The Philippines — Learning to Listen

As part of the Global Awareness minor at HAN University of Applied Sciences, I spent several months in the Philippines working with the Mother Earth Foundation. The minor focuses on global challenges, cultural awareness and creating social impact through Participatory Action Research (PAR).

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Together with my project team and local partners, I worked on developing a practical manual for setting up Materials Recovery Facilities in communities across the Philippines. Instead of designing solutions from behind a desk, we went into local communities, talked to residents and other stakeholders, and used their experiences and needs to shape the project. I translated part of this research into infographics for the final manual, which you can also find elsewhere in this portfolio.

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This internship taught me less about design itself, but a lot more about working with people. Through PAR, I learned that your role doesn’t always have to be to take ownership of a project or come up with all the answers. Sometimes, you can create more impact by acting as a facilitator: listening, connecting people and giving others the space to shape solutions themselves.

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Working so closely with people from a different culture taught me a lot about collaboration, communication and perspective. Most of all, I’m grateful for all the people I met and the communities that welcomed us into their world.