Social innovation: The case for sideways problem solving
They say that the obvious solution is often the right one. But is it?
I work on many social impact interventions trying to move the needle on human behaviour and human outcomes.
Some social issues that I’ve come across include:
How do we increase the number of children going back to school after a long COVID break?
How do we improve the financial independence of women?
How do we reduce drinking in men who struggle with alcoholism?
How do we prevents girls from dropping out at school?
To solve for these issues, “obvious solutions” often get the most votes, such as:
Blasting back-to-school campaigns on the radio to convince parents on the benefits of education
Running skills-training or entrepreneurship programs for women to start their own businesses
Hanging posters that talk about the dangers and negative consequences of drinking
Conducting awareness or sensitization events to showcase why girls should stay in school
Unfortunately, many of these obvious solutions aren’t actually effective.
“Yes, they run awareness events, but we go to enjoy the event, the music, and the entertainment. People are thinking about the problem on that day. But after that, nothing actually changes.”
Why is that happening?
Because many of these solutions are organization- or donor-centered. They are designed to solve a problem that the project cares about most, not what the people involved care about.
So how do we design solutions that are more human-centered and more effective?
Here are 4 case studies to inspire you.
CASE STUDY 1
Education
Our first stop is in Uganda, circa 2022. The government was finally re-opening schools after 2 years of being closed due to COVID.
I was working on an education project at the time, so I was hanging out in the schools in the refugee settlements.
There was a school headmaster who took me for a stroll on the school grounds as we chatted.
“Schools are re-opening soon and some parents might be hesitant to send their kids back to school. Have you tried anything?” I asked.
“Of course,” he told me with a smile, “We installed solar panels on the top of the school. Even if parents don’t care for their children to go to school, they need their cell phones charged. They’ll send their kids to school with the phones. Now, kids are in school!”
Notice what he did there.
Rather than make parents care what he care about (children’s education), he leveraged what he knew parents would care about more (charging their phones) and hit two birds with one stone.
Three birds, actually, if the solar panels were powering the school too.
CASE STUDY 2
Women
Taking a pause from the present, let’s look at women’s liberation in our history, specifically at the non-obvious solutions.
What innovations have had a surprising impact on women’s lives?
Bicycles: “For the first time ever, bicycles offered a relatively cheap and accessible method of transportation that could be used daily for any purpose: work, leisure or physical activity. It gave many women access to the public sphere and assisted them in their struggle for their right to exist within it without the need for a male escort.” (Source)
Washing machines: “The time it took to do one load of laundry was reduced from four hours to 41 minutes. What did many women do with these newfound hours–days–of their lives? Many entered the workforce for the first time. And others who had been employed as maids ended up finding better–higher-paying–jobs.” (Source)
Tupperware: “Enter Brownie Wise, a single mother in Detroit, who convinced Tupper to sell at Tupperware parties and oversaw their runaway success. Tupperware ladies hustled to get a cut of each sale to friends or neighbors, or win grand prizes like Cadillacs and trips to Disney… And Wise, in 1954, became the first woman on the cover of Business Week for enabling generations of homemakers to see themselves as saleswomen.” (Source)
Interesting!
We can see that solutions that were not specifically designed to address women’s rights found their way into liberating women anyways.
CASE STUDY 3
Alcoholism
Let’s go back to Uganda. There was a couples counseling program being developed called Becoming One. It was focused on preventing violence between couples by building relationship skills.
I was visiting one of the churches where the program had been implemented. They were on their final session and couples were sharing about how they grew and changed during the program.
One story from an older couple stood out.
The man had been struggling with alcohol, going out everyday with his buddies to drink. It had been affecting his relationship and his home. As he went through the program, however, he (and his wife) were surprised to find himself drinking less and less.
How did this happen?
He had done a Becoming One home practice — which was to spend quality time with his wife. This opened his eyes. By spending quality time with her, he realized how much he was missing out when he went out drinking with his friends.
He started to spend more time at home because he enjoyed and treasured the quality time with his wife and children. And thus, his drinking reduced.
Becoming One was not designed to address alcoholism, but by supporting couples’ relationships, it managed to impact in both ways for this family.
CASE STUDY 4
Education for girls
(4 case studies!! I’m being long-winded now, and perhaps too excited about the topic.)
Our last stop is in Bangladesh in 2019 - in the refugee camp where the Rohingya people had recently been displaced. It was so recent that schools had not been established and there were no opportunities for children to learn.
Pop-Up was a program that used tablets with self-directed learning software to help children continue language and math education. Children would gather in several neighbourhood homes, where young women would watch over and support the children as they used the tablets for an hour every day.
I was there with a team to evaluate the program and hear from the children, parents, and implementers how it went.
In one focus group, the parents shared an interesting observation — this program was perfect for their daughters.
What did they mean? We probed further.
The parents explained — in this context, girls cannot continue education once they get their period. They have to drop out of learning centers because it’s not culturally appropriate for girls to be seen in public spaces with boys. (Source)
With this learn-from-tablets-at-home model, girls could appropriately learn in a home setting and under the supervision of another woman who didn’t have to be highly educated.
Pop-Up was originally designed as an education gap-filler for emergency settings. But parents saw it as a model to enable girls in a highly conservative culture to continue their education.
Pop-Up may not have been designed specifically to help girls stay in school, but it happened to solve exactly that problem for the Rohingya people.
The takeaway here is that we don’t have to address all issues head-on.
Perhaps we can find out where the issue exists in the periphery of another one, and by solving for that issue, we can solve for both.
I’m calling this “sideways problem solving”. As in, your head needs to go a little sideways to peer beside and behind the direct problem.
How do we actually do this?
Go beyond researching the problem in isolation. Research humans and systems as whole entities instead.
This is where I find the combination of human-centered design and systems thinking incredibly helpful.
And with a little sideways action, we might find ourselves creating more life-changing Tupperware companies and more impact in the world.