I Worked On a Project For the United Nations, Here’s What I Learned:
Here’s a quick recap: I’m apart of The Knowledge Society, a human accelerator program, training teens to be innovators and future CEOs. And as CEOs in training, we get some pretty incredible opportunities. Last month, TKS partnered with the United Nations on a global challenge project. The UN challenged us innovators to develop a solution that will allow girls to impact the digital economy. My team focused on girls’ education in rural Uttar Pradesh, India, by creating a community-based solution to impact patriarchal culture. We ended up developing an amazing solution to a meaningful problem with the potential to impact millions. If you’d like to see the finished product, check out the pitch deck on my portfolio!
Before I start off, I want to make this clear: our project is nowhere near perfect and there’s no doubt that it could use some reworking, but the good thing about that it that is it was a valuable learning experience. And, now I want to share what I wish we’d realized early on so that I (and hopefully yourself) can implement these skills in the future. Let’s reflect:
Understanding Problems and Root Causes:
It’s obvious that you need to understand a problem and its causes before developing a solution. This might seem simple, but it’s really not. To really succeed in this first step of the project, it’s essential to leave no questions unanswered and no gaps in your understanding. Now, I don’t mean just Googling stuff on your topic because that will leave you with a million possibilities of things to focus on and even a misunderstanding of what the real causes and problems are. A lack of analysis and understanding of the problem leads to future failure later on in the process.
This is Key:
1.) Find facts, statistics, and general info on the issue, and then make a list of questions to do further research on and questions you can’t find answers to.
2.) Hustle interviews. Interviews are ESSENTIAL because you can’t expect to impact someone else’s life without multiple accounts from those who actually live in the place you’re focusing on and people who work in the field of your problem or face the problem themselves. After all, you are not them, so you won’t know what they’re facing if you don’t get their input. This is also an opportunity to get responses to all of your questions that Google couldn’t answer and clarify what you initially believed the issues to be.
- Personally, it was hard to find people to talk to across the world. We contacted over 50 people who had experience in Uttar Pradesh and only got a handful of responses. So, start early on in the process, and don’t be afraid to send follow-up emails.
3.) Often, there will be many causes that go hand in hand. Determine the root cause of this problem through data, research, and interviews. Choose a root cause that, if solved, will have the biggest potential for impact. And, maybe solving that one could result in other causes being tackled as well.
There will be an overarching problem and then many “sub problems.”
Here’s a very basic example: kids in underprivileged communities aren’t in school. But why aren’t these kids in school?
- Their parents pull them out.
Why do their parents pull them out?
- Because they can’t afford it
Why can’t they afford it?
- Because their primary source of income is farming and school books, supplies, etc.… is too expensive.
Great, so now develop a solution to help agricultural families send their kids to school.
Solutions Need Detail:
- Develop a specific idea for a solution to your problem and stick to it. I’ve learned that it’s easy to get carried away and sidetracked with other cool ideas that you think need to be implemented into your solution. BUT, it’s better to come up with one solid, simple idea targeted at one very specific problem. This will ensure that your solution won’t be vague and will be detailed and easy enough to understand/implement.
- Also, look at what’s already being done to solve this problem and what solutions have worked/failed in similar situations. My team found that many existing solutions have the potential to be expanded upon, so use this to your advantage.
- Going into details ensures your own success. It’s better to leave no possibility for people to question any parts of not only your whole pitch idea but also your solution. So, go in-depth to make sure that no one gets the chance to be confused. For example:
Pitch 1: Our idea is to pay parents to send their kids to school through a government bill.
Pitch 2: Our idea is to fund children’s education by allotting $1,000 per child per year through an all access government bill obtained by working with local governments. The bill would provide free meals, transportation, books and supplies, and uniforms. This will allow families to be able to afford their children’s educational needs, ultimately resulting in more kids going to school.
Feedback:
Remember how I said leave no room for others’ confusion, this is where the feedback comes in. Get feedback throughout ALL parts of your process. Proofreading it yourself is not good enough. Think about it this way: you will automatically have a bias towards your work, and you’ll think that it makes sense because you’ve most likely read it hundreds of times. But ultimately, other people are going to be the ones who need to understand your pitch. So, after each step of your development process, send your ideas to mentors and peers to gain outside perspective. And, there will ALWAYS be something to fix or improve upon.
In the end, the potential your project has is unlimited, and it’s just up to how much you strategize and make improvements that will determine your success. So I hope we’ve all learned something, and good luck to future me and all to of you aspiring world-changers!
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