There are a variety of stakeholders in my project. The Office of Creative Inquiry is teaching us and supporting our project throughout the semester. They are helping us decide how we plan to accomplish our goals effectively. This office is tied to the Global Services Impact Fellowship program and is therefore motivated to support my project as it tries to promote sustainable change through development and innovation. Lehigh’s College of Business and Economics is also a stakeholder as I have received a grant from the college for my fieldwork in Sierra Leone. The business school is motivated as this allows me to gain a new perspective through an international experience that does not only benefit me personally and professionally, but also has wider implications for change throughout Sierra Leone. Another stakeholder in my project is the National Institute of Health. This is as my project of modeling Ebola transmission in humans using data collected in Sierra Leone falls under a bigger project in which the spread of Ebola in bats has been successfully modeled. That project is supported by the NIH, as the “NIH’s mission is to seek fundamental knowledge about the nature and behavior of living systems and the application of that knowledge to enhance health, lengthen life, and reduce illness and disability”. This modeling project will provide fundamental knowledge about the behavior of Ebola, and ideally knowledge obtained will be used to drive preventative policies and reduce the illness. In a similar way but without the financial support, the government in Sierra Leone is also a stakeholder in this project. The government is motivated to assist with this project in order to reduce the magnitude of any future Ebola outbreaks. Lastly, the people of Sierra Leone are also stakeholders in this project. Many of them lost friends and loved ones during the 2014-2016 outbreak, and therefore stand to benefit a lot from preventing or minimizing another Ebola outbreak. I hope that this motivation to promote general well being and avoid another outbreak overshadows any possible stigma around Ebola in Sierra Leone. It is important that we collect accurate data during our fieldwork.
In order for my project to be as successful as it has the potential to be, I must validate the project and enhance my own credibility throughout this semester. My first opportunity to validate my project will be at presentations next week in class. This will give us the opportunity to share our project with a variety of interested people. I am particularly looking forward to the question and answer portion of these presentations, as the questions will open our eyes to a lot of the issues or things we simply did not think to consider in our project. In recognizing that we have these issues or working to consider other factors, we are only getting information that can improve the project. We can then work to resolve these issues and consider other factors, which will increase the viability of the project. Whether the issue gets resolved or it just begins a more long term conversation on the project, this will enhance the credibility of our project as we will have a more robust pitch for the future. Another way that I may enhance my credibility is if I were to obtain a Grant for Experiential Learning in Health. This would mean that Lehigh recognized the viability of this project and is willing to support it financially to some extent. If I were to obtain this grant, that would definitely validate the project and enhance its credibility. Obtaining this grant would also result in more showcases or presentations during which I could enhance this project’s credibility. I will also be presenting this project in April, which is a good opportunity to see the viability and credibility of the project after working this semester, relatively close to when the field work in Sierra Leone is. Overall I plan to improve the viability and credibility of my project throughout this semester, but it is good to note the credibility and support the bigger project we are working under has.