How Our Alumni Helped a Leading Charity Bring Their Latest Concept to Life

ActionAid UK is crafting a new regular giving fundraising product called Women in Action. To help bring the project to life, ActionAid UK handpicked a group of Experience Haus alumni to collaborate on the project. In this article Keri Lickfett, Senior Innovation Manager at ActionAid UK, gives us a bit more of an insight into the project, as well as the valuable work our alumni have produced.

This innovative concept has emerged from work done through the collaborative efforts of the Innovation Collective, a dynamic group spanning 12 countries within the ActionAid Federation, all united in their quest to generate resources for our invaluable work with women and girls worldwide.

Women in Action is fundamentally a fundraising product supporting women’s collectives worldwide. We fervently believe in women leading the way to shape their futures, with these collectives playing a crucial role in our mission. The initiative highlights exceptional women worldwide working together to overcome challenges, create lasting solutions, and fostering community growth.

In return for regular contributions, generous donors gain access to an enriching learning platform, featuring exclusive content like immersive films, live webinars, personal stories of remarkable women, and a curated library of articles and podcasts.

Following successful testing, we identified a strong resonance with audiences aged 18-44 who support social progress and value virtual communities. To solidify the concept, we needed to breathe life into the concept by creating a working prototype for 1-1 interviews, with testing taking place in Sweden, Brazil, Spain, and the US in November.

To bring the concept to life, a group of nine skilled alumni from Experience Haus supported ActionAid in building a prototype. They divided into project management, facilitation, UI, and UX teams, using tools like Figma and Miro. The alumni demonstrated great motivation, exceptional expertise, and collaboration in completing the project in a short period of time.

One Alumni team member shared her feelings with the rest of the Alumni team, “Thank you everyone so much for the amazing past week. It was so energising and gave me a lot of new stamina to continue working as a UI with a renewed perspective. It was so gratifying knowing that we were working for a wonderful cause.”

Another Alumni team member shared their feelings about working with ActionAid, “It’s been great and I’ve learnt a lot from you. You’ve been an ace client/team member/mentor for us to work with. You’ve been very much part of the team and guiding us through this project. You’ve let us work through things and do the work we all love to do. I appreciate the trust you’ve given us and the work, data, references and general availability you’ve shown throughout. I can really appreciate how you champion innovation, being flexible, practical, open and driven, all at the right time. All this done with ease.”

Certificates of thanks are being created by ActionAid especially for this fantastic group of Experience Haus alumni to show our appreciation and to share on their social media accounts.

Thank you to:

Amran Ali whose exceptional project management and facilitation skills have been the driving force behind the remarkable progress of the Women in Action prototype.

Roberta Molaschi for her exceptional contribution to the Women in Action prototype through her outstanding UI design skills.

Swarali Dalal for her exceptional contribution to the Women in Action prototype through her outstanding UI and UX design skills.

Melissa Matos, Mabel Chien, Amir Khoshsokan,  Rasheeda Adedokun, Oladele Akinnusi, and Olumide Olayinka for their outstanding contribution to the development of the Women in Action prototype.

You can access the prototype here.

Picture: Women’s Collective of fisherwomen in the Maya Island in Senegal who are training to adapt to the rising sea levels. The group are also planning to build a bridge that connects their village with a local school to help children access an education.