The Safari Method, Thijs van Exel (Kennisland)

The Safari Method

“If I had an hour to solve a problem, I’d spend 55 minutes thinking about the

problem and 5 minutes thinking about solutions.”

making Dutch society smarter

definitions

what’s a ‘good question’?

• names a specific population group that is not well served by existing policies, programs, or services

• identifies what’s ‘problematic’ about how that group interfaces with existing policies, programs, services, etc

• frames a question with an assumed positive outcome

youth unemployment:

Too many young people, ages 18-27, are not in full-time work and instead reliant on benefits and government programs. How do we create more jobs for young people and get those young people into the jobs?

Youth unemployment in Amsterdam: scale and numbers

2010 2012

‘lost generation’

negative appeal

focus on what’s bad

Existing services (examples)• youth desk

• apprenticeships

• trainee positions

• Ajax Campus

Challenges

• Safari = short-lived: how to scale and make sustainable?

• How to keep these networks alive & productive

• How to make the ‘cross-learning’ enduring practice?