Does your work require IRB approvals? If No, explain why you don’t need IRB approval and identify situations when you might need IRB approval.

1. Our work with copra farmers does not require IRB approval. The only thing we need to perform our research and project will be a letter from officials in the Philippines which states what we are doing and that it is okay for us to do our project. A situation that would need IRB Approval could be a project where we are directly working with the farmers and doing research on their direct lives, collecting identifiable information from them. This would require IRB approval because we would collect this information and then have to make sure it won’t be accessible to others who could identify the people that we have surveyed. 

Develop an outline for your mid-semester presentations. What supporting evidence will you provide for each point? How will you boost your credibility every step of the way?

An outline of our mid-semester presentations will first start with an outline of what the copra project is. The project that professor Jedlicka’s team is doing and how this will then impact our project. We can talk about how we are collaborating with the engineers on the team to see what the needs of the people are. We could also use their team to learn about what vendors look for when buying the copra product. From our side of the project, we will be researching many articles regarding the best ways to design and what to include in the copra project creation as well as how the business process of copra in and outside of the Philippines, so that we can make the most efficient item for the farmers.

 

List ten things that make you feel human:

• Feeling the warmth on my skin on a quiet, summer day.
• The exhilaration of finally summiting after a long hike in an unfamiliar place.
• Laughing uncontrollably with my friends to the point where I am out of breath.
• Feeling lonely.
• Feeling stressed and worried about things that are out of my control.
• Forming genuine connections after meeting new people and listening to their experiences.
• Living life moment by moment instead of thinking about things that have already happened or have yet to.
• Walking around unfamiliar places and having the time to thoroughly explore them.
• Catching up with friends that I haven’t talked to in a while.
• Spending time with my family and remembering how lucky I am for all my experiences that have shaped who I have become.

Articulate your philosophy of engagement as it pertains to your work with GSIF:

Oxford dictionary defines engage as “to succeed in attracting and keeping someone’s attention and interest.” With my work in GSIF my philosophy of engagement is to fully immerse myself into the project and develop relationships with key stakeholders. I envision myself forming relationships beyond the realm of being “Brianna from GSIF.” I hope by the end of it, I will have a deeper connection with said stakeholders, where our conversations are personal in addition to professional. Knowing people more personally makes for a more conducive working environment, one where I am more familiar with people’s work ethic and style. I also do not want to be regarded as a “Western savior” during this project. I would much rather have a role of being their peer working with them, instead of someone working to save them. They do not need saving – this is a mutually beneficial project. I am engaging  because I want to make copra processing more efficient to help Filipino farmers economically benefit.

I must engage in ways that make them feel comfortable and that are not condescending. In order to accomplish this, I must take approaches where I speak to the farmers as equals. I am coming from a perspective where I am curious about learning about their culture. I am not criticizing it; I want to work with the women collaboratively to find a solution to optimize their profits. Of course there will be challenges along the way, such as cultural differences, but if I prepare and educate myself about the cultural differences before the field work, it should minizine any potential chances of offending the women. Additionally, being gracious and acknowledging any of my behavior to upset these women is vital in being able to properly engage. Considering my philosophy of engagement if my epitaph read, “Brianna Cimaglia: friend to all” I would be happy. I truly hope to engage by establishing friendships and a sense of comradery.

1. *Based on your life experience, skills and interests, what would a design process that is both uniquely yours and effective look like?

A design process that is both uniquely ours and effective would look like first doing a thorough and deep research about the needs of the patients and making sure that they are culturally appropriate according to Philippine culture and then going to do fieldwork in the Philippines to do interviews of our stakeholders and making sure that we are fulfilling the appropriate needs and wants of the patients and healthcare staff that are involved in the process of birthing. Afterwards, we will be coming back to create a business model for our product since the other birthing team in the Philippines will be creating the design for the birthing chairs this year.

2. *Identify your three most important stakeholders and list five UNIQUE attributes for each one of them.
Mothers
Region of Country
Social Class
Health
Religion
Income
Healthcare Network
Money
Region of Country
Partnerships
Need for new birthing chairs
Amount/number of staff in hospital (under/over staffed)
Doctors/ Physicians
Education Level
Region of Country
Skill
Understanding of different cultures
Teamwork

3. *Identify three ways in which you will validate your project concept, technology, usability, and business model.
Concept
Help decrease maternal and infant mortality
A durable and comfortable birthing table
Affordable
Technology
Technology/ product platform
Technology is not usable in our product however infrastructure is
Sizing ability (ability to change to different sizes for the mothers)
Usability
Durability
Comfortability
Sizable (able to withhold mothers of different sizes and adjust accordingly)
Business Model
Helps alleviate potential risks when women give birth
The Philippines is a developing country so the birthing table will have to be an affordable cost
A culturally appropriate birthing table design

4. Give three examples of something very interesting you learned from a friend that was a completely alien concept to you.

• In Japan it is not considered rude to ask someone their age when upon meeting them. This is because respect and age vary directly in Japan and people do not want to mistakenly treat someone with less respect if they incorrectly estimate their age.
• The South African work day is broken up by “tea time.” It often occurs in the morning or afternoon and is when the people of the office take a break from their work to engage in non-work related conversations with their coworkers. It is meant to increase the strength of interpersonal relationships in the office and increase productivity.
• In Spain, businesses and restaurants are oftentimes closed from 2pm-5pm. These siestas are designed for workers to take long lunches (their big meal of the day) and naps. This is to protect people from midday heat and enjoy the nightlife and culture of the country. Dinner is typically 8-9.

1. List the top 20 questions your team needs to answer to advance the venture forward. Categorize the questions if necessary. 

 

Cultural:	Financial:	Aftermath:	General Impact
Will this impact affect religious or cultural beliefs?  Do they want to be impacted?  Will the government accept this impact?  Will there be backlash on our impact?  Will others adapt to this impact?  In what ways does in impact benefit people and communities?  Will this impact indigenous cultures?	Will this impact be costly?  Where will we get funding for this impact?  How will we continue to get funding after we leave the site of impact?	Will this impact change birthing practices directly?  Will this impact benefit people besides mothers and children?  Will this impact be world wide?  Will others be inspired to create more impact?	Will making this impact be  difficult?  In what ways can we impact?  How can we measure this impact?  Can this impact be negative?  How can we look at this impact in a broader sense?  In what ways does our help impact?

 

2. Develop and Visualize the Theory of Change (Logic Model) for your venture. 

 

Stakeholders	Inputs	Outputs	Outcomes
Mothers/Children Healthcare workers Healthcare Network	Money Product Hospital/Vendor partnerships Work and Time that the team puts into the project	Decrease in number of non-violent births Mortality rate of mothers and infants at the time of childbirth Number of birthing chairs bought and successfully used	Better connections with field professionals and mothers who are willing to participate. More knowledgeable about birthing practices and how they are different within the US.  Less birthing  Complications Less suffering for the mother and faster recovery time More comfortable births that are aligned with cultural norms

 

3. Develop a M&E plan for your venture. – Clearly list all assumptions. – Identify short-term and long-term success metrics. – (Optional) identify specific methods to measure the metrics.

 

Long Term Metrics

• A decrease in complications while birthing
• Spreading our birthing chairs to other East Asian countries
• Our birthing chairs being available in most hospitals and health centers in the Philippines
• A decrease in infant and mother mortality

 

Short Term Metrics

• A deep understanding of current birthing methods / practices in different areas of the Philippines (ex: rural, suburban, urban) 
• Connections made to the people for the Philippines (doctors/ nurses/ physicians/ mothers)
• A better understanding of the religion such as is there any restrictions that do not allow people to do certain thing

 

We will measure our metrics by asking hospitals and other health clinics on how many mothers preferred using our birthing chairs instead of the regular ones or other traditional and cultural birthing chairs (like the bamboo-made birthing chairs of the Austronesian people in the Philippines). Other forms of measurement would be gathering statistics on how many birthing complications occurred. Then we can gather data on how much birthing chairs we have sold as well as in how many hospitals and health centers they are provided.