GSIF Blogpost December 4, 2020

1. Who Are You?

I am a dedicated and motivated individual who seeks to make an impact on her community. I am a first-generation American who aims to overcome barriers and succeed. I am an activist, advocate, and humanitarian who wants to use my diverse set of skills in order to better the world.

2. How will you change the world?

I will change the world by remaining authentic to my roots and morals. By applying myself in a variety of areas, I hope to tackle a multitude of social issues. By addressing social issues, which oppress and marginalize others, I want to improve the lives of individuals.  I believe I can set myself on this path to impact, by pursuing higher education. During which, I will educate myself in order to be competent enough to shape my world. I hope to become a person who chases equity for all. Ultimately, even if I only impact the lives of a few people for the better, I believe I will be doing my part to change the world.

3. What will your epitaph read?

To live in lives we leave behind, is not to die.

GSIF BlogPost November 27 2020

Living an Impact-Focused Life

What’s your Why?

I believe I was put on this earth to:

I believe I was put on this earth to live the sort of life I want to lead.

 

 

My purpose is to:

My purpose is to find success in what I do and be happy in the process.

 

 

I believe (my core values):

I believe there is good in everyone and that we can all contribute to a fruitful society.

 

 

The one thing I must do before I die is:

I must travel around the world and see many new sights before I die.

 

 

My advocates and supporters all believe I:

My supporters believe I can succeed if I try my best and pour passion into my goals.

 

 

The evil I want to eradicate in this world is:

I want to eliminate the kind of evil which systematically oppresses marginalized groups.

 

 

I want to work in order to:

I want to work in order to better my own future and to ensure our planet can continue to survive.

 

Walk the Talk – Your How

If you are truly committed to your Why, you show it in your everyday behavior. It is all air until you do it. Working from your Why, How do you prove that you are true to your Why in all you do?

 

I always:

I always strive to do the best I can, given my circumstances.

 

I never:

I never lie to myself. I am very honest with myself and try not to rely on false optimism or over pessimism.

 

My work style is:

My work style is detailed. I like to plan everything out before I begin to tackle assignments or problems. While I am working, I like to take a step back and look at the issue at hand logically.

 

I try to treat people:

I try to treat all people with respect and kindness.

 

I approach problems by:

I approach problems very rationally and logically. I like to plan out a variety of scenarios and weigh a cost-benefit analysis to find an appropriate solution.

 

Victories are time to:

Victories are time to celebrate and reflect on a job well done.

 

If another attacks my point of view I:

If another person attacks my point of view, I begin by listening to their perspective. Yet, I also like to follow up and rebuttal their argument, so that they can understand my point of view better and so that we can engage in dialogue surrounding the topic.

 

 

 

If I fundamentally do not agree with what an organization or person is doing, I will:

If I fundamentally agree with an organization, I will distance myself from them and make the move very transparent.

 

Your Credibility – Your Whats

You have just spent some considerable time at Lehigh, and specifically in the Global Social Impact Fellowship, on many whats. Your whats include lab research, formal presentations, writing research papers, engaging with people in other cultural contexts, building prototypes, designing and building systems, raising funds, hiring employees, etc. The whats you have collected along the way are critical to your credibility when you are entering the workforce or applying to the best graduate and professional schools. They signify a credible currency to which organizations can assign value. Create a list of your Whats that are truly reflective of your Why & How.  You did these things because you believe (Why) and you acquired them in the following (How) manner. These are examples you can use in interviews.

What Have I Done List of Experiences, Accomplishments, and Lessons Learned
Degrees, Minors, Certificates, Fellowships  

Pursuing a degree in International Relations and a minor in Political Science; GSIF; Eckardt Honors Program; GCP Certificate

Research Experiences

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

GSIF: Diagnosing Autism in Sierra Leone and Lehigh Youth Reps: Gender Equity and Gender-based Violence in Nigeria

 

 

Inventions and Innovations

 

 

 

 

Development of MCAST: Diagnosing Autism in Sierra Leone

(Social) Entrepreneurial Ventures

 

 

 

 

 

Development of MCAST: Diagnosing Autism in Sierra Leone

 

 

 

Publications

(Formal and Informal)

 

 

 

Currently in the process of preparing papers for peer review regarding Diagnosing Autism in Sierra Leone and Gender-based Violence in Nigeria

 

 

 

Formal Presentations

(at Lehigh and Beyond)

 

 

 

 
Awards and

External Recognition

 

 

 

 

High school and local community recognitions of academic merit; Dean’s List; College of Arts and Science’ Honor Program

 

 

 

 

 

Articulating and learning from GSIF-related Experiences. For each of these prompts, we want you to identify one and only one specific and compelling event/incident/experience/moment and identify exactly how you grew personally and professionally through that moment.

Teamwork Experience

(and Lessons Learned)

 

 

 

 

 

I found it is important to be direct and honest with your teammates, instead of having a laidback approach and compromising the quality of the work.

 

 

 

Conflict Resolution Experience

(and Lessons Learned)

 

 

Usually when we have conflicts as a team, we listen to everyone’s perspective and logically decide on a resolution. This allows everyone to voice their opinions and allows us to move forward as a team on the same page.

 

 

 

Leadership Experience

(and Lessons Learned)

 

 

 

 

 

I have had leadership experiences based on our tasks that needed to be achieved. When work is split up and distributed, it is up to the individual to take the lead and ensure a section is completed with accuracy, then it is important to relay that back to the team.

 

An example is during the beginning of the venture we each had areas of expertise. I was the cultural expert, so it was my role to focus on studying Sierra Leone’s culture and ways in which we would have to culturally tailor our screener.

 

Dealing with Chaos, Ambiguity, and Uncertainty (and Lessons Learned)  

 

I have been lucky to be put in a team with Master’s and PhD students. Therefore, under their guidance, we have not usually dealt with many moments of uncertainty. Yet, when they have appeared we learned to rely on each other as a team.

 

 

 

 

Personally Challenging Experience (and Lessons Learned)

 

 

 

A personally challenging experience was beginning to work on our publications, and code existing work in order to help develop our own screener and studies. I have personally never undertaken this sort of work before, so it was very challenging to try something completely new. Yet, the lesson I learned was to persevere, and rely on my teammates and mentor for help and guidance.

 

In the past, I have always been very individualistic while working. I like to begin and finish work on my own, even in team settings. These past couple of months have really taught me to collaborate with my team.

 

 

Cross-cultural Experience (and Lessons Learned)

 

 

Unfortunately, compared to other more developed ventures, we have not yet hired employees. We also have not had the ability to travel for fieldwork and have had limited interactions with our partners in Sierra Leone.

 

 

 

An experience that helped you connect your GSIF work to your discipline / major.

 

 

My major is international relations. Most of the work that I have done with GSIF in one way or another relates back to international cooperation. I have learned the importance of recognizing various cultures and the importance of being able to work with them, not for them.

 

 

 

A moment that boosted your sense of agency and self-efficacy – you felt like you can speak for yourself, get stuff done, take on the world and make it better.

 

There isn’t a particular instance that comes to mind, but overall a collection of moments where I felt accomplished by achieving a desired purpose. Whether that be forming a team (interns campaigning for our senator), taking on a leadership role (running various fundraisers), or overall making myself heard (giving public speeches at events).
A moment where you felt like you truly have a strong sense of purpose and belonging in this dynamic, globalized interdependent world.

 

I’m still looking for this moment.

 

GSIF Blog Post October 25 2020

October 23 Blog Post

Teammates: Rozhin and Brianna

  1. If you are the Chief of Police for Afghanistan, what solution would you develop to pay the cops that are actually working, reduce corruption, and boost their morale

If our team were acting as the Chief of Police for Afghanistan, we would ensure that systems were set in place in order to help address the issue of corruption and boost morale. To begin with, we would ensure that additional administrators are hired in order to manually regulate the payroll system, this way we can help prevent Ghost policemen. These administrators must not only hold themselves accountable but also hold their coworkers accountable for any acts of corruption. Yet, in understanding that the corruption present in Afghanistan is hierarchical, we must have a leverage point in order to prevent corruption at the administrative level. In this scenario, our leverage point would be increasing the countrywide literacy rate. By increasing the literacy rate we can:

  • Increase education and knowledge among the general public
  • Allow more Afghani citizens to be involved in their local services
  • Increase voter turnout and accountability

These effects experienced by increasing the literacy rate will all directly impact levels of corruption and the likelihood for corrupt officials to stay in power. Additionally, we can also implement activities within the bureaucracy in order to build deeper relationships, increase teamwork, and boost morale.

 

A second solution is to create an anti-corruption agency (ACA) that works independently from the police. The ACA will be held to an international standard of monitoring corruption; its workers will have to go through an arduous screening process before employment to ensure they are noncorrupt. One way to accomplish this is to ask employees to report their official tax and financial records each year. It is important that there is a single ACA, however. In countries where there are multiple ACAs – like Iraq – certain areas are overlooked. Additionally, multiple ACAs compete for the same financial resources so it would deter it from its true mission – to limit corruption.

 

  1. If you are the entrepreneur, what multi-final solution will you develop so that you succeed, your venture succeeds (takes water hyacinth off the lake), and the people living along the lakeshore also walk away happy. Please be specific on how your solution might function and precisely whom you would work with. For example, refrain from including vague stakeholders like entire communities.

 

One of our solutions will be hiring interested community members who want to work on removing the hyacinth from the lake and getting paid for it. This can especially work well with the fishermen or other community members who have boats so that they can remove the moss from different areas of the lake. This will work by her giving a portion of her profits in the shape of wages for the workers. It is important to have community members involved in the venture so that they don’t feel as if they are being excluded. Although this will likely result in having to let go of her current employees, it is more cost-effective and a good way to take advantage of the community members’ navigation knowledge of the lake since they know it best and they may know which area of the lake the hyacinths are most densely populated.

 

Another one of our solutions is for her to give a portion of her profits back to the community through charitable donations such as removing wastes and donating to their environmentally focused organizations. This will show community members that she is not just there for profits. Additionally, the community will be more willing to help her advance the venture forward if they notice she invests in the local community.  

 

In addition, another solution could be educating the community about the great advantage that she is adding to their environment by removing their water hyacinth infestation from their lake and improving their community’s fishermen’s access and ability to work on the lake without any charge to the community itself.

GSIF Blog Post October 9 2020

Describe at least 5 partnerships with individuals and/or organizations that have been formed to support your project and that impact the success or failure of your venture. 

 

Partnerships Impact
Sierra Leone Autistic Society -We have access to work with the children with autism in SL. 

-We have access to their resources for training materials (pictures/videos). 

-They will be a contact/resource for families with children with autism, or for those that are showing signs of autism. 

World Hope International -World Hope International will help with travel in SL.

-World Hope International will be interpreters if there are language barriers. 

-World Hope International will be able to locate and refer us to families, schools, and children. 

-Will provide us with internet, communication, accommodations. 

University of Makeni -We have access to their resources when we hold training in SL (healthcare workers, school teachers, community health workers).  

-We are able to collaborate with professors to hold trainings for the college students.

GSIF/Khanjan at Lehigh University -We have access to other teams’ connections and resources

-We have access to Khanjan’s contacts and the relationships that he has built.

-Provides opportunities to receive free advice and critiques

INSAR research group Dr. Morin and Alyssa have been attending a new subgroup through INSAR that completes some type of educational research in any part of Africa. This group meets on a bi-monthly basis and follows a goal of collaboration which helps positively impact our venture as we are using this research group to: (1) ask for research advice to avoid common pitfalls and mistakes, (2) prep our materials for culturally appropriateness and (3) learn from others about funding opportunities.

 

 

 

 

Please identify partnerships at the individual, team, and Lehigh / GSIF level.

 

Partnerships at the Individual level

  • Dr. Kristi Morin
  • Alyssa
  • Kathleen
  • Emily
  • Grace
  • Ted
  • Lindsey
  • Kelsey

 

Partnerships at the Team level

  • Diagnosing Autism in SL research group
  • Qualitative Expert: Suzanne Kucharczyk
  • Khanjan Mehta
  • Lehigh University

 

Partnerships at the GSIF level

  • University of Makeni
  • World Hope International
  • Sierra Leone Autistic Society
  • INSAR research group

 

 

Partnerships What constituted the partnership? How did the partner help you? How did you help them? Was this a symbiotic relationship? Why or why not? What would help strengthen this partnership and make it more equitable?
Sierra Leone Autistic Society Relatively infrequent conversations on objectives of partnership on both sides (how we could help one another) and the steps needed to accomplish that. They are helping us refine our screener to be as culturally relevant. We helped them by obtaining donations of Augmentative Alternative Communication materials and devices as well as our knowledge on Evidence Based Practices for children with ASD. Yes it is. Both sides are contributing a common goal which is essentially the betterment of livelihoods for those with ASD. See previous box for specifics. More communication would allow us to collaborate more. Since the development of our screener relies on extensive cultural knowledge, a quicker back and forth dialogue would enrich the partnership even more. We could then use our formed screener and dissemination plan to help them access more resources.
World Hope International World Hope International is partnering with our venture as a joint collaboration similar to how WHI partners with other GSIF teams. They will provide transportation and interpreters on the ground as well as connections to further the venture that we are unable to make quickly as our relationships are not developed in Sierra Leone. We plan to work heavily with World Hope during fieldwork and this team has not completed any field work for this venture yet. Thus far, they have provided us with countless connections to other community organizations and families and we have provided them with expertise in the area of autism. In the future yes. We have committed to a symbiotic partnership but have not completed field work where this relationship will be tested. Currently, our relationship is symbiotic in a more abstract way as we work from a distance with WHI.  More open and frequent communication to maintain the relationship and develop it further
University of Makeni The University of Makeni is partnering with us in order to help develop trainings and curriculum which will be used to help bring about awareness of disabilities within different settings.  This partner will help us advance our venture, as we will be able to collaborate with professors and students to develop our training. We will be able to help them out by bringing our expertise and research abilities to help further education on the topic.  Yes, because we are both collaborating to improve education for disabilities present within Sierra Leone.  More frequent communication would strengthen this partnership as well as developing a curriculum sharing method to best disseminate Western evidence-based practices to special educators in training in Sierra Leone.  
GSIF and Khanjan at Lehigh University GSIF provides us with the skills needed in order to advance our venture in the most efficient and ethical way. Khanjan also connects us with contacts on the ground. We provide projects of substance for advancing Lehigh’s name This partner will provide credibility and opportunities for connections to advance our venture. We are able to work with other teams with goals in the same region as us. We help them by helping other teams in the program and advancing the program’s overall goal for creative inquiry. Our relationship with this partner is symbiotic because both sides benefit. Our team gains access to the connections with GSIF and the other teams within GSIF gain access to us. We use the credibility of the program while also improving its credibility.  More frequent communication with other teams in order to determine mutual goals. 
INSAR research group This research group is based on members of INSAR, a leading international research organization focused on Autism Spectrum Disorders that identified the need for collaboration of efforts of researchers who complete work in Africa.  This research group has only met once thus far since inception, therefore no specific takeaways are available yet. Yes, the research group was created as a collaborative space to learn from one another and share expertise  More meetings to develop personal relationships with the other researchers 

 

GSIF Blog Post October 2 2020

October 2, 2020

List ten specific ways in which your teaming approach has changed/evolved since you started, teamwork skills you have developed, and lessons you have learned.

  1.  A) Teaming Approach: All of us had individual roles and areas of expertise B) How it has changed: We still have areas of expertise, but now we work more fluidly in the sense that we work outside of these roles as well C) Skills Developed: Allowed us to learn multiple skills outside of our comfort zone D) Lessons Learned: How to be flexible and adaptable
  2.  A) Teaming Approach: We met once a week with our faculty advisor B) How it has changed: We still meet with our faculty advisor but now we also often meet just as a team throughout the week  C) Skills Developed: We learned how to be more independent in regards to managing our work on our own  D) Lessons Learned: How to be responsible and take more initiative
  3.  A) Teaming Approach: We all met in person B) How it has changed: We are now meeting remotely only C) Skills Developed: I learned how to use zoom very quickly as a result D) Lessons Learned: We must be able to adapt to new circumstances and continue to work on our venture
  4.  A) Teaming Approach: We were not communicating as frequently as we should have B) How it has changed: We have a group chat and often CC each other on emails C) Skills Developed: We developed our communication skills D) Lessons Learned: Communication is key
  5.  A) Teaming Approach: Our faculty advisor led our team meetings B) How it has changed: Students now mainly lead the meetings C) Skills Developed: Flexibility and independence D) Lessons Learned: We work a lot better if we are primarily involved
  6.  A) Teaming Approach: I was hesitant to involve myself in qualitative research B) How it has changed: My teammates helped teach me how to code and understand qualitative research C) Skills Developed: Professional skills D) Lessons Learned: It is important to learn new skills
  7.  A) Teaming Approach: I was hesitant to ask my faculty advisor for help B) How it has changed: I have become more comfortable emailing her to ask questions C) Skills Developed: Personal skills D) Lessons Learned: It is better to ask for help than to not know what to do
  8.  A) Teaming Approach: I was more focused on learning about the culture of Sierra Leone B) How it has changed: At this point in our venture, what will benefit our venture the most is continuing to conduct research, publish papers, and develop our screener. It was important for me to be able to help my team reach these goals C) Skills Developed: Versatility and flexibility D) Lessons Learned: It is important to be able to focus on the right goals
  9.  A) Teaming Approach: We had contact with our partners on the ground in Sierra Leone B) How it has changed: COVID and remote working has made it hard to keep in touch C) Skills Developed: Adaptability and consideration D) Lessons Learned: The pandemic has made us realize how we must be ready to tackle new challenges
  10.  A) Teaming Approach: We were mostly focused on our screener B) How it has changed: We realized that our venture needs work in other areas such as building connections and funding C) Skills Developed: Critical thinking D) Lessons Learned: Our venture does not end after we develop our screener, we must work to build relationships and receive funding in order to have a real impact.

Updated Collaboration Plan

What are my personal goals (small g) on this team? Pull those goals from the dreams on your individual profiles. Capture them by person in your collaborative plan. e.g., get an A, learn laser cutting, start something I can continue after the semester

My updated goals mainly revolve around being able to take the skills I have acquired over the course of this year, and develop them in order to better further our venture. For example, recently my team has been really focused on publishing papers in order to bring credibility to our venture. A personal goal I have is to continue working on coding and contributing to the development of these papers.

What is the Project GOAL (big G) we’re all committed to achieve together?

The project GOAL for our team is to develop a culturally appropriate, highly effective Autism diagnostic screener. Throughout this process we must also be committed to finding a way to disseminate the screener, bring awareness and education on the nature of Autism, as well as providing training for community health workers throughout Sierra Leone.

Establish Roles – How will you leverage the assets each member brings to the team? How will you leverage the experiences each member brings to the team? How will you ensure that the team’s work gets done on time and with high quality?

 

  • Qualitative Expert (Emily):  Responsible for the study design & approach. For example, which approach (e.g., case study, ethnography, etc), what types of data should we collect, develop protocol, how to synthesize and write up the data, develop focus group and interview questions/format. Experience in working on psychological/sociological research–both quantitative and qualitative. Collaborating on the meta-synthesis.
  • IRB Expert (Alyssa): Responsible for anything & everything related to the IRB. She is the  point of contact with the University, she will write, submit, revise, and resubmit IRB,  develop consents (verbal only), and work with the qualitative expert to create data collection forms, etc. Experience in working on psychological/sociological research–both quantitative and qualitative. Alyssa also leads the meta-synthesis that our team is collaboratively working on. 
  • Assessment Expert (Kathleen): Responsible for main analyses on current Western assessments and screeners and will work with SPED & cultural experts to decide what questions/tasks our assessment should have, learn how to validate the assessment.Knowledge of available western screeners and experience using, scoring, and reporting these tools. Previous experience developing and validating a new measure. Psychometric expertise. Kathleen is also responsible for the psychometrics paper that our team has been working on. Collaborating on the meta-synthesis.
  • SPED/ASD/Education/Healthcare Expert (Lindsey): Responsible for understandinding these facets in order to inform the team on how best to approach our goal. Will seek to answer questions like: how did we get from where we started in the US in terms of level of knowledge, awareness, and services, to where we are now? What can we do in SL to make progress in this area? What is the education structure of SL? What trainings do teachers need to be qualified to teach? What is the healthcare system like? Collaborating on the meta-synthesis.
  • Cultural Expert (Grace): Responsible for thoroughly understanding the culture of Sierra Leone: its history, language, values, beliefs, geography, different districts, etc., the strengths and challenges of the people and country, and will report on current events weekly which are impacting and shaping the country. Collaborating on the meta-synthesis.
  • Ted: Collaborating on the meta-synthesis.Providing collaborative help with Kathleen on the psychometric paper.

 

By assigning roles in this format, we can ensure that every facet of our broad and ambitious project goal is covered in depth so that we can gather data as comprehensively as possible–to form a firm foundation for our screener and education dissemination.

Establish Team Procedures Decision Making – What process shall we use: consensus, majority rules, deference to expert, default to the loudest, or? Effective Meetings – Focus on key, timely decisions together vs. status/update (offline); meeting roles: scribe, facilitator, time keeper Communication – FTF: frequency, time, location; type of technology: (Google docs, Hangout, etc.); expectations for responsiveness; ‘best time to work’ (AM, PM, weekends?)

  • So far, we have not had an issue with disagreements and finding a consensus on important decisions. Thus, we will continue with our usual approach where someone proposes a question or suggestion on a problem and all are given a chance to input their own thoughts, stance, and comments so that we may discuss the most viable decision based on all the cards put forth on the table. If there is still a strong disagreement, we may consult our various experts (both team members and professional contacts) depending on the area of which the disagreement stands. We are currently meeting weekly with our teams on ZOOM to discuss the outcomes of screening abstracts for a publication. This is another example of how we work well together to resolve conflicts. If two team members disagree on an abstract or article, a professional discussion where we explain our reasoning is held. We have collaborative conversations and come to a final consensus. 
  • Each week we set a goal as a team. We have individual responsibilities of managing our time wisely to ensure these goals are attained by our next team meeting. We follow a pretty explicit format set forth by team leaders on how to mark items as done, your status on screening through a color coded system and open communication throughout the process. We always have a due date to have work completed by 5PM the day before our weekly team meetings so that team leaders have time to review the work to give meaningful feedback at the meeting. 
Prior Plan

If fieldwork were canceled, how would we advance the dream forward? 

New Plan

What we have accomplished and our focus

  • Work with our contacts in the Sierra Leone Autistic Society to have them review the questions we identified for our screener and talk through phrasing and cultural appropriateness.
  • See if they would be willing to and able to have some families complete the screener so we can use some initial pilot data to further refine the screener
  • We will be able to continue our work and submit at least one manuscript for publication regarding an older paper we are working on and one on the process of how we created a screener. 
  • We would be able to continue refining our screener and focus group questions in order to make sure they are ready to be implemented for future fieldwork 
  • Mountain Top/CEC .
  • Continued extensive research for the development of the screener
  • Acquired donations for our stakeholder in Sierra Leone at the Sierra Leone Autistic Society 
  • We have finished re-coding an older field work paper and are nearing publication 
  • We are submitting this week the psychometric property paper
  • We are working on the meta-synthesis 
  • We had two presentations accepted to CEC 2021 Conference
  • Continue refining screener, qualitative protocol, and IRB. 
  • Kathleen and Alyssa have attended workshops hosted by AERA on qualitative research  
  • Alyssa and Dr. Morin attended research meetings with other academics who work in Africa on disability research and are continuing on a bi-monthly basis

 

GSIF Blog Post September 25 2020

September 25, 2020

Blog Post: 20 Frequently Asked Questions

 

  1. Why can’t you use other diagnostic tools already created? They have low sensitivity and specificity rates across cultures. They are not always feasible in low-income countries like Sierra Leone. Most are very expensive. For example, the GARS-3 is the cheapest price per form at $1.24. It is projected that there will be 691,034 children aged 3-5 in 2022. It would cost more than $850,000 ($856,882.16) to screen all of the children in this age range. Which is a substantial amount of money for a country where the average yearly income is $500. Lastly, most require a high level of education to be able to read and respond to the questions (6+ grade US education level), and an even higher level of education to administer, score, and interpret (master’s).
  2. What are the cross-cultural differences that were mentioned in your presentation that hinder current Western assessments? Current assessments are tailored to test Western populations. For example, the ADOS 2 uses the song “Happy Birthday” as an assessment tool, this may not be relevant in the Sierra Leonean context. 
  3. Is your screener going to be free? Our screener will be available through open access and can be used at no cost. The cost incurred will be through the printing cost of the screener. 
  4. What partners do you work with in Sierra Leone in order to complete your project? Thus far, our team has developed partnerships with World Hope International, Sierra Leone Autistic Society, and the University of Makeni.
  5. What is your screener dissemination plan? Our team has a malleable five-year dissemination plan starting with three districts in year one of the rollout and building to 16 districts by year five. 
  6. What happens after a person gets screened? As our team is still working on developing a full roll-out plan, we are working with partners to determine the best plan to reduce the bottleneck of children while screening 90% of children by 2026.
  7. What does the validation of the screener entail? Can you describe it more in detail as well as a timeline?
    • We’ll administer our larger pool of questions to a number of individuals when we are in the field. The specific number of children that we will be aiming for will depend on the exact number of items we have in our initial pool. Within psychometric literature, the standards for the number of people you need to conduct initial validity and reliability statistics varies, but typically recommend a minimum of 300 or 10-25 per item. 
    • After we get that initial data we’ll perform exploratory factor analysis to determine how well the items are aligning with each other, how reliable they are, and which, if any items, should be removed because they’ll improve the reliability statistics. After we narrow down the items and have our final assessment, we’ll gather additional data and perform confirmatory factor analysis tests to ensure that our initial results hold up with other individuals.
    • If we are able to gather a large enough number of participants during our initial fieldwork visit than we’ll be able to separate that participant pool in half and perform both the EFA and CFA with that initial data. If not, then complete validation of the tool would be completed after two fieldwork visits, or after we’ve been able to have the community health workers gather additional data. 
  8. Who will give the screener in the community?  Community health workers and teachers will be trained to give the screener. Ideally, our venture aims to have 3 nurses at each healthcare facility and 3 teachers at each school trained.
  9. What is your team’s plan to involve schools with your venture? Our venture plans to train at least three teachers at each school on how to give the screener. Our team also plans to work to provide training on disabilities and autism in schools interested.
  10. What are a few cultural barriers that you have encountered in this venture? The biggest obstacle for our team is the rooted cultural beliefs about disabilities. Many community members believe disabilities are from “Satan” and are contagious. Many people believe miracle clinics at churches are their only hope to be “cured”. 
  11. Do you plan to involve the government of Sierra Leone in the dissemination of your screener? We absolutely plan to involve the government of Sierra Leone in the dissemination of our screener. That is a relationship we are still attempting to build; however, once created we know their partnership will help greatly in the acceptance of the screener from the community. 
  12. How do you plan on validating that the community health workers (or anyone else that will actually give the screener) are doing it correctly after you and your supervision leave? We will ensure that the CHWs are administering the screeners to the children because they will be sending data to our team. We hope that by providing specific trainings on the screener and educating the CHWs about autism, they will be administering the screener with validity. We will also have a measurement and evaluation consultant that will analyze the data and conduct observations of the CHWs administering the screener. This information will be compiled and sent to the team for review.  
  13. How are children currently being screened in SL, especially with regards to attending institutions like the Sierra Leone Autistic Society? Currently Sierra Leone, as a country,  is not screening children for Autism. Our team is still looking to further communicate with our partners, the Sierra Leone Autistic Society, in order to determine what criteria is used to accept children with disabilities into their institution.
  14. How do you plan on changing deeply ingrained social attitudes toward disability, especially in a scarcely populated landmass such as SL?
    • Education on the true nature of disability will be a top priority in our screener dissemination plan. We plan on training CHWs (and educators) on not only how to administer the screener but on the basis of disability as well, so that misinformation (ie. “possession”) can be unlearned. 
    • To ensure the spread of information through remote populations, we will be training CHWs from various regions in the country rather than only from one area. 

15. What qualifies your team to conduct this type of research? As this is our venture’s first year, we are aiming to build credibility through academic publications in peer-reviewed journals as well as conference presentations to increase our qualifications and show our contribution to this field.

16. How is autism understood in Sierra Leone? Mental disabilities are not generally understood in sub-Saharan Africa and the limited research previously conducted shows a negative stigma for children with disabilities, some unethical cultural practices of giving the child back to God, and the belief that these disabilities are from witchcraft and demonic possession.

17. How can you determine if this is a successful venture? We will meet our screening goals for each district (20% Y1, 40%Y2, 60% Y3, 80% Y4, and 100% Y5). The children, by the age of school age, will be screened for autism and will be referred to centers and contacts for support services for their children. 

18. How can your project be sustainable if you are not charging the country for your materials? Our venture relies heavily on grants and donations to fund our venture. This research is a game-changer for society that will excite donors and grant organizations.

19. How do you know that these are the present attitudes on disability in SL? We are in the process of publishing a manuscript where data was gathered through interviews and focus groups in 200 participants. From the analysis, we found that their perceptions of disability largely rest on spiritual, or karmic bases. 

20. Do you have any plans to use your screener outside of Sierra Leone? After the implementation of our screener in Sierra Leone, we aim to further expand its use in the surrounding nations in West Africa, and eventually, throughout Sub-Saharan Africa (whom, with the exception of South Africa) are all facing a similar dilemma of a lack of understanding and attention to mental health.

GSIF Blog Post September 18, 2020

September 15, 2020

 

Part 1: Ethical Decision-Making 

In a certain region of East Africa, the growth of ~35% of the children is stunted due to poor nutrition. Traditionally, maize and bananas are the items most commonly made into a gruel and fed to infants beginning at ~2 months of age. The gruel is integrated into a child’s diet to complement breastfeeding until they are ~24 months of age. Mothers in the area firmly believe that the gruel is highly beneficial for their children, but scientific research has shown that it does not provide some key nutrients. HIV/AIDS is very prevalent in this region. The World Health Organization recommends exclusive breastfeeding until an infant is six months of age, but the longer a child nurses when the mother is HIV+, the greater the chance that the virus will be transmitted to the child. You have received a grant to establish a women’s cooperative in this region. The donor’s intent is to simultaneously improve the nutritional status of children and improve the livelihoods of rural households. The grant for the women’s cooperative has sufficient funds for the women’s group to process and market a nutritious, shelf-stable porridge made from a large mix of locally grown produce. The nutritious porridge is intended to wean children off of breast milk at about 6 months of age. 

 

Approximately 500 women from three contiguous sub-locations have indicated their interest in joining the cooperative, in hopes of improving their livelihoods. However, they are skeptical of the porridge and its use as an early weaning food. Cash crops, as well as subsistence crops, are grown in the area, including maize, sorghum, cassava, several varieties of legumes (dried beans), French beans, coffee, pineapple, bananas, pumpkins, tomatoes, carrots, kale, white (Irish) potatoes, and sweet potatoes. Pesticides are typically used in growing some of these crops and can result in adverse health implications for infants. How would you address the ethical health issues associated with prolonged breastfeeding in an area where there is a high prevalence of HIV/AIDS and few women are tested for the virus, very early introduction of supplemental foods to the diets of infants, and the possibility of pesticide residues in foods developed for infants and young children. What are your next specific steps to develop this cooperative? 

Case Study: 

Step 1: Determine the facts in the situation – obtain all of the unbiased facts possible. Clearly state the ethical issue.

  • We’ve received a grant to establish a cooperative in East Africa
  • ~35% of children in this area have stunted growth due to malnutrition
  • Mothers typically feed infants a gruel made of maize and bananas starting at ~2 months to supplement breastfeeding. This gruel is missing some key nutrients
    • Mothers are confident in the health benefits in the gruel they feed their kids
    • WHO recommends children to receive exclusive breastfeeding up to 6 months of age
  • HIV/AIDS is very prevalent in the region
    • Testing is rare and not readily available
  • The longer an infant breastfeeds the higher the risk of HIV transmission to the child (If the mother is HIV+)
  • We aim to replace the gruel with a shelf-stable nutritious porridge that will meet all the nutritional requirements and will be made from locally grown produce
    • Many of the crops are grown with pesticides
    • Mothers are skeptical of the use of the porridge
  • Porridge aims to wean children off breastmilk at 6 months of age
  • There is a high number of women (500) interested in the cooperative’s porridge idea
  • 90% of people with HIV know they have it, Antiviral medications introduced with milk
  • Ethical issue: Finding the balance between either feeding the kids food grown with pesticides or increasing their likelihood of contracting HIV due to prolonged breastfeeding
  1. Are both problems of the same magnitude?
    1. Most women breastfeed until at least 2 years
    2. How bad is HIV in the long term? How bad is exposure to pesticides?

Step 2/3: Define the Stakeholders – those with a vested interest in the outcome and assess the motivations of the stakeholders

  •  Researchers
    • Good publicity
    • Build up a track record of successful projects
    • Build credibility
    • Aiding the decrease of stunted growth rates
    • Improving the nutritional status of the children
    • Want the cooperative to succeed
    • Support livelihoods of the mothers
  • Children
    • Too young to have independent motivations; desires reflected in the motivations of their mothers
  • Donor (secondary)
    • Recognition/ Good publicity
    • Improve the nutritional status of children
    • Improve the livelihoods of rural households
  • Government (secondary)
    • Reduce the prevalence of HIV by preventing transmission from mothers to children
    • Improve the health of the population by giving children access to proper nutrients from infancy
    • Promote agricultural biodiversity and the development of value chains to produce
  • Women/Mothers
    • Want to improve their livelihoods without risking the health of their child
      • Increased income
    • Want to source food that is pesticide-free / safe to consume for their infants
    • Want to stick to traditional breastfeeding practices
    • Reduce the risk of HIV transmission to their children
  • Men (secondary)
    • May want their children to be healthy
    • Benefit from the additional income the women bring into the household

Step 4: Formulate (at least three) alternative solutions – based on information available, using basic ethical core values as a guide 

Approaches 

  • Potential solution 1: Continue on with the Cooperative (create our own porridge, which we will grow using local crops, and then distribute)
    • Ethical Principle or code
      • Justice: we want to be able to create a product that is fair and safe for the children
      • Beneficence: we want to help the children be as healthy as possible
    • Pros 
      • Children will not be exposed to HIV/AIDS  
      • Children will be able to receive the proper amount of nutrition 
      • Wider variety of food 
    • Cons 
      •  Children may be exposed to pesticides 
      •  Could lead to a decline in a child’s health  
      •  Children may not like it because it might not taste well 
  • Potential solution 2: Continue Feeding the Children Gruel and Continue Researching Alternatives
    • Ethical Principle or code
      •  Nonmaleficence: we will be minimizing harm to the children by not, possibly, feeding them pesticides
    • Pros 
      • No risk of pesticides 
      •  Children are already accustomed to the gruel
      •   The mothers would already be accepting of it because they have been feeding it already 
    • Cons 
      • Children would not be receiving the proper amount of nutrition   
      •  Only a few varieties (maize and bananas) 
      •  Further research will be needed, which can be costly
  • Potential solution 3: Provide education to the community members about HIV/AIDS
    • Safe Sex Education
    • Condom handouts
    • How this disease affects their children
    • Targeting males within the community
    • Partner with the Ministry of Health to accomplish this
    • Potentially help subsidize condom sales
    • Ethical Principle or code:
      •  Justice: we are providing these educational resources to everyone in the community, in order to treat everyone equally, and possibly provide for a reduction in the transmission of HIV/AIDS
      • Beneficence: we will be maximizing health benefits to the community by targeting the HIV/AIDS epidemic in order to address the root of the problem 
    • Pros 
      • It will decrease the number of people with HIV/AIDS.  
      • The babies will be able to ingest the mother’s breast milk safely
      •  It will decrease the number of deaths and the number of illnesses within the communities.
      • Eliminating the need to find a supplement because the mother’s can provide their breast milk
    • Cons 
      • We would need to find more funding   
      • The community may not be accepting of it 
      • Time: It will take a lot of time to go around the community and to teach people about how they can decrease the spread of HIV. Although it may take so long that it could end up hurting the community more in the shorter term

Step 5: Seek additional assistance, as appropriate – engineering codes of ethics, previous cases, peers, reliance on personal experience, inner reflection. 

  1. https://academic.oup.com/her/article/30/3/388/559779
  2. https://www.nytimes.com/2010/05/10/world/africa/10aidscondom.html
  3. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6380312/

Our team found and compiled the links listed above. These are links that helped to come up with Solution 3. Our original idea was to target the larger issue, by attempting to tackle the HIV/AIDS epidemic in the area. Our reasoning was that if we could decrease the prevalence of HIV, there would be no need to feed children gruel or porridge. Instead, mothers could comply with the WHO guidelines and breastfeed their children. Yet, when we brought up this idea in class, Khanjan and some of our peers had some concerns about this solution. They mentioned the need for further resources which could slow down our progress. We may have been trying to tackle more than we could handle. This reasoning will help prove my analysis of the solutions in the next step.

Step 6: Select the best course of action – that which satisfies the highest core ethical values. Explain reasoning and justify. Discuss your stance vis-a-vis other approaches discussed in the class. 

 This ethical dilemma was particularly challenging, as there was no perfect answer to solve this situation. Yet, ultimately, the solution I believe to be the best course of action is Solution 2. I picked this solution, as it will reduce the probability of children within the community contracting HIV/AIDS. Also, this method is what is familiar and already used within the community. Therefore, mothers will be willing to continue feeding their children gruel, as they believe it is beneficial. I believe it is best to continue research to attempt to find alternative solutions or to find a way to reduce the number of pesticides found in the local crops. When comparing this solution to our other proposed solutions, Solution 2 is more ethical than Solution 1 because we are potentially exposing young children to pesticides. Furthermore, Solution 1 will be more costly to implement within the community, as mothers are not used to feeding their children the porridge and may be unwilling to try it out. Additionally, Solution 2 is better when compared to Solution 3, as Solution 3 will be too difficult and costly to implement. Although ideally Solution 3 would be more ethical than Solution 2, Solution 3 is unrealistic for the reasons mentioned in the above step. We would require a much larger budget and would likely need more donors to go about addressing the HIV epidemic in the community. In the long-run, this solution may do more damage to the community because we will not be helping the community in a timely manner. I suppose this is also a criticism and con of Solution 2, yet with Solution 2 the plan is to continue research to attempt to find a solution to the issue of the pesticides; whereas with Solution 3 we are attempting to solve a major health crisis. 

Step 7: (If applicable) What are the implications of your solution on the venture. Explain the impact of your proposed solution on the venture’s technology, economic, social and environmental aspects.

In terms of technology, Solution 2 would be setting our project back to the design and research phase. This would mean that we would have to discard any technology we have produced/ acquired. Unfortunately, Solution 2 would also have some negative social and economic implications on the venture. To begin, we would be setting our project back by returning to the research phase. Donors, in particular, may not be very happy to hear this news, which may affect our funding. Yet, Solution 2 would have a positive implication on the venture in regards to acceptance within the community. The mothers of the community will recognize that we are doing the best we can to give them a solution that will not harm their children in any way. Likewise, Solution 2 would have a positive impact on our venture in terms of the environmental aspect; as we would continue research to find a solution that would reduce the use of pesticides on crops.

 

Part 2: Grassroots Diplomacy

Team Members: Lindsey, Michelle, Noah

 

Six months after launch, the efforts of the women working in the cooperative you established are paying off, and business is thriving. The women work for about nine hours every day and earn KES 300 (about $3). Besides the wages earned, they have the opportunity to sell the produce grown on their small farms to the cooperative. This transaction is done at the prevailing market rate and helps the women make a little money on the side. The women like this arrangement because it saves them a trip (time + money) to the village market to sell their produce. The women enjoy working with each other and are happy with the cooperative; they have a strong sense of community and identity. However, there is one big problem. When a woman brings her hard-earned money home, she has no choice but to turn it over to her husband, father, or brothers. Rather than using the money to support their families, the men waste it on alcohol and frivolous things. Though the cooperative is thriving, it is not achieving the twin social outcomes of improving the nutritional status of children and the livelihoods of rural households. 

 

As the entrepreneur who helped establish the cooperative, you are pained about the situation. Though you are loved and respected by the entire community, you do not have a direct say in the cooperative’s functioning. You are one of the seven members of the leadership committee that oversees all operations. The committee is elected on an annual basis and you have six months left on the committee, after which you will practically leave the cooperative completely. The other six members of this committee are local women who understand the problems and want things to change. They are not necessarily opposed to the men taking away their money but are upset that their hard-earned money is not used to feed their children. They are convinced that nothing can be done about it because that’s just the way it works in their community. What is your strategy to get the cooperative back on track to meet the twin social outcomes for the cooperative on a sustainable basis? 

 

Step 1: Determine the facts in the situation – obtain all of the unbiased facts possible 

  • Women work for 9 hours a day and make KES 300 ($3).
  • The women have the opportunity to sell the product to make an additional income on the side.
  • When the women come home from work they give the money to the man of the household (husband, father, brother)
  • The men of the household spend the money on alcohol or frivolous items and not to support their families. 
  • The women are upset that the men are not using the money for the families. 

 

Step 2: Define the problem and the stakeholders – those with a vested interest in the outcome 

 

Problem:  When a woman brings her hard-earned money home, she has no choice but to turn it over to her husband, father, or brothers. The men in the household use the money on alcohol or frivolous items instead of using it to support their families. 

 

  • Mothers (Primary)
  • Fathers (Primary)
  • Entrepreneur of the cooperative (Primary)

Step 3: Determine and distinguish between the personal and professional motivations of the stakeholders. 

  •  Mothers
    • Personal: They want their children to be safe and nutritious and also collect their wages. 
    • Professional: They can make money for selling the produce they grow. 
  • Men of the household
    •  Personal: They want to spend their wives’ wages on alcohol
    • Professional: They believe they are entitled to their wives’ wages and earnings
  •  Entrepreneur of the cooperative 
    • Personal: The research team aims to help the local community. Primarily by providing an alternative to gruel which will be more nutritious for children whose growth may be stunted. 
    • Professional: They want to build up their own credibility.

Step 4: Formulate an alternative solution – based on information available, to have a win-win situation for your relationship and your venture.

  • Potential Solution: Cooperative creates accounts for the women which puts a portion of the funds to a “gift card” for them to use at the store. The total funds can be updated daily.
    • How does it solve the problem? 
      • Pros 
        • The women will have money available to spend on supplies for the family
        • The men won’t be able to take all of the money because some of it is on the gift card
        • The men will still be able to buy their alcohol 
      • Cons 
        • The men will still be able to take some of the money 
        • The men still have the option to sell the gift card on the black market
        • The government and supermarket will have to accept the gift cards (although depends if we create our own gift card or if we use gift cards which are already recognized)
    • How does it save face of those involved? 
      • The men are still getting money to spend on alcohol and frivolous items, but the women have money to spend on resources for their families. The women get to save face by giving some of their income to their husbands.
    • Implications on relationships 
      • Short-term: The women are still turning over money to the men of the households which allows them to purchase alcohol. The men are still happy with receiving the funds. 
      • Long-term: The women can provide resources to help their families live healthier lives due to the accessibility of funds for resources. The men will no longer be withholding money, which takes away important necessities for the families. 
    • Implications on the venture 
      • Short-term: The accounts and gift cards can be easily implemented before the last 6 months of the venture are complete.  
      • Long-term: The women continue to work for the venture, and feel a sense of community. They still feel as though they are providing funds to the men of the household, but the resources for their families will continue to develop because of the food/bank accounts through the cooperative. 

 

Step 5: Seek additional assistance, as appropriate – previous cases, peers, reliance on personal experience, inner reflection 

 

Our group worked together very well when deciding on a solution. Also, listening to the class discussion on this dilemma helped us arrive at a conclusion. We decided that this is the best solution for the women because they are still providing most of the money to the men of the household to buy the alcohol and frivolous items, but they have money set aside from the cooperative to buy food and resources for their families.  This website below provides insights from women in Africa about gender disparities and the economic impact of being a working woman in Africa. This article and the features provided even more information about the hardships that women endure in Africa. 

https://www.un.org/africarenewal/magazine/july-2005/african-women-battle-equality

 

Step 6: Select the best course of action – that solves the problem, saves face, and has the best short-term and long-term implications for your relationship and venture. Explain reasoning and discuss your solution vis-a-vis other approaches discussed in class. 

 

The solution we chose involved having the women that were working set up a bank or savings account with some of their profit money. This money would be set on a food gift card that they could use to buy food and resources. The women would still go home with most of, but not all of, their profit from working. This money would be given to the men of the household to buy their alcohol and frivolous items. This saves face for the women because the men are still getting what they want while money is being put aside for the women to get food for their families. However, with our option, there is the potential for the men taking the gift cards and selling them on the black market. However, we feel that any of the solutions we proposed always had the possibility of a negative implication. Our team was hoping that the men would allow the women to keep the gift card because they would still be turning over a portion of the money to the men.

 

Step 7: List the sequence of actions you will take to implement your solution.

  1. The women get the jobs to work for the cooperative. 
  2. The women set up bank/gift card accounts with the cooperative.
  3. Every day there is a dollar put on the gift card to use for food items and resources.
  4. The leftover two dollars is given to the men of the household.
  5. If the dollar is not used that day, it will stay on the gift card and accumulate until used. 
  6. A gift card is issued with the accumulated money.
  7. The gift card can be used at supermarkets to purchase resources needed for families. 

 

GSIF Blog Post September 11, 2020

11 September, 2020

Step 1: Determine the facts in the situation – obtain all of the unbiased facts possible 

    • An international donor organization sent gifts for children under the age of 14 to a youth center in Kenya
    • The kids and staff live at the center
    • Jack lives at the center (for 5 months)
    • Jack was asked to hand out the gifts and the way the ceremony was staged made the children believe that Jack was the one who got the gifts for the children
    • There were not enough gifts for all the children, which caused four children to receive a substantially less important type of gift (black hats) in a less grand fashion 
    • Four of the children blame Jack for not receiving a gift 
    • Staff were convinced Jack was making a big deal out of the situation and don’t want him to create unnecessary problems
    • Staff feel blamed by Jack’s concern

 

  • Assumptions:

 

    • The black hats have less value than the other gifts. 
    • The black hats potentially have a negative stigma to them. 
    • Jack wants to make a good impression on the children at the center to establish good relationships

 

Steps 2 and 3 : Define the problem and the stakeholders – those with a vested interest in the outcome and Determine and distinguish between the personal and professional motivations of the stakeholders. 

 

Problem: There were not enough gifts for all of the children at the center, which resulted in several of the children receiving items of lesser value. The children were upset and felt left out and they blame Jack for this. Jack wants to do something to make the children feel better but the staff do not see it as an issue.

 

Dilemma: Jack wants to do the right thing without putting blame on anyone or apologizing too much. The action he chooses will create expectations for the future and may alter his relationship with the staff and children. Jack doesn’t want to jeopardize current relationships or the social venture.

 

Stakeholders:

  • Children without toys
    • Personal interests:
      • Want toys or a gift of equal value (in terms of fun and entertainment the toys will provide)
      • Want to be part of the ceremony (a matter of respect and fitting in)
  • Children with toys
    • Personal interests:
      • New toys! They like Jack because he gave them the toys.
      • Feeling special and valued
      • Might tease kids who did not get gifts
  • Staff members:
    • Professionally: 
      • They don’t want Jack to question how good they are at their job (rude)
      • Jack’s action will change the work dynamic between them and the kids
      • Cannot control how many gifts are sent by the donors
      • Want things to operate smoothly and maintain the status quo
    • Personal: 
      • Feel defensive of Jack’s concerns (he just got here, how should he know better)
      • Don’t want to set the precedent of gifts being a reward
  • Jack
    • Personal: 
      • He does not want the children to resent him for not getting gifts.
        • Feels personally blamed by the kids because the children perceive that the gifts came from him. 
      • Wants to be liked and welcomed, make everyone happy
    • Professional:
      • Good relationship with all the kids will be better in the long run
      • Wants to have a good reputation because he is living there for five months
      • Needs to maintain good relationships with both the children and the staff in order to ensure he is able to complete his venture
  • Donor Org (secondary): 
    • Professional: 
      • Good press, maybe a tax write off
    • Personal: 
      • Feeling of gratitude and giving back to another community

 

Step 4: Formulate (at least three) alternative solutions – based on information available, to have a win-win situation for your relationship and your venture. 

  1. Potential Solution 1: Jack uses his own money to purchase gifts for the remaining four children and make a special occasion of presenting the gifts to them.
    1. How does it solve the problem? 
      1. It allows the kids that were forgotten to feel included and that they are just as special as all the other kids
    2. Pros: 
      1. The remaining four children would receive gifts and would be happy. 
      2. Jack would still uphold his positive status with the children. 
      3. The children will regain a sense of inclusion and importance.
      4. All of the children will have received gifts of equal value.
    3. Cons 
      1. Other kids for whom Jack won’t purchase gifts might feel left out
      2. Jack will have to spend his own money → creates a financial burden that Jack hadn’t planned for
      3. Jack might be seen as a push over → may create a situation where children start approaching Jack asking him to buy them things.
      4. Jack will be viewed differently with the staff because he went against their beliefs that there is no issue → this may create some division between Jack and the staff.
    4. How does it save face of those involved? 
      1. Jack: 
        1. Would be providing gifts for the remaining four children → it will no longer look like he forgot some of the children or valued those children less.
      2. Children without toys:
        1. it makes them not look left out and appear included versus being excluded with just a black hat
    5. Implications on relationships 
      1. Short-term 
        1. The children will still respect Jack. 
        2. Makes all of the kids feel included and the 4 children will regain their positive relationship with Jack
      2. Long-term 
        1. The kids might take advantage of Jack because he was nice to them and got them special gifts
        2. It might hurt his relationship with other children because they think he is favoring the 4 kids that didn’t get gifts
        3. The staff might start to dislike Jack because he could be causing more problems and going against what they said. They could blame him for any issues related to this in the future. Also, they could see it as using money to win the children over.
    6. Implications on the venture 
      1. Short-term: 
        1. Will improve immediate relationships with kids 
        2. May sour relationship with coworkers
        3. Will fix this dilemma and keep the relationship between the center and Jack (the american)
      2. Long-term 
        1. Youth center members might see American workers as a charity 
        2. Might hurt other American’s opportunities to work at that center

 

  1. Potential Solution 2: Add more value to the hats by making them special in some way (e.g., decorating them, creating a special role for those children that is signified by the hats)
    1. How does it solve the problem? 
      1. It gives the kids a sense of importance and value, which they didn’t get with not getting as special of a gift
      2. Makes them feel more included in the group, like they’re as important as all the other kids
    2. Pros 
      1. The kids would feel honored despite not partaking in the gift ceremony
      2. The kids would not blame Jack for being left out
      3. The workers won’t feel that Jack is upstaging their own job performance
    3. Cons 
      1. Unsure of how this would affect the social dynamic of kids (might give them a power trip over the kids with toys)
      2. Unsure if the kids will be accepting of this “added value” and could still be upset
      3. Workers might see this as Jack interfering with the current way of things and think he is meddling too much
      4. Jack may be forced to buy decorating materials if there are none
    4. How does it save face of those involved? 
      1. Jack:
        1.  It gives Jack a way to still be on good terms with the kids and without stepping on the staff members toes
      2. Staff members: 
        1. They get to maintain the status quo and not have their relationships with the kids be altered by Jack going out and purchasing additional gifts for the children that were left out.
      3. Kids without toys: 
        1. It makes them feel special even though they didn’t get the same gifts as everyone else and can feel included with the other kids that got gits.
    5. Implications on relationships 
      1. Short-term 
        1. Staff can trust that Jack has the best intentions for the children
        2. Children might think Jack plays favorites (can create distrust with Jack)
      2. Long-term 
        1. Jack and the staff would continue to be strong and stable 
        2. Jack can develop a strong relationship with all the children
    6. Implications on the venture 
      1. Short-term 
        1. Venture partnership will grow tighter as staff realizes the american worker is quick to improvise and satisfy the needs of the children without upstaging current workers 
      2. Long-term 
        1. Venture continues stable partnership and keep open ties with American involvement at the youth center 

 

Potential Solution 3: Do nothing to ensure the relationship between Jack and the staff remains stable and healthy

    1. How does it solve the problem? 
      1. The children technically all received a gift.
      2. It allows Jack to stay on good terms with the staff members and shifts his level of importance for relationships to the staff over the kids
    2. Pros 
      1. The relationship will continue to be strong and stable (assuming it was already stable)
      2. Children are pretty resilient and will likely bounce back from not receiving the gift. Jack should be able to build his relationship with the 4 kids back up pretty quickly.
      3. Staff members will see that Jack is respecting their advice and not a “children’s rights activist” 
    3. Cons 
      1. Relationship between Jack and children will suffer. Kids could be mean.
      2. The kids could have an influence on the staff members and make them have a negative outlook on Jack because he can’t get along with the kids
      3. Staff members might see Jack as complaining and not an action taker
    4. How does it save face of those involved? 
      1. Staff: 
        1. Don’t feel like Jack is taking over and going over their heads to fix a problem. 
      2. Jack: 
        1. Absorbs the blame but preserves relationship with staff
    5. Implications on relationships 
      1. Short-term  
        1. Children will have a tainted view on Jack 
        2. Staff will see Jack as an obedient worker 
      2. Long-term 
        1. Neutrality between children will remain the same (staff or Jack isn’t playing favorites)
    6. Implications on the venture 
      1. Short-term 
        1. Relations between children and american worker might struggle 
      2. Long-term 
        1. Establish good relationships between the staff members and American workers so there will continue to be opportunities for new volunteers to come visit

Step 5: Seek additional assistance, as appropriate – previous cases, peers, reliance on personal experience, inner reflection 

 

I have spent a lot of time working with children, so I understand what sort of constraints may be put on the relationship between Jack and the children if the children are left feeling like outcasts. In a sense, the children trusted Jack, who they thought brought them gifts, to be equal with all of the children. Yet, I also understand from a professional perspective why it is so important that Jack maintains a positive relationship with the staff. In order to help guide my decision, I talked with a few of my peers about this dilemma. The way our conversation was guided was by putting ourselves in the position of the children who received the hats and also in the position of the staff. Ultimately, we all came to a consensus that it was important to find a middle ground so that the children would not feel left out and so that the staff would not feel as if Jack was going to cause trouble at the center. 

 

Step 6: Select the best course of action – that solves the problem, saves face and has the best short-term and long-term implications for your relationship and venture. Explain reasoning and discuss your solution vis-a-vis other approaches discussed in class. 

 

The solution that I believe is best suited to solve this dilemma is Solution 2: Add more value to the hats by making them special in some way (e.g., decorating them, creating a special role for those children that is signified by the hats). This solution has the best short-term and long-term implications as it ensures that Jack will maintain a positive relationship with both the staff and the children. The children will be happy that they are receiving meaningful gifts from Jack, and the staff will recognize that Jack did not go out of his way to make another ceremony. This will also help the venture in the short-term and long-term as the staff will realize that Jack is able to improvise without insulting and upstaging the staff. Although, I will admit that a shortcoming of this solution compared to others is that Jack will most likely have to spend some sort of money on decorating materials. This is not preferable as the kids who did not receive a gift bought from Jack’s money may feel left out, also the staff may perceive this as Jack interfering a bit too much. Yet, ultimately it is better than Solution 1, which will put a financial burden on Jack and upset the staff even more; and it is better than Solution 3, which would tarnish the relationship between Jack and the children. Solution 2 will allow Jack to save face with the children without greatly hurting the relationship between Jack and the staff. 

 

Step 7: List the sequence of actions you will take to implement your solution.

  1. Jack will talk to the staff about his plan, so that they are aware and so that it does not lead to any confusion or misinterpretations
  2. Jack will gather decorating materials, either by finding them at the center or purchasing them
  3. Jack will gather the children who received the black hats, alongside bringing his own black hat
  4. The children and Jack will decorate their hats
  5. The children and Jack will both wear their hats around the center
  6. Communication will be kept with the staff after the decoration of the hats is completed