The “Living Hope” nursery school in Dzaleka Refugee Camp

About This Photo

The “Living Hope” nursery school in Dzaleka Refugee Camp, Malawi. Photo by Helen Storey.

What challenges are you facing?

Helen: Climate change itself is a massive challenge. The homes of the people who I work with are washed away once a year, and they have repeatedly rebuilt the infrastructure of their lives. When and how we interact with them in that process is very pertinent.

Another challenge is trying to do this work based in the UK, whilst our own government has a migration policy that is so inhumane. They display cowardice and an avoidance of our all futures.

Francesco: We need to move towards a framework of ethics of care. Engaging vulnerable people in co-creation processes highlights the trajectory of trauma. For instance, we have witnessed that asylum seekers generally experience more trauma than refugees who are more settled, and therefore cannot be as creative.

We need to have effective safeguarding measures and support systems in place. We also need to collaborate with professionals from other sectors who are trauma-informed and can deal with the dark side of designing for social good.

Lucy: For me, the main challenge is the longevity of our projects and how to sustain the momentum and relationships. We’re building empathy, we’re building community. What happens to those communities once our research projects and funding ends?

We all need to be adequately equipped to understand trauma, to read the signs of the effect of our work on others, and to be able to provide or indicate where support can be accessed.

Source: Living Hope