INTRODUCTION
This portfolio will investigate the term 'Change Maker' and how as a Change Maker, I will solve a problem and contribute to a solution for my client, The Outdoor Partnership. I will also attempt to define who or what a change maker is and use this research to navigate this project that has multiple stakeholders and different priorities. I will do this using different research techniques. Finally I will help to identify a problem, pull it apart and provide a solution that will add value in a creative and informative way.
WHAT / WHO IS A CHANGE MAKER?
Before I could delve into this project, I needed to get a better understanding of what a change maker is. I wanted to understand their driving forces, and how a change maker differs from any other creator in the field of content creation.
Investiging a definative definition for the term 'Change Maker' showed up different variations of similar attributes. Dr Jo North, a change maker herself, of The Big Bang Partnership defines the role as:
"Someone who spots opportunity that will contribute to the greater good" (North, 2021)
"Inspires and influences others to join and support them" (North, 2021)
Although the term was coined in the 1970's, it was brought to popularity by Bill Clinton who ofter refered to his wife as a change maker.
Another definition used by the University of Evansville, who are in their words, 'the leading global designation for colleges and universities that believe anyone and everyone can make a difference' is,
"Someone who is taking creative action to solve a social problem" (Rahman, Herbst and Mobley, 2016)
These supposed definitions of a 'change maker' are understandable but I think it goes further than this. Evolution within our society relies on innovation. Innovation is what has changed the world and transformed our daily lives and society as we know it to be.
During a lecture with Sharron Harris, we came up with a definition that embraced all of the above and in my opinion provideds more collective definition in itself.
"A change maker is someone, or a group if individuals working together to innovate, inspire and influence people to take creative action to solve a problem that will contribute to the greater good."
THE PROBLEM
I have been looking at the project from 2 sides when it comes to identifying a problem. As we have identified above, a Change Maker is someone that does something for society and the greater good. I feel that one of the biggest challenge we as a society have faced in recent decades is that of the COVID 19 pandemic. Not just the years in the pandemic with lockdowns and restrictions placed on our daily lives but also the aftermath we are left to deal with.
Within the aftermath lies mental health. Having restrictions on being allowed to socialize and even just being outside has effected most people with The World Health Organisation having attributed the pandemic with an increase of 25% in anxiety and depression world-wide (WHO, 2022). This increase can been seen especially in the youth of our society. Young Minds, a UK charity fighting for children and young people's mental health, conducted a survey that identified that many young people were 'deeply anxious, have started self-harming again, are having panic attacks, or are losing motivation and hope for the future (Young Minds, 2021).
The NHS and local GPs in the UK are now now prescribing time outdoors as a remedy to improve mental health. 'Green social prescribing is the practice of supporting people to engage in nature-based interventions and activities to improve their mental and physical health' (NHS England, 2023). As well as the NHS pushing efforts to encourage people to get back outside, there are a number of different organisations that have risen to facilitate and encourage outdoor activity and this is where we meet The Outdoor Partnership.
The Outdoor Partnership work to support the people of Wales and other UK areas to take up outdoor activities as a life-long pursuit. They act as facilitators and work with partners that deliver different activities and encourage particpation by working with different community groups and goverment agencies usually supporting the most vulnerable in our society. Much of their work is able to happen because of funding provided by various sources including the welsh government and private institutions. This is the second problem.
So the problem I have identified, is highlighting the downhill spiral of our young people's mental health caused by the COVID 19 pandemic whilst at the same time helping The Outdoor Partnership (my client) to increase their work and encourage stakeholders, (providers, funders, participants, support agencies) to engage with this changemaker and support or recieve the valuable work they do.
THE VALUE
As Change Makers, we look at value differently for this type of project, compared to a commercial project. Below you will see the a visual representaion of the value flower that helps to explain the thought processes we as creators endeavour to understand.
These 5 different values are duplicated to differentiate the values for oneself and the values for others. An example of this would be seeing soical value for oneself in the form of network creation or expansion but in turn helping others by relieving their suffering or making them happy.
THE OBJECTIVE
My brief for this project is to create a 3 minute film highlighting the work of The Outdoor Partnership and opportunities for stakeholders, sponsors (donators), and participants. My initial plan was to highlight a story from a young carer and follow them through their daily life, talk about their struggles were and then showcase what the Outdoor Partnership does to help them, very similar to the clips we see for Children In Need and similar to the example below.
The problem I came up against was that there was so much content similar to this out there, that I was worried that it would just get lost in all the noise and just be one of those heart tugging stories that lasts 5 mins.
During a lecture with Sharron Harris, she made us think outside the box and look to create something that meets the requirements of the client and fulfills the values, as I have discussed, but to make something different. Make something fun and relevant. I went away wanting to create something that my client can re-use but also something that makes people think and smile at the same time, not just pull on heart strings.
THE SYNOPSIS
The film will focus on young carers coming out the otherside of a world wide pandemic and shine a spotlite on The Outdoor Partnership and how they helped and continue to help these vulnerable young people. I will use archive footage/images in a cinematic manor of empty streets to create tension along with a news bulitin style voice over, moving to a short comedic sketch of young people on electronics worried to go outside and then once they make the leap, show a montage of the young people having fun in various activities. At the same time hearing the words of the client explaining what, why and how they do what they do.
MY RATIONALE FOR THE PROJECT
As previously stated, I am passionate about promoting the benefits of the outdoors and even though it is often in the news and organisations such as the NHS are promoting it too, people still don't fully understand, and everyone from parents to teachers and anyone crossing paths with young people need to be encouraging and facilitating opportunities for young people in the outdoors.
The Outdoor Partnership has this written in their aims and values as an organisation and so any time and experience I can give to them to help them achieve this goal is helping the greater good and society as a whole.
CRITICAL RESEARCH
THE OUTDOOR PARTNERSHIP
The Outdoor Partnership has been 'enhancing peoples lives through outdoor activity since 2005'. Spread across the UK in 12 locations they have over ten thousand social media followers and over 5 million impressions via social media. Of the participants that utilise the services offered by The Outdoor Partnership, 69% of them reported an improvement in their mental health.
As well as the individual benefits provided by the organisation, on a socioeconomic platform, 'the social return on investment reported by Social Value Cymru states that for every £1 spent by the partnership in their offerings, there's added value of £7.12 locally through reduced health costs and economic benefit' (The Outdoor Partnership, 2023).
Below is an infographic produced by the outdoor partnership that highlights some of their achievements recently.
Being a charity, The Outdoor Partnership work with many stakeholders at various levels. They not only rely on some of these for financial support but also to promote the services offered to their clients. A full list of their key stakeholders and partners can be found below.
MEETING THE CLIENT
The inital meeting that was arranged happened at the University where Sioned Thomas, the Swansea Bay Outdoor Activity Development Officer for The Outdoor Partnership gave a short presentation on what she does, what they do and what her expectations were.
I wasn't able to attend this meeting, but the feedback from the group was that they were artisticly open to pritty much anything. I wasn't able to air any ideas with her at this time but I was able to meet her on a pre-arranged shoot and we discussed my synopsis and plan for the project and she seemed to like the idea. She offered at this time to do an interview/voiceover and we could arrange this in december as activities die down for them during this time.
We discussed how ideally the project output would work on different levels and so could be used not only to create more participation but to engage with partners and supporters to show where the money is going.
I was fortunate enough to have worked with the client in a different aspect of their role so I already had a good understanding of what they offered. I knew that my vision would meet their requirements but my biggest challenge, as always, would be conceptualizing my idea and presenting it in a manor that would allow the client to see my vision and see the true value.
INFLUENCES
Whilst looking for inspiration, I was attempting to envisage how to build tension and stop someone from scrolling past the content. What came to mind was a section of the opening scenes to the film '28 days later' directed by Danny Boyle in 2002. It depicted a man walking through the streets of London, not a sole to be seen.
At the same time I want to create tension by using headlines used in the pandemic and turn it into a bit of a news report.
References
North, J. (2021). How to Be a Change Maker. The Definitive Guide. Available at: https://bigbangpartnership.co.uk/how-to-be-a-change-maker-definitive-guide/ (Accessed: 06 November 2023).
Rahman. R, Herbst. K and Mobley. P (2016) 'More than Simply "Doing Good": A Definition of Changemaker. What Children, Truckers and Superheros all have in Common'. Available at: https://www.evansville.edu/changemaker/downloads/more-than-simply-doing-good-defining-changemaker1.pdf (Accessed: 06 November 2023).
World Health Organsiation [WHO] (2022) 'COVID-19 pandemic triggers 25% increase in prevalence of anxiety and depression worldwide'. Available at: https://www.who.int/news/item/02-03-2022-covid-19-pandemic-triggers-25-increase-in-prevalence-of-anxiety-and-depression-worldwide (Accessed: 06 November 2023).
Young Minds (2021) 'The impact of Covid-19 on young people with mental health needs'. Available at: https://www.youngminds.org.uk/about-us/reports-and-impact/coronavirus-impact-on-young-people-with-mental-health-needs (Accessed: 06 November 2023).
National Health Service England [NHS England] (2023) Green Social Prescribing. Available at: https://www.england.nhs.uk/personalisedcare/social-prescribing/green-social-prescribing/#:~:text=Green%20social%20prescribing%20is%20the,their%20mental%20and%20physical%20health (Accessed: 06 November 2023).
Lackéus, M. (2020) [Twitter]. Available at: https://twitter.com/mlackeus/status/1268516813966643203?lang=en-GB (Accessed: 06 November 2023).
BBC Children In Need. (2021) How your donations support young carers accross the UK, Children In Need 2021. Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i9orMv-F_U8 (Accessed: 06 November 2023).
The Outdoor Partnership. (2023) Key Achievements. Available at: https://outdoorpartnership.co.uk/impact-insights (Accessed: 06 November 2023)