Our Save Tuba partners…

How would we organize these potential partnerships in terms of the purpose they serve and the value they create? And, in simple words explain how it would work.

For each partner…

• Why should they partner with you?
• Inputs: What do they contribute/invest?
• Outputs: What they receive in return?
• How will you go about building the partnership?

Our dream: Save Tuba app will serve as the mode to teach sustainable behaviors with the ultimate goal of increasing recycling rates in Almaty/Kazakhstan from 11% to 40%. 

To accomplish this goal, we will lean of strategic partners at each of the following phases:

• Phase 0 Partners – the planning and creation stage: Alpha
• Phase 1 Partners – the testing phase stage: Beta
• Phase 2 Partners – the pilot phase: roll out in select schools
• Phase 3 Partners – the launch phase! Expand to larger number of schools
• Phase 4 Partners – Steady state: taking Save Tuba to scale!

Phase 0 Partners – the planning and creation stage: Alpha

• American Councils for International Education (Outreach)
  • Why should they partner with you?
    • The Save Tuba venture aligns with the American Councils’ vision to “empower individuals and institutions to address challenges in a diverse and interconnected world.”
  • Inputs: What do they contribute/invest?
    • American Councils created a promotional video that is helping tell our story and promote our venture.
  • Outputs: What do they receive in return?
    • The Save Tuba venture aids their focus “to advance scholarly research and cross-border learning through the design and implementation of educational programs grounded in key world languages, cultures, and regions.”  Additionally, the American Councils for International Education supports Sustainable Development Goals. Specifically, one of the two SDGs that American Councils supports Quality Education – Goal #4.  The Save Tuba is a tool they can promote aimed at improving the quality of education for children in Kazakhstan.
  • How will you go about building the partnership?
    • A partnership was established by the first year team members, which resulted in the creation of a video with the second year Lehigh and AlmaU members.  You can view the 2 minutes and 25 seconds video here: American Councils Video

• Almaty Management University (Outreach & Knowledge)
  • Why should they partner with you? 
    • The Save Tuba venture provides a great learning and development opportunity for AlmaU students. The international partnership with an US university also provides an opportunity for Almaty Management University to distinguish themselves from other higher education institutions in Kazakhstan.
  • Inputs: What do they contribute/invest?
    • The AlmaU students provide direct assistance with promoting the venture on social media, translating all content from English to Russian and Kazakh, and recruit participants for feedback via surveys and focus groups.  AlmaU provides important information, insight, and knowledge about the Kazakh people and their culture. Additionally, the university provides a faculty advisor to support the AlmaU students and connect the venture with their academic program.
  • Outputs: What they receive in return?
    • AlmaU students experience an enriched learning experience, an opportunity to further develop their English language skills, extensive experience with interpreting and translation, and the opportunity to be part of a team developing an app that will impact the lives of students all over Kazakhstan.
  • How will you go about building the partnership?
    • Leveraging relationships developed by our advisor, the initial Save Tuba team established a regular working relationship with AlmaU students.  The current Save Tuba team formalized a meeting structure and regular communication between the two teams.

Phase 1 Partners – the testing phase stage: Beta

• Ministry of Education (Credibility; Access to markets and customers; Social capital and Political capital)
  • Why should they partner with you?
    • The Save Tuba app provides an innovative tool to help teach lessons connected to their ecology curriculum. The ultimate goal of the app is to change behaviors that result with an increase of recycling rates from 11% to 40%. This impact in recycling rates is an effort that the Kazakhstan government has invested time and funds in but has not seen a significant change.
  • Inputs: What do they contribute/invest?
    • A partnership with the Ministry of Education would provide multiple benefits for the venture. In addition to significantly elevating the venture’s credibility, the partnership would open the door to schools, access to administrators, teachers and students.  Testing of the Beta version would be facilitated with an endorsement from the Ministry of Education – minimizing the struggles of identifying focus group participants and anticipated difficulty with securing participating schools.  Additionally, the Ministry of Education will help with potential funding and access to other government leaders to expand support for the venture.
  • Outputs: What they receive in return?
    • The Ministry of Education would have access to a modern, innovative teaching tool for their teachers.  Additionally, the partnership with Lehigh University may elevate the status of the Ministry’s education for forging an international partnership that impacts both Ministry of Education and other government office goals (ie recycling rates).
  • How will you go about building the partnership?
    • Our project mentor has done extensive work to cultivate a relationship with Ministry of Education representatives.  In conjunction with AlmaU colleagues, in-country meetings are being developed to solidify a partnership and more clearly define ways to work together.

• Ministry of Ecology (Credibility)
  • Why should they partner with you?
    • Similar to the Ministry of Education, the Save Tuba app provides a mode to help accomplish their goals.  The Ministry of Ecology has a wide level of responsibility related to environmental protection, waste management, protection of water supply, sanitation, forestry, and conservation – to name a few.  All of these topics are addressed by the various lessons and/or action tasks in the app.
  • Inputs: What do they contribute/invest?
    • Credibility!  A partnership with the Ministry of Education would provide one of the ultimate seals of approval related to the content.  The Ministry of Education is able to minimize challenges to working in all schools.  The Ministry of Ecology offers us the opportunity to have an app the people of Kazakhstan would respect and value since it would have been vetted by leaders of the government responsible for this content.
  • Outputs: What they receive in return?
    • The Ministry of Ecology would be better positioned to reach their recycling rate goals. The national policy regarding waste management and transitioning the country to a green economy plans to increase the recycling rates to at least 40 percent by 2030 and 50 percent by 2050.
  • How will you go about building the partnership?
    •  Our project mentor has begun the work necessary to cultivate a relationship with the Ministry of Ecology.  In conjunction with AlmaU colleagues, in-country meetings are being developed to establish a partnership.

• Almaty Management University (Outreach and Access to markets and customers)
  • Why should they partner with you?
    • The Save Tuba venture provides a great learning and development opportunity for AlmaU students. The international partnership with an US university also provides an opportunity for Almaty Management University to distinguish themselves from other higher education institutions in Kazakhstan.
  • Inputs: What do they contribute/invest?
    • The AlmaU students provide direct assistance with promoting the venture on social media, translating all content from English to Russian and Kazakh, and recruit participants for feedback via surveys and focus groups.  AlmaU provides important information, insight, and knowledge about the Kazakh people and their culture. Additionally, the university provides a faculty advisor to support the AlmaU students and connect the venture with their academic program.
  • Outputs: What they receive in return?
    • AlmaU students experience an enriched learning experience, an opportunity to further develop their English language skills, extensive experience with interpreting and translation, and the opportunity to be part of a team developing an app that will impact the lives of students all over Kazakhstan.
  • How will you go about building the partnership?
    • Leveraging relationships developed by our advisor, the initial Save Tuba team established a regular working relationship with AlmaU students.  The current Save Tuba team formalized a meeting structure and regular communication between the two teams.

• Nazarbayev Schools and Public Schools (Knowledge and Access to customers)
  • Why should they partner with you?
    • The Save Tuba app will offer various benefits to their teaching and learning experience and capabilities, which include:
      1. a fun way to learn and to engage in sustainability actions
      2. an interactive way to engage in the classroom rather than the standard lectures and tests
      3. Action tasks to apply knowledge to practice by taking what they learn on the app into their local communities in order to make them greener
      4. a valuable tool and effective strategy to help deliver instruction
  • Inputs: What do they contribute/invest?
    • The schools would provide the students and teachers necessary to use the app and conduct the action tasks.
  • Outputs: What they receive in return?
    • Similar to the reason for partnering with us, the benefits listed above provide a description of what they specifically receive in return.
  • How will you go about building the partnership?
    • Our current efforts have been to work via established contacts from AlmaU.  Moving forward, our approach will be to work with the Ministry of Education.  Part of the partnership with the Ministry of Education will include providing access to the schools/teachers/students.