Last Blog Post: Living an Impact-Focused Life

I believe I was put on this earth to:

bring a change in someone’s life. Whether that was bringing joy to my immediate family or influencing the people that I come in contact with.

 

My purpose is to:

challenge the way people are currently living (degradation of the natural environment) to be more environmentally friendly.

 

I believe (my core values):

that people should be living in harmony with the earth. Current degradation of the natural environment has been the result of greed and we must stop our hunger for more when it does not necessarily bring us happiness, contrary to what people believe.

 

The one thing I must do before I die is:

change an aspect in the way developed countries live to be more sustainable and environmentally friendly.

 

My advocates and supporters all believe I:

have the capabilities to do anything I set my mind to.

 

The evil I want to eradicate in this world is:

waste. No one waste things like the way people in the US does. We never end up paying for the price of wasting things. The people who pay the price are out of our sight (developing countries) and we think trash magically disappears.

 

I want to work in order to:

change the way people live to be more sustainable and environmentally friendly, specifically reduce the amount of waste related to food that is generated by the US. These could be the food itself or even its container.

 

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:

make sure that I never buy too much food and when I go grocery shopping I try to buy food that have very little packaging or packaging that can be recycled.

 

I never:

waste food that is on my plate that is still edible.

 

My work style is:

to make sure that I do my part of the deal as to not drag other people down and disappoint myself.

 

I try to treat people:

in the same manner as how I want to be treated and avoid judging them because I will never know the full extent of their experiences.

 

I approach problems by:

looking at the overview of the problem and then zooming into the details.

 

Victories are time to:

applaud yourself and others who have helped you along the way in the back. It is a moment of sharing a fragment of your excitement and joy with others.

 

If another attacks my point of view I:

listen to what they have to say first. Digest and analyze the content. Present my own thoughts after going through the thinking process.

 

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

Tell them in an indirect way as to why I disagree and hope for a change. If nothing changes, I don’t bother to convince them unless this disagreement directly relates or impacts me.

 

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 Degrees: BS Mechanical Engineering

Minor: Product Design

Deal’s list

Nakatani RIES finalist in 2017

Autodesk Inventor certified

Research Experiences

 

 

 

 

Evolution biology of chickadees

Phage research (RARE)

PlasTech Ventures plastic research

Mountaintop Summer Experience

Determining the vitamin C level in potatoes after various means of processing

Inventions and Innovations

 

 

 

Tetris block design for PlasTech Ventures

Sliding vertical garden

Cooking tool in product design

Picture frame for mom on mother’s day

(Social) Entrepreneurial Ventures

 

 

 

PlasTech Ventures
Publications

(Formal and Informal)

 

Comparing the material properties of PET brick to Concrete Masonary bricks

 

An analysis on the financial viability for entrepreneurs in the PlasTech Ventures

Formal Presentations

(at Lehigh and Beyond)

GSIF presentations

Design Review for Capstone

GSIF co-chair 2020

Awards and

External Recognition

Dean’s List

Nakatani RIES Finalist 2017

 

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)

 

There were sometimes when I and or another team member end up doing almost all of the work. It was frustrating thinking that the others were not contributing. I learned that it was not the fact that they did not want to contribute, it was the fact that they didn’t know how to.

Lesson Learned: Reach out and confront the entire team in equal contribution in advancing the team forward. Often times, the reason for limited contribution is not what you expect it to be.

Conflict Resolution Experience

(and Lessons Learned)

There was uneven contribution of work done on the project and some members were concerned.

Lesson Learned: Reach out to the entire team and set weekly deliverables from each person. The weekly meetings were deliverables were presented holds each team member accountable for their work.

Leadership Experience

(and Lessons Learned)

Recently I co-chaired a session with a teammate for the 2020 GSIF conference. I received a set of instructions and had executed them well. The only aspect I was unprepared for was asking questions to the presenters if no one else asked questions.

Lesson Learned: Anticipate and ask questions regarding the role assigned to ensure smooth and ideal operation.

Dealing with Chaos, Ambiguity, and Uncertainty (and Lessons Learned) Figuring out exactly what the team wanted to do with the plastics that would be recycled. It felt like we were going in circles for 3 weeks trying to justify what kind of product should be created out of plastics. In addition, there was difficulty in obtaining stakeholder feedback from the Philippines to verify whether the product is worth pursuing.

Lesson Learned: Conflicts and challenges are all part of the growing process, whether they are painful or not. Figuring out exactly what the venture is all about takes time and patience. All storms will end, you simply must continue pushing forward.

Personally Challenging Experience (and Lessons Learned When the team was determining what product to make out of recycled plastic, it was incredibly frustrating to not have a solid idea for 3 weeks. As the product designer lead, I felt incompetent. There was a point in time when our advisor had the whole teamwork on the design aspect of the project because we were going around in circles.

Lesson Learned: Writer’s block (or designer’s block) can occur. Having a solid design that the venture will focus on within a week is nearly impossible. Sometimes giving yourself a breather and letting the team think together as group is better than thinking alone. Rely on team members during difficult times. The act of reliance is not a sign of weakness.

Cross-cultural Experience (and Lessons Learned) When reaching out to stakeholders in the Philippine or interacting with Filipinos, I have sometimes noticed a change in their mannerisms that is very different from the casual American interactions.

Lesson Learned: Be mindful of cultural differences in mannerism and research them ahead of time to represent the team in a positive light.

An experience that helped you connect your GSIF work to your discipline / major. Designing for Tetris brick with my product design background and determining its technical feasibility through my mechanical engineering background were experiences that connected my GSIF work to my discipline. In addition, I have utilized my Solidworks skills from my engineering class to prove PET as a viable building material.
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. When I entered the PlasTech Ventures meeting with my initial rough Tetris block design. This was probably the 20th time I presented a new design idea. We were at the point where the whole team was doing my role (product design) in the project because we were simply stuck. It was amazing to see people excited about my ideas and bringing the idea to reality. We went to the point of running simulations on Solidworks to prove the concept’s validity.
A moment where you felt like you truly have a strong sense of purpose and belonging in this dynamic, globalized interdependent world. I felt like I belonged to the team when I entered the PlasTech Ventures meeting with my 20th brick design. The design was well received by the entire team and I felt like I contributed to the team and lead them out of a 3-week turmoil hole. It was amazing to see people excited about my ideas and supporting it. I felt as if that was the moment and exact purpose I was recruited to the team for.

Blog 10: Conceptual Framework for GSIF

 

Impact: Aim to solve complex, real-world issues.

Educate: Exchange the knowledge and develop the skills to combat complex, real-world issues.

Implement: Execute the knowledge gained through programs within Lehigh such as GSIF and capstone in order to solve the complex, real-world issues.

Influence: Through our implementation at the global scale, we solve complex, real-world issues with the help of partnerships that end up influencing governments and corporations.

Blog #8: System’s Approach

Case 1:

Background: Afghanistan Police

  • Population: 35,000,000 (250,000 Police)
  • Literacy Rate: 27% (2019: 32%)
    • High numerous rate: understand numbers
  • 13 Years later Issue: Billions of dollars have been spent on the police force but there is still poor personnel and payroll data (no verification)
    • Extremely High (Hierarchical) Corruption:
      • 10% “Ghost” Police
      • Commanders get a cut from salaries: each person employed, they get a portion of the salary
    • Poor Morale (from poor salary) → Defection to the Taliban
    • Law and Order Crises; deface public trust

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?

Actions I would take as the Chief of Police for Afghanistan:

  1. Raise the salary of all policemen. 
    1. Differentiation (identifying the problem): Upon examining the problems within the current system of operation in the Afghanistan Police force, I pinpointed the individual issue of poor salary to members of the police force.
    2. Explanation of solution: One of the reasons why there is an extremely high (hierarchical) corruption is due to the fact that the people in the police force are simply not getting paid enough. Commanders who have some power are using it for corruption rather than the good because they need money to sustain themselves and their families. This statement is especially true to policemen who do not have the power to perform such corruption for the surplus income and end up defecting to the Taliban. It is inappropriate to raise the salary of corrupt government officials, however, it is a different story if they are not getting paid well for their service and need to resort to corruption in order to meet their financial needs. As the Chief of the Police for Afghanistan, I need to first take care of my men who are working for the public by providing them the appropriate financial means for survival.
      1. Multifinality & Interdependence: An increase in pay of all the employees within the police force develops a mutually beneficial relationship between the police force organization and its members. The financial needs of the members are being met and corruption within the organization decreases corruption. The morale of the policemen will increase and lead to a fall in the number of cases of deflection to the Taliban, which benefits both the organization and its members as well. The police force meets their goal of obtaining an income that will meet their financial need. The police force system meets its need of decreasing corruption, raising the morale of the officers, and decreasing the number of deflection to the Taliban.
  2. Scan the entire police force and remove all ghost police. 
    1. Differentiation (identifying the problem): A problem within the Afghanistan Police force is that 10% of individuals (ghost police) listed in the police force (system) receive pay.
    2. Explanation of solution: Annually the police force eats 10% of its overhead cost paying for ghost police. A scan of the entire police force to terminate the ghost members is appropriate to eliminate the financial leakage within the organization. The inappropriately lotted money can be re-invested in the first action of raising the pay of policemen (check details above, listed in the first action).
      1. Multifinality: Police organization retains 10% of its overhead costs and eliminates ghost members in initiating the scan/verification amongst its own members. Members of the police force execute the scan and enable the organization to retain 10% of its overhead costs, which will now be applied back to them to raise their salary. 
  3. Have police officers do community service and set up a donation box. 
    1. Differentiation (identifying the problem): Another problem within the current system of operation in the Afghanistan Police force, is the individual issues of (1) law and order crisis and (2) deface trust of the public.
    2. Explanation of solution: Community service allows officers to develop a rapport between them and the community they serve. The personal/communal trust that is established between the individual police members and the public would influence the reduction in corruption. The individual police member that is caught in corruption would lose face and the public may become more active in pressuring the police force to remove the corrupt officer since they would know him. Community service would re-establish both the people’s image of the police force in a positive light and their trust in the police force. The donation box serves as an indication of support/trust towards the police force and provides a source of income to raise the salary of the officers (action 1).
      1. Equifinality: Corruption is decreased through the channel of personally meeting the public. The officers provide community service and develop a personal relationship with the community which will make them less inclined to perform corruption.
      2. Regulation: The donation box serves as a feedback system from the public that reflects their perception of (1) law and order and (2) their trust in the police. The public will only donate money if they trust the police and see that they are maintaining law and order.
  4. Change existing policies to make corruption acts more difficult within the police force: (1) commanders no longer get a salary cut from each person employed and (2) all police are required to present the proof in the completion of their initial training program (perhaps their ID/certificate) in order to receive their pay.
    1. Differentiation: An individual problem within the current system of operation in the Afghanistan Police force is the corruption amongst commanders.
    2. Explanation of Solution: Another solution to eliminate corruption is making the act of corruption more difficult for the commanders who are committing the act. Implementing a policy of eliminating the idea of receiving a salary cut from each person they employ disincentivizes them to employ people for money and would shift their focus on employing people who are fit for the job to make the commanders themselves look good. Enhancing their image and achievements through their subordinates will serve as an alternative means to obtain more money through a raise rather than corruption. The difficulty or extra work in obtaining proof of training also disincentives commanders to perform corruption for a measly small lump of cash.
      1. Equifinality: A decrease in corruption is achieved in an alternative channel from action 1. In this action, the desired output is achieved in eliminating the salary cut bonus, which is made up through the raise in salary from action 1. Commanders will no longer have incentives to simply have a large number of subordinates. In addition, a decrease in corruption is also achieved by making the act more difficult for commanders from requiring proof of initial training.

 

Case 2:

Facts:

  • Water hyacinth infestation is a problem affecting the shores of Lake Victoria
  • The amount of moss coverage doubles every month
  • Blocks fishermen’s access to lake and results in spread of disease
  • Entrepreneur is profiting from compost and briquettes that she produces from crushed hyacinth
  • Employs four people to cut, crush, and bring hyacinth to her workshop
  • Need for hyacinth increases substantially after two weeks
  • Communities on shore are unhappy that she is making money
  • The members of the community stop her from accessing the hyacinth, so now she needs to get it from somewhere else 

 

Problem: 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.

Solutions:

  1. Getting feedback from the community (stakeholders like fishermen, leaders of government agencies, common citizens that are concerned about the hyacinth issue) through open discussions
    1. Regulation: the feedback will bring about expectations of the moss removal and what the community feels are the issues with the entrepreneur taking the moss and selling it as her own. The entrepreneur should also openly discuss the pollution and other effects of removing the moss that may increase around the lake, and discuss with them ways to combat any issues so that it results in a win-win situation for all. 
    2. Explanation of solution: Open discussions will facilitate a cooperative discussion and will allow people to express their opinions on moss removal and come up with a solution that all stakeholders are happy with.
  2. Establish a type of permitting system 
    1. Equifinality: the same output of removing the hyacinth (but not too much) is achieved, with multiple channels of stakeholders being utilized so many different outlets of people can reap the benefits.
    2. Explanation of solution: The permitting system will allow fishermen to collect hyacinth, then they will either be paid a small amount by the entrepreneur or offered a discount on her products; the permits will also ensure that too much hyacinth is not removed.
  3. Sourcing the hyacinth from other lakes other than Lake Victoria
    1. Differentiation: identifying individual components of a large system. Identifying other lakes that have hyacinth will lead to less outrage when the entrepreneur profits off of large sums of moss from one single lake. The rest of the moss can be used by other members of the community and even fishermen that collect the hyacinth and sell it to people like the entrepreneur that uses the moss to make products
    2. Explanation of solution: Taking a small portion of the moss from certain locations will lead to less resource exploitation and will allow fishermen and other members of the community to have access to the hyacinth, making it more fair and giving more people a chance to benefit from the hyacinth. Having multiple sources will also allow the entrepreneur to keep up with the demand for the hyacinth
  4. Hiring more community members to help her in the crushing and composting process as the demand for the hyacinth increases 
    1. Holism: the components of the system need to work together to achieve their goal. This benefits multiple components of the system because the entrepreneur has created more jobs and people will be more economically sound and have more opportunities to provide for themselves.
    2. Explanation of solution: Since community members are outraged that they are not more involved with getting profits from the entrepreneur’s product, a way for them to accept her business is if they are involved and employed in the business, getting a salary. 

Blog #6

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? 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. UPD has a similar program (HEED) as GSIF for their students. When the GSIF decided to take on the PlasTech Ventures project, the project idea was also presented to UPD. Since the project also aligns with the HEED program, they decided to take it on as well.
  2. The partnership enables the PlasTech Ventures team to obtain direct information about the Philippines. In addition, UPD provides a facility for the PlasTech Ventures team to work at during fieldwork. We provide constant updates on our project to UPD and provide assistance within our capabilities upon request.
  3. No, this is not a symbiotic relationship. Our team oftentimes reach out to the UPD team to request for information that would advance the project. However, responses tend to be slow on their end and communication has slowed down significantly at this point in time. During fieldwork, the relationship is symbiotic and they are constantly present when needed to advance the project forward.
  4. An equal level of commitment between UPD and the PlasTech Ventures team would strengthen this partnership and make it more equitable. Since the UPD team is only committed to the project on a semester basis, the constant change in participants on the project resets the communication between them and the US. In addition, the motivation and feeling of ownership over the project never fully develop for the UPD students involved in the project. 

Venturewell

  1. This entrepreneurial program provides routine coaching, training and grant funding to move our technology and our venture forward
  2. The coaching we received from VentureWell helped us to network and develop important skills. We in turn help them by giving them positive publicity.
  3. This is not a very symbiotic relationship because we are receiving more from VentureWell than we are giving back. Although we feed into their business model and build their reputation, VentureWell provides the majority of the resources in this partnership.
  4. This partnership could be strengthened by maintaining constant communication between us and them. The communication would advance PlasTech Ventures forwards while satisfying Venturewell’s requirements. Meeting these requirements enables Venturewell to meet its goals of transforming higher education and social entrepreneurship. 

Victor Paterno (7-Eleven Philippines) 

  1. Being that he is a Filipino businessman, the partnership was constituted to help advise us on venture creation and business development aspects.
  2. He helped us with his expertise and guidance on his particular industry and of the geographic area. At the time, PlasTech Ventures was very new so we helped him by sharing our knowledge and ideas to offer a solution to combat the plastic waste crisis.
  3. This was not a symbiotic relationship because at the time we had little to offer to him. We benefited more from his expertise and knowledge that he offered. 
  4. This partnership was initiated in the beginning stages of development and has not been communicating on a continuous basis so we really need to strengthen our relationship by reaching out to Victor Paterno. A more equitable relationship between Victor and us could be him becoming an entrepreneur and establishing a PlasTech Venture in the Philippines through us while also activating as a business advisor for our PlasTech Ventures initiative.

Philippine Plastic Industry Association (PPIA)

  1. This partnership will help the team understand more of the machinery standards for the Philippines and help us implement the necessary operating procedures.
  2. We both have common goals of reducing the environmental damage created by plastic pollution. By having a common goal we can help each other advance the dream forward. Being that they are in the Philippines they can help us specifically because we are not able to be there full-time. 
  3. This is a symbiotic relationship because while we both have the same goal to reduce environmental damage, we also have other specific goals that each side works to fulfill for the other.  When we help them, we will be helping improve the well-being and financial state of their economy and citizens. When they help us, we are gaining more insight and understandings that will help us develop the project further and make it more feasible
  4. Frequent constant communication between the PPIA and us would strengthen this partnership. Exchanges on how PPIA can expand our reputation in the Philippines and how we can contribute to meeting their company goals such as creating employment opportunities would make our partnership more equitable. 

Jill Manapat

  1. Jill Manapat and Khanjan had a previously established connection with one another. Khanjan played a role in inspiring Jill to start up the HEED program for students to work on impactful projects at UPD. As the director in charge of the HEED program (which is similar to GSIF working on impact-based projects), Jill is almost always willing to provide feedback and guidance to the PlasTech Ventures team.
  2. Ma’am Jill helps our team by offering her expertise about in-country operations. Our team is doing a large majority of the hands-on work, which advances the project forward. We offer our resources and information on our research to Jill.
  3. Yes, this is a symbiotic relationship because her advice is very important. She also has a valuable network in the Philippines that we are able to capitalize on with her help. Our team is responsible for much of the forward progress on this project, which will give her insights on how the HEED program can advance their PlasTech Ventures. 
  4. Sometimes communication is slow, which inhibits our ability to make progress. Constant communication between Jill and Plastech Ventures would strengthen our relationship and make it more equitable.

Blog #5

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. At the start of my involvement with PlasTech Venture, the team had a single Slack platform for the entire student team. Within the team, there are various sub-teams (CINQ, prototyping team, and research team) that developed over time. We have developed subchannels within Slack to organize the content of the conversations based on who is involved. This also allows other members to be in the loop of other team’s progress even if they are not directly involved. We enhanced our communication skills from organizing a team’s conversation into subgroups to avoid confusion while keeping all team members updated. 
  2. During the spring semester, there were a number of occasions when a task was given to a team of three. Oftentimes two of the team members would complete nearly the entire task. Towards the end of the semester, the team transitioned to clearly communicating how each member will contribute to the task prior to tackling it. We learned the importance of effective communication and developed skills in delegating tasks within a group setting. 
  3. Upon joining the team at the start of the semester, there were weeks when I was so busy with academics that I ended up not completing the assigned weekly tasks that would advance the project forward. Rather than disappointing my team, I learned that it is okay to ask for help and lean on my team during those difficult times rather than attempt to shoulder everything. 
  4. When the project started in the Spring semester, there was a continuous cycle of meeting as a team on Friday to discuss individual findings and working on the assigned task every week. I recall dreading the thought of working on the project at that moment. Towards the end of the semester, we started to spend time together for reasons outside of working on the project. There was comfort in eating together at Williams after the general meetings on Fridays. I learned the importance of spending enjoyable time with my teammates outside of the project context. The more I learned about them, the better we coordinated with one another. 
  5. The team develops a timeline at the beginning of the semester on their intended deliverables by the end of the semester. Last semester we struggled in sticking with the timeline due to numerous research that required the team to conduct further investigations rather than provide answers to the topic being investigated. It was frustrating to appear as if progress was not being made when everyone is doing their best. We have become more flexible in our timeline by adding, shifting, and removing planned deliverables in order to see the big picture of our progress. 
  6. Most engineers are known to be introverts and I am no exception. At the start of the project, nearly all of my interactions with third parties were via email. Oftentimes I would send an email and never get a response back. I was told by Brian (advisor) to make a call to PET sources instead of typing emails at my computer screen. It was amazing to see the difference in response time between emailing and calling. I learned to make phone calls if I wanted something done as soon as possible.
  7. During the start of the semester, most tasks were divided to individuals on the team according to their major. I found that even though the task may be compatible with the person’s major, it does not necessarily mean that they will be happy to complete the task. Our team progressively shifted to each team member volunteering what weekly tasks they would like to work on. This change enabled me and my team members to develop a great sense of ownership over the project.
  8. After working with numerous people during my academic years thus far, I have collaborated with the good, the bad, and the ugly. Oftentimes I would be the leader and delegate tasks. I became used to leading teams and having most things go my way. Collaborating with a team that was self-driven and were interested in doing the thinking has taught me the importance of being flexible and less stubborn when it came to collaborating.
  9. During the spring semester, meeting minutes and contents during the general meeting were usually never recorded on a consistent basis. As a result, there were times when I struggled to recall certain information or my weekly deliverables. For every meeting thus far in the Fall, we have designated Andy and Susan to record the contents to ensure that all members have the opportunity to refer to the Friday discussions.
  10. During the first round of GSIF presentations, I recall my team struggling to answer the panelists’ questions in a timely manner while providing the information they were looking for. The rough experience taught my team to identify key topics and have each member specialize on a key topic they will answer questions in order to provide the correct information to the panelist in an efficient manner.

During Spring 2020/Week 7, your team developed a Collaboration Plan for your team clearly articulating your goals (Small g and Big G), Roles, Procedures, and Relationships. Provide an updated collaboration plan.

Goals:

  • What are the personal goals (small g) of each member on this team?
    • Laura: Use the technical skills I’ve developed through my coursework at Lehigh to  make positive change on global scale
    • Susan: To change the way people currently live to be more sustainable and environmentally friendly through my mechanical engineering and product design background.
    • Kelly: Using my experience to manage the distribution channels of plastics to ensure there is consistency in the types of plastics used, so that the bricks ultimately can be of high quality to the population of the Philippines. 
  • What is the project GOAL (big G) we’re all committed to achieve together?
    • To provide a clean environment for Filipinos to live in by diverting solid plastic waste from landfills and decreasing plastic pollution in the oceans.

Roles:

  • Team leaders
    • Prototyping – Andy
    • Material Testing- Laura
    • Paper Development- Kelly
    • UPD Outreach- Ellie
  • Team scribes: Andy and Susan 
  • Company sponsor interface: Susan
  • Financial manager: Kelly
  • Final brief editors: Susan → Laura → Andy
  • Liaison to shops, labs and other support persons:
    • Woodshop: Susan
    • Packard Shop: Andy
    • Whitaker labs: Laura

Procedures: 

  1. Decision Making – What process shall we use: consensus, majority rules, deference to expert, default to the loudest, or?
  • Decision making will result from mainly a team consensus. So far, no situations have arisen where there has been enough disagreement among the team to warrant alternative strategies. In areas where a majority of the team lacks knowledge, we tend to defer to the ‘expert’ on the team.
  1. Effective Meetings – Focus on key, timely decisions together vs. status/update (offline);
  • Meetings occur every Friday where each team member presents their work for the past week. The team analyzes the result of all the team members’ work and determines the next steps as a group. The team then divides and conquers the tasks needed to achieve the next steps by next week’s deadline. If any changes occur throughout the week that relates to the deliverable set for the upcoming week, the team member will notify the student team via Slack and develop any necessary backup plan.
  1. Meeting roles: scribe, facilitator, timekeeper
  • Andy and Susan will collaborate as the main scribes during the meeting. Any other members are free to chime into the effort. The team will go through the list of deliverables that was agreed upon the previous week and ask the designated team member to present their efforts on the specified deliverable. Brian acts as the facilitator based on the information presented during the meeting. Both he and other faculty advisors will ask key questions throughout the meeting to push the team forward. Deliverables will be determined and assigned to each member at the end of each meeting as a group consensus. 
  1. Communication – FTF: frequency, time, location; type of technology: (Googledocs, Zoom, Hangout, etc.); expectations for responsiveness; ‘best time to work’ (AM, PM, weekends?)
  • The general meeting between the team, advisors, PI, and sponsors occur on Fridays from 12pm-1pm on Zoom. The student team will be in constant communication with each other through Slack throughout the week and expects a response within an hour to one day. A weekly brief will be sent out to all the faculty advisors prior to the weekly general meeting to provide a quick update on the team’s efforts and progress during the week.

Relationships:

  1. Team Diversity – What is the diversity on our team? Disciplines to tap for solutions;  individual learning styles for the stages of invention; overall team learning style strengths and places to supplement;  cultural backgrounds , work experience, dreams to leverage for scope & impact of goals, new roles, better procedures; languages for more diverse customer set, bigger market;
    • Currently, our team is composed of people from all kinds of backgrounds that have contributed to advancing PlasTech Ventures forward. First, the majority of the team is pursuing a different major. Andy and Susan are Mechanical Engineering majors (Susan also has a product design minor) and have been really involved in making various designs of wall systems and the machinery to produce the wall systems. Ellie is an IDEAS major (Mechanical Engineering and Environmental Science) who has been investigating UV degradation on plastics to understand how the wall systems will be impacted by the sun over a long period of time. Laura is an IDEAS major (Material Science & Engineering, Economics, Environmental Studies) who is leading the efforts in conducting research on the compressive strength of recycled plastics at different contamination levels. Lastly, Kelly is a supply chain who plays a major role in determining the movement of plastics in the Philippines and is currently leading efforts in the development of our most recent paper.
  2. Listening – Notice my binary thinking, auto-rankism, and go beyond it.
  • As the team is faced with numerous tasks ranging from prototyping machinery to material testing, the team decided to divide and conquer! During the start of the Fall 2020 semester, PlasTech Ventures was divided into the prototyping group and the material testing group. At the very start of the semester, the research team was fumbling their way through obtaining accessibility to testing facilities, sourcing the PET flakes, determining the experimental procedure and equipment, etc. Understanding that the prototyping team was busy with their tasks, such as machinery investigation, the research team had every intention to shoulder the heavy duties that were laid upon its members. The prototyping team listened to the researcher’s team progress and knew they needed help. They immediately proceeded in aiding the research team and spent at least a week in investigating the appropriate specimen mold for the experiment. 
  1. Team Name–What’s a team name that captures who we are and what we’re going to do?
  • PlasTech Ventures! The team is utilizing technology to create products out of recycled plastics in order to diverge plastics from the landfill and ocean. The business model that the team is currently developing will provide entrepreneurial opportunities to Filipinos.

Blog #4: Preparing for Q&A

Team Members: Laura Marsiglio, Kelly Mulvaney, Susan Cheng

Develop Top 20 FAQs for your project

  1. Questions
    1. Identify the most important questions, building on the referee Qs
    2. Why? What? How? How well? How exactly? At steady-state…
  2. Provide concise and precise responses to each question

 

Questions:

  1. How do PET bricks compare to concrete bricks as a building material? 
    1. Our team relied on ASTM Standards used in the construction industry to validate the properties of PET. Using a finite element analysis, PET was predicted to have a compressive strength greater than 12.4 MPa, which is the minimum specified for concrete masonry units.
  2. Flammability is a concern if using plastic as a building material. What research have you done to ensure it is a safe material? 
    1. Our team is not able to conduct flammability testing in Lehigh’s labs. However, our research indicates that PET is less flammable than other common polymers, evidenced by the use of polyester fibers in children’s pajamas. We have also looked into the possibility of flame retardant additives to increase the safety of the material.
  3. Are VOCs a concern when using plastic as a building material? 
    1. The chemical structure of PET makes it less likely to release VOCs than other common plastics. In one study, PET was found to have the lowest quantity of VOCs released when exposed to a month of artificial weathering, compared to other plastics commonly found in the recycling stream.
  4. How do you plan to recruit entrepreneurs? 
    1. We intend to recruit entrepreneurs by utilizing our in-country resources. Our hope is to partner with NGOs that may have insight into the potential workforce. By opening and operating a pilot facility for some amount of time before relinquishing control to entrepreneurs and opening franchise facilities, we will be able to gauge the dedication of potential entrepreneurs. This will also ensure that we recruit individuals who will build a good name for the venture.
  5. How much overhead will be required in operating the recycling facility? 
    1. An overhead of 2.5 people will be required to operate the facility. We will need a sales person and the facility manager as the full-timers. An additional part-timer will be necessary to assist the facility manager from time to time to manufacture the bricks. 
  6. How do you make sure that an entrepreneur doesn’t take your idea, run with it, and undermine your venture? 
    1. In offering the business in a box product to entrepreneurs, they will have to rely on us to provide: the instruction and training to operate the machines in a safe manner, the machinery itself, and the extensive support network which include suppliers of PET and distributors of the PET bricks.
  7. How will individuals in the Philippines, which is known to be a low/middle-income country, secure funds for the initial investment? 
    1. We plan to connect potential entrepreneurs with established microfinance institutions in the Philippines and develop a system where we would help guarantee loans and make them less risky for the MFI. MFIs would take a share of revenues the entrepreneurs earn from selling bricks as loan repayments.
  8. What do the distribution channels for current brick manufacturers look like? 
    1. Prescon, Holcim, and Republic Cement and Building Materials are currently the top three suppliers of cement bricks in the Philippines in terms of sales revenue. One or many of these types of bricks can be found at most construction supply stores in the Philippines. More research needs to be done on how exactly these distribution channels are set in place and if there are any intermediaries that the bricks go through before reaching the end consumer. 
  9. What market validation have you done to confirm consumer’s interest in PET brick? 
    1. We have conducted research on similar existing products in the Philippine market. We found a company known as Green Antz who is producing ecobricks from sachets. Their success story indicates to us that there is a demand for PET bricks.
  10. How do you plan to enter the market and establish credibility for your brick? 
    1. We plan on launching our first recycling facility in the Summer of 2022 and building a house out of our own PET bricks in order to market our brand, our products, and our credibility in the Filippino market. We will utilize our existing connections and partnerships, such as UPD, to expand our platform.
  11. How do you plan to source the recycled PET? Is there enough plastic PET to support your production rate? 
    1. We plan to obtain raw materials by having a kiosk in the recycling facility where scavengers/locals come to exchange plastics for money. After reading through a barangay’s waste management plan from one of our connections at UPD, it was found that about 20% of most waste streams are comprised of plastics. which means there is plenty of PET in the waste stream to support our production rate. PET bottles specifically are one of the most valuable forms of plastic in the Philippines and are the most retrieved due to its high predicted value after consumption.
  12. How much waste can a single facility divert in a year? Are you even going to make an impact on the plastic waste problem? 
    1. A single facility will be diverting 3200 lbs of plastic from the landfill per week. Three years after launching our first recycling facility, we expect to support 20 recycling facilities that will be diverting 64,000lbs of plastic from the landfill per week. Our goal is not to solve the plastic crisis, but to be a part of the solution.
  13. What is the ROI of your venture? Is the return on investment in a fair time frame that would make it financially accessible to entrepreneurs in the Philippines? 
    1. In our most recent analysis, we concluded that the ROI would be approximately a little over 8 months. Our ROI meets our goal of a max ROI of 12-18 months for entrepreneurs in the Philippines.
  14. Where will the profit that is generated from your venture go? 
    1. Profit generated from our venture will go towards maintaining the operation of our venture in providing the training, machinery, and support network to entrepreneurs. Profits will also be used to further market the venture to increase the number of recycling facilities in the Philippines.
  15. What is the processing capacity of your ideal facility? 
    1. The ideal processing capacity of the facility will allow the entrepreneur to achieve an ROI in 12-18 months. With our current estimated processing capacity of the melter, this is a production rate of 13 bricks per hour.
  16. What are the health implications on the workers who will be operating the machinery and melting the plastic? 
    1. OSHA does not classify PET as hazardous, and it has not been found to be carcinogenic. However, when it is melted, it has the potential to emit small amounts of volatile organic compounds that could potentially irritate people’s eyes, nose, and lungs. To mitigate the risk of worker injury, strict safety precautions will be put in place and proper safety gear will be distributed to workers.
  17. Why did you take a community-scale approach? (What are the drawbacks of current industrial-scale facilities in the Philippines?)  
    1. The limiting factors of the current industrial recycling systems include their high operating costs, as well as the high costs associated with transporting recyclable materials to the facility. Their size and capacity also require significant initial investments that may take 2-5 years for investors to see a return. We expect community-scale recycling facilities with the most optimal combination of technologies (specifically, the melter) to see a return on their investment in 8-9 months, and the localized facilities would require significantly less transportation and operating costs.
  18. What is the production rate for your bricks? What does that look like in the impact you are trying to make? 
    1. Our current estimated production rate is 13 bricks/hour with the melter. We have not done in-lab testing yet, so this is subject to change. This production rate will allow one facility to divert 107 tons of plastic per year.
  19. Which molding will produce the highest throughput? Is this one also the one that is the most expensive? How much energy will your machine use? 
    1. The melter allows for the highest production rate. This method is actually less expensive than larger scale compression or injection machines. The melter uses 1.12 kW of electricity, which is lower than the compression molder our team looked into.
  20. Besides using the PET bricks to construct homes, what other ways can they be utilized? 
    1. During the Venturewell Phase II workshop, we spoke with experts that recommended positioning our products to other markets rather than keeping it limited to just housing materials. We see the potential for these bricks to be used for gardening/landscaping and/or artisan purposes as well. 
  21. How do you plan to scale/expand into other geographic areas to combat their plastic pollution issue? 
    1. In July of 2019, members of our team did fieldwork and found that the entire community was energized by the venture and fully supportive of it. With 897 barangays across Manila, there are tons of opportunities for us to gain traction as a venture, especially since the team was approached by many of these neighboring barangays during fieldwork. Not only this, but other countries with the same issue of excessive plastic pollution could benefit from our approach as well, as community-scale recycling generates extra income opportunities for people in middle-low income countries.

 

 

Blog #4

Team members: Susan Cheng, Alondra Perez, Alicia Zamudio, David Tauman

 

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? 

 

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

  • In east africa ~35% of children are stunted
  • Gruel is used to complement breastfeeding, believed to be nutritious but in reality it is not helpful to growth
  • HIV is prevalent amongst mothers in the region
  • A breastfeeding mother that is HIV+ has a high chance of transferring it to her child
  • World Health Organization recommends exclusive breastfeeding until an infant is six months
  • The gruel is integrated into a child’s diet to complement breastfeeding from 2 months ~24 months of age
  • The funding for the cooperative comes from a grant given by a donor.
  • The goal is to process and market a nutritious, shelf-stable porridge made from a large mix of locally grown produce
  • 500 women from three contiguous sub-locations have indicated their interest in joining the cooperative
  • Crops that are locally grown include maize, sorghum, cassava, several varieties of legumes (dried beans), French beans, coffee, pineapple, bananas, pumpkins, tomatoes, carrots, kale, white (Irish) potatoes, and sweet potatoes.
  • Mothers are skeptical of the porridge and its use as an early weaning food
  • Pesticides are typically used in growing some of the crops that are locally grown and can result in adverse health implications for infants
  • We received a grant for this project
  • Assumptions
    • Mothers are not knowledge about HIV, its effect, and its transmission
    • Mothers do not know the effects of ingesting pesticides

 

Step 2 and 3: Define the Stakeholders and their Motivations – those with a vested interest in the outcome 

  • The mothers→ The approximately 500 women from the three contiguous sub-locations (primary) 
    • Want children to grow up healthy
    • Improve their own livelihood
    • Have a tasteful nutritious porridge that their kids will want to eat
    • Make money 
  • The children (primary)
    • Have access to food
    • Want to grow healthy (no stunting and no HIV)
    • Consume food that are tasty
  • Your cooperative→ the researchers 
    • Wants to implement the new supplementals to aid in child growth
    • Wants to prevent stunting and HIV in the youth
    • Wants to educate the mothers about HIV, nutrition, and pesticides
    • Create a porridge that kids will want to eat and mothers will want to feed their kids
    • To process and market a nutritious, shelf-stable porridge made from a large mix of locally grown produce
    • Wants to create a successful business
    • Build their own credibility
  • The donors (secondary)
    • Improve the nutrition amongst children in the area
    • Improve the livelihoods of rural households
  • The governments/leaders in east africa (secondary)
    • Want to limit the stunting in the children
    • Want to limit the HIV cases
    • Want to improve the livelihood of the community
  • Ethical Issue: Mothers currently breastfeed and provide gruel to their children up to the age of 2, believing that it is beneficial to their health and growth. Contradicting the mother’s belief, the high prevalence of HIV in the community carries the risk of mothers transmitting HIV to their children via breastfeeding. In addition, the gruel does not provide key nutrients to their children’s growth. Our porridge solution would enable women to provide their children with the key nutrients to their growth. However, the ingredients to our porridge may contain pesticide residues.

 

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

Solution #1: Educate mothers about HIV and transmission, nutrition, and urge them to try the porridge (do not warn about pesticides)

    • Hold meetings to discuss what HIV is, the effects and dangers of HIV, and how it is transferred through breastfeeding
    • Urge the mothers to try implementing our porridge for their children as it can prevent the risk of HIV transmission through breastfeeding
    • The porridge is also more nutritional than the current gruel the children are fed

 

  • Ethical Principle: We are providing the mothers with information concerning the health and nutrition of their children’s growth in their current practice. We then present a solution that may alleviate the malnutrition and potential health risks involved in their current lifestyle. However, the solution presented also carries health risks but we have decided in the mother’s stead that the solution will do them more good than their current practice. 

 

    • Pros:
      • Avoid the fears that may arise amongst mothers regarding pesticides
      • Addressing why breastfeeding needs to be avoided (HIV issue)
      • Explaining how the porridge is more beneficial than the traditional gruel 

 

  • Cons:

 

    • It could be considered an ethical dilemma where we violate  informed consent if we don’t inform the women of the possible pesticides.
    • Mothers may decide that they don’t want to learn more and want to continue using their traditional gruel. 
    • Mothers can be distrustful of us
    • Educating the mothers could be costly

 

    • Solution #2: Educate mothers about HIV, transmission, nutrition, and pesticide dangers (their decision about trying the porridge)
      • Hold meetings to discuss what HIV is, the effects and dangers of HIV, and how it is transferred through breastfeeding
      • Hold meetings to discuss what pesticides are and their effects and dangers, but also that their children might already be eating pesticides
      • Allow mothers to come to their own decision about what to feed their children
    • Ethical Principle: We educate the mothers about the dangers of HIV and pesticides and give them the power to decide whether or not they want to try the porridge. The fate of her children is in her own hands.

 

  • Pros: 

 

    • The mothers are fully educated regarding all consequences and can make a decision for themselves
    • No matter their choice, they will be doing what they feel is right for their children
    • Developing a relationship of trust because we are mentioning a possible drawback although it could negatively affect our business 
    • Cons: 
    • Could lead to unnecessary fear amongst the mothers when it comes to pesticides 
      • When in reality, the children may have already been consuming pesticides through the traditional gruel
    • Some mothers may choose not to try our porridge, hurting our business
    • Some mothers could take offense if they aren’t aware of the issues and hear them from outsiders. They might feel that we’re judging them or that we think we are superior to them. 
    • Our actions could be taken as a savior complex and some mothers might feel threatened by it. 
    • Educating the mothers could be costly

 

 

  • Solution #3: We partner up with local farmers to have them grow produce without pesticides.

 

  • Ethical Principles: We work with the local community to eliminate the health risk associated with our solution so that we are not potentially harming mothers and their children as we try to help them.
  • Pros:

 

 

      • More trust amongst the mothers since the elimination of pesticides will be prioritized 
      • Getting rid of the unknown factor that comes along with the use of pesticides 
      • No further research will be needed if we do not use pesticides (regarding the risks that comes with the consumption of pesticides) 

 

  • Cons:

 

    • Could lead to financial burdens 
      • Khanjan brought up how it is hard to run a farm that is both efficient in producing a lot of food and not using pesticides 
    • Some locals might not want to work with us
    • We don’t know the working ethics of the locals. There could be hiccups that delay our progress

 

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

  • Pesticide alternatives
  • Biocontrol: targeting predators by implementing their natural enemies nearby the farms to limit the populace
  • Polyculture: plant crops that naturally repel specific species

 

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 is to educate the volunteering mothers about HIV, transmission, nutrition, and pesticide dangers. Our cooperative can hold information sessions to educate these women about the issues that they are currently facing, considering it is highly unlikely that they know of these problems. By teaching them about HIV, the mothers can see the need for a reduction in breastfeeding in order to increase the safety of their children. With the nutrition, the mothers can also see that the gruel they traditionally feed their children really does not provide nutritious support and that our porridge is a much better alternative. It is also important to be transparent about the pesticides involved in our porridge, as neglecting to do so adds another ethical issue to our venture. By telling the women a possible flaw in our porridge, it shows honesty and can help them trust our cooperative. With all the information they need, the mothers can now come to a conclusion on their own about whether to try our porridge or not. Also, they can spread their knowledge to their community friends and get the word out. The facts are stacked heavily in favor of our porridge being more beneficial than anything else, so it is unlikely that we will lose business this way.

One of our other solutions was very similar to this, but neglected telling the women about the pesticides. This was more from a business standpoint as introducing a flaw might cause unwarranted fear amongst the mothers. Although their children are likely already eating these pesticides, some might deem it safer to just avoid telling the flaws of a product you are trying to sell. Our team chose not to go this route as we felt that it was unethical to hide a harmful potential outcome from the mothers. If explained correctly, we could teach them about pesticides and how their children are already exposed to them, and it would be introducing very little additional chances of harm. Our other solution took a very different approach where we would work with local farmers to grow crops without pesticides to make our porridge more safe and enticing to eat. We could do so by using natural techniques to get rid of pests, but overall it seemed like too much time and effort would be invested into making this work. Also, without pesticides, our yields would be much smaller and we would turn less of a profit overall. For this solution, the logistics were too great to make it worth our venture’s time and money.

Some risks are still imposed even with our best solution, though. It takes time and money to educate these mothers, both of which are very limited in our problem statement. We are only given money to make the porridge, and we need to make an impact quickly or else the cooperative will fail. It is a risk to spend this time educating the women, but it makes our venture ethical by being transparent with all of the problems the women are facing, and their spreading of information to others can make up for lost time. Also, if the ideology around pesticides is not conveyed correctly, it can scare some of the mothers away from wanting to buy our porridge as it can seem like we are poisoning their children. It must be carefully explained that their children already eat pesticides, and that this is no different but still poses possible harm as a whole. This whole idea revolves around coming into a new country and explaining to a group all of the problems they are facing, and more or less what they are doing wrong. This can come as a shock and even be offensive to the women listening, and that would completely shut down our venture. We must be careful with how we present our information and enforce how our product will help and our intent is to provide aid.

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.

Our solution provides an ethical plan to educate mothers in east africa and make them more aware of the harm HIV is doing to their communities. Also, we will be implementing a very successful porridge business that will not only lower the chance of HIV being transmitted to children, but also give children the nutrients that they need to prevent stunted growth. With a successful business, we will be able to create jobs for some of these women to provide for their family, as well as reinvest in our cooperative and expand to more regions. The women that we have educated can relay their learning to their communities in order to expand our customer base, but also raise awareness about HIV and nutrition and the need for safer life practices.

With all of these positives, the porridge is still introducing pesticides into the diets of east africa. Although this is already prevalent in some of their crops, pesticides are in general harmful to humans. Our cooperative deemed that ingesting pesticides was a better alternative to spreading HIV to children, and all of the people who purchase our product are hopefully aware of the decision they are making. It is not perfect, but it is certainly the better of the two evils.

 

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 

  • The business is thriving and the women are hired to work 9 hours everyday for a wage of KES 300 ($3)
  • The women have a chance in selling the produce grown on their small farm to the cooperative to earn extra income
  • The hard-earned money that women bring home is turned over to the husband, father, or brothers. 
  • The husband, father, and brothers spend the hard-earned money on alcohol and frivolous items that does not enhance the well-being of the family
  • The cooperative is thriving but is not achieving their two social outcomes of improving the nutritional status of children and the livelihoods of rural households
  • You do not have direct say in the cooperative’s functioning and you have six months left on the committee 
  • The other six members of the committee are local women that understand the problem and desire change
  • The women are not opposed to the men taking their money but are more concerned with the issue of their hard-earned money not being used to feed their children
  • Assume:
    • Not all 500 women will be working at the cooperative

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

 

  • The women working (primary) 
    • Personal: 
      • Want children to grow up healthy
      • Improve their own livelihood
      • Have a tasteful nutritious porridge that their kids will want to eat
      • provide for their family 
    • Professional: 
      • Keep their job that provides a sense of independence and identity 
      • A respectful distance between their work and home life 
  • The children (secondary)
    • Personal: 
      • Have access to food
      • Want to grow healthy (no stunting and no HIV)
      • Consume food that are tasty
    • Professional: N/A
  • Your cooperative→ the researchers (primary)
    • Personal:
      • Create a porridge that kids will want to eat and mothers will want to feed their kids
      • Wants to implement the new supplementals to aid in child growth
      • Wants to prevent stunting and HIV in the youth
    • Professional: 
      • Wants to create a successful business
      • Build their own credibility
      • To process and market a nutritious, shelf-stable porridge made from a large mix of locally grown produce
  • The donors (secondary)
    • Personal: 
      • Improve the nutrition amongst children in the area
      • Improve the livelihoods of rural households
    • Professional:
      • Reputation of helping the less fortunate financially
  • The governments/leaders in east africa (secondary)
    • Both personal and professional: 
      • Want to limit the stunting in the children
      • Want to limit the HIV cases
      • Want to improve the livelihood of the community
  • The men (primary)
    • Personal: 
      • Want to use the money in the household as they please (alcohol, etc.)
      • Collect money that wife earns from work
    • Professional: 
      • As the male, dominate the household operation and the sources of income (cultural norm) 
  • You, the entrepreneur:
    • Personal: 
      • Want to make sure the money is going to the goals of the organization, which aligns with the goals of the mother
      • Want to maintain a positive relationship between other committee members with the remaining 6 months
      • Want to help mothers shift money from alcohol to food on the table for their children, particularly other members of the committee
    • Professional: 
      • Want to maintain a peaceful relationship between the mothers and their husbands
      • Want to improve the nutritional status of the children and the livelihood of the households in a non-invasive manner

 

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

 

Solution: The women would continue to earn their salary and get a pay every 3 days. Rather than paying out the full amount of KES 900 at the end of the 3rd day, the women would receive KES 450 in cash and the remaining monetary value will be supplemented with a package consisting of food and a little bit of alcohol.

 

  • How does it solve the problem? 
    • This solution guarantees the women a portion of their salary going towards feeding their children (their primary concern).
    • Women would still be bringing money home so that they would not be penalized by the men in the house.
    • The addition of the alcohol as part of the package serves as a compromise to not only the wife but also to the men in the household.

 

  • Pros

 

    • The women can maintain a portion of their salary towards food expenses for the nutritional well being of the children, which addresses their primary concern.
    • The men would still be receiving some of the women’s income.
    • Both the women and the men in the household gain from the package (alcohol and food).

 

  • Cons

 

    • Some of the men might be angered by this system because they are not receiving as much money as they used to.
    • The packaging only addresses the nutritional status of the children and does not provide a solution to other aspects that will lead to improving the livelihoods of the households. 
    • There is minimal change occurring in the system to improve the livelihood of the community. Money is still primarily invested in the alcohol and other frivolous items that does not benefit the household nor the community. 
  • How does it save face of those involved? 
    • Mother: They are able to fulfill their duty of improving the nutritional status of their children.
    • Children: The children are more well fed and no longer look malnutritioned amongst their peers
    • Cooperative: The cooperative appears to be achieving at least one of their promised social outcome of “improving the nutritional status of children”
    • Donors: Donors seem like they are improving the situation in regards to children malnutrition through their financial contribution rather than allocating their funds that will end up buying alcohol for men.
    • Government/Leaders of East Africa: The government receives some sort of recognition in the improvement of children nutrition globally. 
    • You, the entrepreneur: You feel proud to solve the primary concern of mothers by ensuring that there is enough food on the table for children with the package.
  • Implications on relationships: 
    • Short term: 
      • The mother’s anger towards the men wasting money will die down for a brief moment. 
      • Men may be slightly upset at the cooperative for the decrease in their alcohol allowance
      • The cooperative will gain a positive reputation amongst the women and the government for their contribution on improving the nutritional status of the children
    • Long term: 
      • The mothers will be pleased to see the improvement in the nutritional status of the children, however their anger towards the men will return because their hard earned money is still being wasted on alcohol and other items that do not improve the livelihood of the household
      • The cooperative gain a positive momentum for a short period of time for meeting one of their goal (improving the nutritional status of children), however they will still need to address the livelihood aspects of the community in order to maintain their relationship with the community members, the donors, and the government
  • Implications on venture 
    • Short term: The cooperative will achieve one of their goal (improving the nutritional status of children), however they will still need to address the livelihood aspects of the community.
    • Long term: The cooperative will gain support from the community for addressing the malnutrition issue in the community, which boosts their business.

 

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

In this situation, we are at a disadvantage because there is a cultural difference. Therefore, we should consult a variety of people for advice, including:

  • The mothers
  • The husbands
  • Communities leaders
  • Other organizations that have dealt with similar situations

It is important to talk to all the stakeholders involved. I recall watching a TED Talk video shown by Khanjan in class last semester. The speaker mentioned going to an African country and wanting to help the people agriculturally. They told the locals how things should be grown and what they should grow, but they were ignored. The speaker and his team moved on to taking action on their own and hired locals to tend to their crop. In the end, the hippos in the area consumed their crops and the speaker’s venture failed. Even though the locals knew that it was not the right season to grow the crops the speaker grew due to the hippos issue, they never told the speaker because he refused to listen to the locals on how they wanted him to help them. It is very important to consider all the stakeholders and communicate with them to determine the optimal solution.

 

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. 

Our solution of supplementing a small portion of the salary with a package consisting of mainly food and a small amount of alcohol solves the malnutrition of the children issue, however it lacks the impact to address the livelihood of the community. The solution enables all the primary people involved to save face, particularly the mothers, the mens, and the cooperative without (or minimal) conflict. The mothers are able to fulfill their duties of feeding their children so that they grow up strong and healthy. The men still feel like the head of the house and are still able to collect money from the women (not breaking their culture) while obtaining some alcohol in the deal. The cooperative displays their capability in fulfilling one of their social outcomes of combating malnutrition amongst children in the community. This solution enables all parties to maintain a peaceful relationship with one another and everyone compromises. Alcohol was tossed in the supplement package to ease potential dissatisfaction amongst the men for the decrease in cash being brought home. Despite our efforts, the men could potentially make a fit and not be pleased with the package. Improving the livelihood of the household and community is not addressed in this solution. Majority of the money is still going towards alcohol rather than other benefits such as education for the children. Changes take time and this solution is meant to act as a starting point or short-term solution that will slowly shift money from alcohol to benefits such as education for the children.

A solution mentioned in class was not receiving a salary and building up credit with the cooperative to obtain their needs without bringing the money home. This solution enables the women to retain all their earnings however it breaks the cultural norm in the community, which can lead to all sorts of problems. The men would throw a fit at the women for not contributing to the family and trying to overthrow the patriarchal culture. Shifting the power to control the flow of money in the household is not desirable by the mothers. They simply want the men to maintain control and take action to shift money away from alcohol to goods that will increase the livelihood of the family. The cooperative will receive heavy criticism from the men if this solution were to be implemented. Although there are a lot of conflicts between the primary parties involved, it enables women to have complete control of their money to combat malnutrition among children and increase the livelihood of their family. Women in the situation seem to have a better understanding of where money should be allocated to meet the two goals.

 

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

  • Step 1: Have a conversation with the women and other community leaders to explain our solution and get their feedback.

 

  • Step 2: Figure out who is going to take the lead of the transition and give proper training.

 

  • Step 3: Find suppliers for the food and alcohol or open our own store. 
  • Step 4: Implement the plan
  • Step 5: Evaluate how effective the plan is or how ineffective it has been.

 

Blog #3

Situation: Jack is an American student who lived at a youth center in Kenya while working on a social venture. In this role, he lived and interacted with the children at the center and worked closely with the staff. One Saturday evening, kids under the age of 14 years were to receive presents that were sent by an international donor organization. A staff member at the youth center had picked up all the gifts the previous weekend and they were finally going to be distributed this Saturday. When it came time to give the gifts out after dinner, the staff members called Jack up to the front – as he was a guest – to assist in the gift-giving ceremony. The staff members had allocated the gifts for the children and labelled them – Jack’s job was to hand out the gifts to the kids. The only problem was that four children did not receive gifts and the staff members did not appear to be concerned about the four forgotten children. As kids began leaving the hall, they thanked Jack for the gifts. The kids were convinced that Jack had gotten the gifts for them. Jack felt a little awkward but at the same time reflected that a good relationship with the kids would help him in several ways during his five-month stay at the center. 

 

At the bottom of the boxes containing the gifts, there were a few black hats. The kids that did not get a present were brought over to the box and given a hat. However, they were upset about the fact that they were not given the hat as ceremoniously as the other kids. The staff gave them their hat and shooed them on their way as if they had some fault in this situation. As one of the little boys who did not receive a gift left the hall, he walked past Jack holding his black hat, and gave him a stare that clearly indicated that he blamed Jack for not receiving a gift. Jack met with the staff and discussed how the four kids were very upset and felt ‘left out’ after the incident. The staff did not acknowledge the problem and were a little piqued that they were being blamed for such a trivial matter. They were convinced that Jack was making a big deal out of the situation and were concerned that Jack would become a ‘children’s rights activist’ and create unnecessary problems for them. The only response they gave Jack was – “If you think there is a problem, then you go ahead and solve it”. If you were Jack, how would you proceed? 

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

    • Jack was asked to give out gifts on behalf of the youth center
    • 4 kids didn’t receive gifts ceremoniously and instead were given a black hat
    • The kid(s) blame Jack for not getting gifts
    • Jack brings his concerns about the kids who felt left out, but the staff shows no sign of concern
    • The staff at the youth center are not pleased with Jack’s criticism
    • Cultural difference between Jack ( American ) and the Staff ( Kenyan) contributes to the difference in the level of their concern towards the situation
    • Only one kid directly looked at Jack with a look of blame for not receiving a gift 
    • An organization donated the gifts 

 

  • Ethical Issue: Children at the youth center do not receive equal treatment amongst one another and Jack has raised this concern to the staff at the youth center. The staff do not see Jack’s concern as an issue and are not pleased with his criticism, which may lead to a strain in their relationship.

 

 

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

  • Jack
    • Problem: Jack’s relationship between the four children who received the black hat are not off to a good start. Upon bringing up the concern in regards to the unequal treatment towards the 4 children who did not receive gifts to the staff, his concern was not only dismissed, but also not well received by the staff who believes he is trying to start trouble.
    • Personal: Jack wants all the children to be treated equally by the staff members of the facility. He sees the unequal treatment as a factor that brings harm to the children’s emotional and mental development. 
    • Professional: Jack will be staying with the children for a long period of time and wants to be seen in a good light and establish a positive relationship with them. He wants the staff to acknowledge his concern and be more considerate of the children. He does not want the staff to dismiss his concern and view him as someone who is looking to bring trouble to them. 
  • Staff 
    • Problem: The staff is concerned about Jack placing the blame on them for a mistake that they do not view as a big issue. The staff does not want the situation to be escalated. 
    • Personal: The staff does not want their reputation to be jeopardized and want to maintain their “smooth” operation. Rather than receiving a word of gratitude from Jack upon giving him the honor and credit of gift giving, they receive criticism and are not pleased to hear them.
    • Professional: They also don’t want an outsider to interfere with the established hierarchy in the organization. They have been running at the facility for a very long period of time and have been doing fine. They don’t need an outsider to tell them what to do and create unnecessary turbulence in their routine.
  • Kids without gifts
    • Problem: These 4 kids didn’t receive gifts in the ceremonious manner the other kids did, so they likely feel left out and forgotten.
      • They likely also blame Jack and might treat him differently for the rest of his time w/ the center
    • Personal: They feel forgotten based on the gift and the manner in which they received the gift. They want their presence to be acknowledged and avoid being embarrassed amongst their peers.
    • Professional: They want to be treated equally as all the other children and receive a gift in a ceremonious manner. 
  • Kids with gifts (secondary)
    • Problem: These kids received a gift in a ceremonious manner while 4 other kids were handed a hat that was unwrapped. Some will feel badmight tease the kids that got hats.
    • Personal: Some of the children will notice that the staff forgot about them in their action of giving an unwrapped gift in a non-ceremonious manner. They feel bad for their friends who were forgotten and don’t want them to feel sad or embarrassed. 
    • Professional: They want their friends to be treated in an equal manner and receive a wrapped gift in a ceremonious manner. 
  • Donors (secondary)
    • Problem: Donors recognize that not all children in Kenya are fortunate and could be better off with even a little extra of something.
    • Personal: Donors want to feel as if they are helping someone out and perhaps changing their lives by making a gift to people in less fortunate situations.
    • Professional: Donors feel that it is their duty & responsibility to contribute towards the happiness of children who are less fortunate due to their financial capabilities.

 

Step 4: Formulate (at least three) alternative solutions – based on information available, to have a win-win situation for your relationship and your venture. Approaches [1/2/3: repeat for every action] 

 

Potential Solution #1: Have another smaller gift ceremony in which everyone receives their gifts in a ceremonious manner.

  • How does it solve the problem?: The four children that were left out initially will no longer feel forgotten. 
    • Pros:
      • The children that were previously forgotten will feel included in the group
      • The children that did not receive a gift will forget or no longer blame Jack
      • The relationship between the children and Jack will be restored
      • The staff acknowledges the issue and will pay more attention about the inclusivity of all the children
    • Cons: 
      • The gifts were donated and the institution does not have the financial means to provide more gifts to the children
      • Time and effort will be spent on organizing another gift giving event
  • How does it save face of those involved?: 
    • Jack will be seen in a positive light and not be seen as playing favorites amongst the children
    • The kids will no longer feel embarrassed amongst their peers on receiving a lower quality gift in a non-ceremonious manner
    • The organization’s authority and operation will no longer be questioned by an outsider.
  • Implications on relationships:
  • Short-term: The kids who feel left out don’t feel removed from the other groups
  • Long-term: Jack, the staff, and the children maintain a good relationship
  • Implications on the venture (Jack’s work for the next 5 months) 
    • Short-term: Jack is no longer blamed for leaving 4 kids out
    • Long-term: Jack maintains a good relationship with the kids and can continue his personal and professional work without any underlying conflicts
  • Ethics: Issues of inclusivity and equality are addressed and the relationships between all the stakeholders involved ends on a happy note. 

 

Potential Solution #2: Jack forgets about the 4 children blaming him and drops his concerns to the staff at the facility.

  • How does it solve the problem?: The whole incident will be treated as minor and be forgotten overtime.
    • Pros : 
      • Administration will be satisfied and Jack will maintain a respectful relationship with them as well as kids the who received presents in a ceremonious way 
      • Will not intensify the feelings of the children who were forgotten (For example: When a toddler falls, do not address the fact that they fell too much because it could lead to more crying and embarrassment)
      • The four children may eventually forget about the unequal treatment they received overtime (maybe after Jack leaves)
    • Cons
    • The four kids who did not receive gifts in a ceremonious way may remain upset with Jack during his entire stay
    • The administration does not acknowledge the issue and the problem may arise again in the future
  • How does it save face of those involved?
    • Jack will not be identified as troublemaker who brings trivial matters/concerns to the facility that is housing and taking care of him during his stay
    • The children will forget about the incident and re-establish their previous face amongst themselves
    • The organization’s way of operation will not be questioned and be seen as optimum
  • Implications on relationships
  • Short-term – The relationship between Jack and the children who were forgotten is sour.
  • Long-term – Jack, the staff, and the children who received gifts maintain a good relationship
  • Implications on the venture (Jack’s stay)
    • Short-term – Jack may have some pushbacks when it comes to relationship building during the first weeks of his work with the children that were forgotten. 
    • Long-term -Jack will be able to successfully continue his professional and personal work without underlying issues with the staff and most of the children during his stay.

 

Ethics: The issue of inclusivity and equality is never addressed, however most of the relationship between the stakeholders are maintained in a positive manner (Jack, staff, and children who received their gifts)

 

Potential Solution #3: Plan a baking activity with the staff that revolves around the concept of bonding that will involve the children and the staff. 

  • How does it solve the problem?: Jack emphasizes the importance of making sure that there are enough ingredients for all the children and the adults during the planning stage, which teaches the staff indirectly about the importance of inclusivity. Jack will spend time with the four children that did not get a gift in a “ceremonious way” to restore his relationship with them.
    • Pros: 
    • Jack is able to teach the staff, indirectly, the importance of making sure that everyone is equally involved and engaged. 
    • The staff is exposed to a new concept/culture of equal treatment and engagement in a subtle way. They will not feel as if Jack is brining unnecessary problems, but instead is engaged in establishing a positive relationship with everyone at the center while enhancing their sense of community with each other
    • Food is a necessity, so it will be easier to acquire rather than more gifts/resources
    • Children will have an enjoyable time participating in the activity and develop a deeper relationship with one another
    • Jack can restore his relationship with the four children that did not receive a gift
  • Cons
    • Possible financial burdens when it comes to providing the needed supplies 
    • The event could interfere with the school structure/schedule and may need to be planned way in advance
    • The kids might not make the connection between the inclusiveness of the activity and still be upset about not receiving gifts

 

  • How does it save face of those involved?: This solution saves face because it does not redirect blame, instead it focuses on building up the relationships and teaches the importance of equal involvement with all of the kids and staff.
  • Implications on relationships
  • Short-term: Jack, kids, and staff have a better bond
  • Long-term: Could dictate positive relationships for the rest of Jack’s stay there. The staff will be more aware about inclusivity and equality during their day-to-day operation

Implications on the venture (Jack’s stay)

  • Short-term: Jack will start off on a clean slate that will allow him to not face any relationship barriers or negative recollection that could occur in regards to the 4 forgotten children 
  • Long-term:
    • Jack will be seen as a foreigner who is actively engaged with the community
    • The staff may learn the importance of equality and inclusivity
    • All the involved stakeholder will establish a better relationship and understanding of each other

 

Ethics: The issue of equality and inclusivity is addressed and no one loses their face. The event further develops connectivity between Jack, the children, and the staff.

 

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

A very good friend once told me that he was always nervous or had a fear of public speaking until he managed to pinpoint the origin of the fear. During elementary school when there was a mass gathering of the student body during an assembly for a school event, he needed to go to the bathroom. He did not want to reach out to his teacher to get consent to go to the bathroom in fear of attracting attention. As he could not hold it in anymore, he finally asked the teacher. In asking, everyone knew his business and he was extremely embarrassed. Children are sensitive to being singled out at an early age. The experiences that may seem minor could have a major impact on them during their growth and development into adulthood. If there is a chance to correct a mistake done towards a child, then it should be done to alleviate or eliminate the impact of the mistake on the child. 

 

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 is solution #3 where Jack plans a baking activity with the theme of bonding at the youth center. This solution gives Jack the opportunity to teach the staff the importance of inclusivity and equality during the planning stage of the event. This indirect way of teaching the staff not only avoids making the administration lose face, it also boosts Jack’s influence and reputation at the youth center. The idea of using food would be of lower cost than obtaining gifts for all of the children again. The children will all be involved and feel closer to Jack, the staff, and their peers. Jack will also have the opportunity to establish a positive relationship with the 4 forgotten children, however he probably will never be able to fully eliminate the impact of singling them out from the pack during the gift giving experience. There is no guarantee that the 4 children will forgive him. There is also no guarantee that the staff will pick up on the message that Jack is trying to send to them about the ethics of inclusivity and equality. He can only hope that they will consider the two factors during their operations.

 

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

  1. Go to the kitchen staff and talk to them about your idea. Learn more about the local food through them. Identify potential dishes with them that are relatively simple to make, not dangerous in involving children, and financially viable. This will provide good information on what kind of plan the administration will have a low chance of rejecting.
  2. Determine what dish to make and plan on how to get everyone engaged during the event. Explore the market on the price or negotiate with local sellers on the price of the goods if the event is done. This would allow me to learn more about the local people while potentially decreasing the cost associated with the activity.
  3. Reach out to the administration with the solid plan and the associated cost. Listen to any suggestions that have and be quick in thinking responses that will address concerns related to the event. 
  4. Work with the staff in making the event happen (obtain tools, ingredients, etc.). Emphasizing the importance of having enough for everyone on the day of the event to ensure inclusivity and equality.
  5. Set up on the day of the event and explain to the children what they are doing today. Have fun with all the children, especially with the 4 forgotten children. At the end of the event have the children share their experience and what they learned that was new amongst their peers. Explain the significance of the event to all the children and what you want them to take away from the event.

Blog #2

Prompt:

Lesotho is a small developing country contained within South Africa. You and your team of academic researchers (10 in all) are spending the next two weeks travelling to different communities throughout Lesotho to test water sources for disease-causing pathogens. The testing you need to do is simple but requires significant assistance from the community – showing your team all the different locations where individuals get their water from, and places/methods for storing the water. You do not see the need to pay the community members, considering if someone asked you about your water source, you would not mind driving them up to the lake! The ultimate goal of the project is to understand the lifecycle and characteristics of a specific pathogen, which is found only in this region of Lesotho. Several publications are expected from this research study. A comprehensive profile of this pathogen can help in many ways including development of chemical additives to make the water safe to drink. Is it ethical to conduct this research study? What will you do next? 

 

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

  • The research team (10 people, including you) is going to Lesotho for two weeks to conduct research on the pathogen in their water source
  • The goal of the research is to investigate the lifecycle and chemical/biological features of disease-causing pathogen
  • There are no stated benefits to the locals in their research proposal
  • The results from this research could be used to develop chemical additives to make the water safe to drink.
  • The researchers will release publications on their findings of the pathogen
  • The researchers will need the help of the local people to locate where the people obtain and store their water.
  • Assume we have all necessary approvals needed for research
  • Ethical issue: As of right now, the locals are not benefitting from the research in any way, and the academic researchers have no intentions to pay the community members.

 

Step 2 & 3: Define the Stakeholders and assess their motivations 

  • Academic researchers:
    • Test the water in Lesotho for disease-causing pathogens
    • Understand the lifecycle and characteristics of the pathogen
    • Write several publications from the research study → further your professional career
    • Possibly develop chemical additives to make the water safe to drink
    • Patent discover to possibly profit from findings 
    • Driven by social impact or fame in helping the local community
  • Locals 
    • Provide location of water sources 
    • By providing access to the water sources, they contribute to the development of chemical additives in hopes of getting access to them for safe consumption of water
  • Your research university/institution:
    • The findings could add to their reputation, making them highly regarded
    • Strengthen new/existing partnership with other funding agencies
    • Open rooms for future collaborations within the area/country (e.g., new ventures)
    • Create opportunities for students to gain experience on social impact projects (and make impact) 
  • Sponsors of the research:
    • Want to gain the benefit of discovering a new pathogen
    • Gain the opportunity to develop chemical additives against any harmful chemicals that are found in the water
    • Can potentially earn monetary benefit from the chemical additives that will be developed
    • Gain a better reputation and have their name attached in the breakthrough of helping treat water issues in another country
    • Publicity that will aid in gaining funding for other projects or investigations
  • Local government: 
    • Make sure the research team does not cause any harm (mentally or physically) to its own citizens (for example, poison the water sources, etc)
    • Validates whether or not the water source in the area is safe to drink for the community
    • Ensure that the citizens have accessibility to the research
    • Ensure the area have some sort of benefit to the chemical additives that is developed if pathogens are found in the water
    • Building/expanding relationships with other funding agencies/countries 

 

Step 4: Formulate (at least three) alternative solutions 

  1. Ask the local government for permission to conduct research and request for a local to assist the research team by showing the locations of the disease-causing pathogenic water. Promise the government in accessibility to the findings of the research.
    1. Pros:
      1. Reaching out the the government would help facilitate the communication between the researchers and the locals 
      2. Local government permission makes the research less intrusive and perhaps more welcoming.
      3. Researchers will obtain guides or a map of the locations of the water source and storage location
      4. Establish a relationship between the Lesotho community and the university
      5. The community will know whether or not their water is safe to drink. If there are any issues with the water, they will also know the cause and can immediately take action to clean their water. 
    2. Cons:
      1. Might be more work and complication to set up beforehand.
      2. The local government may request some kind of monetary compensation to conduct research on their land, leading to an increase in the cost of the research
      3. Local government may not want foreigners to enter their territory to conduct research from mistrust. Research team will not be able to conduct research and face difficulties with their financial sponsors. 
    3. Ethical Principle: 
      1. Respect for others: The research team would be conducting research with consent from the local people. Local people would also be supportive and be willing to provide their insights and expertise on the community’s water source to the research team. There is a mutual respect between the local people and the researcher.
  2. Offer the local government access to the research and a promise to provide/implement water purification system to clean their water if harmful pathogens are discovered through a student organization such as Engineers Without Borders
    1. Pros:
      1. Locals get the benefit of getting their water clean if the research team finds any issue with their water.
      2. Locals will have access to the researcher’s findings.
      3. A relationship between the institution and the local government would be established.
      4. School receives prestige through their findings and project in helping the Lesotho community
      5. Students at the university would get the opportunity to engage and solve a real life problem. 
    2. Cons: 
      1. Promising the government in implementing a clean water solution would cost a lot more money to implement and require funding. However, there are a lot of funding opportunities for developing nations and students at a university setting. 
      2. The Lesotho community may not trust students in solving their water issue if harmful pathogens are found and request the research team send professionals, which adds tremendously to the cost. 
    3. Ethical Principle: 
      1. The research team will be able to conduct research at Lesotho in a manner that earns the community’s trust by providing them access to the research team’s findings and promising them aid in implementing a water purification system if harmful pathogens are discovered.

 

  1. Reach out to healthcare workers in Lesotho and convince them to help educate the locals about the methodologies to have a safer way to drink/clean water/persuade locals to support and researchers in their study. Research findings will be available to the people of Lesotho.
    1. Pros
      1. Healthcare workers would be able to understand the benefit of the research to the community and help the researchers in gaining access to the water sources
      2. Educate the community on methodologies in obtaining clean drinking water and improve their health.
      3. Researchers gain the trust of the local community
      4. Establish a relationship between the university and the Lesotho community
      5. Lesotho will gain information on whether or not the water contains pathogens that will harm the health of the community members. If the water contains harmful pathogens, the Lesotho community can take action in making the water safe to drink.
    2. Cons
      1. Healthcare workers may be too busy or limited in number to help
      2. Healthcare workers may not know where the water sources are located
      3. There might be competing interests among the researchers about the use of insight gained from this study (e.g., profits, reputation, service)
    3. Ethical Principle: Researchers would help educate the locals on methodologies in obtaining safe drinking water in exchange they would get aid in their research

 

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

  • Reference to the Belmont Report: 
    • Respect for person: According to the Belmont Report, researchers should be protecting participant’s autonomy and rights. Even though the researchers are not researching the Lesotho citizens directly, they will be impacted by the findings from the research. For instance, researchers can find harmful pathogens in Lesotho’s water and release the report to a company that decides to develop a chemical to clean the water of the pathogen. The company could end up demanding a large sum of money from Lesotho and harm the community economically.
    • Beneficials: Based on the principles of the Belmont Report, researchers should make sure that participants get the maximum benefits with minimal harm. At a minimum, Lesotho citizens should be able to access the findings of the report and decide how the community will benefit from the findings. If the findings reveal that harmful pathogens are in Lesotho’s water source, the community should have the right to know and act upon that knowledge. 
    • Justice: The Belmont Report has standards that determine who should bear the burden and who should bear the benefits of research findings. Researchers and their sponsors should not be the only ones benefiting from the publication of their findings. The people of Lesotho should have just as much benefit as the researchers, especially since they will be bearing most of the burden from the research. The findings of the research will impact the community of Lesotho more than anyone else. If a harmful pathogen is discovered in Lesotho’s water source, the community may end up facing an external company who will try to drain them financially with a solution that will exterminate the harmful pathogen from the water. 

 

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 is to reach out to the local government of Lesotho for permission and assistance to conduct the research and in exchange, offer the community (1) access to the research’s findings and (2) promise to provide assistance (through student organizations such as Engineers Without Borders) in implementing a water purification system if harmful pathogens are discovered in the water source. This course of action will make conducting research at Lesotho in a manner that is not intrusive and respectful to the community. The government is not only given an explanation of the research, but also the opportunity to permit or dismiss the request after assessing the potential risks the findings may have on the community. One of these risks the governing body will have to consider is the possibility of an external company demanding a large sum of money in exchange for a clean water solution if harmful pathogens are discovered during the investigation. Accessibility to the results from the investigation will be provided to the Lesotho community to maximize their benefit and minimize the harm that may result from the investigation. Providing this accessibility would allow them to take immediate action in finding a solution to their pathogenic water in a non-vulnerable to external companies. They would be able to either develop their own solution in a timely manner or have the upper edge in negotiating with a company towards a deal in cleaning the water. The promise to assist gives the community the benefit of foreign resources to combat their water issue if harmful pathogens are discovered during research. 

 

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.

 

  • Economic: If harmful pathogens exist in Lesotho’s water, the research team will have to acquire fundings to help them develop a water purification system. Since the responsibility of the water purification system will fall on the students, there will be plenty of funding opportunities from the government and external sources that are in support of students aiding a developing nation in making a positive impact.

 

 

  • Social: A relationship between the Lesotho community and the university will be established. The local will be welcoming of the research team to do other research in their location. If harmful pathogens are discovered in their water, the community and the student group from the university will be in constant communication to develop a water purification solution

 

 

  • Environmental: The research team provides a free report to the Lesotho community on the safety of their water. Implementation of a water purification system, if harmful pathogens are discovered, will improve the community’s environment with clean water for the people and their agricultural plantations.