An Outsider’s Reflections

As I mentioned last week, our team has been researching extensively on the current state of food insecurity in Toronto. Our team (huge shoutout to Sasha & Alex) decided to focus on how we could reduce barriers for people who are not accessing food banks. We learned that the stigma of food bank use is a major barrier, in addition to transportation, the lack of culturally appropriate food, and language. We proposed a solution that involved cross-sector collaborations to increase the supply of culturally appropriate food which could then be delivered to people’s doorsteps.

Given the stigma associated with food bank use, we had to acknowledge that in the real world it would be really difficult to identify and work directly with the community. This left us wondering: if people don’t want to be identified, should we make assumptions about their needs? And is it problematic to make the assumption that they would even want our help in the first place?

Approaching the final week of class, I truly believe that this experience has helped me learn more about myself and the opportunities and challenges of community-led interventions. Last week, we had the pleasure of hearing from three brilliant individuals (huge thank you to: Jay Wall, Samiya Abdi and Gita Madan — please google them, I promise it will be worth your time) who were part of the change-makers panel. Their stories served as a reminder that empathy and persistence can create tangible change. Two important reflections from this discussion — first, sometimes the most minimal change can make our efforts seem meaningless, and while we should aim for “big” change, it is important to celebrate our accomplishments no matter how big or small they might be. Second, the inevitable fatigue of this process can be taxing and we need to be conscious of this. It is important to give yourself to a cause, but don’t lose yourself to it.

I could go on and on about what I’ve learned these last six weeks and how brilliant the overall package and delivery (note the food delivery pun — apparently this course has made me even more nerdy) of this course was. If I had to put together a list of “golden rules,” it would look something like this:

1. Acknowledge
I would argue that first and foremost, you should acknowledge your privilege when you’re working with a community — or more broadly, in any situation. More often than not, we have power that we don’t recognize. This acknowledgment should be ongoing and as challenging as it may be, we should strive to always be aware of how our presence might impact others.

2. Listen
I’ve talked about this in a previous blog post. Essentially, we need to listen, not just hear. We need to be aware of how we can create safe spaces for people to be able to share their stories so that we can understand different perspectives of complex issues. Listening helps us learn what a community wants, how they feel and what our role should (or shouldn’t) be in supporting their goals.

3. Empathize
This goes without saying, but empathy is critical. An important point that came up in last week’s panel discussion is the importance of not taking on another person/community’s trauma — this really resonated with me. It is important that we empathize with people, but we should not place ourselves in that community and assume that we feel what they do. Going back to rule #2, listening to how people feel can be powerful on its own. While we may be able to understand a community’s concerns, it is challenging to really understand what they feel.

4. Learn
In addition to evaluating community-led interventions, it is important to constantly evaluate our approach to community-led development. By that I mean, we should continuously reflect on and learn from our experiences with communities to learn how we can be better allies, partners and policy-makers. And yes, this would involve hearing from communities about their experience with the process and how they think we can do better.

Before closing, I want to take one last opportunity to say how grateful I am for this class and for the safe and collaborative space that my peers and instructors have created. I can honestly say that I have learned from each and every individual and this was the most valuable course I’ve taken in grad school. I’m filled with inspiration, passion and excitement — thank you to our class; our community.