This week’s Work on Purpose workshop focused on the importance paying attention to the community’s or individual’s voice when it comes to addressing their needs. This is extremely important as many well-intentioned efforts to help may hit resistance if one doesn’t take into account what the community actually wants.
The example that immediately came to mind was Anoop’s social venture, Humanure Power. This enterprise, which was born out of the Changemaker Institute, exemplifies listening to the community’s (in Bihar, India) wants and needs as it used a bottom-up approach to tackling the problem. The program exploded in popularity after its debut on the scene and has already been used by 17,000 individuals. Community members are involved in every step of the process, from planning the facilities to building to collecting data. Part of the mission is to counter the unsanitary conditions by building toilets; many female dropouts themselves blame the lack of school toilets as the reason they discontinued their education, so this project empowers them to continue their education. And that’s only one example of how the program tailors its work to the community; you can read more at their website.
The idea of the community actively participating in each aspect of the efforts to combat the issue at hand is near and dear to my heart. Someone who’s actually lived the experience knows what will work best to resolve the situation. Although we may have good intentions and the resources to help, we don’t always understand all the ins-and-outs. Therefore, this lesson seems absolutely crucial as it emphasizes a collaborative effort as the best method to tackle social problem. At the end of the workshop, our facilitator passed around a quote that I believe sums up the main idea perfectly: “Go to the people. Live with them. Learn from them. Love them. Start with what they know. Build with what they have. But with the best leaders, when the work is done, the task accomplished, the people will say ‘We have done this ourselves'” -Lao Tzu
What community do you want to serve and how do you plan to do it? Comment down below!
Work on Purpose workshops will run every Wednesday at 12:30 PM until November. Sign up here.