Blog #7

Noah Weaver, Spencer Moros, Anneke Roy, Skyler Martinez

5 Partnerships: Individual, Team, Lehigh/GSIF

1. World Hope International
   1. What constituted the partnership? 
      1. Khanjan provided the relationship developed through a history of other projects
   2. How did the partner help you? 
      1. Provide in-country resources: offices, motorcycles, employees, provide strong basis of support which WHI has created over decades of involvement, legal coverage
   3. How did you help them? 
      1. Provide bandwidth and intellectual resources with the goal of improving the living conditions of people of Sierra Leone, provide access to other funding opportunities not usually open to non-profit organizations
   4. Was this a symbiotic relationship? Why or why not?
      1. Yes this is a symbiotic relationship because as we become more successful we have more to offer and the more WHI is 
   5. What would help strengthen the partnership and make it more equitable?
      1. Create a contract of the partnership
      2. Create a profit sharing scheme for the future if the venture is profitable
2. Ukweli Distribution Manager
   1. What constituted the partnership?
      1. WHI hired Hassan to work full time on the Ukweli venture. Hassan is well known in his community and has served in public health capacities for several years.
   2. How did the partner help you?
      1. Hassan has allowed Ukweli to distribute its test strips directly to CHWs, expand the venture’s reach by training CHWs to become UHWs, as well as collect relevant data needed for us to show the depth and breadth of Ukweli operations. Perhaps most significantly, Hassan has provided extensive social capital to Ukweli.
   3. How did you help them?
      1. We are able to help Hassan have a regular salary that allows him to not worry as much about financial obstacles in his life. He also is able to make a positive impact in his community, and being able to combine self-preservation with the advancement of the needs of others is, in my opinion, the ideal professional situation.
   4. Was this a symbiotic relationship? Why or why not?
      1. Yes; both the Lehigh team and Hassan are able to mutually benefit in a manner that would not be achievable by either party independently. If Hassan did not have Ukweli/Lehigh, he would likely struggle with finding consistent work/pay needed to survive. On the flip side, the Lehigh Team would be greatly hindered in its ability to access hard-to-reach communities within Sierra Leone without the social capital provided by Hassan.
   5. What would help strengthen the partnership and make it more equitable?
      1. It would be more equitable if we could find a way to give Hassan more bandwidth by hiring another employee. The workload that Hassan is responsible for is considerably greater than when the venture first started, and I am concerned about how equitable it is for Hassan to continue being responsible for the setup of new PHUs/CHWs in addition to the increasing number of previously-onboarded PHUs and CHWs.
3. Ministry of Health and Sanitation of Sierra Leone
   1. What constituted the partnership?
      1. A Temporary Service Level Agreement that allows us to sell and distribute the test strips across Sierra Leone.
   2. How did the partner help you? 
      1. They give us the legal ability to sell our test strips.
   3. How did you help them?
      1. We are actively working to help increase screening for UTIs and Preeclampsia in pregnant women in an attempt to lower the Maternal Mortality rate.  This helps them because maternal death is a huge health issue in Sierra Leone. 
   4. Was this a symbiotic relationship? Why or why not?
      1. This is a symbiotic relationship because through our work that they approved, we are aiming to solve or at the very least help a major health crisis in Sierra Leone. In return, we are able to take this model and show its usefulness in the existing healthcare system of Sierra Leone.
   5. What would help strengthen the partnership and make it more equitable?
      1. More consistent data reporting (as outlined per our agreement) would allow the Ministry of Health and Sanitation of Sierra Leone to regularly see what progress Ukweli makes towards combatting the maternal mortality rate.
4. PHUs/CHWs
   1. What constituted the partnership?
      1. Distribution manager initiates and upholds relationships with PHUs, which further allows us access to connections to that unit’s CHWs.
   2. How did the partner help you? 
      1. PHUs give us access to trained healthcare professionals within that local region; they are the direct connections to screening and referring the patients.
   3. How did you help them?
      1. We incentivize the CHWs buy selling them boxes of test strips and allowing them to sell the strips at an increased price for profit. 
   4. Was this a symbiotic relationship? Why or why not?
      1. Yes, this is a symbiotic relationship. The skeleton of our venture is based on the efforts and data collected by the CHWs we partner with, and they are able to make an earning through the selling of test strips.
   5. What would help strengthen the partnership and make it more equitable?
      1. With our WhatsApp communication system, we are hoping to strengthen our partnerships with the individual CHWS and PHUs by creating a line of communication between the Lehigh team and them.  Through this, we can have open communication between our partners and make it more equitable. 
5. Michelle Spada
   1. What constituted the partnership? 
      1. Introduced through Khanjan Mehta during the Mountaintop Experience 
   2. How did the partner help you? 
      1. Provided support when establishing messaging and interview questions for the Ukweli WhatsApp communication system.  Assisted in editing and looking over papers as well.
   3. How did you help them? 
      1. Was introduced to us as a support system so we did not provide help to her.
   4. Was this a symbiotic relationship? Why or why not? 
      1. Commensalistic relationship→ we benefited and she didn’t benefit or experience harm
   5. What would help strengthen the partnership and make it more equitable?
      1. We could potentially offer student support and work for any projects she is working on. More consistent communication between her and the team.