Week 14

Who is Michelle?

I am currently a sophomore at Lehigh University. I am a biology major with a minor in health medicine and society and I am working towards becoming a physicians assistant. I am an older sister to one younger brother. I was born and raised in Philadelphia.

How will you change the world?

I want to change the world by making a positive impact even if it is small. I would first want to start by changing how our healthcare works with patients. Typically doctors are very dismissive of their patients concerns. By becoming a PA I would be able to change that since I typically am the first to interact with the patients.

What do you want your epitaph to read?

I would want my epitaph to read that I was a person who made a positive impact. I would also want it to read of positive event that people had with me. I would hope that it lists some of the accomplishments I have achieved in life.

Week 13

Living an Impact-Focused Life

What’s your Why?

I believe I was put on this earth to: be able make a positive change even if it is small

My purpose is to: better myself every day and better the people and environment around me

I believe (my core values): are loyalty, honesty, unity, kindness and appreciation

The one thing I must do before I die is: feel happy with the people I am surrounded by and feel happy with the work I’m doing

My advocates and supporters all believe I: am a hard working individual who will never get up until I finish what I set my mind to

The evil I want to eradicate in this world is: injustice

I want to work in order to: be happy with myself

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: check up on others and myself, make sure I complete my checklist I give myself.

I never: give up on other or any projects I am working on

My work style is: hectic. My ideas are often disorganized, and I am typically working on multiple things at once.

I try to treat people: the way I would want someone to treat me

approach problems by: hearing their side of their story and then I tell them mine. This then allows us to have a mutual understanding of how we view the problem.

Victories are time to: when I have accomplished something (big or small)

If another attacks my point of view I: try to understand where they are coming from

If I fundamentally do not agree with what an organization or person is doing, I will: express my opinions on why I do not agree and try to understand why they agree with it

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 ·       Global Social Impact Fellowship

·       B.S in Biology with a minor in Health Medicine and Society

 

Research Experiences  
Inventions and Innovations  
(Social) Entrepreneurial Ventures  

 

Publications

(Formal and Informal)

 
Formal Presentations

(at Lehigh and Beyond)

 
Awards and

External Recognition

 

 

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)

 

 

·       When we first joined the new team, it was hard for all of us to work as a team because were two teams coming together as one and we also had to do it online.  But what I learned is that it is an uncomfortable situation for everyone and not just me. So just understanding that made me feel better because I wasn’t in this alone.

 

Conflict Resolution Experience

(and Lessons Learned)

·       When I was working with Rozhin we disagreed about what price should be listed for the antioxidants. I believed that it should be the bulk price and she believed that it should be the price per pound. However, we both discussed our sides and came to an agreement.

·       At first, I didn’t understand why Rozhin thought it would be better to list the price per pound but she brought up aspects to it I never thought of

 

 

Leadership Experience

(and Lessons Learned)

 

 

·       Coming up with the antioxidant idea

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

·       When we went online for last semester it was even tougher transition because we were on also working on a new project. So we had to virtually meet the members we were working with and I honestly could not tell what my role on this project was. But then after a while I was able to make a role and this taught me that there is always a place for work that I could be doing.

 

 

 

 

 

Personally Challenging Experience (and Lessons Learned)

 

·       For our team, the project we currently are working on was not one any of us intended to work on. We then had to quickly transition onto another project and this within itself was a difficult process. I had to learn how to adapt quickly to the new project and also the team setting.
Cross-cultural Experience (and Lessons Learned)

 

 

·       The engineering helped brought up interesting question that I never would have thought of

 

 

 

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

 

 

·       I learned more about antioxidants and the benefits it has on people

 

 

 

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.

 

 
A moment where you felt like you truly have a strong sense of purpose and belonging in this dynamic, globalized interdependent world.

 

 

 

Week 10 +11

Team: COPRA

Grand vision

  • Increase the income of 3.5 million Filipino coconut farmers
  • Filipino coconuts farmers should be able to earn a livable wage
  • No Filipino coconuts farmers should live below $2/day 

 

Develop a conceptual framework that captures your vision of how your innovation and the ensemble/coalition you build around it will address the systemic challenges and improve the QoL for the target group.

 

Systematic challenge: Small-hold copra farmers do not have access to processing equipment or technology to produce higher value-added products.

 

Figure 1: Farmers harvest their coconuts, smoke/sun dry them, and sell them to the middleman broker, and the middleman broker sells it to the processing plants where it is then processed into higher value added products. In this process, the coconut farmers are unable to make significant income due to the middleman broker paying lower costs due to the consistency and quality of the Copra. 

Figure 2: Our innovation will reconfigure the extant system by enabling farmers to process their coconuts into higher value added products on their own, thus enabling them to take in more money than they did before.

 

Blog Post #8

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.

  • Maybe giving bonuses to those not by the amounts of arrest mades but to those who are going beyond that
  • I would also go out to the community and receive their input and then also have meeting with both cops and the community
    • applied to multi affinity because the police are taking into account all of their stakeholder
  • I would partner up with different community organizations and have the cops help them with events that they have
    • this would encourage teamwork between the community and the police officers a
    • It also becomes a closed-loop regulation because everyone receives value from it
    • Applies to Holism because we are in

2. 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.

  • Stakeholders
    • local communities
    • wildlife
    • Tourism business
    • Water Enterprise (whosoever has to oversee the quality of their water)
  • Before I would start my project I would meet with the local community leaders and ask them about their concerns. Then I would tell them what my goal is so that we have a mutual understanding of where we both are coming from. After that when I would map out what I need to do in order to make things possible I would take into account everything I had discussed previously
    • Target Holism and multi finality because the community

Blog Post #7

Q1:. 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.

 

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

 

1.What constituted the partnership?

2.How did the partner help you? How did you help them?

3.Was this a symbiotic relationship? Why or why not?

4.What would help strengthen this partnership and make it more equitable?

 

University of the Philippines Diliman (UPD) (HEED Program)

  1. This partnership was born during the assignment or our project. We were given this connection initially
  2. UPD students and a professor have given us insights on conditions in the Philippines as well as contacts for the Philippine Coconut Authority.  
  3. No, because of the pandemic we were not able to travel to the Philippines to collaborate with the UPD students. The UPD students were also sent home due to the pandemic where many of them did not have access to wifi so we shifted to communication with Jill Manapat only. However, due to poor connection it is hard to have productive zoom meetings
  4. More communication efforts would help strengthen this relationship but given the circumstances of the Pandemic 

 

Prof. Jedlicka

  1. Professor Jedlicka is the co-advisor to our project (for both TE Capstone team and GSIF).
  2. She provides guidance and insight to our team based on her expertise. We give her more information about different aspects of the copra industry, which in turn allows her to provide us with more suggestions and direction.
  3. This is a symbiotic relationship, as we are both reciprocating value. As we navigated through this complex coconut industry together as students and mentors, we taught and learned from each other: we taught her about the coconut knowledge that we found from literature, and she taught us how to better use that knowledge to advance our venture. 
  4. An increase in the team’s efforts would strengthen this relationship since the more we put in allows for more input on Professor Jedlicka’s end. 

 

Prof. Haden

  1. This partnership was built through GSIF and Professor Haden is a co-advisor to our project
  2. She helped us organize our ideas and helped us with where we should start with our project. We have helped her by teaching her about copra and the marketing of it in the Philippines. Also we will eventually publish a paper which will reflect well on her. 
  3. Yes, because Professor Haden acted as a guide for where we should start and we were able to teach her about our project. 
  4. More communication would strengthen this partnership

 

Wilber (Brian Slocum and Michale Moore)

  1. Our partnership with the Wilbur Powerhouse is based on our need for help in designing and prototyping our dryer. We connected through our advisor and our own relations.
  2. They have helped us through the design, but also mainly the physical construction of the prototype through their skill sets, expertise, and their access to Wilbur. 
  3. This is less of a symbiotic relationship because they have given us more value than we have given them, through advising us through our designs and helping us build it.
  4. A more proactive approach to our design methods and an increase in understanding of the building process from our team. 

 

Lynne Cassimeris

  1. Cell Biology professor at Lehigh, whom one of our team members is taking a class with. 
  2. This partner has helped in furthering the understanding of what goes on a cellular and molecular level inside of cells, which can be applied to copra.
  3. This is less of a symbiotic relationship as she is providing her teaching on her profession and we are learning from it.
  4. What would strengthen this relationship would be being in more communication with her and asking more directly about potential guidance on how to work on copra more effectively.

 

Gregory Lang

  1. One of our team members worked at Dr. Lang’s Yeast lab
  2. Dr. Lang answered an email about what to do about aflatoxins when our team member emailed him and he provided his knowledge as he is a microbiology professor and has experience working on bacteria and yeast.
  3. This is less of a symbiotic relationship as we do not have anything valuable from our side of research to offer him in return for his teaching.
  4. More communication and working alongside him would strengthen the relationship and bring more equity to our project as we would profit from the more knowledge we gain about how to counteract spoilage and molding.

Blog Post #6

  1. I have been able to communicate more with my team/ faculty
    1. I am more comfortable speaking to my team members
    2.  I am more comfortable speaking to the faulty when I need help
    3. Learning how to codepend on one another
    4. Learned to be not so controlling and trust my team members
    5. Learned how to reach out to different organizations that may further our venture
    6. To set up goals that are reachable and not think too far ahead but in the present
    7. Failure is inevitable but don’t be discouraged by it
    8. Time-management (meetings with my team/ faculty leader/ different organizations)
    9. Presentations such as not making them too long but to be short and conscience.
  2. Provide an updated Collaboration Plan, clearly articulating your Goals (Small g and Big G), Roles,Procedures, and Relationships.

 

Team Name: COPRA                                                                          Date: 09/29/2020
Goals Personal goals:

Brianna: 

Make as much useful contribution as possible, positively influence the group, create strong relationships,Improve my group work skills, ask more critical questions. 

Then I hope to use all these personal improvements to make a social impact that matters.

Tri:

Learn more about coconuts processing and get hand-on experience on making coconuts dryers!

Build life-long friendship with peers at Lehigh and those in the Philippines

Jake:

Provide hands on help with computer aided designing, fabrication (if at all possible), and testing of our drying chambers. Provide next year’s team with the necessary information to build off of and move toward getting our venture going.

Sammy:

Gain experience in conducting meaningful research and working on an interdisciplinary team. Make valuable contributions to move the project forward and create sustainable impact. Improve my interpersonal skills and develop a new mindset 

Ami: 

Contribute to the project in a meaningful way, understanding my own strengths and weaknesses , and learning how I can efficiently and effectively work within a diverse team. Help to better enforce communications within the team and outside the team, and become a better researcher and writer. Improve my own hard and soft skill sets including communications, and better understanding design thinking, engineering design, and supply chain.

Rozhin:

Complete experiments and write results in a lab report

Publish a paper about the experiments and their relationship to the overall copra industry and how the result is an asset to copra farmers.

Michelle: 

Publish a paper about the different antioxidants we have researched on

Pinpoint one antioxidant we can use for the copra processing 

Continue with our research and see if there are other things we can improve on

Brianna C:

Help team with adding background information to paper to provide readers with a deeper framework and history of its problems and clarity on why proposed solution are innovative and helpful

Project Goal:

The project aims to improve copra processing and process streamlining for elevating the livelihoods of copra farmers by generating additional income.

Is our Project Goal scaled to our resources (dreams, materials, skills, differences, etc.) and constraints (assignment, time, skills, etc.)?

As a team, we have the given resources and knowledge needed to design and prototype a device that can better process copra. Unfortunately, due to given circumstances, our access to both each other and the tools required are constraining the timetable for which this project will operate on.  

Since COPRA is a multi-year project, we as a team will lay up a strong foundation so that we can transfer the knowledge to other teams. The hope is that future teams will be able to scale upon the ideas and designs we come up with throughout this year.

 

Metrics for Success

    • Design, energy efficiency, and sustainability of the processing technique
    • Amount of high-quality copra that can be produced using new methods
    • Amount of additional income that can be generated for copra farmers
    • Scalability and Sustainability of the business model (can we actually get people to use this)
Roles Who is responsible for which deliverables?

  • Rozhin, Michelle, and Brianna C. will be responsible for the antioxidant testing and the deliverables that come from this.
  • Jake, Tri, Brianna W, Sammy, and Ami will be responsible for the engineering components and the corresponding deliverables that arise from this.

Which deliverables that require collaboration, subgroups & individual work? Who does each person depend upon to succeed?

Deliverables 

  • Presentation – Collaboration
  • Preliminary Design Concepts – Sub group/Collaboration
  • Prototype – Sub group/Individual
  • Testing Data – Sub group/Individual
  • Final report – Collaboration

Do we need a project manager to coordinate? 

  • Yes, we do need one. However, specific to our group, we rotate our project manager once every three weeks so that everyone has a chance to step up and take responsible for the group’s success
  • We realize the importance of having a manager to help organize and coordinate group work and research, but believe that having a rotating leadership position helps alleviate the stress from one individual
Procedures Decision-making 

  • Consensus, our group has had very few disagreements
    • If consensus can’t be achieved we will default to majority rules/the advice of our project advisor

Effective meetings

  • We’ve conducting weekly meetings (along with multiple weekly sub meetings) to keep everyone on track and updated with all the key information regarding our project
    • Before each meeting we lay out an agenda to increase efficiency of meetings and help steer the conversation in the right direction
    • We write weekly briefs (in accordance with our TE 211 course work) to keep documented records on what work and research we do each week
  • We plan to continue holding these weekly meetings over Zoom at the same time and in the same fashion
  • Keep track of time during meetings
  • At the end of every meeting we make sure to assign weekly work to each group member to ensure that we can hold each other accountable

Meeting roles

  • During meetings the leader will facilitate the meeting and assign a different scribe for each meeting.
  • The leader role will be rotated every 3 weeks

Communication

  • Up until this week we had planned Zoom meetings once a week on Fridays from 2:00 – 3:00 PM
    • Bi-weekly meeting with two sub-groups, Prof. Jedlicka, and Prof. Haden
Relationships Teamwork

  • Our team has been very agreeable up to this point – we’ve had few disagreements if any
    • Our assumption is that transitioning to video chatting as our primary form of communication will not be a problem
  • For the Engineering team:
    • We have backgrounds in Materials Science Engineering, Mechanical Engineerings, Industrial Systems Engineering and Product Design
    • The team also consists of different backgrounds such as athletics, international, cultural, and greek life.
    • We have different interests outside of engineering: make-up and sports, band music, music composition, nature, and chess.
  • The Science Research and Business teams have been added to the to Copra team
    • The Science Research team have backgrounds in biology and are working on developing antioxidant research and experiments to help further the project
    • The business has background in economics and international relations which will help further the project in terms of working on the business background of the project 

Listening – As a team we enter group meetings with an open mindset and are ready listen to each other 

Team Name– Copra

 

Blog Post #5

Team: COPRA

Members: Ami Yoshimura, Michelle Hu, Sammantha Powers, Jake Donoghue, Brianna Wanbaugh, Tri Nguyen, Brianna Cimaglia, Rozhin Zahrouni

 

Top 20 FAQs and Answers

 

 

  • What happens to the middlemen if you eliminate them in the supply chain? (Ami)

 

A: At this stage, we don’t have a concrete answer yet, because we are still in the development phase of our products. 

 

 

  • What is the scale of the coconut farms in the Philippines? (Tri)

 

A: The majority of coconut farms are small to medium sized (around 5 hectares / 40 – 100 trees per farm).

 

 

  • How will you implement your product in the Philippines? (Sammy)

 

A: We are not yet sure at this stage, as we do not currently have a definite business model since we are still developing our product. 

 

 

  • How do you know that there aren’t better antioxidants out there that are just as effective or more than the antioxidants that you are using now? (Rozhin)

 

A: We have done our research on many different potential antioxidants and have read many scientific articles and journals on them before coming into our conclusion of the top antioxidants for us to use on our experiments. Unfortunately, there is no way for us to know about all of the potential antioxidants that exist, however, we believe that from our research we have found the best ones that are available and cost-effective.

 

 

  • What are some of the current solutions to the aging tree problem in the Philippines? (Bri C)

 

A: There are replanting, intercropping, and education programs designed by the Philippines Coconut Authority to address these challenges.

 

 

  • How do you make sure the coconut farmers will benefit from your solution? (Tri)

 

A: We will provide coconut farmers the cost-effective technology to produce high-quality copra and higher-value added products that they can sell directly at a higher price, which will earn the farmers additional income.  

 

 

  • To what extent do coconut farmers have access to energy? (Tri)

 

A: It is noted that 6.1 million households (half of the rural population) have no electricity in the Philippines. Our investigation suggests that more than 30% of coconut farmers do not have access to the power grid.

 

 

  • How will this solution be sustainable? (Brianna W)

 

A:  We hope to partner with a company based in the Philippines that can continue to aid and distribute our solution after we leave the Philippines

 

 

  • How successful are efforts to address the aging tree problem? (Bri C)

 

A: The PCA has established a few programs to address this issue, but many of them are purely informational with little execution and direct aid to farmers. These programs have certainly helped inform farmers about the issues, but there has not been significant change.

 

 

  • How long will this copra & antioxidant experiment take? (Rozhin)

 

A: This is a two part experiment that has been started from July, however, since it was decided that better results were needed with improved procedure plans, the experiment will be restarting during the fall semester and will most likely before the end of the semester depending on the results found.

 

 

  • What do you expect to see in your experiments and what is the goal of the experiments? (Jake)

 

A: On the engineering side, the experiments are set up with the goal of optimizing air flow inside the drying chamber. We expect to gather data that will allow us to decide whether we should utilize horizontal or vertical airflow moving forward.

 

 

  •  What are your next steps for the venture? (Ami)

 

A: The next steps entail testing antioxidant solutions, prototyping the dryer, and submitting research proposals to a few conferences. 

 

 

  • What are you doing in your experiments currently and what is next? (Jake)

 

A: We are constructing benchmark prototypes of our drying chambers and comparing the effectiveness of horizontal vs. vertical airflow on drying time. The goal is still to uniformly dry all the coconut meat in the drying chamber as fast as we can, so whichever method works better is what we will include in our drying design moving forward. Once we have identified the optimal air flow method, we will move to experimenting and designing our heating source and heat exchange mechanisms. 

 

 

  • Why are you doing this experiment and how do these antioxidants work on the copra? (Rozhin)

 

A: The current problem is the copra browning which reduces their financial value because of their unappealing visual quality, even if they are safe to consume and use even for other means. The browning of the copra occurs from a chemical reaction from its exposure to oxygen, known as enzymatic browning. The enzyme that plays the major role in this chemical reaction is called Polyphenol Oxidase (PPO) and another major enzyme that contributes to the enzymatic browning and is involved with the internal browning is called Peroxidase. Therefore, this reaction can be prevented from occurring through the application of higher acidity (pH<4), which lowers the chances of oxidation of the food and causing the enzymatic reaction to occur. Moreover, the copra also needs to have antimicrobial protection, so that they can last longer and prevent spoiling. Since the best antioxidants that we have chosen from our research are both acidic and have antimicrobial properties (which we also plan on combining the best ones together to create an even stronger antioxidant preservative), they are one of the best natural and cost-effective preservation methods for us to use on the copra.

 

 

  • Why are natural antioxidants being used instead of cheaper alternatives? (Rozhin)

 

A: Natural antioxidants are the best materials to use as preservatives of copra as this will make it safe and have no/less harmful side effects than other chemical or other cheaper alternatives. Natural antioxidants are the next best option, from their effective protection against oxidation and microbes, in comparison to more expensive preservation treatments (e.g. freeze drying), so they are the best option considering their ease of access, effectiveness, and reduced cost.

 

 

  • How do you imagine implementing these antioxidants into the supply chain and how will the farmers gain access to them? (Rozhin)

 

A: We are still in the process of determining which antioxidants will be used for preservation, so we have yet to know the full logistics of when and how they will be incorporated into the supply chain. We imagine that the antioxidants will be either sold to the farmers in packages or the farmers will be taught how to make those antioxidants treatment themselves (depending on the antioxidants chosen as preservatives).

 

 

  • How will the optimal antioxidants be integrated into the engineering team’s product? (Sammy) 

 

A: The antioxidants will be included in the drying and preserving process, though we are not sure exactly how until we discover more through our experiments. We are still determining if the antioxidants will be put on the copra before or after drying, and if they will be included as a part of our product, or if they will be sold separately.

 

 

  • How will you be able to scale this effectively? (Ami)

 

A: By improving one niche/aspect of the drying process and building a better drying solution with affordable materials, accessibility will be easier. We also have connections in the Philippines who could help with distribution. 

 

 

  • How likely is it that farmers will take to this kind of solution? (Jake)

 

A: This is something that we still need to figure out. Given that our project is in early stages, and that we have not been able to conduct field work, it has been rather difficult to gauge interest in our ideas. 

 

 

  • Why are we choosing the specific antioxidants we are using?  (Michelle)

 

A: All the specific antioxidants  we are using are all cost effective so it will not be another hardship on the farmers. Also all of these antioxidants do not affect the taste of the copra or the texture and they are accessible. 

 

Blog Post #4

Class 4: 9/15/2020

 

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: 

Ethical: GIve children formula that might contain pesticides or have them drink breast milk that contains HIV.  

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

  •  The growth of ~35% if the children is stunted due to poor nutrition
  •  Maize and bananas are most commonly made into a gruel 
  • These are fed to infants at the beginning of 2 months of age
  • HIV/AIDS are prevalent in this area 
  • The longer a child nurses with a mother with AIDS/HIV the greater the chance that it will be transmitted to the child 
  • The mothers are skeptical of giving the children the gruel
  • A donor provided money to build a cooperative.

Step 2: Define the Stakeholders – those with a vested interest in the outcome 

  •  Mothers (Primary)
  •  Children (Primary)
  •  Research team (Primary) 
  •  Donors (Secondary)

Step 3: Assess the motivations of the Stakeholders 

  •  Mothers: Decrease the chances of their child getting aids and receiving the proper amounts of nutrition. They can make money by  selling the crops they grow. 
  •  Children: Want to live a healthier life. They need their basic needs to be met.  
  •  Donors: They want to simultaneously improve the nutritional status of children and improve the livelihoods of rural households.
  • Research Team: 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. They want to build up their own credibility. 

Step 4: Formulate (at least three) alternative solutions – based on information available, using basic ethical core values as 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 a child’s health  
      •  Children may not like it because it might not taste well 
  • Potential solution 2: Continue to feeding the children gruel
    • 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 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 amount of people with HIV/AIDS.  
      • The babies will be able to ingest the mother’s breast milk safely
      •  It will decrease the amount of deaths and 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 it but will it take so long that it may 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/

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. 

The best course of action would be potential solution 1. The 3rd solution does not seem feasible at this time because it would require too much time to find funding. It will take too much time it may cause more problems for the children than positive outcomes. The second solution would also do more harm than good because children would not be receiving the proper nutrition amount. Although with the first solution there are cons such as possible ingestion of pesticides we can lower the chances of it by washing the fruit properly and the children will be obtaining the proper amount of nutrition.  

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.

Environmental aspects is the ground or soil they will be using will become more rich because it is receiving proper nutrition. Economic there may be more money coming in because the women are able to sell the extra fruits/vegetables they are growing. Socially the women will be able to interact with one another and hopefully grow a community.

 

Part 2: 

Grassroots Diplomacy 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 

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:
    • Professional: 
  •  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 (atleast three) alternative solutions – based on information available, to have a win-win situation for your relationship and your venture. 

  • Potential Solution : Cooperative creates saving accounts for the women 
    • How does it solve the problem? 
      • Pros 
        • The women will have money available to spend
        • The men won’t be able to take all of the money because some of it is with the cooperative 
        • The men will still be able to buy their alcohol 
      • Cons 
        • The men will still be able to take the money or even get mad at the women 
        • The women will have to travel to retrieve their own money
        • The cooperative will need to find funding somehow
    • How does it save face of those involved? 
      • it save face for the women because they won’t have to give their money to the male figures. So they won’t have to feel guilty or lie to them. It saves face for the men because it doesn’t question their masculinity because the women don’t have money to give them.
    • Implications on relationships 
      • Short-term  
        • Women will trust the cooperative more
        • Women will gain a little bit more power within the relationship
        • The family will have more funds to spend on groceries
      • Long-term 
        • Men might be against the cooperative because they feel like their manhood is being threatened
        • The cooperative will have a stronger relationship with the women in the community
        • Men’s health might be healthier because they will not be consuming alcohol
    • Implications on the venture 
      • Short-term 
        • They will gain more connections within the community
        • The women will be more trusting of the volunteers
      • Long-term 
        • The cooperative will begin to expand
        • More and more residents will be using the resources of the cooperative

 

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

  • First the cooperative may need to form connection with the banks in the community
  • Next, the cooperative will ask each women if they want to set up a savings account
  • For the women who do want a savings account the cooperative will help them set it up
  • The cooperative will teach the women how to deposit and withdraw money

 

GSIF Blog Post #3

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

  • Jack is an American student who is working on a social venture at a youth center in Kenya. 
  • On a Saturday evening, kids are receiving gifts from an international donor organization 
  • Jack was picked to help with the passing out of the gifts
  • There were four children who did not receive gifts and instead they received black hats 

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

  1. Kids
  2. Staff at the center / the youth center
  3. Jack

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

  1. There are no professional motivations/ personal motivation → wanting to receive a gift
  2. They are more motivated to earn some sort of income/ personal motivation → give back to the kids and community 
  3. Wants to save face and establish future relationships with kids and staff, wants to take care of kids
    1. Has to save face with both groups: he can’t just flat out tell the kids that the staff didn’t get them enough gifts and he can’t just get them a gift without hurting his relationship with the staff members

 

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

  1. Potential Solution: Make a game out the hats
    1.  Pros
      • The kids are happier because their gift means something after all
      • The staff is happy because they do not have to get involved and they can take credit for the hats
    2. Cons
      • It is still unfair because the hats are not as good as the gifts
      • Takes up time for Jack and the staff members to think up of a game 
      • Making the hats specific can make the other kids feel worse about their gifts
    3. How does it save face of those involved?
      • It makes Jack and the staff look better because the four kids may be satisfied with their gifts
      • The kids who receive the black hat won’t feel as bad or left out 
      • Jack and the staff also no longer look like they forgot gifts
    4. Implications on relationships
      •  Short-term
        • Kids won’t be upset at Jack/staff
        • Jack can now build trust in his relationships with both the kids and the staff
      • Long-term
        • Kids will feel more comfortable talking to Jack and the staff because they see the effort they are putting into them

 

  1. Potential Solution: Buy other gifts for the kids
    1. Pros
      • Kids feel special because they got gifts
    2. Cons
      • Jack have to spend their own money on gifts 
      • Doesn’t solve the problem because the kids are still being left out because Jack are buying the gifts after they realized their mistake
      • Staff won’t agree because Jack is going over their heads to buy gifts
    3. How does it save face of those involved?
      • Jack/staff will not feel as guilty because the gifts receive the gift 
    4. Implications on relationships
      •  Short-term
        • Kids are happy to receive gifts and like Jack more
        • Staff are upset
      • Long-term
        • The kids may not be comfortable with Jack because he forgot about their gifts last minute 
        • Staff will not trust Jack for future events 
  2. Potential Solution: Buy himself and the entire staff the same black hats
    1. Pros
      • Makes the kids who received the hats feel better about their gift
      • Builds a sense of comradery (stronger relationship) between the kids, the staff and Jack
      • The staff members probably wouldn’t mind getting a free hat
    2. Cons
      • Jack has to spend money 
      • Kids who don’t have hats may feel left out 
      • The kids who actually receive the black will be more upset because other kids will look down at them because their being coddled (being a teacher’s pet) 
    3. How does it save face of those involved?
      • Saves face for Jack, it makes the kids feel less bad
      • Saves face for the staff since they are also participating
      • The kids may (or may not) feel less embarrassed about receiving their hat
    4. Implications on relationships
      • Short-term
        • Kids will be less upset about not receive gifts 
        • Staff would be happy and more accepting of him
      • Long-term
        • Jack would have a better connection with those kids who do receive the black hats (common ground)


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

  • Peers- asking help from other volunteers at the center on how to approach the situation 
  • Inner reflection – Previous experiences with children or siblings
  • One-on-one conversations with staff members to ask what they would do
  • Talk to the children, inquire about how they feel/how they can feel better

 

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 best course of action would be solution 1 which is making the hats of games. This allows Jack to save face because the kids will still be able to receive their gifts that day as opposed to Jack having to go out and buy gifts. It also saves money for because he wouldn’t have to buy more hats for himself and the staff. However a problem that may arise is that the other kids may feel neglected because the black hats are common bond that Jack and the staff share with certain children. This may make the other children feel bad.

The short term implications

  • allows the kid who received the black hats not feel left out
  • They would also feel special because Jack and the kids have share a secret bond that the other kids don’t have
  • Other kids might get jealous

The long term implications

  • The kids that had the hat may feel more comfortable with Jack and will have a closer relationship
  • The kids that received a black hat will have a closer bond with one another

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

  • Jack would first think up of a game for the black hats
  • Jack would Inform the staff members of the game
  • The staff would then approve of the game
  • Jack would then round up the kids with black hats and inform them of the game
  • Jack and the kids would then play the game