This case study required a much more in depth analysis of the ethical decision making and grassroots diplomacy. For this case, there were two aspects that we needed to address, the first was the ethical decision making for the initiation of the cooperative company. The later part is the grassroots diplomacy that’s required to analyze how the company is operating a six months down the line.
The facts of the case are (for part I) :
- The HIV rate is incredibly high in this area of the country
- 35% of the children are stunted due to the lack of nutritious foods available
- Mothers who are HIV positive risk transmitting the disease to her children via breast milk
- Many of the children breastfeed until six months of later
- Few women get tested for the disease
- The porridge that is being fed to the children contains locally grown produce
- Many of the produce potentially has traces of pesticides
- We received a grant by a donor to establish the women’s cooperative
The main goal of our cooperative company is preventing the transmission of HIV from mother to child and improve the children’s health. However, the ethical issues that arise from this is at what point is risking a child to potential exposure and ingestion of pesticides okay in comparison to getting HIV?
The Stakeholders are (for part I and II) :
- Mothers
- PERSONAL
- Want their children to be healthy
- Prevent transmission of HIV to their children
- Prevent their children from ingesting the pesticides
- Want their children to be properly nourished
- PROFESSIONAL
- Want to make money for their own farms
- Want to gain educational experiences and feel useful in the community
- Want the cooperative to be successful
- PERSONAL
- Men
- Want to be in charge of the money
- Want their children to be healthy
- Desires to use the money for frivolous things
- Children
- Directly impacted by the breastfeeding/pesticides
- They need all the required nutrients
- Us (Researchers/board member on the cooperative)
- PERSONAL
- Want to provide nutritious porridge for the children
- Want to avoid children from ingesting pesticides and developing HIV
- PROFESSIONAL
- Ensure the cooperative is successful and built right and sustainable
- Want to achieve the two pillars of success – a sustainable cooperative and healthy children
- Investing in seeing impact through the cooperative
- PERSONAL
- Women’s Cooperative
- Wants to provide the children with nutritious porridge to wean children off breast milk
- Skeptical of the impacts of pesticides and HIV transmission
- Wants to attract investors to the cooperative
- Wants their product to be distributed throughout the country
- The women want to bring income to support their families and children
- Local cash crop farmers
- Financially invested
- Grow the crops that are being bought for the porridge
After much consideration, these are the potential solutions and the good, the bad, and the ugly of each of them.
Solution 1: This solution incorporates having the cooperative grow their own produce for the products so that they are organic, locally sourced, and pesticide free. This solution also employees more women because we have to ensure we have steady farmers. The ethical principle had hand is : Duty Based. “Do only that which you would want everyone else to do”. We would want our children and communities to do everything that they can in order to prevent the children from ingesting the chemicals.
PROS:
- Creates jobs for women
- The cooperative and community has access to the clean and healthy crops
- Allows us to be fully in control of the crops
- Children receive the necessary nutrients from the crops
- The porridge can be pesticide clean
CONS:
- It could cost more setting up another piece of land and hiring more women
- Requires the education and training of the women on how to properly farm the crops
- It could put some of the local farmers out of business
Solution 2: This solution just requires the washing of the produce when it’s collected to reduce the presence of pesticides on the produce. The ethical principle of this solution is virtue based thinking. “What is honest depends on the social traditions, history, etc.” Since the porridge that the children are already eating has traces of pesticides on the produce and using pesticides is what the farmers know, it might be more difficult to convince the community to not use pesticides.
PROS:
- There would be a significantly less amount of pesticides in the food/on the produce
- The children still get the nutrients they need because the produce is still being put into the porridge
- The mother’s don’t need to breastfeed anymore and the children reduce the chances of transmitting HIV
- It’s a cheaper way to reduce pesticide contamination compared to the other solutions
CONS:
- The water being used may not be clean enough to properly wash the produce causing another line of issues in itself
- It is hard to measure if the washing method is effective in the children’s overall health
- There would possibly need to be a filtration system implemented in order to completely clean the water sources
- If the pesticides were treated with wax then it would make washing them off more difficult because they would be trapped underneath the waxy surface
Solution 3: This solution develops a vitamin supplement that can be added to the basic recipe of the porridge (maize and bananas). The ethical principle of this solution is consequence-based thinking. Although the children would still be exposed to some of the pesticides, they would be receiving the daily nutrients that they need through the supplements.
PROS:
- The women’s cooperative can continue making the recipe and it reduces the amount of produce
- The children will receive the necessary nutrients they need through the supplementation
- The children don’t need to breastfeed, reduces the chances of contracting HIV
- Uses the base recipe and reduces the amount of produce needed which may lower the cost of the porridge
CONS:
- It may not be culturally accepted to use supplement powder
- The supplements may have to be imported which may actually increase the cost of the porridge
- The children are still getting the pesticides
- The supplements have a chance of altering the taste and consistency of the porridge
The best course of action I believe is the supplementation, Solution 3. I believe that this is the best solution because it keeps the cost of the product low and it also gives the children the necessary nutrients that they need. While we were in Sierra Leone, we worked a lot with supplements and adding them to a holistic food product and from my experiences, the importation of the supplements is completely feasible and does not change the taste, consistency, or price of the product drastically. Additionally, it keeps the women’s cooperative running successfully and allows women to support their families with the money they are making. The porridge allows the children to wean off the breast milk and reduces the chances of the kids getting HIV. I think that this solution is better than the other proposed solutions because Solution 2, there is no guarantee that it will actually work. Something that I am concerned about with the solution is despite the cheaper cost efficiency that it offers is the potential additional health risks that come with cleaning the produce with unclean water. I also think that this solution is better than Solution 1 because creating a whole new farm for organic and non-pesticide produce is unrealistic, possibly goes against their culture, and it risks putting local farmers out of their business.
IMPLICATIONS OF SOLUTION 3
Technologically : The product of the base porridge and the supplements would be the technology being sold which would help the children around the town and the country allowing them to get the necessary nutrients that they need to grow stronger and healthier.
Socially : This solution would impact the social chain because if these women are being empowered with the cooperative then they would potentially be off-setting the cultural norms which could be dangerous for them.
Economically : Importing the supplements from another country has the potential to increase the trade relationships between this country and other countries which would allow the economy to grow. Also, by increasing the nutrient content and decreasing the pesticides in the products, more families would potentially buy the product which allows the economy to be more stimulated by increasing the markets.
The second part of the study is 6 months later
The facts of the case (for part II) :
- The business is doing well but it isn’t hitting the two pillars of success because the children in the town aren’t getting the necessary nutrients that they need
- The women are making the money and coming home and the husbands are using the money on frivolous items
- I don’t have a direct say in the cooperative or the family expenses and I want to see the cooperative succeed
- I only have six months left until I have to leave the cooperative and there are 6 other board members along side of me
The ethical issue then becomes, how can I achieve the twin social outcomes without disturbing the natural way of things in their culture.
The potential solutions are:
Solution 1: This solution pays the women in smaller amounts of money every day but also gives them shares of the cooperative. It also saves face for the women because they are bringing all of their money home, they are just being paid in different ways.
PROS:
- The women are still getting paid and bringing money home to the family
- The women have the potential to gain more shares in the company
- The women can request the money to be withdrawn up to two weeks in advance so that they can’t just pull the money out instantly
- Allows the women to learn to save money and plan carefully for the future
- Prevents the men from spending lots of money on unnecessary things
CONS:
- The men still have control over the majority of the money at hand
- The men could be upset that more money isn’t coming home
RELATIONSHIPS: The short term implications on relationships include the men may be upset with the women but the long term relationships are the men will understand that they actually have more money to buy more things that they need for their family.
VENTURES: The short term implications for the venture would be that the cooperative would be successful but the children still may not be getting the necessary nutrients from the porridge. However, the long term implications would be that the venture could be more sustainable due to all of the shares being sold.=
Solution 2: This solution sets up a small daycare in the location of the cooperative so that the women who work there can bring their children during the day and their children will be fed the porridge full of nutrients every day. This solution saves face for the women because they are able to bring their children to work with them allowing their children to be fed and receive the porridge that contains the nutrients. It also saves face for the men because they don’t have to feel guilty for spending the money on other things because their children are still getting the nutrients they need.
PROS:
- Children get the necessary nutrients
- Women get to bring their children to work and see them during the day
- Creates more jobs for the cooperative and employees more women
- The women still get to bring money home to their husbands
CONS:
- The cooperative has to employee more women and are now giving away meals for all of the children every day which costs money for the cooperative
- The men still are going to spend the money on things that aren’t necessary for the family and there really isn’t anything that we can do about it
RELATIONSHIPS: The short term implications on relationships are that the women get to please their husbands still and the children get to be with the mothers more often. The long term implications of the relationships are that the children will get to make friends with other children in daycares and the mothers get to spend more time with their children deepening their relationships.
VENTURES: The short term implications of this solution is that the venture may lose a bit of money because the cooperative will have to employee more women for daycares and pay for additional space. However, the long term implications are that the children in the towns as well as the cities will be able to obtain the nutrients because the women are able to feed their children through the daycares.
Solution 3: This solution provides the women with materialistic compensation rather than monetary for their daily work. This saves face for the women because they do not have to directly confront or disobey their husbands but can still provide for their families.
PROS:
- The products are going directly to the children and families and there isn’t a place to waste the money on useless items such as alcohol
- The children and mothers will have more resources
CONS:
- There isn’t any way to directly predict or know what the mothers need and everyone’s wants/needs may be different
- The men may be upset that the women aren’t bringing home the money and think that they are actually spending it and get upset with the wives
- The women may be less willing to work long and hard hours for anything less than monetary benefits
RELATIONSHIPS: The short term implications on the relationships would be the husbands would be upset with the women and might make them quit their jobs. There would be a lot of immediate unhappiness within the family units. However, long term, the husbands may realize that it is for the better and would eventually forgive them.
VENTURES: The immediate/short term implications of the ventures would be that it would provide the children with the nutrients and immediate necessities that they need. However, a potential long term implication would be that the venture could fall under because of all of the unhappiness and there would be no more workers for the venture to continue.
After much deliberation, I believe that Solution 2 would be the best solution because despite the slightly higher immediate cost, it would provide the best long term outcomes. Having the daycare within the cooperation would be the best solution to immediately and long-term allowing the children to get the necessary nutrients they need because they would be directly in the hands of the care-givers and their nutrients can be more directly controlled. If the families were just given the money, as they were in the beginning of the venture, there’s no way to go in and tell the families where their money needs to be spent and where it cannot. Compared to Solution 1, yes they may be less able to blow all of their cash at once, there still is no guarantee that once they hand the money to their husbands that their husbands won’t go spend that smaller amount on smaller quantities of alcohol and other things. However there are some downsides to the proposed Solution 2 as well. For example, the women are still receiving the full amount of money they were in cash and their husbands could go and blow even more of it on other things since they know their children are being fed elsewhere. Although, despite the cons, I still believe it’s the best option for the venture because it ensures that the porridge is being made and distributed, but also, it ensures that the children in the village/town are being fed the porridge daily and obtaining the necessary nutrients.
IMPLICATIONS OF SOLUTION 2
Technologically : The new technology of this solution would be the daycare and it would allow the children to see their mothers and socialize more with each other.
Socially : The additive socialization between the girls and boys from a young age may even play a role in eventually changing the gender norms in the country.
Economically : Because the venture would be succeeding more and employing more women, the economy would be stimulated which is good for the economy.