Understanding Impact4change
There are times where you see it on social media, disheartening posts on communal problems. There are times where you hear it on the radio, interviews with struggling small business owners who seek inspiration. There are even times where you personally observe issues around your own community. When problems like these circulate, there can be moments of helplessness: “I want to bring change, but what can I do about it?” The Impact4Change platform in collaboration with Taylor’s Mereka Makerspace (TMM) and Taylor’s University aims to dispel this helplessness by providing a space to connect passionate changemakers to industry players to curate solutions for problems of all sorts, from the issues of small businesses and organisations to communal problems. Any passionate individual or industry player can drop by the Impact4Change website and “submit a challenge” on the issues faced by them or the community around them. Not enough garbage cans in the area? Too much unsustainable waste? Need to figure out a better marketing model? How to improve the user experience of your organisation’s mobile app? It can all be brought to the platform! Ardent Taylor’s University students who relate with the problems posed can then engage with the relevant stakeholders and collaborate to invent solutions. This platform is integrated with the Multidisciplinary Learning Experience (MLE) and the U4 module of Taylor’s University to provide the students a hands-on experience in dealing with challenges around them. However, all Taylor’s University are welcomed to engage in issues that resonate with them. Find out more on how the initiative works here!
Ongoing Initiatives
The sky's the limit when it comes to Impact4Change as there are many creative initiatives that have successfully been kickstarted via the platform. Let’s take a look at some of them!
- Care Shelter
In light of Covid-19, the hospitality industry has experienced a huge hit due to the economic slowdown and travel restrictions across the country and globe. The Malaysian Association of Hotel Owners (MAHO) ED Shaharuddin M Saaid said hotels have certainly suffered a great deal and recovery within the tourism sector is only expected in 2023 or earliest, by the end of 2022 (Nathan, 2020). Zooming out from just the hospitality sector, many citizens in Malaysia have been struggling in multiple aspects, with finance being a primary strain. As the months went by, many experienced eviction and employment termination due to the pandemic. Many can no longer afford to lead their everyday lifestyles. Care Shelter is an initiative resulting from the Impact4Change platform that aims to transform a capsule hotel in Jalan Chow Kit, Kuala Lumpur into a general shelter to provide a roof for individuals during these difficult times. The shelter acts as a temporary place for the beneficiaries to stay while they get their lives back on track. The team working on this project also aims to curate development programmes on education and skills to prepare beneficiaries for the employment conditions that they may have to face. If this initiative is one that is close to your heart, head on over to Case Shelter’s donation page to find out how you can help.
- Urban Hijau
Urban Hijau is a social enterprise dedicated to using natural ecological designs to lead Malaysia towards urban sustainability in food production, waste management and general living. With their sustainable, one-acre urban farm located in the heart of Kuala Lumpur, Urban Hijau has an impressive showcase of an 800 square feet aquaponics unit where they produce over 600 tilapia fish and several tons of organic vegetables and herbs. In an effort to enhance their reach and initiative, Urban Hijau reached out on Impact4Change, looking to upgrade from becoming a showcase of sustainable farming to creating a unique and captivating experience. This idea lies in uncharted territory as it delves away from the rustic aspects of the farm to create an impressive visitor-friendly zone. The vision is to create an easy-to-manoeuvre farm experience with an organised layout of the site and lots of educational labels on the greenery. They intend to create a new ambience that is picturesque and sparks excitement among the public. The idea of a dining zone that uses the fresh vegetables from the garden was also proposed and incorporated into the plan.
- MVP Farmers
MVP Farmers is a web portal vendor’s management system created for vendors at Cyberjaya Farmers Market. Given that a virtual system like this is fairly new, MVP farmers approached Impact4Change to collaborate with creative students in improving the overall UI and UX interface of the app to ensure a comfortable experience for the vendors. At the same time, the team is also looking to promote efficiency with innovations that can be integrated into the web portal.
Support The Initiative
Impact4Change is truly bringing an impact with change as more and more initiatives are curated on the platform, bringing like-minded individuals together to solve community problems one step at a time. Interested to learn more about solutions and wish to engage in some? Be sure to check out Impact4Change.
