About

Local Chapters

Become Our Local Chapter 

Do you:

  • Share our principles and values;
  • Think global and act local;
  • Want to have impact with the D4CR movement?

Start a local chapter!

Working Together as D4CR Means That We:

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1. Embrace Children and Design
    • We work on the crossovers of 0-18 year old children and (intelligent) products and services; everything we do will be guided by our impact on them. We will talk to them, early and often; we will use the best research methods to understand them better. We will be distinguished by our empathy — for children and for each other. The policy that we develop will be tested with children as early as possible, and refined with their needs in mind 
    • We are passionate about children and designing creative solutions for the digitally connected age. We will put the best of digital thinking into policy and service design, using technology to make the world quicker, smarter, better and more data-driven. We will be a technology-enabled community, using online tools to collaborate, network and share. We will help to shape the crossovers of children and (intelligent) products and services into encounters we can be proud of to work with, in the 21st century. 
2. Are Diverse and Inclusive
    • Our approach to inclusiveness and diversity is driven by a simple desire to better represent the children in design. We’ll put effort into making that so, by balancing our events, making sure our teams are reflective of children at large and by making sure we have a range of representative children’s voices with us.
    • Our ideas will be created by a diverse group of people, drawn from the widest possible sets of views and experiences. We understand that people have different views so will rely on generating a quality conversation rather than reaching total agreement. We will support each other and value each voice that wants to contribute. We will work to avoid groupthink.
3. Take Practical Action
    • Although talking is vital, we will be defined more by the things we do than the things we say. We will create change by taking small, measured steps every day — everything from creating a new contact in a different area or discipline, sharing something we’ve written, or giving our time to contribute to others’ work — and encouraging others to do the same. We won’t create huge plans, but do things that make a real difference today, no matter how big or small. We will document what they are. 
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4. Experiment and Iterate
    • We don’t think there’s one way to ‘do’ a local chapter. We will experiment with design, and put children-focused  design thinking into everything we do, learning from and with each other. We will test, iterate and reflect. We will be humble in our approach, focusing on asking the right questions to get to the best answers.
    • We will embrace small failures as opportunities to learn. We won’t get everything right, and we won’t try to. We will listen, learn and improve together. We are aware that an individual can go fast, but we have the attitude that together we can reach further. 
5. Work in the Open and Positively
    • We’re a community; everything we do will be documented and made to share. Where conversations happen that can’t be shared, the wider learning still will be. D4CR is a reform cooperative, where we choose to be generous with knowledge. Ideas are infectious; we’ll share ours early and often.
    • We will be optimistic and positive in our approach to our work. We will believe that things can change, and we will take our part in making that happen.
6. Think Across Borders
    • We believe that diverse views make our outcomes better. We will be characterised by our work to break down boundaries between groups. This means we’ll work across:
      • professions: we will make policy and delivery the same thing, building empathy and understanding between policy, digital, operations and more
      • departments: every piece of work by a local chapter should be shared with other local chapters, through show and tells or sharing documentation on the D4CR slack channel.
      • sectors: our community will include think tanks, academics, charities and private sector organisations. This will not compromise our impartiality, but will make our ideas stronger and wider.
      • borders: we will be global design activists (in our different roles as designers, researchers, policy makers, strategists), seeking opportunities to find common ground with other nations and sharing experiences with them, on the basis of our principles of designing for children with children’s rights & ethics.

WHAT’S in a meetup?

  • Regular local meetups, once every 1-2 months
  • Local-chapter leaders meet 4 times per year
  • Every year a global unconference of local chapters

4 Steps to Start in Your Area