Restoring agency: What does it take

Over the last few months, I have had a chance to work across Migrants, MSMEs, SHGs and public education and health stakeholders. I have also been watching both the actions and subsequent reactions to the farmers' protests. While there are varied perspectives on what is the right thing to do, there is a growing awareness among the stakeholders that I work with that the primary, and non-negotiable, outcome that we are working towards is "Restoring Agency"- We are not helping anyone as much as ensuring that people are able to help themselves. Sustainable change is possible only if we restore agency of the people we work with - The role of the state and the philanthropic ecosystem is to enable the same.

However much one understands this, one is almost always unsuccessful in making it happen. As I reflect on my experiences, there are five key pillars I posit are essential to effectively restoring agency.

1. Facilitate possibilities: Are we able to unlock new opportunities for the stakeholders we seek to enable that they were hitherto unable to access? Are those possibilities what they desire for themselves and not what we desire for them? Are those possibilities tangible (than a conceptual improvement) with clear gains in the short- and long-term? Is the value unlocked through these possibilities clear for the stakeholders? I would like to clarify here that building capability is not enabling possibility (see the third pillar) - The value that additional capability unlocks for them is the possibility.
2. Foster Innovations: Solutions are often defined where stakeholders are consumers of value and not creators. However, every single time, we recognise that those in the last mile are the most aware of the local context and their challenges. How do we then design systems not only deliver value but encourage the stakeholders to innovate in the first mile? What stays constant and what is customised and created? What are the resources and tools that we can offer them for them to innovate? And most importantly, how can our solutions aggregate these local innovations to continuously become better?
3. Mitigate risks: Pursuing any possibility is pregnant with risk (no pain, no gain). Are we cognisant of those risks? Are they cognisant of those risks? More importantly, are we actively mitigating those risks for them? It is in the last question that I have seen stakeholders being most divided. At one extreme (left), there are those that want the state or philanthropy to cover for all risks. At the other extreme (right), the risks are borne by the same people who seek the reward / possibility. The answer, as is almost always the case, is in the middle.
4. Enable leverage: Are we ensuring that we are enabling people to leverage the opportunities that is presented to them? Are we providing them the right inputs? Are we mindful of the exogenous factors? Are we rebalancing the power dynamics that removed their agency in the first place? Are we ensuring redressal mechanisms? More importantly. are we designing these enablement systems as self-selected and self-paced models so that it is built on the principle of agency (In other words, people seek inputs and are not offered. Those that are motivated seek and benefit more).
5. Ensure dialogue: Perhaps one of the toughest things to do in the current system is to ensure dialogue. There is a renewed and deep admiration for swift, unilateral action (think demonetisation). In many cases, it is from those who have grown to admire it in corporate leaders in their respective organisations. However, organisations, even the most complicated ones, are closed systems with a clear lines of power and coercion. However, societies are open systems and unintended consequences of actions are significant and impossible for any one person (or two people) to comprehend. The only way to restore agency is by engaging the masses and the elite in dialogue to find the relevant and right solutions to problems.

Testing these five pillars with the farm laws - Do the new farm laws facilitate new possibilities that were not earlier accessible? Do they mitigate risks the farmers might face? Did it enable farmers to foster innovations at the first mile? Are we enabling farmers to effectively leverage these possibilities? Did we ensure dialogue with the farmers and other stakeholders?

In my own experience, I have designed and been part of initiatives that have not taken into account these five pillars. We have enabled agency without facilitating possibilities. We have built top down solutions with little to no contextualisation. We have facilitated possibilities without mitigating risks. And we have so often paid token attention to dialogue. And in almost all such cases, we have had limited to no success.

At a deeper level, one of our key challenges today is that we have very few leaders who are effectively able to uphold all of these pillars and have the mindset and the competencies to truly able to restore agency of those who we seek to enable. All our conversations around driving systems change is never going to be a reality unless we build a distributed cadre of such leaders across the country.

UPDATE: Thank you for the feedback & dialogue that this post has generated. While the initial post had four pillars, I have added a crucial pillar on "Fostering innovation", thanks to the feedback from Anand Rajan. Thanks Anand!