Best-practice in community development through library service design
By Gabriel Smales, 2021
Fellow’s Profile
Fellow’s Profile
Best practice in community development through library service design
Designing library services to encourage community development in divided societies
2015
I am a Creative Lead at Dalberg Design in Nairobi where I work with clients to design products and services for low-income customers, particularly in the agriculture, financial inclusion and clean cooking space. Prior to joining Dalberg, I led the design of new services at Proximity Designs, an agriculture-focused social enterprise in Myanmar.
My 2015 Churchill Fellowship aimed to explore how learning spaces (eg libraries) might be reimagined to support social mobility. Over three months I visited a peacebuilding initiative in Beirut, a township library in Cape Town, and a cultural translation centre in Marrakech.
Undertaking a Churchill Fellowship meant I was able to learn more about the practice of social innovation in low-income settings, while also developing ethnographic research and systems thinking skills which have provided the basis for a career in social design. While I currently work on international development challenges, my hope is to one day return to my community in London to design and build a community space that supports less advantaged groups to generate the social and cultural capital which is currently essential for upward mobility in the UK.
All Reports are copyright © the author. The moral right of the author has been asserted. The views and opinions expressed by any Fellow are those of the Fellow and not of the Churchill Fellowship or its partners, which have no responsibility or liability for any part of them.
All Reports are copyright © the author. The moral right of the author has been asserted. The views and opinions expressed by any Fellow are those of the Fellow and not of the Churchill Fellowship or its partners, which have no responsibility or liability for any part of them.