Assessing the Impact of University Ambassador Program Through Social Innovation for Rural Community Development in Malaysia

Abstract

Social innovation is a driver for change and a solution for social challenges. Literature review shows the difficulties in defining, identifying and measuring social innovation especially in rural community development. However, given the emerging social innovation in rural communities, this article aims to measure social innovation based on the University Ambassador Program (UAP). This program is one of the successful programs under the National Transformation and Blue Ocean Strategy. The program aims to improve people’s living standards through several useful programs. It involves youths elected from among rural university students with the characteristics of student leaders who are concerned with the local community. The findings are obtained by interviewing 20 respondents involved with UAP in depth. SWOT analysis is used to identify the impact of university ambassadors in the context of social innovation towards the development of rural communities in Malaysia. Social innovation is an approach to meet the needs of the community through the creation of new methods, products, services and means. The context of social innovation assessment is through the three main elements of education, economy and social. The findings show that UAP needs to be strengthened in the context of the skills and knowledge of ambassadors or students in delivering information to rural communities, in order to benefit effectively.