Continuing Understanding and Implementation of Accompaniment Strategies - PIH (Spring 2018)

Client Profile

Partners In Health (PIH) is an NGO that was founded on the principle of a preferential option of the poor in healthcare. Headquartered in Boston, the organization originally developed as a single community health project in Haiti, and has since expanded throughout Haiti and into a dozen other countries including Peru, Russia, and Mexico. PIH works in partnership with governments and local communities in each of these countries. The main goals of the organization are to provide healthcare to those most in need, to work to alleviate the causes of disease, and to share the ideas and lessons learned. 

Definition of Problem

 One of PIH’s key ideas is an approach to service through the model of accompaniment. The accompaniment approach to aid delivery is based on pragmatic solidarity with the poor.  It proposes to build long-term relationships and mandates walking side by side in partnership rather than leading.  This accompaniment model informs all of PIH's work; however, many within the organization of some 12,000 people are not terribly familiar with the accompaniment concept, and even among those who are familiar, most lack a deeper and more meaningful understanding of the idea of accompaniment and its applications to their work and lives.

Initial Ideas & Options

We will begin by working closely with the PIH Director of Human Resources in Boston, Cynthia Maltbie, and the Director of Clinical Practice and Quality Improvement, Anatole Manzi. This project proposes to organize the existing work that has been done on accompaniment training, and explore how it might be best utilized within PIH, especially in the relationships between the staff in the headquarters in Boston in partnership with those in the field.

Definition of Success

Refine and engage effective training/dialogue materials and other ways of engaging the PIH community on the understanding and use of the concept of accompaniment in all their work.

 

Development Team

Improving literacy outcomes in rural schools in Haiti - ACE (Fall 2015)

Client Profile

The Alliance for Catholic Education has been working closely with the Congregation of Holy Cross in Haiti (CSC Haiti) since 2011. CSC Haiti runs two flagship K-12 schools in Haiti in Cap-Haitien and Port-au-Prince and also has a network of 20 additional rural, under-resourced schools in the Northern and Southern regions of the country. CSC Haiti wants to improve the quality of education in these rural schools, where access to resources and quality teaching staff is a challenge due to the schools’ remote location and inability to adequately compensate faculty and staff. ACE in Haiti has made it a strategic priority to work alongside CSC Haiti to improve the quality of education in these rural schools.

See all Development Advisory Team projects with ACE

Definition of Problem

Rural and under-resourced CSC schools in Haiti face many challenges that drastically limit the quality of education students receive.  Some of the significant challenges include: limited training for teachers, extremely limited access to texts and instructional materials for both students and teachers, and limited use of native-language instruction. One of the most pressing challenges is ensuring that all students become proficient readers with strong comprehension in early grades. Literacy achievement in the early grades is the foundation of all other learning and is highly correlated with lifelong educational attainment. Forty-nine percent of Haitian students cannot read a single word when they enter the third grade, with devastating life outcomes (Gove 2010; USAID 2012).  To address teacher quality, the importance of native-language literacy development, and the pervasive need for quality instructional materials, USAID and others have developed relatively low-cost, scripted programs.  One program, ToTAL, is being used in some under-resourced Haitian schools to teach students basic phonemic awareness, decoding, and fluency skills in Haitian Kreyol with a transition into French. The program addresses early grade instruction in students’ native language to build a foundation for literacy with a transition into French instruction.

 ACE would like a DAT to help with the following questions:

1. What are the most promising education programs that aim to improve literacy outcomes for all students in highly under-resourced developing counties (e.g. Africa, India, Latin America)?  Do these programs include native-language instruction?
2. How are teachers with relatively low literacy levels trained to implement the identified education programs?
3. How do these programs train teachers and provide coaching and/or ongoing support?
4. What are innovative approaches showing success in addressing early grade literacy gaps, such as access to texts, pre-literacy skills, instructional quality, parent engagement, and other related issues?

Initial Steps and Options

1. Identify effective literacy intervention models of relevance (literacy programs that include teacher training) in other development context countries (or in Haiti).  Identify what these programs have in common and key variations, including funding, evaluation, and cost per student or school.
2. Identify how teachers were trained to participate in the promising programs and the level of ongoing support teachers received.
3. Learn more about what the World Vision working group mini-grants are researching on innovations in early grade literacy.

Definition of Success

ACE would like Development Advisory Team to produce  a report on innovative programs that have impacted early grades literacy skills for under-resourced school populations, including information on how teachers were trained and supported by the program.  These case studies will serve as potential models and thought partners for ACE Haiti’s ongoing work to significantly improve the quality of literacy education for students in highly under-resourced CSC schools.

Recommendation

Presentation

                                                                   Report

Sustainable Housing Projects- Engineering2Empower (Fall 2014)

Client Profile

Engineering2Empower (E2E) seeks to overcome the challenges of establishing safe and affordable permanent housing in the developing world. Limited financial resources, the absence of codes and standards, and poor quality control currently govern these housing sectors. E2E’s current focus is on Haiti, where more than three years after the devastating 2010 earthquake, the majority of displaced families are still in transitional shelters, looking for permanent housing they can call “home”. Forced evictions have disbanded many of the camp settlements, leaving most to vie on their own for housing.

E2E has formulated an innovative approach to navigate the aforementioned constraints, and ultimately support self-financed recovery in the residential housing sector. The E2E model fundamentally shifts the structural system used in residential construction from the established masonry system toward a frame and panel system. Through this approach, the limited resources available to Haitian families are engineered into a U.S. code compliant concrete frame (“skeleton” of structure), while lightweight concrete panels are then introduced to simply enclose and partition the home (“skin” of the structure). The level of safety against earthquakes and hurricanes is drastically increased, but the cost, materials, and skill sets required remain exactly the same as the current model.

Through other innovations, such as customizable payment plans, prefabricated components, and standardized designs, E2E is additionally able to deliver the model through locally operated businesses. Unlike other developing world housing solutions, E2E is able to supply safe, affordable homes in a culturally appropriate and financially sustainable way, solely dependent on existing skill sets and locally available materials.

See all Development Advisory Team projects with Engineering2Empower

Definition of Problem

To date, there are few permanent housing program models for the developing world that do not resemble the “volunteer model” – aka a team of builders donates money, makes a trip, and contributes labor towards construction. E2E is interested in creating a model that engages partners and donors while also meeting its commitment to empowering a local housing market. One potential solution is an advocacy trip model, where partners and donors are engaged through exposure, and not labor. In reference to this question, E2E would like to explore the experience of leading development organizations (CARE, PIH, Oxfam, etc.) that are sophisticated about engaging partners in their project work. We would be interested in better understanding the different models of engagement, including the costs of advocacy trips and fundraising and their return on investment for use in programming, as well as how this type of program might most effectively advance E2E’s commitment to empowerment.

Initial Steps and Options

• Work closely with Dustin Mix in Haiti, as well as advisors Erik Jensen and Kevin Fink (who are in the master’s program in civil engineering at ND) to define more clearly the project and proposed outcome.
• Identify the list of development organizations that are most effective at using partner and donor advocacy trips.

Definition of Success

A clear analysis on the value, opportunities, and risks of developing a partner and donor advocacy trip strategy (including different approaches), with concrete and operational recommendations. This will include an analysis of other similar programs, including the cost of fundraising, trips, and the return on those investments in terms of program funding.

Recommendations

Presentation

Report

Development Advisory Team Biographies

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Sustainable Housing Projects - Engineering2Empower (Spring 2014)

Client Profile 

Engineering2Empower (E2E) seeks to overcome the challenges of establishing safe and affordable permanent housing in the developing world. Limited financial resources, the absence of codes and standards, and poor quality control currently govern these housing sectors. E2E’s current focus is on Haiti, where more than three years after the devastating 2010 earthquake, the majority of displaced families are still in transitional shelters, looking for permanent housing they can call “home”. Forced evictions have disbanded many of the camp settlements, leaving most to vie on their own for housing.

E2E has formulated an innovative approach to navigate the aforementioned constraints, and ultimately support self-financed recovery in the residential housing sector. The E2E model fundamentally shifts the structural system used in residential construction from the established masonry system toward a frame and panel system. Through this approach, the limited resources available to Haitian families are engineered into a U.S. code compliant concrete frame (“skeleton” of structure), while lightweight concrete panels are then introduced to simply enclose and partition the home (“skin” of the structure). The level of safety against earthquakes and hurricanes is drastically increased, but the cost, materials, and skill sets required remain exactly the same as the current model.

Through other innovations, such as customizable payment plans, prefabricated components, and standardized designs, E2E is additionally able to deliver the model through locally operated businesses. Unlike other developing world housing solutions, E2E is able to supply safe, affordable homes in a culturally appropriate and financially sustainable way, solely dependent on existing skill sets and locally available materials.

See all Development Advisory Team projects with Engineering2Empower

Recommendation

Development Advisory Team Biographies

Sustainable Housing Projects - Engineering2Empower (Fall 2013)

Client Profile

Engineering2Empower (E2E) seeks to overcome the challenges of establishing safe and affordable permanent housing in the developing world. Limited financial resources, the absence of codes and standards, and poor quality control currently govern these housing sectors. E2E’s current focus is on Haiti, where more than three years after the devastating 2010 earthquake, the majority of displaced families are still in transitional shelters, looking for permanent housing they can call “home”. Forced evictions have disbanded many of the camp settlements, leaving most to vie on their own for housing.

E2E has formulated an innovative approach to navigate the aforementioned constraints, and ultimately support self-financed recovery in the residential housing sector. The E2E model fundamentally shifts the structural system used in residential construction from the established masonry system toward a frame and panel system. Through this approach, the limited resources available to Haitian families are engineered into a U.S. code compliant concrete frame (“skeleton” of structure), while lightweight concrete panels are then introduced to simply enclose and partition the home (“skin” of the structure). The level of safety against earthquakes and hurricanes is drastically increased, but the cost, materials, and skill sets required remain exactly the same as the current model.

Through other innovations, such as customizable payment plans, prefabricated components, and standardized designs, E2E is additionally able to deliver the model through locally operated businesses. Unlike other developing world housing solutions, E2E is able to supply safe, affordable homes in a culturally appropriate and financially sustainable way, solely dependent on existing skill sets and locally available materials.

See all Development Advisory Team projects with Engineering2Empower

Definition of Problem

A cornerstone of E2E’s approach is leveraging personal savings for financing the purchase of a home. An effective way to do this in other parts of the world, and for other purposes, is through savings groups. These savings groups not only leverage personal savings, but also combined group savings, to provide individuals with the capital they need to make important, impactful purchases. However, there are many intricacies to the operation and structure of these groups. Who collects, manages, and bears liability for the funds are all key questions, along with determining the order by which members of the groups receive the aggregated funds. The success of E2E is dependent on making these savings groups function effectively and efficiently, and ultimately making them a trustworthy institution to the community.

Initial Steps and Options

Given the importance of the organizational structure of the savings groups, E2E has a few vital questions that could be explored:

1. How are participants for a savings group chosen, and what is the method by which they are grouped together?
2. Once in a savings group, who manages the group? How is that person(s) chosen? Does it have to be a member of the group, or can/should it be an outside party (e.g., an E2E employee)?
3. How does money actually flow through the group? Who collects it? How often is it collected? Who/where is the money stored before it is disbursed? Who disburses the money?
4. How is the money disbursed back to the individual group members? Does it have to be, or can it flow right to E2E? How is the order of recipients chosen within the group?
5. What are the repercussions or incentive structures used to ensure that participants contribute regularly and on time?
6. Are there examples in other countries of successful housing policies that support just these models for individual savings initiatives?

An interesting approach to this project might be to survey the answers to the questions throughout other organizations and locations, and then work to propose a small-scale pilot program that E2E can test. This pilot would include a small number of savings groups/participants, with the goal of savings towards an item that could be purchased within a few months (with a year being the maximum). The selection of this item would also be an important aspect of the pilot (as E2E would not want to pilot an entire home because of the duration it would take to finish).