WEBVTT

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Thank you.

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So, yeah, problems.

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[Problems]

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Mexico has problems;

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some are very serious.

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All we have to do is ask ourselves,
"Who isn't affected by them?" Right?

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Or, "Who hasn't had ideas
of how to fix them?"

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I loved how earlier we had
a 20-minute group discussion,

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and we came up with a ton of ideas
at both of the tables I was at.

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There were very different ideas
about how to fix the issues.

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The thing is, when we're constantly
faced with problems,

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we sort of become experts on them.

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When facing a big challenge,

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we don't have the luxury
of wasting all these ideas.

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Here's an example:

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NASA is months away
from launching the Atlantis.

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Millions upon millions of dollars
have been invested in this mission.

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And for weeks, the smartest scientists
from around the world

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were trying to reduce
the weight of the rocket by 1,300 pounds,

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because it's too heavy and can't fly.

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After a lot of frustration and attempts
to improve their already perfect designs -

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they're the experts,
they're the smartest people -

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they decide to try something
they've never done before.

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They call everyone in the building
to the auditorium.

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From the night security guard
to the head of the program,

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everyone was there.

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They pose the problem to everyone:

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"Look, we're 1,300 pounds over.
What should we do?"

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After a few hours
of bouncing ideas around,

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someone finally raises
their hand and says,

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"Don't paint it."

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It was the maintenance person,

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who has to carry cans of paint every day

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and knew that a lot of paint
was needed to paint the rocket,

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which you see there, that copper color.

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So they didn't paint it,
the mission was a success,

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and since then, NASA has taken
its most difficult problems

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that not even their best
engineers can solve,

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and they put them online
and offer prizes to solve them.

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This method is called "crowdsourcing,"

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which basically means enlisting
a large group to help with a task.

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Nowadays, it's used for everything,
from making the best predictions

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in politics or sporting events,

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using betting sites
where people upload predictions,

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to Wikipedia, which we've all used,

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to the most successful
T-shirt company today,

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which doesn't have a single designer;
all the designs are crowdsourced.

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So if this model works so well,

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why not apply it to the problems
that affect us the most?

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Why not use them to solve social issues?

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[Social Issues]

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It's not so crazy if you think about it.

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Ultimately, the people affected
by issues understand them;

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we face them every day.

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[Knowledge, Interest]

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We know how to improve things,

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what part of a government program
isn't working and which could be better,

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and we care, because
if a problem is solved,

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we could directly improve
our quality of life.

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A year ago, a couple of friends and I
asked ourselves this question:

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"Why don't we use crowdsourcing
to solve social issues?"

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And "Yo Propongo" was born.

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"I Propose" is a civic engagement platform
that does just that:

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it gathers information
from people closest to the issue

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and transforms it into viable projects

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that affect them directly
and help solve the issue.

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The way it works is simple.

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We ask the community:

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"What do you propose?"

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"How could this issue
be improved or solved?"

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We gather all the information
through media that's super easy to use,

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like Twitter, Facebook, polls, SMS.

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We want it to be easy.

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Then we analyze the information,

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trying to create a much more
comprehensive picture.

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Once we see the bigger picture,
we can identify trouble areas

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or what people might consider to be
causes or possible solutions.

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With all this information,

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we meet with the people trying
to solve the problem -

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different levels of government,
community organizations,

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international institutions ...

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All of them can use this information.

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So now that we're sitting down
with them, we say,

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"You can improve the program in this way,
or you can start a new one."

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So in the end,

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the ideas proposed by the people
affected by the problem

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become programs that affect them directly

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and that help us find a solution.

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I'll give you an example.

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The first issue we tackled was
alcohol-related traffic accidents

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in Mexico City.

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Many organizations deal with this issue,

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investing millions of pesos a year,

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but they rarely take
young people's input into account.

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We went to 100 universities
and compiled thousands of ideas.

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Fernando tweeted an idea:

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"How about instead of closing
sobriety checkpoints at 4,

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which is an hour before the clubs close,

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they close later?

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That way, I'm not in the club
having a few more beers

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until the sobriety checkpoints close."

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From there, we gathered
the information from Fernando,

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we gathered information
from everyone who sent us ideas

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for the "Drive without alcohol" program,

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we sat down with the program directors
and said, "What do you think?"

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And voilà!

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Now there are sobriety checkpoints
that close at 6am.

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To date, in a little over a year -

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[2 cities, 2 issues,
over 10,000 participants]

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we've been in two cities,

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dealt with two different issues
in Juarez and Mexico City,

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and we've had more than
10,000 people participate.

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And we've realized that
information is really important,

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and all this participation can lead -

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[Solutions]

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to solutions that affect
people's daily lives.

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But more importantly,

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we believe we've found a platform

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that will allow for a transformation
that goes beyond ideas and solutions.

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We ourselves can be transformed

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from seeing ourselves
as victims of problems

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and complaining about everything

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to becoming part of the solution.

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Thank you.

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(Applause)