Designing policy from lived realities: Insights from The Motherload

This policy brief from the Motherload Project presents a set of principles for grounded policy design, arguing for the importance of participatory methods in policy design and engagement.

Why lived realities matter

Policymaking too often fails the very people it seeks to serve because it is disconnected from their lived realities. The Motherload project shows a different way forward. By engaging low-income mothers in South Africa as co-researchers through participatory storytelling and photovoice, the project revealed how systemic legacies of colonialism and apartheid, combined with disproportionate care burdens, shape barriers to employment, self-care, and wellbeing.

These findings offer us a depth of insight into the complexities of the struggles of low-income marginalised populations in ways that conventional inquiries that are popularly used by policymakers often fail to surface.

They also demonstrate that siloed, top-down policies, such as those about economic precarity, care, and food insecurity, cannot succeed unless grounded in the everyday experiences of citizens.

The Motherload offers a compelling example of how centring lived realities in the way data for policymaking is sought, not only surfaces hidden needs but also generates actionable pathways for more inclusive, responsive, and sustainable policy change.