PlasTech Venture FAQs – Laura Marsiglio, Susan Cheng, Kelly Mulvaney

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. 
19. 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.
20. 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. Assuming 5 hours of operation, 5 days a week, for 50 days a year, this is 1400 kWh yearly.
21. 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. 
22. 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.

PART ONE

STEP 1: Facts

• We’ve received a grant to establish a cooperative in East Africa
• ~35% of children in this area have stunted growth due to malnutrition
• Mothers typically feed infants a gruel made of maize and bananas starting at ~2 months to supplement breastfeeding. This gruel is missing some key nutrients
  • WHO recommends children are exclusively breastfed up to 6 months of age
• HIV/AIDS is very prevalent in the region
  • Testing is rare and not readily available
• The longer an infant breastfeeds, the higher the risk of HIV transmission to the child (If the mother is HIV+)
  • Testing is still scarce, so many with HIV don’t know they have it
• We aim to replace the gruel with a shelf-stable nutritious porridge that will meet all the nutritional requirements and will be made from locally grown produce
  • Many of the crops are grown with pesticides
  • Mothers are skeptical of the use of the porridge
• Porridge aims to wean children off breastmilk at 6 months of age
• There is a high number of women (500) interested in the cooperative’s porridge idea 

Ethical Dilemma- finding the balance between either feeding the kids food grown with pesticides or increasing their likelihood of contracting HIV due to prolonged breastfeeding

• Are both problems of the same magnitude?
  1. Most women breastfeed until at least 2 years
  2. How bad is HIV in the long term? How bad is exposure to pesticides?
• Leverage points – 6 mos vs 2 yrs

STEP 2/3: Stakeholders and Motivations

• Entrepreneur/Researcher
  • Professional
    • Good publicity and credibility
    • Build up a track record of successful projects
  • Personal
    • Aiding the decrease of stunted growth rates
    • Improving the nutritional status of the children
    • Support livelihoods of the mothers
• Children (secondary)
  • Too young to have independent motivations; desires reflected in the motivations of their mothers
• Donor (secondary)
  • Professional
    • Recognition/ Good publicity
  • Personal
    • Improve nutritional status of children
    • Improve livelihoods of rural households
• Government (secondary)
  • Professional
    • Reduce prevalence of HIV by preventing transmission from mothers to children
    • Improve health of population by giving children access to proper nutrients from infancy, reduce stunting rates
    • Promote agricultural biodiversity and the development of value chains for produce
• Women/Mothers
  • Professional
    • Want to improve their livelihoods without risking the health of their child
    • Increased income
  • Personal
    • Want to source food that is pesticide free / safe to consume for their infants
    • Want to stick to traditional breastfeeding practices they are comfortable with
    • Reduce risk of HIV transmission to their children
• Farmers
  • Professional
    • A good work opportunity/ paycheck
  • Personal
    • Helping out their community

STEP 4: Solutions

• Introduce this porridge options as a supplement for the mothers, assuming that better nutrition for the mother will be carried over to the child as well.
  1. Ethical Principle
     1. Beneficence – Attempting to reduce harm potential by asking the mother to consume the porridge because pesticides are less harmful to adults because they have a larger body mass 
     2. Non maleficence – balancing risks and benefits of promoting the new porridge that may increase exposure to pesticides with reducing risk of potential HIV transmission.
  2. Pros
     • The amount of potential pesticide contaminants consumed by the child will be reduced because the mother is directly consuming the porridge
     • The child will still receive proper nutrition and supplement as the mother’s diet is improved
     • This prolongs the amount of time that the mother can breastfeed, so the child can be weaned on they have grown more and are less susceptible to harmful pesticides
  3. Cons
     • The pesticides will still be present in the porridge
     • Mothers may still be reluctant to eat the porridge
     • Longer breastfeeding increases the risk for HIV

• Involve community health workers, local religious leaders to establish trust and educate women in a culturally-appropriate manner. Use package labelling to include important information as well.
  • Ethical Principle
    • Autonomy – we are providing the information they need to make an informed decision. We are involving key community members to help inform our venture and provide information in a culturally appropriate way 
  • Pros
    • They help validate our intentions and can communicate to women better about our project
    • Parents receive the information they need to make an informed decision about risks of both options (i.e., HIV transmission vs. pesticide exposure)
    • Community health workers can teach about nutrition and how it impacts child development
  • Cons
    • There might not be a community health worker/ leader
    • The porridge may cause worse issues for the children
    • Despite being informed, may stick to traditional breastfeeding practices
    • Additional financial costs that were not originally planned for 
  • Recommend that the gruel is introduced in small quantities until the child reaches a developmental stage that minimizes risks associated with pesticide exposure but does not increase the risk of HIV transmission. This leverages the window typical for breastfeeding.
    • Ethical Principle
      • Non-Maleficence – 
    • Pros
      • Reducing stunted growth rates and exposure of HIV
      • Takes into consideration that women typically breastfeed anytime up to two years. The WHO recommends breastfeeding until 6 months, so that leaves a large window to introduce this porridge.
    • Cons
      • This does not eliminate the risk of HIV transmission to the baby and does not guarantee perfect nutrition for the child.

STEP 5: Additional Assistance

While the WHO recommends breastfeeding until at least 6 months, it will be important to read the other recommendations. More research would also be helpful in weighing the risks from pesticides to the risks of HIV transfer to the baby.

STEP 6: Best Solution

The most ethical solution, in my opinion, is to give the women all the proper information and ultimately allow them to make the decision themselves. Breastfeeding is a personal and intimate relationship between the mother and her child, so ultimately allowing the woman to make the best choice for herself and her child seems best. The risks of transmitting HIV through breastmilk and the risks of pesticide exposure to young children may not be known, so relying on community health workers and proper labelling the porridge will be critical to properly informing the mothers. The risks of pesticide exposure may be reduced if the mother consumes the porridge, which will still ensure proper nutrition of her child; however, this does not reduce the risk of HIV transmission. Alternatively, the mother may choose to wait until the child is six months old and completely switch to porridge because she weighs the risk of HIV more heavily. Permanent developmental issues may result from pesticide exposure, but there are known treatments to lessen the impact of HIV. Assuming these treatments are not yet widely accessible, it is best to properly inform the mother and allow her to make the choice she is most comfortable with. It is likely that this method will not be effective in addressing either risk in it’s entirely, but it gives the mother the proper information to weigh all the benefits and risks herself.

STEP 7: Impact on Venture

The economic cost to the venture will be low if education is the only real action taken. Printing information on the product itself will be very low cost because a label is already necessary. Partnering with community health workers will have a higher associated monetary cost but may be more effective. Providing information instead of providing specific recommendations may eliminate some legal risk from the venture if a child is harmed by pesticide residues in the product because the porridge is introduced at too early a developmental stage. There are not really any environmental implications for the venture, unless they were somehow able to convince all the farmers in the region to switch to organic farming, eliminating pesticides all together; this is unrealistic.

PART TWO:

STEP 1: Facts

• Cooperative is thriving six months after launch
• Women working for nine hours a day earning KES 300 ($3)
• Women have opportunity to sell their produce to the cooperative at the prevailing market rate
• Cooperative gives the women a strong sense of community and identity, so they are happy
• Women are forced to turn over income to husbands, brothers, or fathers who spend it on alcohol and frivolous things
• This upsets the women because they want to use the money to feed their children
• As entrepreneur, one of seven members on leadership committee that oversees operations
• Committee is elected annually, and after six months, you practically leave entirely
• Other six members are local women who want things to change, but are not necessarily upset that the men are taking their money 

STEP 2/3: Stakeholders and Motivations

• Entrepreneur
  • Professional
    • To see success of business
    • To build good publicity for the venture
  • Personal
    • To see the women happy and their hard-earned money being used to feed their children
  • Women/Mothers
    • Professional
      • To improve their livelihoods by earning a wage
    • Personal
      • To provide proper nutrition for their children
      • To enjoy the community of the cooperative
    • Men
      • Personal
        • Maintain the status quo; having access to the wages the women bring home
        • Have money to spend on “alcohol and frivolous things”
      • Women on the Counsel
        • Professional
          • Keep the cooperative running smoothly
          • Make decisions beneficial for all members of the cooperative and community
        • Personal
          • Make sure the women all have money to feed their children

STEP 4/5/6: Best Solution

In my opinion, the best solution is to provide the women with 1/3 of their daily wage in cash to take home each day, along with a few servings of porridge. The other 2/3 of the earnings will be kept as equity in the cooperative, allowing it to grow and expand. This opens the potential for the opening a store owned/run by the cooperative that would reduce the distance that needs to be walked to the nearest market. After the women have earned some amount of money ($100 or so), they would be allowed to cash out. Alternatively, they could use their earnings to make purchases in the cooperative store at a discounted rate. This solution addressed the motivations of all stakeholders. The women are able to feed their children because they are provided with appropriate servings of porridge each day. The status quo is maintained, so the men will still see a portion of the earnings every day. This allows the men to make purchases of their choosing, maintain their social status, and will lower the likelihood that women experience domestic violence because they are not providing. There are some downsides because it is possible that the men will be upset that they are not seeing the full wage immediately. Even after the women cash out their money, it is possible that the men will still spend all of it on unnecessary purchases, but a larger lump sum decreases this likelihood. All parties are able to save face because no great societal upheaval is occurring, and a new exciting store will be introduced which will be positive for the community. It will be important to consult community leaders and ask the men for input to determine the specifics of the plans, ensuring that all parties are satisfied and willing to cooperate. In the long term, the mission of the venture will be achieved with this strategy. It is a sustainable model that will achieve the twin outcomes identified as goals of the venture because the women will be able to feed their children, but the habits of the men will not be upended. 

STEP 7: Step-by-Step

• Convene the council to discuss a strategy for expanding the cooperative using equity built by members, potentially building a store.
• Present the strategy to the women in the cooperative, asking for feedback and suggestions for change. Make sure their primary need, feeding their children, will be met.
• Once the women are on board, hold a larger town meeting. Present the change as a strategy to build a store, which will be closer than the market and sell alcohol for the men. Explain that in order to grow the cooperative, some wages will have to be withheld daily, but a portion will still be sent home along with porridge.
• Offer the men an opportunity to get involved in the cooperative by doing some of the traditional male labor. This will be essential to build the store. The men will then have some of their own wage and credits to be used in the store, like the women.

Step 1: Facts

• Children living in youth center in Kenya
• Children ages 3-14 years old
• Youth center received gifts from donor
• Gifts already allocated for specific children, Jack is meant to distribute gifts
  • Four children did not receive gifts
  • Staff unconcerned about these children that didn’t get a gift
• Black hats are distributed as an alternative
  • These children are unhappy with Jack and feel excluded
• Assumed cultural difference between Jack (who is American) and the Staff (who are Kenyan)
  • It may be a cultural normal that when gifts come to the center, not every child gets a gift every time
• Black hat assumed to have some sort of negative stigma

Step 2: Problem & Stakeholders

Problem: Four children at the youth center didn’t receive a gift from the donor because there weren’t enough. They were given black hats to supplement, but now it looks bad that Jack didn’t get them a similar gift. The children are upset, but the youth center staff do not view this to be a problem. Jack feels the need to preserve his relationship with both the children and the staff.

• Children Without Gifts
• Children With Gifts
• Jack 
• Youth Center Staff 
• Donor of Gifts

Step 3: Personal vs Professional Motivations

• Children Without Gifts
  • Personal: want to feel included in the gift ceremony, are upset that they did not receive a “real” gift 
  • Professional: N/A
• Children With Gifts
  • Personal: might make the children without the gifts feel bad; want to keep their better gift
  • Professional: N/A
• Jack 
  • Personal: doesn’t want the kids at the youth center to hate him; wants to be “the good guy”
  • Professional: doesn’t want to upset the staff by blaming the mix up on them or overstepping with his solution; concerned about well-being of children; doesn’t want to set a precedent he cannot uphold
• Youth Center Staff
  • Personal: want be trusted and liked by the children; want to be “the good guy”
  • Professional: want to be respected by the children and not to be taken advantage of; want the operation to keep running smoothly
• Donor of Gifts
  • Personal: make kids happy
  • Professional: reach as many youth centers as they can

Step 4: Solutions

• The children can share the gifts so that no child goes without a gift. This solves the problem by combining all gifts for use by any child at the youth center. Assign gifts on a number system each week (to mitigate the effect of cons).
  • Pros: no child will feel excluded, and each child can have access to a variety of gifts rather than one gift. It will instill a positive lesson in the children, as sharing is important for the kids to learn. Jack will save face providing a quick solution to the imminent issue involving the shortage of gifts. 
  • Cons: children may fight over the gifts, some gifts may be neglected because the children choose others. In this situation, it is likely that the children will want something that they can call their own. Asking the children to share the gifts they were given as individuals may take away some of the feelings of pride of ownership. Not all gifts may be appropriate for all children due to the range of ages.
  • Saves Face: No child will feel completely left out anymore and everyone will be able to play at some point
  • Implications on Relationships: In the short term, some of the children might be upset they have to give up their personal gift for everyone to share, but in the long term all the children should be happy because they now have more gifts overall to play with.
  • Implications on Venture: The youth center will have to monitor when each child can play with each toy to allow everyone to play equally, so it is a little more work in the short term. But long term, hopefully everyone is happier.
• Jack can tell them their gifts were lost, delayed, give them the hats for now. Get the children gifts at a later date.
  • Pros: eventually all children will have a gift, everyone is leaving with something at the time (although some just have hats).
  • Cons: children will be disappointed until they receive their actual gifts, may not be as interested in the gift at the later time, have to go out and acquire additional gifts.
  • Saves Face: Jack doesn’t blame any specific person for the children not receiving their gifts and promises them that they will get the same gift eventually so hopefully saving his relationship with them.
  • Implications on Relationships: Children will be unhappy until they receive their gifts, putting more responsibility on Jack to make up for shortcoming. Once they receive their gift they will be happy with Jack after that.
  • Implications on Venture: Short term the youth center (or Jack) will have to spend money out of pocket to get the children their gifts. The children will potentially be upset until they get the gifts. But long term everyone will receive a gift of the same caliber.
• Jack can take the children who received the black hats aside and make up a fun story to tell them about why the hats are special and how they can use them to play a game of some sort. Make modifications to hats to make them more appealing, add a fun experience to the gift.
  • Pros: This will make the children feel better about not receiving one of the other, more exciting, gifts. It will allow Jack to preserve his relationship with the children. It will avoid setting a precedent or creating a conflict with the staff at the center. This also preserves Jack’s status with the children, which will prevent them from walking all over him because he acts too sympathetically.
  • Cons: The children may see right through the act, making them still feel left out. The staff may be wary that you have chosen to act when they did not perceive a problem. Making decorations on hats requires additional resources- sets precedent. Kids without hats feel excluded.
  • Saves Face: Children will feel better about not getting the other gifts and they will still like Jack. Jack will make them and their gifts seem special.
  • Implications on Relationships: This is a “goldilocks” approach that will not completely satisfy the children because they are still without a conventional gift, but it does not cause conflict with the staff. By acting in this way, Jack is able to preserve relationships with the children and the staff for the long term.
  • Implications on the Venture: By preserving relationships with all parties, the motivation of the venture is saved. If partnerships were strained by the decision made by Jack, they may be less likely to continue working together. 

Step 5: Additional Info

• I have many younger cousins, so in my experience, children just want to feel special and singled-out in a positive way. By offering a story about the hats that makes them more interesting or special, the children may be satisfied

Step 6: Best Action

• Personally, I feel that the best solution is to simply take the children aside and tell them some sort of story about the hats. It is important that the story is culturally appropriate, and Jack could potentially make up a game of some sort to be played with the hats. This solution would preserve his relationship with the staff because he would not be overstepping, but it still allows him to make the children feel better and maintain his positive relationship with them. This helps Jack to save face with all parties. It is possible that the children would see right through the story, depending on how old they are, and still be upset that they did not receive one of the other gifts. It is also possible that the children who received the black hats would begin to exclude the others if Jack’s story is too exciting. This could cause more disputes that Jack and the staff would have to handle. Unlike the other solutions, this does not set any sort of precedent that could lead to Jack having more responsibilities than previously. It also does not make him seem too “soft,” so the children will not walk all over him. In the long run, preservation of relationships with the center will allow the venture to continue their work.

Step 7: Sequence of Action

1. Distribute available gifts to children, along with hats to those without gifts.
2. Take the children who received the hats aside.
3. Speak to the children to establish special quality of hats, telling a story that creates a game or makes them seem more exciting.

Step 1: Determine the facts in the situation

1. There is a unique disease-causing pathogen only found in water sources in Lesotho
2. A team of ten academic researchers will be travelling to communities in Lesotho for two weeks
3. Assistance from community members is required to understand where the water comes from and places/methods for storing the water
4. The goal of the research is to understand the life cycle and characteristics of the pathogen
5. Several publications are expected
6. A more thorough understanding of the pathogen may allow for the development of chemical additives that could make the water safe for drinking

The ethical problem: Is the participation of the community members ethical? Do they need to be compensated for their participation? How should they be compensated? Which individuals should be chosen to participate? How should they be chosen?

Steps 2 & 3: Define the stakeholders and identify their motivations

1. Researchers
   1. Understand the life cycle of the pathogen
   2. Disseminate the newfound knowledge to the greater academic community

• Possible personal motivation to help the community (?)
  1. Likely not primary motivation for research

1. Meet their funders’ expectations/deadlines.
2. At a personal level, one research may be driven by selfless goals, but others might be driven just by the professional aspect of it (e.g., getting their paycheck, obtaining an advanced degree)

1. University
   1. Wants to be represented well (i.e., positive publicity), increasing reputation
   2. Advance the research, write manuscripts,

• Be involved in a major breakthrough for solving a healthcare problem.

1. Funders
   1. Wants to be represented well (i.e., positive publicity), increasing reputation
   2. Advance the research, write manuscripts,

• Be involved in a major breakthrough for solving a healthcare problem.

1. Community members
   1. Eliminate the pathogen in their water supply
   2. Build relationships with foreigners

• Risks: community members may tell you what you want to hear; may be overly helpful to the point that they gain nothing from the interaction; may not want to acknowledge existence of disease

1. More tourism if water is cleaner, which would grow local economy

1. Government bodies
   1. Improve public health
   2. Decrease cost for health care

• Forge partnerships with the university

1. Increase knowledge of local pathogen harming their water
2. Learn how to develop education/prevention programs.
3. If Lesotho exports their water to South Africa, they would be interested in receiving the research to be completed and possibly improve the quality of their water.

1. Academic Journal
   1. Further general body of knowledge
   2. Develop positive publicity for their brand

• Establish prestige

Step 4: Formulate three alternative solutions

1. Conduct the research as it is
   1. The researcher is not obligated to solve the problem directly
   2. Simply publishing their research will allow other, more well-equipped, entities to address the problem and implement it in the most culturally appropriate manner

• No compensation for community members is necessary because the future benefits to the community resulting from the research will be adequate

1. Volunteers will assist the researchers

1. Schedule an audience with the local authority
   1. Ask authority to call a town meeting to recruit individuals
   2. Provide community members with all details of the study
      1. What you’re studying, why you’re studying it, what help you need, the qualifications of the ideal individual to help, the anticipated time commitment, the compensation

• Community members who are selected will be compensated with a meal during the time which they are helping the researchers

1. Educate community about pathogen and provide temporary solutions for avoiding the associated diseases
   1. Tangible compensation is not necessary
   2. Providing the community with an interim solution is sufficient

Step 5: Seek additional assistance, as appropriate

Additional assistance could be sought from local academics or professionals that would have the knowledge and connections necessary for a smooth entry. By partnering with groups or organizations already addressing the effects of the pathogen on the community, the researchers could more confidently promote a future solution for the towns.

Step 6: Select the best course of action

Solution A assumes that the study is inherently ethical because there is no harm done and the solutions resulting from a better understanding of the pathogen will be enough benefit. Solutions B and C both increase the ethical nature of the study, so I believe the best course of action is a combination of all three solutions. Combining all of these solutions provides the most good because community members are being compensated for their participation, the researchers will get the most accurate data from the best-suited individual, and the community will have new strategies to handle the pathogen. Compensating the individuals that show the researchers the water sources is a generous (virtuous) thing to do and will maximize the total benefits of the interaction for the locals. Even though the study is ethical without compensation, the financial cost to the researchers is low and increases the benefit to the community members. By combining the solutions, the motivations of the researchers and the locals are achieved directly, but this course of action also indirectly meets the motivations of the other stakeholders. Asking the community to select the best-fit individual to identify the water sources will ensure the study is successful, which will satisfy the university, the funders, and the academic journal. Additionally, educating the locals so they are able to minimize risks associated with the pathogen until a more permanent solution can be developed increases the benefit to the community. The researchers are assumed to be already educated about the pathogen to an extent, so sharing the knowledge with the community would be simple and beneficial.

Step 7: What are the implications of the solution?

By compensating the locals, some monetary cost will be incurred. A courtesy meal as compensation will allow the community members to build relationships with the researchers and the associated cost will be small. By compensating the community, a better social relationship will be developed. This will make it seem less like a “hit and run” study that just exploits the suffering community for the benefit of the researchers.