Stepping into Week 2…

So you decided you wanted to make a positive impact!

We hope you got a lot out of the fantastic experience of working with Project Chakra; joining an immersive workshop based on a social enterprise in India, discovering the positivity of disrupting waste management and women’s empowerment. We hope the simulation role-play and gamification enhanced your entrepreneurial skills to solve real world problems. We hope the spark was lit!

This coming week we will spend our time looking at the scope of projects, how to see a project overview, and how begin to turn an idea into actually making stuff happen. Below are the problem statements given to you by Project Chakra. We will be exploring how to use a DESIGN THINKING process to look at ideas and potential solutions. Please look over these now. You don’t need solutions just yet, but it’s always a good idea to start to awaken your thinking…

Problem Statements:

Food systems – local supply chains
Many people in Manchester cannot afford access to a healthy diet. The food system
has negative impacts on the environment, public health and economic well-being.
This hinders Manchester’s ability to prosper both now and in the future.
With the right policies in place, re-localising Manchester’s food production and
consumption and promoting shorter supply chains can generate multiple benefits for
the local economy, environment, health and well-being.

To support local supply chains and rebalance the distribution of power, infrastructure
is needed in towns and the countryside to link food producers to consumers in more
diverse ways. This means more sites for food markets, community retailers and food
processors, investment in food cooperatives and the development of a network of
food hubs that aggregate and distribute local food.

Food poverty for children and impacts on education…

• In 2021/22, child poverty levels in Manchester is 44.7% – this is a growing trend since 2014.

• Under 18s in 2021 makeup 39% of those supported by the Trussell Trust (food bank) – 6,800 more in Apr-Sep 2020 than 2019. The number of parcels given to those under 18 in 2021 was 12,041.

• According to teachers, one hour a day is lost in learning time with a child every time they arrive at school with an empty stomach. The grip of hunger could potentially cost the English economy at least £5.2million a year through teachers losing teaching hours to cope with the needs of hungry children.

Opportunities with food waste

• The average UK family throws away £730 worth of food every year.
• In Greater Manchester, 140,000 tonnes of food waste is put in general waste bins.
• Three quarters of this food waste could have been avoided too.
• FareShare Greater Manchester currently redistributes food to more than 280
  charitable organisations and community groups, including community centres,
  homeless shelters and children’s breakfast/after school clubs. Through this work,
  they play a pivotal role in providing essential meals, food parcels and snacks to over

30,000 individuals.

• Food waste in Manchester can be converted into energy through specialist facilities across the country. It is predicted the UK could generate nearly 8 billion m3 per year of biomethane by 2030, which is enough to heat over 6 million homes.

CALL TO ACTION

What to do now!

Dharmesh and Anand invited you to get curious about what people have already got up and running in the community, so we invite you to Get inspired by what’s happening locally. So go and investigate!

There are amazing things already happening to support our community. Projects and organisations that are working towards building better opportunities for our community. It is always good to do a needs analysis first and see what can built on or who can be partnered with or perhaps to discover what is missing and where you could make a positive change.

Here is a list of sites of a number of organisations doing great work, and many others we invite you to discover. We look forward to hearing what you’ve found out.

• Ardwick and Longside Food Bank
• Sow the City
• Hubbub Community Fridge Network
• The Trussell Trust – Stop UK Hunger
• Food Aid Network
• One Manchester
• Fur Clemt

Reflecting back on Week 1…

As you start developing your own ideas, here’s a recap on the last session with the Project Chakra team….

You explored questions including…

• Do you compromise on women’s income in the short term to scale the organisation for long term development?
• How will you deal with conflict and competition from the incumbents in this sector?
• What does it take to systematically solve this problem?

You also explored the diverse perspectives to these questions and explored how we might start to work towards answering them.

The session covered three key components…

• First, you played the role of one of several stakeholders in a complex system

Where you were invited to….

Put yourself into the shoes of others to build an understanding of their needs and concerns, through which you will understand the drivers of the current urban waste management problem.

• Second, you explored how to solve the problem

Where you were invited to…

Take the role of a social entrepreneur, and build a sustainable business model to address the problem you have just experienced.

• Third, you were invited to help drive innovation

Where you explored…

The urban waste management problem which is vast and the solution needs to scale while keeping women’s empowerment the core focus. 

We look forward to seeing you in the next session! Remember communication is everything! So be in touch if you need anything. C-J & Ellie