Design Thinking tool; Story Telling

1. Challenge: I work with individuals and communities to address Sexual Gender Based

Violence (SGBV). Due to shame associated with it, coupled with strong culture, victims  opt for silence to avoid stigma and discrimination. The survivors of SGBV lead a life  of  psychological and mental distress. Lack of reporting or voicing out leads to  inadequate reporting and legal action against perpetrators.

2. Selection: Looking at the Design Thinking tools, Story telling tool puts human beings

and their experiences at the centre. Peoples experiences are intimate and personal, the  narrator owns the process. Story telling tool aims to address the ‘what is’ and naming  of the problem, which would lead to finding a root cause for possible dialogues and  discussion about this taboo subject. Story telling has been a tool used in several  techniques including the popular one ‘women’s ways of knowing’ but the story telling  as a design thinking tool

3. Application: The larger group discussions on SGBV split into smaller groups of 5

individuals with similar characteristics of sex, age, marital status, education  background. A guided discussion is then carried out where various points were  discussed like the first time a person really felt pained/hurt, by who? Why? How was  it addressed? By who? Was it successfully handled, how does it make you feel, what  worked, what can be improved etc.

While it generated quiet negative outcomes of how the problem was addressed, it was  possible to identify gaps and the available community structures that did not offer  critical support required and also those that were missing all together.

4. Insight: combining the design thinking story telling technique and the animation

technique complemented to a better impact and healing of the survivors and victims  of SGBV. There is need for counseling.

5. Approach: It could yield better results to apply the story telling tool on individual

cases, and allocate more time for follow up of cases. In order to allow sufficient time  to evaluate the outcome and incorporate other social aspects of the program like the  livelihoods project.


Design Thinking tool ; Story Telling 1 . Challenge : I work with individuals and communities to address Sexual Gender Based Violence ( SGBV ) . Due to shame associated with it , coupled with strong culture , victims opt for silence to avoid stigma and discrimination . The survivors of SGBV lead a life of psychological and mental distress . Lack of reporting or voicing out leads to inadequate reporting and legal action against perpetrators . 2 . Selection : Looking at the Design Thinking tools , Story telling tool puts human beings and their experiences at the centre . Peoples experiences are intimate and personal , the narrator owns the process . Story telling tool aims to address the ‘ what is ’ and naming of the problem , which would lead to finding a root cause for possible dialogues and discussion about this taboo subject . Story telling has been a tool used in several techniques including the popular one ‘ women ’s ways of knowing ’ but the story telling as a design thinking tool 3 . Application : The larger group discussions on SGBV split into smaller groups of 5 individuals with similar characteristics of sex , age , marital status , education background . A guided discussion is then carried out where various points were discussed like the first time a person really felt pained / hurt , by who ? Why ? How was it addressed ? By who ? Was it successfully handled , how does it make you feel , what worked , what can be improved etc . While it generated quiet negative outcomes of how the problem was addressed , it was possible to identify gaps and the available community structures that did not offer critical support required and also those that were missing all together . 4 . Insight : combining the design thinking story telling technique and the animation technique complemented to a better impact and healing of the survivors and victims of SGBV . There is need for counseling . 5 . Approach : It could yield better results to apply the story telling tool on individual cases , and allocate more time for follow up of cases . In order to allow sufficient time to evaluate the outcome and incorporate other social aspects of the program like the livelihoods project .