Niet in je Eendje
2020
It's going pretty well with Rotterdam. But not with all of its inhabitants. Over more than 100.000 households are struggling with debts. Making it through the month with difficulty involves a lot of stress and can lead to social isolation, with all its consequences. People that live in poverty, often could really use some help and social contact, but the threshold seems too high.
'Niet in je eendje' ( = not on your own)( And 'Eendje' = Duck) responds to this societal problem and stresses the importance of solidarity. The game encourages you to collaborate in a playful way, which stimulates spontaneous interactions.After playing the game a voucher is printed for a coffee or tea at the local Foodbank location.
The Foodbanks in the Netherlands help those that cannot survive financially on their own for a while by temporarily providing free food. However, the Foodbank does a lot more beyond giving free food, to ensure that their clients can survive on their own again. After all, you cannot do everything by yourself.
By playing this game, passers-by do not only contribute to local contacts, they also donate 2 euros to the Foodbanks in the neighborhood.
Inspiration:
Talking to the volunteers at the foodbank I found out that the biggest issues they were facing lay with reaching the people that are most in need. Of food, but with many other aspects of life. Getting them out of their houses seemed an impossible task and often they had to bring the food to their houses. Organizing events or meetings did not reach them either, how could social contact be created to bring people together?
The volunteers also told me the story of this sofa that had been donated the other day:
The red sofa was quite big and did not really fit in anyone's home. So the foodbank decided to sell it. The problem was; the sofa could not be picked up immediately and had to stay on the street for a while...
The big red sofa attracted quite some attention, and after a while it became the hotspot of the day, with someone playing music, coffee, home made cookies and the very first social contact for people in quite a while.
At the end of the day, the sofa was sold and everyone left again. What did the red sofa do that the organized events could not? What are the ingredients for successfully creating contact?