Challenge:     I am a software engineer by profession and also work with an environment NPO (Non- profit organization) as part time. I live in a suburb/ town with a population of 10,000. Like  any other town/city in India, the plastic bags were being used heavily and now the  problem has become so severe that it started to impact the environment around us.  We are working towards to make our city free of plastic bags. Government authorities  has tried this in the past but dropped this plan due to opposition from shopkeepers (who  use plastic bag to distribute items) and citizens (who were highly inconvenienced with  the sudden plastic ban)  Now with our NGO we have tried to bring all stakeholders on the same page and  making sure all communities (shopkeepers, citizens, local government body etc.) feels  part of initiative to ban plastic and make this initiative a success.   We formed different teams who will go in the real world and take inputs from various  stakeholders their concern with respect to ban on plastic bags.  As part of this process, I needed to concentrate on the shopkeeper community.    Selection:     Storytelling would be an ideal tool to connect with the shopkeeper community to  understand their feelings and concerns through stories of life experiences of self and  others.  Their feedback would then definitely be helpful in visualizing the thinking process of the  shopkeeper community and will help to go further in identifying the potential issues  which can then be addressed to create win-win situation for all      Application:     In discussion with the shopkeepers, I could sense that the shopkeepers have a basic  idea of plastic bags being an environmental hazard but they could not relate to the issue  as it does not impact any of their lifestyles. Also, plastic bags being seen as useful utility  which made their day to day business easy.  I would completely disagree with them on plastic bags not impacting the lifestyles but  what I needed is change of mindset and not a debate.  I started using storytelling as tool to take some real life examples from neighborhood to  communicate the point. I told a story about how the water treatment plant in our  neighborhood was suddenly dysfunctional and the neighborhood had to rely on limited  supply of drinking water from a nearby locality for a week.  The reason for the water treatment plant to stop is that it could not process the huge  amount of plastic bags which got thrown in the lake. People are aware that there is  limited supply of water but do not know the cause why it happened.   I also gave examples of various agriculture fields being impacted and producing less  yield than the past due to fields being polluted by plastic bags which comes flying with  air and gets settled in the fields.

I could see that the shopkeeper start relating to the issues and told me a story when few  cows died in the neighborhood and when their stomach got opened many kilograms of  plastic bags were found.   I also extrapolated the current problem (although it may seem small to shopkeepers at  the moment) that how it will impact their children as well in the coming generations.    Insight and approach:    I could see that the storytelling could make shopkeepers develop broad and better  understanding of the issue. This is basically touching on the daily lives so that people  can connect emotionally to the cause.  During discussions, there were ideas coming from shopkeeper themselves how we can  bring this change. I could see a shift in mindset when there is a connect to the problem.  I then discussed my experiences of discussion with the shopkeeper to our central  meeting of the NGO and then with the local government authorities. Everyone was  pleased to hear the experiences and agreed that shopkeepers needed to be on same  page as the local government body before any rules are being implemented for them.  We also made a proposal to local authorities to start a campaign so that the  shopkeepers can relate to this issue and become part of it. As there were many stories  coming up from shopkeeper themselves these were used in the campaign to make it  more effective.  I see that the storytelling helps to connect and prepare a broader mindset to think like  as happened in the above example.


Challenge : I am a software engineer by profession and also work with an environment NPO ( Non- profit organization ) as part time . I live in a suburb/ town with a population of 10,000 . Like any other town / city in India , the plastic bags were being used heavily and now the problem has become so severe that it started to impact the environment around us . We are working towards to make our city free of plastic bags . Government authorities has tried this in the past but dropped this plan due to opposition from shopkeepers ( who use plastic bag to distribute items ) and citizens ( who were highly inconvenienced with the sudden plastic ban ) Now with our NGO we have tried to bring all stakeholders on the same page and making sure all communities ( shopkeepers , citizens , local government body etc . ) feels part of initiative to ban plastic and make this initiative a success . We formed different teams who will go in the real world and take inputs from various stakeholders their concern with respect to ban on plastic bags . As part of this process , I needed to concentrate on the shopkeeper community . Selection : Storytelling would be an ideal tool to connect with the shopkeeper community to understand their feelings and concerns through stories of life experiences of self and others . Their feedback would then definitely be helpful in visualizing the thinking process of the shopkeeper community and will help to go further in identifying the potential issues which can then be addressed to create win - win situation for all Application : In discussion with the shopkeepers , I could sense that the shopkeepers have a basic idea of plastic bags being an environmental hazard but they could not relate to the issue as it does not impact any of their lifestyles . Also , plastic bags being seen as useful utility which made their day to day business easy . I would completely disagree with them on plastic bags not impacting the lifestyles but what I needed is change of mindset and not a debate . I started using storytelling as tool to take some real life examples from neighborhood to communicate the point . I told a story about how the water treatment plant in our neighborhood was suddenly dysfunctional and the neighborhood had to rely on limited supply of drinking water from a nearby locality for a week . The reason for the water treatment plant to stop is that it could not process the huge amount of plastic bags which got thrown in the lake . People are aware that there is limited supply of water but do not know the cause why it happened . I also gave examples of various agriculture fields being impacted and producing less yield than the past due to fields being polluted by plastic bags which comes flying with air and gets settled in the fields . I could see that the shopkeeper start relating to the issues and told me a story when few cows died in the neighborhood and when their stomach got opened many kilograms of plastic bags were found . I also extrapolated the current problem ( although it may seem small to shopkeepers at the moment ) that how it will impact their children as well in the coming generations . Insight and approach : I could see that the storytelling could make shopkeepers develop broad and better understanding of the issue . This is basically touching on the daily lives so that people can connect emotionally to the cause . During discussions , there were ideas coming from shopkeeper themselves how we can bring this change . I could see a shift in mindset when there is a connect to the problem . I then discussed my experiences of discussion with the shopkeeper to our central meeting of the NGO and then with the local government authorities . Everyone was pleased to hear the experiences and agreed that shopkeepers needed to be on same page as the local government body before any rules are being implemented for them . We also made a proposal to local authorities to start a campaign so that the shopkeepers can relate to this issue and become part of it . As there were many stories coming up from shopkeeper themselves these were used in the campaign to make it more effective . I see that the storytelling helps to connect and prepare a broader mindset to think like as happened in the above example .