Objectively looking at design processes, it is challenging to asses which approach would best to fit. My design process would incorporate a wide variety of my own beliefs, and approaches to life which have lead me to where I am today. My first step would revolve around visualization, whether it be conceptualizing the idea or developing preliminary plans, I am a very visual individual and the more visually written the higher ability for my mind to flow and furthermore grow on ideas. As with visualizing one of the main item before progressing with my design, I would carry on to define the problem or issue that I aim to solve. When I think of executing my design process, I reflect on my problem solving experience at an educational nonprofit back home in San Francisco. Starting of as an intern I was exposed to various fields across our organization from grant writing, facilities management, to curriculum development which usually involved the guidance of a design process. A couple of years ago I was tasked to develop more hands on activities and programing for some of our older high school groups. Of the bat I brought in the white board and evaluated the problem we were trying to solve which was expanding our reach into older groups which could involve high school groups and even teachers. As part of visualizing, I often create a flowchart to categorize the related issue, and furthermore develop any preliminary ideas and experiences that could be beneficial to the project. Starting the design process, I always go into it with a flexible mindset because ultimately it is no less than a fact that change is an integral part of my design process.

After visualizing the challenge one intends to solve, I am self-obligated to learn everything that I can about such subject. My next step on the design process would be research. It is essential to understand the pretenses that exist around the challenge I intend to solve and any information and or context that I am aware of, reduces possible challenges that may lie ahead. When I was developing new curriculum with my coworkers, I brought in various experiences and knowledge databases from both my teaching and educational research time at Stanford University. For me it is essential that I equate experience and academic articles, because often academic writings are theoretical or with limited “real life” applicability and often lack common sense. Furthermore researching is an essential part of executing my design process to further the agenda. Next I would proceed to developing goals, weather they are broad or specific, goals inspired by research and visualization provide an effective guide across the rest of the design process, and helps keep track of progress. Thinking back to working at Mission Science and developing new curriculum I would use our teams experience and our academic research to develop ideas as for how to best produce the most effective learning outcome through hands on science while reaching higher level communities. When these ideas are flushed out, evaluated and renewed then goals as specific as possible can be produced. One goal that was written was to create an interactive ecology experiment that touched upon an integration of physics and photosynthesis.

Next in my design process would be building the actual product and conducting experimentation. I reference the scientific method in this next step of my design process, as in my experience error is an essential integration into developing an efficient end product. You are unable to know if something works unless you have multiple trials and it is essential that feedback is taken seriously. Many people would often interpret projects quite personal, and shy away from criticism right away, but my belief is that you cannot be an effective anything if you don’t improve based on well-developed criticism. When implementing this category in my design process, my coworkers and I exposed it to fellow co-workers, high school students and other adults during our community outreach events. From those interactions we were able to further adapt our project and the materials we developed continue to be effective today as we continue to expand our target demographics.

When validating our project, it has been quite a challenge when it comes to the backbone of our global social impact. Due to the uniqueness and broadness of our project in comparison to our peers it is a challenge validating and providing credit to ourselves without a clear end product. As our project researches corporate social responsibility in India we are unlike our product oriented peers of creating test strips or sustainable food items but to develop best practices for NGO’s and corporations to best work together to maximize their effectiveness on the Indian people. As we continue to probe and develop this first year project, we will continue to improve upon ourselves through trial and error. It is exciting to think that this summer the team and I will be traveling to India, a fundamentally foreign place in virtually every way. My philosophy when thinking about interacting with the Indian community is to be as humble as possible. Many people around my same age often act as a “superior” or amplify there foreign community when visiting countries such as India which possess very different cultures and often profound poverty. I intend to be as an equal to anyone I interact with, as many westerners often goes to their head and impacts their ego. Ultimately traveling to India, will be a impactful experience and I hope to exemplify humility among the Indian community.

One of the largely overlooked items around us is our environment, specifically nature. Nature at its core has so many factors that continue to be ambiguous to us. The ocean for example, with the majority of it yet to be discovered serves as a metaphor of the vast learning that can come from this great unknown. Recently scholars and scientists have boldly emphasized the importance and concept of using nature as a model for our academic research, studies, and overall personal pursuits. It has been emphasized that nature, has already solved problems that we cannot event yet phantom, due to the billions of years of trying and reshaping itself has created 10’s of millions of perfected systems. These natural systems can be integrated in to virtually anything, continuing to fascinate scientists and scholars alike, it is a essential to learn from such models.

Being that the goal and intention of our project is to evaluate India’s Corporate Social Responsibility system, and build a model system which ultimately is intended for stakeholders to take note of and use as a guide in order to build the most beneficial projects to the Indian people. One example we can observe nature in our project design would be the integration of a variety of species in cohesion of one another. As we look at India as a whole, with a population of over 1.3 billion people, there are deep cut divisions across the country. As discussed in previous blog posts, India has deep rooted differences dating back thousands of years, most of them related to religion and their caste system. While these differ in a variety of aspects, such as the biological differences within species, such relationships can be associated it is clear that India has tried to overcome. We are able to analyze relationships between fish, at a large scale are quite different but yet continue to live harmoniously with each other. If we use the idea of equality, and fishes model of cohesion, such system can be replicated as we look to interview across the caste spectrum and build a exemplary corporate social responsibility guide. Another way we can use nature as a measure of our design is in relation to the idea of sustainability. As we progress in the development of a model system for corporate social responsibility among NGO’s and companies. At the core of the ideal system that is to be designed and recommended, there needs to be a model of sustainability. A parallel idea would be compost, produced from trees and other types of plants, scraps from such same producer and produce (fruit, vegetables, ect…) As India grows at an unprecedent rate, and where poverty and death rates are alarming our projects designs should conceptualize a path to sustainability systems whether it be integrated in to their product distribution, or a system for continuity from within. Ultimately nature and its millions of years of experimentation and proof of concept will help guide our exploration into India’s corporate responsibility.

The life principles present an interesting usefulness to developing social enterprises and furthermore one’s life. One example of such value is the concept of Resilience. This principle at its core relies on the idea that the environment around you is always in a constant change, weather in your opinion it is good or bad such change is continuous. The ethos of remaining resilient is to learn to adapt in the changing climate. Growth is at the core of developing a strong social enterprise, but also is a key player in further growing yourself. As one continues with their life, an evolution of thought and resilience must be pertinent for one’s ability to be a more strategic self. The concept of evolution: growth based on environment and dominant traits can be  another example of how nature plays a role into the development of social ventures, and furthering of ourselves.

The cradle to cradle system continues on the fascinating integration between social ventures, and nature. While this system does not directly influence the social responsibility initiative, this project furthermore has profound applications to our lives. One example that this concept can be used for revolves around lifestyle. The cradle to cradle design system corresponds to the idea that there should be a majority use of natural ingredients in products. This in itself provides a more sustainable world and environment and a guide to one’s own consumption and overall lifestyle. Some of the most important items that I have learned from my own friends have had to do with culture ideals and have a relation to India itself. One of the interesting ideas that I learned from a friend is how arranged marriage is so something many actually look forward. While westerners may look at such concept and foreign it is a concept that at its core should be respected and to the right audience encouraged. Overall this project has so far opened my eyes to a plethora of new concepts and ideas that I hope to bring to my own life and personal development.

Corporate Social Responsibility, at its core is diverse in pathways. There are a variety of stakeholders in relation to India’s social responsibility legislature and all have a somewhat equal and important to the progression of such innovative law. One major stakeholder would be the Indian Government itself. One of the most ambiguous items about the law is the reasoning behind it, inserted into a larger piece of legislature, with no promotion or justification on behalf of the government. But in years post the implementation of the law it has become clear that the government benefits from the law, while funds spread to Non-governmental organizations across the country, corporations are spending money conducting research and evaluating the best methods of distributing the required funds. This in itself alleviates the strain on the government to provide to certain regions that are not usually given appropriate resources or neglected. Furthermore one reason that it is speculated the law was created was for companies to use business strategies, resources and innovation in order to best implement social change and provide services the government is otherwise unable to do so. The Indian Government is alleviated of some of the pressure it faces to provide for over a billion people, but also has the role of overseeing the implementation of this law.

Another stakeholder would be the prime beneficiaries of the law: Non-governmental organizations, which are focused on a plethora of problems across India. One of the requirements for NGO’s is that such organizations are national, and directly benefit the Indian people. NGO’s are chosen on a variety of ways, but is ultimately up to the company to decide such giving. One way that the caste system can play a role in this, is the way leadership is set up among larger corporations as money from these companies may flow into organizations that have leadership with similar classes is a simple beneficiary of nepotism. Another factor that plays into the choosing of NGO’s is related to where the organization is located. As discussed in the previous blog post many companies have provided more resources to NGO’s that are located in regions close to them which tend to be in or near cities and don’t distribute to much more rural areas that often need the funds more.

The clear stakeholder of the corporate social responsibility law, would be corporations that make hefty profits every year and are required through this to give 2% of that gain to NGO’s. While companies are being required to give such funds to these organizations, they are one of the biggest stakeholders. Companies hope that there funds are making a difference in the Indian population because they are the source of the funds.

Finally the if not the most important stakeholder is the Indian people themselves. The law was created weather directly or indirectly to benefit the services and quality of life for people. The Indian community expects that the money being distributed to NGO’s benefits them or those in need. If the resources that are being provided to NGO’s are being used inefficiently, the general population are those directly affected and in turn are the most important stakeholder. As this project is new and growing constantly I intend to build more credibility for the project, myself and the team moving forward. One way to build such relationship and credibility will be the culmination of research and work we intend to do in the coming months. One of the main sources where I believe I can build credibility will be the interviews we will do both electronically and in person across the NGO field and corporate world. The gain of knowledge and experience of the recipients and various parties related will in turn provide a deeper understanding to our team and give us greater credibility. Another factor that will grow this would be the presentations and discussions that will be provided in result of the constant growth of the project. The more presentations and conversations we produce and partake in will further both our confidence and drive for knowledge.

Finally our end product will provide credibility to our entire team. While our final product remains to be decided we know that such production will benefit the NGO’s, corporations and government growth in this field. Overall as we explore corporate responsibility in India, we are excited to explore the various stakeholders, and ultimately make a difference in the implementation of this innovative law which ultimately will benefit the Indian people. We are incredibly excited to be pursuing such a powerful legislature and grow its potential impact.

India’s Social Responsibility law and endeavor is uniquely susceptible to cultural issues. This has a lot to due with the vast size and population of the country, split among a wide ranging and divided regions. The first major cultural issue that influences our project revolves around the Caste system. Dating back to ancient India the Caste system is a system of division among the Indian people. One of the continuous and prominent systems in the culture, the Caste system is a hierarchical groups based on work and duty (religion). Originating through the Manusmriti a book that describes Hindu law dating back to more than one thousand years before Christ. The Mansumriti justifies the existence and use of the Caste system and further more indicates it as a need for society. With profound history and religious connotations the Caste system is split into four main categories including: Brahmins, Kashatriyas, Vaishyas and the Shudras with a plethora of subsections which further separate the Hindu people the Caste system continues to have an adverse influence in society, impacting job opportunities, social interactions, and virtually everything across Indian life and culture. In result such culture class system significantly creates a inherit division of backgrounds among the labor force and leadership, furthermore influencing the corporate, NGO and overall creates a possible range of importance that of social responsibility influenced by their Caste background. The Caste system will undoubtedly have social and professional repercussions while we further our research into social responsibility, and as we start conversations we actually look forward to see how such system will impact our work. Another cultural issue that may impact our project is the regionality and language barriers.

Within India differences among people and clashing cultures are highlighted and induced due to the separation of regions and clashing cultures intertwined by religion and social class. In the preliminary academic papers written about India’s corporate responsibility law, they consistently discuss the issue of regionality and separation among communities. This specifically has been shown across the distribution of funds due to the law, between rural and cities. Companies have been shown to prioritize fund distribution to projects surrounding them usually in cities versus neglecting rural areas. Finally another issue in relation to culture could be overall historical and cultural appropriation. As outsiders we will be approaching a variety of NGO’s many of which are inspired and associated with very strict values and may impact the decision’s they make and interactions we will encounter with them.

While a cast system per-say is nonexistent in western society, or specific geographical divide there is a prominent divide among race, socio economic status and cultural backgrounds. The United States has had its share of history of division between  its population especially defined by race and economic standards. Influenced by our tumultuous history in such like slavery and other events, we have developed a sensibility to these issues in recent years. Much of America itself is demographically divided. We can see this in everywhere weather rurally or within cities. For example in New York there is a relevant split between Manhattan and Brooklyn both racially where Brooklyn tends to host a larger African American as well as lower income population versus Manhattan hosts primarily Caucasian and wealthier individuals. This in turn affects the allocations of funds and resources across New York City. Manhattan will have better public schools and well as resources for students while Brooklyn is a much more neglected region of the city. This can directly relate to India’s division among factors of cast system, regionality, and culture wise can and will impact resource distribution along many other aspects. Our team hopes to mitigate these issues by continuing making ourselves aware of cultural and historical background of India as a whole, and additionally immersing ourselves in Indian culture through reading daily news briefs and discussing with our professor. We  will be able to use the differences in India to our advantage.

Such divides while unfortunate can be further explored in our own research on Corporate Responsibility. With one of our end goals being the development of an appropriate path and guidelines for better corporate responsibility our team will be able to map out how factors such as Cast backgrounds, regionality and historically cultural differences impact there exposure to NGO support and resources. Furthermore India’s cultural differences and practices will in effect provide one guide for our research in corporate Social Responsibility.