In 2019, close to one million Dutch citizens lived below the low-income threshold. Their monthly income averaged below €2.110 for a family of four (SCP, 2019). Many poor citizens struggle to improve their situation, with almost half of them remaining in poverty for more than four years on-end (CPB, 2019).

Luckily, Dutch national- and local governments and their supporting organizations are continuously trying to support citizens in poverty. These parties offer financial and qualitative aid, coming together in “the poverty reduction system”.

However, the municipality of Utrecht has identified that this system does not always sufficiently support citizens. The system can be complex and bureaucratic, making it inaccessible for some citizens. Cognitively challenged women with a non-Western migration background are extra vulnerable to the complexities of the poverty reduction system. They struggle with low-literacy, communicative skills, and cultural barriers. The Municipality of Utrecht, Stichting Al Amal, and Buurtteams Utrecht want to improve accessibility of the system for this group. This project is the result of that collaboration.

In this project, I aim to design an intervention that makes Utrecht’s poverty reduction system more accessible for cognitively challenged women in poverty with a non-western migration background. Throughout my research, the experiences of citizens and the social workers supporting them have been the focal point. I explored the cause of the target group’s non-participation in the system through multiple creative sessions, interviews, and context explorations.

From my research, I learned that the issues already start before these women come in contact with the system. The target group refrains from requesting help altogether because they feel overwhelmed by the many available options, lack clear information about their options and rights, mistrust the authorities, do not feel that their situation is urgent, or feel ashamed. They let their financial struggles go untreated because of these factors, often making their situation progressively worse with time.

I focused my design activities on this early stage, looking for ways to improve accessibility early on. This was a co-evolutionary process, where learnings from design explorations inspired new directions to chase after. In this search, two themes arose. First, the theme of ‘motivating growth’ allowed me to explore alternative ways
of making the target group rediscover their own aspirations to improve their situation. How can we make people believe in their own potential again? Through this exploration, a new theme arose: “Opening up”. I found how the target group pushes the topic of poverty away. However, the network of people around them could probably be of great help. All this knowledge and support could be unlocked if people just opened up towards each other. I challenged myself to find
a way to let these people open up about their experiences, in a way that felt comfortable to them.

The concept that came fort is “a tea box full of stories” (figure 1). This concept is a low-threshold conversation starter that motivates citizens to open up about poverty-related experiences during tea time. The tea packets have questions and quotes printed on them, inviting the users
to start a conversation about these topics over a pot of tea. The quotes, which are written by other Utrechters, show them that these problems are universal, and that being vulnerable is okay.

The tea box unlocks and activates an informal network of knowledge and care, where friends, neighbors, and family together explore how they can support one another. It shows citizens that they do not have to carry the burden of their troubles alone. The tea box also offers multiple different links to U-Centraal; an organization that can help citizens find the right professional support once they are ready for it.

Al in all, the tea box offers a first low-threshold stepping stone towards a more accessible system. Firstly through an activated community that shares knowledge and support, and secondly by offering professional support in a pro-active yet unforced manner.