Storytelling

Challenge -

I am currently studying and also I am a part of an NGO (Non-governmental organisation)  which focuses on providing menstrual hygiene products to slums in India. Poverty refers  to a situation in which a person remain underprivileged from the basic necessities of life.  In addition, the person does not have an inadequate supply of food, shelter, and clothes.  In India, most of the people who are suﬀering from poverty cannot aﬀord to pay for a  single meal a day. Also, they sleep on the roadside; wear dirty old clothes. In addition,  they do not get proper healthy and nutritious food, neither medicine nor any other  necessary thing.

India as a country believes that women cannot be touched or even use the same utensils  people at home use for cooking while she is on her period. Modern times have surely  brought a huge change in my society but there are still many places in which wearing a  pad is not accepted and women who are in their period have to use cloth which can  cause infection and rashes. People think that pads aren’t aﬀordable and even if they are  they are unsafe for women. Convincing women to actually buy pads or make their own  biodegradable pads id the challenge we were facing.

Selection -

The most appropriate tool we could use for this challenge was storytelling, we could  share our own stories and bring experts to share their stories to convince women on why  they should shift to wearing pads instead of cloth. People tend to listen to stories and  involve themselves rather then just people telling them what to do. Storytelling gives  people a holistic approach.

Application -

Before a week I enrolled to this course called design thinking for innovation, as soon as I  enrolled for this course there was a major problem going around in the NGO and I thought  about how storytelling could be used as a tool to emotionally connect with out audience  (villagers) and convince them to use pads over rugged clothes.

Insight and approach -

We as a team of 5 applied storytelling to tackle our situation by actually taking expert  doctors to unprivileged areas and share their own experiences. We ﬁrstly had a group  meeting in which  we all gathered and shared our ideas on how we can tackle this issue,  after studying this particular course I thought that storytelling was the best approach we  can use and I gave them speciﬁcs on how people will connect more to stories rather then  presentations. After an hour long debate we were all convinced that this was the best  approach.

Within the next 2 days we talked to diﬀerent doctors on how they could help us in this  cause and it was astonishing that more than 12 doctors actually agreed to come with us  and talk to people on why they should be wearing pads. Shockingly we also found a

doctor who was convinced that she could show people on how to make their own  washable pads at home which were safe to use and cost eﬀective.

Next day we planned a visit to a particular village and gathered all the females and told  them to share their stories and then our experts told their own stories. People were really  excited and then we had a full day planned on how they could make their own pads.

My eyes were wide open on the power of storytelling, convincing the women to use pads  was a mammoth task but listening to them and then sharing our own experiences made  them sympathise with us which ﬁnally led to them accepting to wear pads.


Storytelling Challenge - I am currently studying and also I am a part of an NGO ( Non - governmental organisation ) which focuses on providing menstrual hygiene products to slums in India . Poverty refers to a situation in which a person remain underprivileged from the basic necessities of life . In addition , the person does not have an inadequate supply of food , shelter , and clothes . In India , most of the people who are suﬀering from poverty can not aﬀord to pay for a single meal a day . Also , they sleep on the roadside ; wear dirty old clothes . In addition , they do not get proper healthy and nutritious food , neither medicine nor any other necessary thing . India as a country believes that women can not be touched or even use the same utensils people at home use for cooking while she is on her period . Modern times have surely brought a huge change in my society but there are still many places in which wearing a pad is not accepted and women who are in their period have to use cloth which can cause infection and rashes . People think that pads are n’t aﬀordable and even if they are they are unsafe for women . Convincing women to actually buy pads or make their own biodegradable pads i d the challenge we were facing . Selection - The most appropriate tool we could use for this challenge was storytelling , we could share our own stories and bring experts to share their stories to convince women on why they should shift to wearing pads instead of cloth . People tend to listen to stories and involve themselves rather then just people telling them what to do . Storytelling gives people a holistic approach . Application - Before a week I enrolled to this course called design thinking for innovation , as soon as I enrolled for this course there was a major problem going around in the NGO and I thought about how storytelling could be used as a tool to emotionally connect with out audience ( villagers ) and convince them to use pads over rugged clothes . Insight and approach - We as a team of 5 applied storytelling to tackle our situation by actually taking expert doctors to unprivileged areas and share their own experiences . We ﬁrstly had a group meeting in which we all gathered and shared our ideas on how we can tackle this issue , after studying this particular course I thought that storytelling was the best approach we can use and I gave them speciﬁcs on how people will connect more to stories rather then presentations . After an hour long debate we were all convinced that this was the best approach . Within the next 2 days we talked to diﬀerent doctors on how they could help us in this cause and it was astonishing that more than 12 doctors actually agreed to come with us and talk to people on why they should be wearing pads . Shockingly we also found a doctor who was convinced that she could show people on how to make their own washable pads at home which were safe to use and cost eﬀective . Next day we planned a visit to a particular village and gathered all the females and told them to share their stories and then our experts told their own stories . People were really excited and then we had a full day planned on how they could make their own pads . My eyes were wide open on the power of storytelling , convincing the women to use pads was a mammoth task but listening to them and then sharing our own experiences made them sympathise with us which ﬁnally led to them accepting to wear pads .