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Desing Thinking - A toolkit for human rights activists by Larissa Weiss


Empathize. 

Define. 

Ideate. 

Prototype. 

Test. 

These are the five steps of the human-focussed design method, called Design Thinking (DT). The diverse tools are applied to effectively address the needs of the people given to their circumstances. During a training session with Martyna Markiewicz, a DT facilitator, we were introduced to a systematic tool that not only gives us the ability to improve our activism in human rights and anti-discrimination work but also enables us to go beyond the multi-layered environments that enforce human rights violations. The method of DT trained us to directly address the certain demand of a specific person or community. According to Alastair Fuad-Luke, DT is involved in so-called ‘design activism’ that he describes as, “design thinking, imagination and practice applied knowingly or unknowingly, to create a counternarrative aimed at generating and balancing positive social, institutional, environmental and/or economic change”. 

As a human rights activist I see myself constantly confronted with the multiple structures of inequality and discrimination against minorities and thereof, with the complexity of the implementation of a greater social change. The ability to accurately address the needs of a certain group is very often constricted by the difficulty to make certain challenges more concrete as well as tangible. During my experiences in international human rights law I began to use not only the knowledge about certain legislations but also about social science regarding human behaviour. Through a precise human rights monitoring concerning social situations I achieved a broader understanding of the underlying root causes of discrimination to ultimately, introduce change in line with universal human rights. Additionally, the training about DT and thereof, about the systematic combination of several social factors enabled me to understand the method as an important tool to strengthen an encompassing framework of positive social change through creativity and imagination. 
To better understand the different stages towards finding an appropriate solution regarding a given challenge, I will give an overview about the several phrases of DT. The first step is called ‘empathize’. The goal is to gain a profound insight into human behaviour either through observation of behavioural patterns that result from a given environment or through the direct engagement with people out of this environment with techniques like interviewing. After uncovering the ‘why’, one should conclude and unpack the information into visual models. While collecting the details, the design thinker begins to understand the bigger picture and consequently, the process of defining the specific problem is about to start. 

“Framing the right problem is the only way the create the right solution.”1

Naming and categorizing the given challenge is a powerful tool to define the required solution. After identifying the need, one can move on to ideate the achievable concepts of solutions. Moreover, I understood the process of ideation as a unique opportunity to bridge the field of resolutions with the social situation of the target group. This can be done with the help of imagination and consciousness as well as unconsciousness while the best solution can only be detected through the later phases of establishing a prototype and testing. 

“Build to think and test to learn.”2

A prototype has the function to interact with the targeted user. Through this final depiction of one’s imagination the design thinker can predict its efficiency. During the last stage of testing, finally, the user can determine the factual adaptability of the given solution. 

As a group of young human rights activists and leaders in our fields, we had the possibility to go through each of the given stages to be confronted with our own capability of perceiving a given challenge. This ability was especially shaped during the second stage of defining the underlying need of the so-called ‘user’. I experienced this stage not only as the key concept of this human-focused method but also as the turning point of any further stage. While major human rights challenges can give the impression of huge, impalpable patterns of systematic discrimination, the training gave us an insight into the power of identifying the root cause of a social need. Being able to name, means being able to act. Being able to act, means being able to change. And being able to change means nothing less than being able to face challenges. 









2 Ibid. 1


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Larissa Weiss found her passion in human rights and social change during her studies in Germany. She participated twice in the National Model United Nations Conference in New York, took part as a teacher in the Model United Nations in Classroom Project in Germany and she completed her practical period at the United Nations Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights in Geneva. These experiences formed her strong interest in understanding root causes of human rights violations, especially in the Middle East and North Africa region. After obtaining her degree from university (LL.B.), she started her internship in the German Bundestag in the Human Rights and Humanitarian Aid Committee to be faced with current human rights concerns in Germany, such as racism and right-wing extremism. The Humanity in Action Fellowship further urges her to understand society and ultimately, to introduce social change in line with universal human rights.

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