Reflection blog from Breadwinners
By Charlotte Gallagher
Breadwinners is a charity that supports the wellbeing of people with refugee status and young people seeking asylum through work experience opportunities, training and mentoring. Our Breadwinners sell bread at some of London’s best farmers markets as their first job in the UK. While young people seeking asylum (Risers) take part in an eight week work experience programme.
Like everyone, the onset of COVID-19 in March 2020 meant that we had to reflect, adjust and re-design the Breadwinners model. For some time, we withdrew from our markets in the interest of our Breadwinners and the nation. In that time, we quickly pivoted to e-commerce where our Market Stall Managers became Online Sales Representatives (Proofers). This meant lots of operational adjustment and collaboration with our bakeries, with the design and delivery of a brand new Proofers Programme.
The new programme had a tech focus and supported the Proofers to navigate new softwares, work with and complete databases, use new communication channels including email and an online phone calling platform while maintaining GDPR and making sure our customers received the best experience. This was not only a learning curve for our Proofers but also a new challenge for the Core team.
In this, there were of course many obstacles and barriers to overcome. A big part of all the programmes is supporting our Risers, Breadwinners and Proofers to become excellent problem solvers. The year of 2020 has presented unique and unexpected challenges, while we have all had to cope with technological fatigue and limited social interaction. These two factors can be a barrier to wellbeing which I am sure many will relate to.
Prior to the second lockdown, I was able to take part in a peer learning set with other local youth organisations as part of SIX Wayfinder 2020. After six months of working independently, it was refreshing to share problems and find solutions. Not only do we need to motivate ourselves, but much of the time we need to find a way to motivate others and our teams. Sharing challenges with others creates a space to think innovatively, take a fresh perspective, or even learn from their practices as they may have overcome a similar problem.
After the session, I felt much more motivated and empowered to overcome the challenges I was facing, equipped with the suggestions, experiences and understanding of my peers. In the following weeks I made a plan, implemented and facilitated some of the ways to make a change and adjust my approach to the problem. Although the issue is not solved, steps have been made in the right direction as well as greater learning and understanding.
I found the opportunity and space to reflect about issues, particularly with youth sector peers, a great way to refresh my mindset and find new motivation in a year it has been so important to be resilient.
Charlotte Gallagher, Programmes Manager, Breadwinners