Aiming for Awards — The Problem with Not Understanding the Problem
Rewind back to three months ago when I first began my frontline placement at Manor House Development Trust (MHDT). The staff were incredibly friendly and welcoming, and in my first week I had a conversation with the CEO that went along the lines of this; “Let’s make sure you leave here with an amazing project. I want your project to be number one out of all the fellows, and I want you to win an award. We’ll run the best project and you can apply for some competitions. We have to aim high!”. Although this ambitious pep talk was delivered in a very encouraging and motivating tone, with no underlying bad intentions, I left work that day reflecting on my purpose in this field.
At Year Here we have been taught to fall in love with the problem, and not the solution. The emphasis is on learning from informed insights into the lives of those at the frontline of inequality, before seeking to design snazzy solutions. This is to ensure that our business models are not based on false assumptions. MHDT is the lead organisation championing community development in Woodberry Down — a vast estate in northeast London undergoing a 20-year regeneration scheme. During my time here I have been learning how to build a resilient community in an area that is rapidly transforming with every new brick laid. From gardening clubs to food waste fridges, employability services to knitting groups, parent and baby play sessions to over 50s lunch clubs, the centre provides a space to improve individual wellbeing and build connections as a community on many different levels. With such a broad range of activities and an equally broad demographic of people attending them, identifying a particular problem to fall in love with is a challenging task.
Soon after my conversation with the CEO, I started to think of ‘Letter D — Don’t Believe the Hype’, from Liam Black’s book, ‘The Social Entrepreneur’s A-Z’. Black warns against the obsession with the social entrepreneur awards culture, pointing out that it is often for those whose mission is entirely themselves. He observes that there can be a misalignment between personal lifestyle and public stance about the poor and oppressed, and highlights the contradictions of dining behind the VIP curtain. Although the comments made by the CEO were entirely for my best interest and were focused on my personal and professional success during Year Here and as a budding social entrepreneur — this is exactly where the problem lies. The concern with my best interest seems to come before the interest of those the project is designed to help, and the concern with creating an award-worthy innovation idea seems to come prior to asking what problems actually need to be addressed. The focus seems to be lost in KPIs, measures of success and award applications, rather than on spending the time to really try to understand and connect with the people that come to the centre and form the foundations of the community we are trying to build. Though both factors are important — it seems to me that the order in which they are prioritised is illogical.
Three months later and my insights have led me to explore the challenges with childcare in Woodberry Down. Not only is there a lack of provision in the area, the high cost of childcare means it simply does not pay to work for low-income parents. Alongside that, current childcare systems are not flexible enough to accommodate parents with atypical working patterns. Developing informal childcare networks is key to solving these problems, and this ties back to the need for building a strong, collaborative and trusting community. Three months later and the CEO has yet to have asked me what my project idea seeks to address, though I have been asked if I have applied for any awards. Although I am hoping that by the end of my placement I will leave a positive impact on this community, the idea of being thrown into the spotlight ready to be hailed a saviour, miles and miles before my project is anywhere near being proven to work leaves me feeling quite uncomfortable.
