Those with social innovations that require government action can learn patience and perseverance from Humphrey Woods in Bristol, UK, who has been struggling since the death of his wife in 1990 to get the government to pay the same insured benefits to widowed fathers as they do to widowed mothers.
Woods first had to set up an organisational front, the Campaign for Widowed Fathers' Benefit. By '94 his campaign had persuaded an MP to bring in a bill in parliament. His campaign now has the support of everyone from the Equal Opportunities Commission to Cruse and the Child Poverty Action Group. But still the government won't budge, despite the fact that of the EU countries, only Portugal and the UK hold out against this measure.
Presently his campaign has sponsored an application to the European Commission of Human Rights in Strasbourg.
No doubt the government will forestall any European court hearing by surrendering in advance - at least nine years after the surrender of the Dutch government, who were taken to the same court on the same issue.
And then finally the UK National Insurance system will have to pay out the same tax-free lump sum to widowed fathers as it does to widows- and the same non-means-tested weekly allowance or pension.
Humphrey Wood has done what all the best social innovators do. He has answered the single most important question an individual within society can ask: "How can I solve this personal problem in such a way that it solves similar problems for other people?"
Humphrey Woods, Campaign for Widowed Fathers' Benefits, 15 Whiteway Close, St George, Bristol BS5 7QZ (tel & fax 0117 9555 886).
This webpage forms part of the Global Ideas Bank (www.globalideasbank.org).
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