By Alfred Burgesson, NS GovLab fellow
I first heard about the NS GovLab in February 2018 when I noticed a promotion on my LinkedIn feed — I took a screenshot of the post on my phone and mulled over the decision to apply. The provincial government was seeking applicants to this new co-creation, innovation and transformation process.
A fellowship with NS GovLab is a yearlong commitment to learn, apply, and integrate social innovation lab theories and methodologies. Fellows have an opportunity to develop new skills and influence the direction of the province, while experimenting with creative solutions to problems that matter.
NS GovLab was seeking professionals from public, private, nonprofit, and academic sectors, including individual citizens who will actively participate in all aspects of GovLab.
Individuals interested in making Nova Scotia a sustainable and thriving province as our population ages, embrace being pushed outside of their comfort zone, open to change, and want to make a positive impact through innovation will be successful in a fellowship with NS GovLab.
I applied for the experience and received my interview call as I was arriving back in Halifax after a few days at the 2018 Youth Innovation Summit hosted by the UN and British Council in Ottawa. How timely…
Social innovation is the process of developing and deploying effective solutions to challenging and often systemic social and environmental issues in support of social progress. (Stanford Graduate School of Business)
My expectations heading into this journey was full of optimism — Growing up having experience working with teams through sport and community, I was excited and ready to be surrounded by intelligent individuals that have a wealth of knowledge and professional experience.
We began our journey by getting to know each other and digging deeper into the problems that our province has faced that will continue if nothing is done. Our first few days together as a group truly inspired the ones who were committed to the process to move forward and begin field research. My group hit the ground running, meeting with a number of organizations throughout the province that have a social impact approach or interest in the topic of the aging population.
Getting to meet and discuss this issue with professionals and other well- established organizations has been eye opening, but also refreshing to the fact that there are many people thinking and working on how they could contribute to better our province of Nova Scotia.
As a 21 year old Political Science Student (the youngest fellow in the Lab), I have to admit that I was a bit naïve about the overall process of which the GovLab proceeds in; the focus on social innovation, and my lack of understanding, that we are a live example/experiment of social innovation on multiple levels and disciplines.
I was surprised — and continue to be surprised — by the patience and detail this process needs to be embraced with. This process is challenging and it requires mental focus and creativity. I commend all the fellows and the Co-Creation team for their efforts in this process. The GovLab is a stimulating process, and I’m a believer that the challenges we face and continue to face will only allow us to generate new innovative ideas to help this province move forward.
Alfred is a Political Science student at Saint Mary’s University, Project Director with HFX Collective and curator for online Instagram media platform @CityOfHalifax. He has an interest in the well being and growth of the city of Halifax and the province Nova Scotia — working on challenges our youth and seniors face.
Follow Alfred on LinkedIn, or follow @CityOfHalifax on Instagram.
