Brazil (Spring 2020)

Importance of flexibility in a professional environment

By Madeline

Learning to work in an alternative situation than anticipated, helped teach me the importance of flexibility in a professional environment.

When I found out COVID-19 had unexpectedly become so rampant that our trip to Brazil had to be cancelled, I felt disappointment. Disappointment in not being able to explore a new country, disappointment in not being able to meet our consulting company face to face, and disappointment in not having this unique experience and way to travel. So, I wallowed in my disappointment for a day, and then our team got to work talking to the client and figuring out the best path forward.

Reaching out to the client provided reassurance that all of us are going through the same frustration and provided a new opportunity for learning through virtual communication. Our team has been lucky with our client and the ability to maintain very open flows of communication and feedback. We were able to present our findings and received constructive and helpful feedback on both format and content. While it may have been more natural to converse, present, and receive feedback in person, having the video conferencing that we had been using to communicate all semester allowed for a more collaborative environment for our presentation. The advice, both structural and content related, helped me to learn how to better present work that I had done and ensure that I am meeting clients’ needs.

Working across cultural and country lines has also proved to be an excellent learning experience as well. Hearing about Carnival, the work day, and differences in work culture helped to paint a clearer picture of day to day life in Brazil. Reading about the rich culture and different climate helped to create a vision of purpose and community for people in Brazil. I do intend to visit and hopefully meet in person with our client once this craziness is over in order to experience the country and learn more from a new connection.

Learning to work in an alternative situation than anticipated, helped teach me the importance of flexibility in a professional environment. Being able to maintain the integrity of our presentation and relationship with the client through challenging circumstances strengthened our credibility as consultants. Though not the experience and growth that I expected to gain from this class, it is one that I will be able to use for adaptation in an ever evolving and changing world.

Unexpected learnings: scope creep, cross-cultural communication, and the value of different perspectives

By Alessandra B.

Overall, this has in fact been a great learning opportunity [...] just not necessarily in the ways that I had anticipated. In a way, perhaps that’s the most important learning.

I had the privilege of working with a great team on this project in partnership with an organization working to provide solar energy in favelas and increase the self-sufficiency of these communities through education and job opportunities. At the outset, my team thought that the project would involve providing guidance as the organization shifted from a nonprofit to a for-profit organization, exploring various revenue streams, and so forth. We learned pretty soon after the course started that the scope had changed. The organization was remaining a nonprofit and our team would focus instead helping it formulate an aggressive short-term fundraising strategy. Although I was thrilled to be working with this organization, I was admittedly somewhat disappointed about the change in scope. I come from a background in resource development and the new objectives felt to me like more of the same work. In short, I didn’t think I would learn as much as I had hoped. Also, I wasn’t sure I could make much of an impact compared to the work that the organizations’ own employees and volunteers, who knew the organization and context best, would be doing on their own.

I realized pretty quickly, however, that there was still much to learn. First, navigating a new cross-cultural engagement was great practice in forming partnerships with stakeholders who, on the surface, may not have a lot in common but have a shared goal. Witnessing firsthand different communication styles and cultural norms was a helpful reminder that what I often consider to be the right way to do things is largely a product of my environment.

Another learning was the value that a different perspective can bring to a project. Although our partners clearly knew the organization best, the fact that my team was learning about its work for the firsthand meant that we could address challenges without a familiarity bias. When it came time to present our initial recommendations to the client, I was a bit nervous that they may seem too simple or straightforward. While some of our recommendations no doubt will resonate more than others with the client, I was pleased to hear a positive response overall. Again, it was clear that approaching the objective with a fresh perspective was an advantage in the situation and that what felt obvious to me after working in development for nearly ten years would not necessarily be top of mind for folks at a fairly new organization with various professional paths.

Overall, this has in fact been a great learning opportunity—these are just a few initial reflections—just not necessarily in the ways that I had anticipated. In a way, perhaps that’s the most important learning.

Global health: improving access to clean water, sanitation, and sustainable farming

By Michael

As a research scientist in Oncology, I was passionate about this project because unlike cancer, where disease onset and treatment success can vary unpredictably, ailments such as diarrhea that afflict this population may be preventable with the measures provided.

COVID-19 has gripped the world with intense fear and anxiety due to our lack of understanding of the disease and inability to contain the spread. The disease is stealthy with most carriers unaware they have the illness since the signs and symptoms are often delayed and highly variable. What does a person with mild disease experience? Why would they not participate in social functions if their mild symptoms feel like a bad case of the Mondays. With WHO declaring COVID-19 a global pandemic, the world economy might be in crisis as more cities and countries quarantine their citizens. Armed with only hygienic guidelines to keep us safe, I am also not immune to this fear of harming my own health and potentially putting others at risk, yet I found that what has calmed my worries were my learnings about the people we are helping with our client’s Healthy Homes program.

Our client, a foundation, started the Healthy Homes initiative to along the Carajás railway in Maranhão with access to clean water (cistern building, cistern care/water treatment trainings), improved sanitation (dry toilet installation, maintenance/disposal trainings), and sustainable farming practices (permaculture supplies/training). Underlying this effort is the foundation’s commitment to enable sustainable living practices in their communities while ensuring that public health is preserved since the majority of Maranhão cities are beyond the reach of basic municipal services.

Our team was asked to evaluate the overall effectiveness of these initiatives and improve survey metrics in order to monitor continued progress. As a research scientist in Oncology, I was passionate about this project because unlike cancer, where disease onset and treatment success can vary unpredictably, ailments such as diarrhea that afflict this population may be preventable with the measures provided. However, as one of the poorest states in Brazil, prevention is not easy to enforce in Maranhão when action depends on the community’s commitment to public health.

With little demographic data publicly available, not much is known about the people living in the cities of Maranhão. Even more difficult is finding information on those rural villages whom our client is supporting. Fortunately, the organization made available to us the results of their survey used to gauge the level of family need, determine which families qualify for aid, and monitor the progress of their program (quarterly basis). The completed surveys were extensive and full of yes/no and free-range responses to a host of questions that inquired about families’ health and financial status in addition to their water storage/use, farming, and sanitation habits. Not many have access to this dataset that provides a glimpse of what life is like in these communities. I felt compelled by this information to be able to help these people with our recommendations so that they can live their healthiest lives given their meager circumstances.

In the Buriticupu municipality of Maranhão where the most surveys were taken (419 total) among eight of its cities, families (average four per household) subsist on $102.03 US dollars every month, which includes additional support from the Bolsa Familia program (71% of families). As for education, only 7% of the heads of households completed high school while only 6% completed elementary school.  Although majority of families (~70%) are supported by the presence of a community health professional/agent monthly, the threat to population health brought by multiple forms of infectious disease may leave families vulnerable with limited access to acute care and potentially high out-of-pocket costs. To better understand the impact of Healthy Homes’ clean water initiatives, I focused on diarrhea, where prevention can directly correlate with compliance of Healthy Homes guidelines for filtering and decontaminating water. 36 of the 419 surveyed suffered (8.6%) from diarrhea without any comorbidities. 31 of these 36 families (86.1%) were non-compliant with safe water practices. Based on this data, the solution to find out how our client can better implement these measures depends on citizens’ regard to why these actions are necessary. Ensuring that families realize the importance to routinely employ measures that prevent disease with community-led initiatives may be the way forward to improve public health with the Healthy Homes program.

Diarrhea is only one of the many conditions that afflict the Buriticupu municipality. 83% of families cited one or more of the following diseases in the past year each survey was conducted: Hepatitis A, Dengue, Yellow Fever, Zika, Chikungunya, Leishmaniasis, Malaria, Cholera, Conjunctivitis, Skin Diseases, Mycoses, Leptospirosis, Schistosomiasis, Amebiasis, and Footworm. When you consider the numerous threats to public health for people living in Buriticupu, I am imbued with a sense of gratitude to have been provided with the infrastructure - education, public policy, access to affordable healthcare, and financial means - that can properly support my overall well-being, yet I am also disappointed with how very few of us take personal accountability of our own health as the Buriticupu people must do.

As I pause and reflect on the growing concerns with COVID-19, I take a step back and remember those in Buriticupu who persevere despite the weight of their circumstance and appreciate the gift of each new day by making the most with what little they have. It may feel like the world is ending tomorrow with news of the global COVID-19 pandemic, but to the people of Buruticupu, it is another day to be lived to the fullest.

Climate change, practicing flexibility, and virtual collaboration

By Kaci

While I would definitely have enjoyed the travel to Brazil and experiencing the world of our client on a first-hand basis, practicing flexibility and virtual collaboration have also been important reminders of what may be to come if we do not make significant efforts to curb climate change (or even if we do).

When I initially signed up for this course, I was looking forward to the experiential learning that would assist me in my future career. I thought the consulting experience would be useful, and the whole process would allow me to practice relationship management, communication, and confidence in ideas generated from research and exploration of a problem. I was, of course, also looking forward to meeting with my client in person and collaboratively exploring the problem set before us and exploring how differences in culture affect these kinds of relationships. As this course has shifted, I believe I am still gaining many of these experiential pieces, but they look quite different than I imagined.

As climate change has a greater impact on every day life, these kinds of changes, and the flexibility required by them, will become more prevalent. It is very likely that climate change will mean we have to conduct a significantly higher proportion of our business online. In this case, practicing virtual consulting and virtual collaboration is one of the most relevant pieces of experiential learning I could complete during my education. I have always favored in-person meetings and communication, because I find it easier to read people and bounce ideas back and forth in order to reach more creative solutions. This pivot in our course has forced me to practice these skills through a computer screen.

My team’s client has been very responsive and helpful as we have gone through our project. He has given us regular feedback and has been regularly available for meetings. In many ways, this has made practicing virtual collaboration very easy because other aspects of this project have not been difficult. What I have found difficult, however, is ensuring that we are all on the same page and that all of our questions are asked on both sides. We have had to be very intentional about leaving time to ask questions and clarifications. While this has helped, I have still found it challenging to not talk over one another or feel that I am cutting our client off on accident when trying to respond to concerns or questions that he might have.

Flexibility is an essential job skill in today’s world. While I would definitely have enjoyed the travel to Brazil and experiencing the world of our client on a first-hand basis, practicing flexibility and virtual collaboration have also been important reminders of what may be to come if we do not make significant efforts to curb climate change (or even if we do). The experience has taught me quite a bit about what it means to be organized virtually and how I prefer to communicate within a project. As we move forward with our client, I know we’re hoping to improve and offer our client our best efforts despite our disappointment and sudden shifts.

Amazing learning experience

By DSI

This was the first time anyone in our group has ever consulted for a company. Although it was a nerve-racking experience at the very beginning, it turned into an amazing learning experience for everyone including our client.

Unfortunately but understandably the amazing itinerary planned for our time in Brazil was canceled due to the coronavirus. Luckily my classmate and I were able to make it out to explore Rio De Janeiro before the class was officially canceled by the University. Our experience in the few short days there was incredible – the amazing people, sightseeing, soccer matches, delicious food, and beautiful beaches make this a destination I couldn’t recommend more. On our last day, I was able to coordinate an informal lunch meeting with my client. It was an insightful conversation learning about their life growing up in Brazil and the business challenges throughout Brazil. This face to face meeting has brought a friendship that will last beyond the duration of this course.

My teammates and I received very positive feedback and further information when presented our PowerPoint through Skype this past week. We are extremely excited and motivated to incorporate the feedback into our final deliverable which involves a business plan and a custom financial modeling tool. This was the first time anyone in our group has ever consulted for a company. Although it was a nerve-racking experience at the very beginning, it turned into an amazing learning experience for everyone including our client. The unique work experience and backgrounds within our group were key to meeting the expectations of our clients thus far.

The Amazon & beyond improving operations

By Alexandra G.

I have been thinking about the impact I can create in such organizations, and I realized that although my entire career I have been  focused on profitability and reducing operational costs through efficiency and lean operations, the connection between sustainability, community work, environment protection and energy goes beyond making a company profitable because at the end of the day, my capabilities and  knowledge is indirectly supporting these communities as well. The work our client performs in the Amazon is inspiring, and I hope I can deliver their message in a way that will inspire others.

Did you know?

• The Amazon river basin is home to the largest rainforest in Earth.
• The basin is roughly the area of the forty-eight contiguous United States.
• It covers approximately 40% of the South American continent including parts of eight South American? countries: Brazil, Bolivia, Colombia, Ecuador, Guyana, Peru, Venezuela, as well as French Guiana, a department of France.
• The Amazon river is the most voluminous river on Earth, 11 times the volume of the Mississippi.
• During the high-water season, the river’s mouth may be 300 miles wide. For reference, the Amazon’s daily freshwater discharge into the Atlantic is enough to supply New York City’s freshwater needs for nine years.

I am a last year Professional Evening MBA student (PEMBA) concentrating in Operations & Technology Management with over 10 years of experience in business in the health care field and biotech industry.

I was scheduled to visit Brazil- Rio de Janeiro and Manaus in the Amazon region as part of spring 2020 Social Impact Field Seminar. By now, you must be wondering why someone concentrating in operations is enrolled in a social impact seminar. Let’s say that it was one of those situations that were meant to be.

The operations concentration was planning to travel to Vietnam and visit a few companies and factories where we could see their production lines, operations and lean procedures. I was beyond excited about having the opportunity to visit companies such Toyota which is an outstanding example on how to operate efficiently; but this seminar, as the Social Impact seminar in Brazil, was canceled.

During the last quarter of 2019, there was an outbreak of respiratory disease caused by a novel coronavirus that was first detected in China, in the city of Wuhan. The virus spread rapidly in the Asian continent and three months later it has been detected in almost 90 locations internationally, including the United States. According to the CDC, this virus was so novel that it didn’t even had a name- on February 11 it was named “SARS-CoV-2” and the disease it causes was named “coronavirus disease 2019” aka COVID-19.

The international Health Regulations Emergency Committee of the World Health Organization declared the outbreak a public health emergency of international concern. On January 31, 2020, the Health and Human Services Secretary Alex M. Azar II declared a public health emergency for the U.S to aid the nation. The outbreak of coronavirus has left thousands of people dead; officials declared a global health emergency; cities became ghost towns and large gathering events have been canceled.

Due to the continued spread of the COVID-19 virus and related concerns regarding international travel, Governor Baker urged universities to suspend all international travel, and as a direct result of this announcement, Questrom made the decision to indefinitely cancel all Questrom-sponsored international trips, including the Brazil Field Seminar.

But not all is bad news. I have had the opportunity to learn and understand the value of the work that companies with a social impact mission bring to the community. A lot of the work that is being done in Brazil is related to environmental sustainability and creating consciousness about the Amazon and wood trade. It has been a great experience working with our client, although I think it would have created a bigger impact in myself if we were able to travel.

I have been thinking about the impact I can create in such organizations, and I realized that although my entire career I have been  focused on profitability and reducing operational costs through efficiency and lean operations, the connection between sustainability, community work, environment protection and energy goes beyond making a company profitable because at the end of the day, my capabilities and  knowledge is indirectly supporting these communities as well.

The work our client performs in the Amazon is inspiring, and I hope I can deliver their message in a way that will inspire others.

Mixed feelings

By Winslow

I have learned a great deal about social finance, but also about global connections. As we continue to follow the ever gloomier news, I can’t help but feel that the world is a very small place full of many people trying to improve our situation.

By mid-March I would be in Manaus, a city in north-western Brazil, learning about the Amazon rainforest and reflecting on several very busy days in Rio de Janeiro. I would have already given a presentation to our client on our research project at their offices in Rio, and I would be preparing to fly home to Massachusetts. These were my expectations several weeks ago, and it has been a very different experience, filled with very unexpected learning opportunities.

Instead of being in Manaus, I am still in Massachusetts and never left. Instead of a busy week in Rio, I have had a very quiet week of vacation from work with time to reflect. Public health concerns around coronavirus prevented our international trip, and have caused much greater turmoil for many others. I find myself left with conflicted feelings about the whole experience. There is definite disappointment over missed opportunities, but it is mixed with some very real relief that I am not following the current news cycle from an unfamiliar hotel room in a foreign country. That feeling has in turn left with me with some guilt for feeling so relieved. There is some sense that I should feel more indignation over this canceled trip, but instead I just feel grateful that everyone involved has made the decisions possible for public health and safety.

We recently presented our preliminary project findings to our client in Brazil on a video conference call, and received very helpful feedback for our final deliverables. I was lucky to be part of a great group for this consulting project, and to have a very knowledgeable and patient client to work for. I have learned a great deal about social finance, but also about global connections. As we continue to follow the ever gloomier news, I can’t help but feel that the world is a very small place full of many people trying to improve our situation. I hope to someday travel to Brazil, meet our client in person, and get the opportunities to explore Rio, Manaus, and the Amazon.

Social Impact and Brazil

By Xiaoming

As the first sight of IM860 in spring semester course option, I decided to choose it right away. There are two points that drove me to choose this class: The social impact and Trip to Brazil.

My experience was mainly focused on engineering and sourcing in O&G industry. Social impact is a brand new category to me. This is a precious opportunity for me to know what social impact is and what could I take away through taking this course. Meanwhile, this course provides me an opportunity to dive in a real consulting project, which is also a new territory that I have never been involved in before. Is it possible for me to have a consulting job in my future career? I am fully convinced that I will get the answer when I complete this project.

The second motivation is that Brazil is a brand new country that I have longed to visit long time ago. Brazil is famous for its beautiful nature view: Christ Statues in Rio. Beautiful beaches and mysterious Amazon rain forest. All those stuff are temptation for me to explore. I was so excited and could not wait for visiting this beautiful country. Unfortunately, my dream was broken when I received the mail that BU cancelled the field trip to Brazil. How disappoint I was when I learned this news. I was so frustrated for this news but what can I do? I have to accept this fact. Fortunately, BU decided to let us continue to carry on this project. SO, despite the frustration, my team members continue working on the project to support our Brazil client. I believe that my Brazil customer is disappointed as well. Trust our following work will relieve both sides’ emotion.

Completing the impact investing transaction

By Emily

As metrics are becoming steadily more important with the growth of the impact investing sector, I wonder if the frameworks that currently exist are enough.

I was quick to categorize the social impact our client is creating as primarily environmental. As a solar panel installation company, it seemed intuitive to assume that providing clean energy was their most significant contribution. Yet per usual for most assumptions, this was incorrect. Our discussions with the client uncovered their true value is to the members of the favela they operate in. In providing solar panels, the client provides three critical resources to help improve these communities: the panels themselves which will save money on electric bills, jobs for community members to install the panels, and education opportunities for both adults and children.

Unlike environmental impact, it is much more challenging to measure this type of community impact. Across all the impact measurement frameworks we looked at for this project, I could not find a metric that fully encompassed what the client was doing for the community. As metrics are becoming steadily more important with the growth of the impact investing sector, I wonder if the frameworks that currently exist are enough. Further, even if the client determines a way to translate the community impact into a metric, which they have attempted to do, it becomes a number unique to the organization and likely not comparable across other businesses. While I think it is fabulous that traditional investors are starting to select investments that take on a social responsibility, I think the lack of standardized metrics that really encompass the social value of the organization presents a large hurdle.

In a similar vein, many of the standardized metrics that do exist are most impressive when their inputs include data over a longer period of time. For organizations such as our client, who is just starting to collect measurements, their metrics will look mediocre when up against organizations who have been doing this for years. I’m curious if impact investors will take this into consideration when making their investment decisions. Without a variable for the organization’s lifespan I feel these newer businesses will be overlooked. Therefore, they will not obtain the funding they need to create their proof of concept, regardless of the social impact it could create.

I want to believe that impact investing has the legs to carry social enterprises in achieving their mission. However, the work we completed for our client deliverable leads me to conclude that it may be a long time before we see this happen. Neither the organizations looking for funding nor the portfolio managers looking to invest really know what they need in order to complete this transaction. Until this changes, organizations, such as our client, will need to rely on government and private grants to support their operations. It will be interesting to see how these organizations straddle the line between traditional funding and the emerging impact investor audience.

How I can make an impact

By Abeba

[B]ecause our client has been truly interested and determined to make our project successful, it has helped me to get a clear idea of how I can make an impact.

I was excited to join the Social Impact MBA program because I appreciate the program’s aim to educate students about, “rigorous business skills in the service of positive social change”, as stated on the website. I knew the Social Impact program would help me become a socially responsible leader, one who is aware of opportunities and resources. This is important to me as I recognize that the world is becoming more and more connected as one community and what affects a small group will ultimately affect us all. I decided to apply for the Social Impact field course this year because I have always wanted to visit Brazil. My mother was in the Peace Corps over there and had told me many stories growing up. This was finally going to be my chance to experience everything I had been hearing about in her stories as well as practice the skills I had developed from the social impact course.

Over the past few months, my group has worked hard to use these tools to build a strong relationship with our client and to set attainable goals. We have made sure to involve the client every step of the way to ensure that the company is receiving the assistance they need. Having only worked in healthcare, I initially felt that I did not have much to contribute. However, because our client has been truly interested and determined to make our project successful, it has helped me to get a clear idea of how I can make an impact. Even though our trip has been canceled due to the coronavirus, the Brazil Social impact course has been a great learning experience for me.