Investing in the under-appreciated
Every now and then, we realize that we have undervalued or under-appreciated communities, concepts, ideas, entire areas of work. It takes the underdog to fight to be heard, seen and listened to, and for the dominant communities to come to terms with the true value of marginalization and undervaluation. Some like to keep certain things undervalued because it goes against their worldviews and values — we see it in how power structures are set to benefit the powerful, with intention or sometimes not.
From minorities having a bigger say in storytelling in mainstream media (Black Panther, Paradise) to a renewed appreciation of health care workers (the pandemic), global events, and the emergence of anyone being able to discover and be discovered (social media) are changing the way we navigate what to appreciate and value.
Yet, we are a bit behind when it comes to understanding what we currently undervalue in order to strengthen the humanitarian sector and what emerging elements need to be invested in to increase the resilience of protecting the forcibly displaced.
At UNHCR’s Innovation Service, we have had the exciting habit of shining light on things we believe will make a difference in the future in the context of innovation and displaced communities. From ethics, artificial intelligence, inclusion and climate change, we have dipped our toes and sometimes dived deep into these areas to understand better how innovation, and it intersecting with certain domains, can strengthen the value proposition of positive change in the humanitarian sector.
We are not the first to invest in these areas, nor to see the importance of innovation intersecting with social sciences, and other domains. We are certainly not saying that these areas are undervalued, or under-appreciated, in every contexts. But, to put it simply, to understand what is truly valued is how and who we hire or partner with. Who we as an Organization hire is what we ‘sell’ — as Jim and Noah said during one of our session together in December 2019.
Just because something is undervalued obviously doesn’t mean that the Service should take it on, or that it has anything to do with innovation. But a rule of thumb is using the Cynefin framework to guide what to engage in, and yes, some intersections with innovation are worth pursuing — and that area is the area of ‘complex’. When we know a solution to a problem, it is not innovation, it becomes a complicated set of tasks to execute. Focusing on the complex brings value to innovation work.
How do we know what should be valued?
Working in design, I am fascinated with the under-appreciated. Naoto Fukasawa and Jasper Morrison’s work exhibiting and writing about everyday objects and bringing it to the forefront is interesting — when curated in a deliberate way we can more easily see the beauty in what we normally miss (physically, but also geographically, and culturally). The importance of valuing the mundane, the ones on the fringe, doesn’t have to be an expensive or resource heavy endeavour, but it can — as Rory Sutherland explains — just be clever:
The work of valuing things is not only around appreciating what’s already here, in front of us, but to see connections in how others can bring value to traditionally ‘siloed’ places. This is what innovation is about; the added value that people, ideas, and concepts can bring to new environments, new contexts. We can understand what is undervalued by explorations, experiments, by including different experts, non-experts, colleagues, and partners, to contribute to conversations around the discipline and the practice of innovation. Throw in a bit of research and design and we have something to work on.
As we move forward, these are the areas I think from a strategic design point of view will matter in innovation. These are bits, I think, that any team working on innovation should invest in, throw money at it, hire people, look into it — and if not this list, at least look into what we are missing in our current equation of modus operandi:
- Innovation methodologies (formal and informal, global and local) need to be applied and tested more often, rather than being thrown out from the get-go because of not-invented-here syndrome — what is underappreciated is the patience and endurance to experiment. Carve out time and money. Move with the J-curve.
- Science of organizational and social resilience (rather than trend analysis, scenario building) — stuff like what comes out from Zurich and Singapore is interesting. There’s a lot more around this. Research that is at first glance not tied to the humanitarian sector is undervalued.
- Arts and design — creativity is one of key elements for success for any large organization in the future to be able to deliver a humanitarian mandate. This is a very biased and personal view, but so far I have not seen a better ignition to creativity than applying design and art methods to different work streams, and environments. Working with artists and designers is the fastest way to understand how creativity can co-drive the advancement of human rights.
- Decision making in the wild — we are working on studying how informal storytelling can influence decisions, but equally we will need to understand better how decision making can be strengthened in the absence of formal information and in the overwhelming situations of uncertainty. We’ve started this journey with the Innovation Fund.
- How to get people to act against their worldviews — our partners at University of Florida pointed out in a recent meeting that the current pandemic shows how people [paraphrasing] will use information to strengthen their worldviews, rather than act differently if that given information goes against their worldviews. How do beliefs impact how well can innovate and change systems and what can be done to challenge that?
- Inclusion and diversity — we continue to invest as a priority in how to nurture innovation in a way that is inclusive. We have the opportunity to understand the importance of diversity in innovation on a much deeper level. We continue to explore diversity metrics in hiring, and to commission research that helps ensure intersectional thinking and action is at the forefront of our work.
