A stakeholder in a project is someone or some entity that has some type of motivation or role in a particular project. The project that I am working on is aimed to help infants to be healthier by developing a food supplement that adds to the nutritional value of their diets. There happen to be numerous stakeholders in this project, the most obvious being our research group. We have been working for over a semester to develop this food product and will most likely continue through many more. We have invested our time and efforts toward this project in hopes of improving the lives of people that live halfway across the world. If this project were to be successful, we would possibly make a very small profit by selling the product. Additionally, another stakeholder in this venture would be the people that would manufacture this product in Sierra Leone. This opportunity would help these workers to earn more money for their families and as a result be wealthier. A third stake holder in this project would be the suppliers that we buy our ingredients from. Whether they be people who live directly in Sierra Leone, or vendors elsewhere, these people will earn money from selling us their products. Next, the mothers that prepare meals for their children in Sierra Leone should benefit from our product. If we are able to develop a product that doesn’t require the mothers to get and prepare clean water, this could make the process of making their children food easier and safer. Finally, another very obvious stakeholder in this project would be the infants that directly benefit from a supplemented diet. Hopefully, this product will allow them to live healthier lives. Being healthier will decrease the chances that they get diseases and help them to be more active. Nutrition plays a huge role in a person’s life, and if we are able to develop a product that improve someone’s nutrition, they will most likely live an easier, happier life.

One way in which we plan to validate our project and bring it credibility is to make connections. We plan to make connections here at Lehigh, with professionals in America, and with professionals in Sierra Leone. If we are able to convey to these people that we are serious about developing a product to actually distribute in Sierra Leone, they will hopefully offer their help. With their help, we will be able to develop the product that I have been talking about and help people to live healthier lives. When speaking with these professionals, I think that it is incredibly important to act in a professional manner and so that these people don’t just see us as students working on a project that has no tangible results. Once these contacts are developed, we will be sure to keep these people updated with our data and progress. Additionally, we hope to gain some credibility and validation through our deliverables. These deliverables are a presentation that includes the progress that we have made on our project. Whether this deliverable is in the form of a paper or a presentation, we hope that people will see the work that we have done and realize that we are working hard to produce results. Additionally, if we are able to make substantial strives forward in developing a product. This is potentially a project that we would be able to present at different types of conferences throughout the country. Perhaps, we would even be able to publish a paper discussing how we developed this product, the nutrient content of it, and other information about this project. Finally, this Spring it will be very important to present our research well at the Lehigh Expo for other students and faculty to see. This will hopefully catch the interest of people who can make important contributions to the project and will help our project to move in the right direction. All of these things combined will help to validate and a add credibility to our project. Overall, I think that the most important way to do this is to make connections with as many people as we can, as quickly as we can. Once these connections are made it will be important to collaborate and maintain these connections.