The Global Collective
Organization / Institution: The Global Collective
Role: Strategy Team Lead
Collaborators: 25 member team
Location: Berlin + New York
Context
The Global Collective is a participatory community that represents a collaboration between skilled workers in distressed communities and young creatives who are looking for a platform to implement their ideas.
Founded in 2017 by Raz Godelnik, The Global Collective is now a 25 member strong volunteer organization based out of both Berlin and New York.
Deliverables
Growth Strategy
Business Model Development
Brand Strategy
Marketing Campaign Strategy
Funding Strategy
Timeline
Ongoing
Key Contribution
Ideation Workshops
Concept Development
Growth Strategy
Engagement Strategy
PROJECT OVERVIEW
Background
The idea behind The Global Collective germinated at a two-week course on on innovative business models hosted at the ReDI School under the direction of Raz Godelnik, an Assistant Professor of Strategic Design and Management at Parsons School of Design — The New School.
The ReDI School is a school for refugee newcomers in Berlin that was founded in 2015, and supported by the Norwegian Refugee Council.
Once back at The New School, efforts were made to initiate a co-design effort to a build sustainable business venture run by a refugee group in Berlin.
The Challenge
" As responsible designers in the emerging creative economy, how might we use our skills and resources to facilitate the empowerment of skilled workers in distressed communities? "
Our Approach
Given the sheer complexity of the issue, limited ground access and broken communication channels, the group adopted a agile mindset to work towards a viable business direction.
Based on the learnings from numerous pivots, The Global Collective arrived at a flexible engagement model that is designed to accommodate the on-ground complexities.
Our Engagement Model
Our engagement model is influenced by techniques and methodologies used for building capacity, thinking through human centered design principles, developing a sustainable business model and building lean startup .

Capability
Behaviours + Culture
Skills
Building Capacity
Define
Co-Create
Prototype
Skills and desires of community members are mapped along with constraints and possibilities.
A minimum viable business solution is co-designed based on these findings.
01
02
03
Build
Community members and TGC members
co-ideate using participative facilitation methods.
TGC members convert ideas into design concepts.
Community members rank and select the final idea through an opportunity map.
Measure
Learn
TGC members prototype a low fidelity product for user testing.
A suitable business model is designed.
Build a MVP.
Determine assumptions that need to be tested.
Design, build and run the experiment.
Measure and analyze results.
Continue, improvise or pivot.