solutions.^[4]

In 2006, German volunteer, Etienne Salborn^[5], volunteered for a year in an orphanage in Mpigi, Uganda.^[6] At the end of his volunteering tenure in Mpigi in 2007, he felt moved by the young orphans, who were only educated until the end of primary school due to lack of finance, at 12 or 13 years old.^[6][7] Upon returning to his home in Germany, Salborn and other volunteers at the orphanage decided to establish a non-governmental organization named Jangu e. V., to fund the secondary school education of the orphans.^[6][8] Jangu, derives from the local language of Mpigi, Luganda and means "come [here]".^[7][9] As the orphans graduated secondary school and reached adulthood, Salborn discovered that the graduates had trouble securing employment.^[8][10]

In May 2014, as a solution to this obstacle Salborn co-developed the Social Innovation Academy (SINA).^{[11] [12]} SINA's mission is create spaces to train the young job seekers in leadership and entrepreneurship to evolve them into job creators.^[10]

By 2016, the SINA community in Mpigi grew to 70 membres.^[6]

SINA operates as a network of residential communities, each typically house 50 to 100 young adults. There are SINAs in 23 countries worldwide. Everything is self-organised and all the scholars are given a role with the result that everyone has a responsibility in the community.^[13][14] The responsibility given to the participants give them confidence and room to develop critical skills to create their own social enterprises and eventually become financially self-sufficient.^[14] Authority is handled through Holacracy, which allows decisions to be self-organized, inclusive and adaptive.^{[13] [15] [16]} Participants are expected to develop social enterprises during their time in the community.

There are many guiding principals of SINA, such as freesponsibility.^[17] Freesponsibility is the mix of freedom and responsibility.^[11][16] Under this concept, participants are learn to deconstruct their prior limiting beliefs, discover their purpose, and expand their practical skills. The learning takes place by working on challenges themselves, alongside the guidance of mentors and receiving peer feedback.^[13]

SINA has received the following recognitions:

• 2018 – UNHCR Non-Governmental Organization Innovation Award^[18]
• 2019 – First place, Pan-African Award for Entrepreneurship in Education^[19]
• 2022 – Tony Hsieh Award and Modern Work Award ("Modern Work Shaper" category)^[20]
• 2023 – Ockenden International Prize^[21]
• 2024 – Business Ecosystem Alliance Zero Distance Award (Transformational category)^[22]
• 2025 – Business Ecosystem Alliance Zero Distance Award (Benchmark Innovators category)^[23]