LocationsBy: Hadil Habashneh, Head of Experimentation, UNDP Jordan Accelerator Lab.
Empathy and Solutions Mapping: How to Better Prepare a New Generation of Researchers
November 23, 2022
When I joined the UNDP Jordan Accelerator Lab in 2021, and during my onboarding, my colleagues mentioned to me UNDP’s intention to collaborate with UNICEF. Both organisations are committed to achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and Agenda 2030. Yet it wasn’t clear what we would be working on or supporting at the time, so we started exploring the opportunities together.
To begin with, UNICEF invited us to take a deeper look into their youth work. We went on a field visit to two of their Social Innovation Incubators in Amman and Ajloun. During this visit, we learned about the incubators and their facilities, like the makerspace and coworking spaces, and we met a few participants working on their start-ups. Then, we started exploring another project, the Youth-lead Participatory Action Research (PAR), which later became the main component of this collaboration.
In 2016, UNICEF and regional partners launched a participatory action research (PAR) project with young people (14-24 years old) to understand their aspirations as well as the obstacles and challenges they experience. The objectives of this Youth-led PAR are to build the capacities of the young researchers, empower them, amplify their voices, and systematically — and meaningfully — engage the youth in UNICEF’s programs. These objectives were perfectly aligned with the spirit of the Accelerator Lab, so we decided to proceed in this direction.
As a result, this collaboration was launched. The Jordan Accelerator Lab proposed working on several PAR components, and although this collaboration is still ongoing and is yet to grow, we have so far successfully supported the following:
- Thematic areas selection
Over the past cycles, the thematic areas of the research were chosen based on UNICEF’s research interests and some suggestions from the young researchers. This year, the Accelerator Lab introduced a tweaked empathy map (as shown below), which the researchers used to map the development topics UNDP and UNICEF are interested in.
The Accelerator Lab divided the researchers into groups of four to five people and arranged an interview between each group and one of the three UNDP Jordan Programme Teams – Governance and Peace, Environment and Climate Change, and Inclusive Growth and Sustainable Livelihoods.
Moreover, the young researchers interviewed each other to find out what concerns they have that could turn into thematic areas.
Once we wrapped up these interviews, groups took some time to summarize their findings and present them. Together we shared any suggestions or questions that emerged from the presentations.
- Solutions Mapping to define a problem
“What if we can use solutions mapping to find those ‘solution holders aka problem experts’ and interview them to understand the problem better?”
In this year’s cycle, we proposed doing a solution mapping exercise to interview these solutions holders and, somehow, use reverse engineering to get these insights that others might not know.
For example, if we take the transportation problem, we can interview a person who’s facing this problem and is testing a solution to get some insights, such as the admin of a carpooling Facebook group. By interviewing a solution holder, we would get insights into their motivation in trying to solve the transportation problem, challenges they faced in implementing the solution, and feedback from actual users that have used the solutions.
We integrated this approach to the PAR research by adding a session in UNICEF’s PAR training for incoming researchers. We discussed the benefits of interviewing solutions holders, where we can find them, and what we can ask them. This process took around 20 minutes before we moved to a hands-on exercise.
In the exercise, teams were divided into groups with different thematic areas. They were first assigned the task of searching for solutions, whether online, through personal connections and referrals, or any other way. Next, the researchers were handed the drafts of this year’s research questions, and they were asked to review and edit them. They could add, remove, combine, or rephrase questions to ensure they would generate the insights they are looking for in an efficient manner.
In the weeks that followed, the researchers were expected to look for solution holders to interview in their research. The database of solutions will also come in handy in the advocacy phase when these researchers are mapping stakeholders while designing their advocacy campaigns and initiatives.
Looking back at this collaboration, I am impressed by how smooth it went, mostly thanks to the participants. I find that their commitment to deliver and their critical thinking skills were of the essence. As I am stepping out of my role as the Head of Experimentation, I am thankful for this opportunity, proud of all who made it come true, and confident that it will continue to grow.