Updates from the Final Stretch

Rebecca G-K - University of Michigan Ross School of Business and Medical School

It is hard to believe how fast the summer (or rather, winter here in the southern hemisphere) has flown by and I now find myself wrapping up loose ends to finish my project. The main goal of the internship was to work with Plan to develop a new approach to measuring the impact of their programs, with a specific focus on tracking gender equity initiatives. Until now, the organization has tracked, in addition to some qualitative interviews with participants, numbers: the number of workshops on early childhood facilitated with parents, the number of girls who were trained in digital advocacy, the number of community members who attended a community event. The question guiding our work this summer was: what good is it to reach thousands of girls if the programs aren’t changing their lives positively? We needed a systematic approach to approximate the effects on participants’ wellbeing.

We began by visiting Plan’s recently revised theory of change to map out the intended outcomes of Plan’s work. It was a complex undertaking because Plan has many different projects that take place in four different regions of the country and for youth ranging from ages 5 to 20. As is typical of many non-profit organizations, over time the programs shift and evolve based on the funding climate and specific interests of corporate sponsors. One of our main challenges in the beginning was deciding whether or not we could make one streamlined tool that could be applied to every Plan program. All of our iterations began with the three program areas of the new Plan strategy: Lead (advocacy and leadership skills), Thrive (preventing violence), and Decide (sexual and reproductive health); does each of these program areas deserve its own evaluation tool? After many discussions and literature searches, we decided to pare the tool down and collect data on the core outcomes that are shared among all of Plan’s work (such as self-efficacy and beliefs regarding gender equality).

This was only the beginning, however! The following weeks involved testing the survey questions to make sure participants would understand the questions as they were intended. We spent a lot of time breaking down words like “advocate” and defining exactly what would be considered “violence” or “harassment.” The final product is still a work in progress, as it will continually be improved with each cycle it is used. However, it represents a step forward in understanding the impact that Plan programs have on girls and their communities.

(I can't post photos from this process due to Plan's child protection policy, so I'll post some of my other activities below).

Design Thinking workshop with Plan 

Another highlight from the last month was a Design Thinking workshop, conducted by LiveWork Brazil, for the Plan team to develop several innovation projects that have been in the pipeline.

Essential tool of design thinking: Post-It notes
We even received tips on peeling post-its so they retain their "stick!" 

I was lucky enough to join Plan employees from different regional offices and functions, board members (one of whom, it turns out, is married to a Ross MBA alum!), and community members in a 2-day design extravaganza. Groups of 5-6 focused on a question related to an opportunity or challenge for Plan, and conducted interviews to gain new perspective. My favorite part of the workshop was brainstorming solutions using exercises like “How would the United Nations solve this problem? What about Disney? Google? What is the worst idea you can possibly come up with?”

Sharing our rapid-fire brainstorming ideas 

São Paulo - Worth a visit! 

This may be my last blog post before the summer comes to an end, and I would be remiss not to include a plug for visiting São Paulo. Sao Paulo is often skipped over by tourists, on their way to Rio or Iguazu Falls, and underappreciated by business travelers. The city gets a bad rap for being a concrete jungle, with high-rise buildings as far as the eye can see stretching out in every direction. However, it is a bustling, vibrant, diverse megacity  that can somehow feel like a friendly small town despite its population of 12 million. A few reasons to visit:

On Sundays, the a main street is closed to cars and filled with street artists, food stands, and families strolling. 

A free music show at a photography museum downtown 

An early 5:30pm sunset on Paulista Avenue 

Dumplings at the Liberdade Sunday market. Liberdade neighborhood is home to the largest Japanese population outside of Japan

Quintessential São Paulo is sitting at a sidewalk table at a "boteco" diner-like restaurant with friends and ordering manioc fries or fried cheese snacks and ice-cold drinks

Ibirapuera Park is where families congregate on Sundays to picnic and exercise

Impressive samba moves

If you like jazz or bossa nova music, give samba a listen! This is a song by Moacyr Luz and Wilson das Neves, performed by Chico Aguiar Médico.

Listening to samba music with full participation of the crowd: an unforgettable experience 

A Day in the Life: Brazil edition

Rebecca G-K  -  University of Michigan Ross School of Business and Medical School

I was inspired by Chris Owen's Day in the Life post in Madurai. Here is a photo diary of a typical day here in Brazil. 

7:30am: leave my apartment.

7:45am: Fruit vendors in the street

The Sao Paulo metro gets packed at rush hour, but trains come every 90 seconds and monitors in the station include a chart estimating the capacity of each car.

The crowded commute was one of the biggest adjustments for me. It is a far cry from my commute last year- walking down State Street in Ann Arbor!

After the metro, I get on the commuter train.

8:20am: arrive in the neighborhood Morumbi, where the Plan offices are located.

8:30am: Time to get to work! 

10am: Essential Brazilian snack: pão de queijo! This is a type of bread made of cassava flour and a particular type of Brazilian cheese from the state of Minas Gerais. 

I have participated in several workshops on gender equality with Plan over the summer. In this one, we were brainstorming ways Plan could adapt its policies to accommodate its diverse employees.

1pm: Walking to a lunch buffet spot with a coworker. No matter how busy, Brazilians always take time for lunch! They usually break for at least 1 hour and have a full meal of rice, beans, and meat. They are horrified when I want to eat a sandwich in front of my computer.

2pm: Take a taxi to the Plan program office on the outskirts of Sao Paulo in order to interview participants in Plan programs.

One of the many posters at the Plan office: this one explains gender identify.

Defining misogyny: posters that teenagers in a Plan program made.

5:20pm: Crowded transfer on the commute back home. Go with the flow!

7pm: Most nights I make beans and rice for dinner, but occasionally will go out to try a restaurant. These are chilean empanadas from a famous cafe called La Guapa.

7:30: Evening walk. Sao Paulo is not a conventionally beautiful city, but there is wonderful street art like this mural

8pm: Concentrating hard on the beat! Here I am taking a Brazilian drum lesson.

9pm: After my lesson, it's time for the professionals to play samba!

Planning the future of Plan International Brazil

Rebecca G-K  -  University of Michigan Ross School of Business and Medical School

Last week, I had the wonderful opportunity to join the Plan International Brazil leadership team on a strategy planning retreat. The retreat took place in a city 75km from São Paulo at a former orphanage that was run by one of Plan's partner organizations. The organization has now turned the campus into lodging and meeting space for retreats and conferences. It provided the perfect, peaceful setting to focus on long days of planning the future of Plan Brazil.

Retreat grounds with city of Poá in the background

The goal of the retreat was to determine how to align the on-the-ground activities with the new strategy of Plan’s programs. The organization recently decided to focus its work on promoting girls’ rights and equality for girls. Plan has over 20 years of experience advocating for children’s rights in Brazil, but started programs specific to gender equality just in 2012. With leaders from every program unit in various states and managers from the national office, we discussed the details of how to achieve Plan Brazil’s new vision of “a fair and just Brazil for all girls.”

"Girls and boys have the same rights" - from a collection of Plan stickers

Walking through the new strategy piece by piece

One of the challenges we discussed in attaining Brazil’s vision is resistance or push back from community members and community organizations regarding the focus on gender. Plan works in rural cities where gender roles tend to be rigid and many girls stop studying in middle or high school to help with housework at home. One of the core goals of Plan is to change social norms around gender roles, increasing the number of young women who obtain secondary and higher education. Plan includes fathers and mothers in activities to help girls challenge gender roles at home, in addition to reaching out to community leaders and policymakers. It was encouraging to see a report come out during the retreat from the World Bank titled “The High Cost of Not Educating Girls.” The data show that girls who complete secondary education can expect to earn twice as much as those with no education; studies like this can help get community leaders on board with Plan’s mission.

Working hard on setting realistic goals for the next 5 years

Selfie break

Work groups finalizing KPIs for the next strategic cycle

The CEO arranged for a morning of team-building activities with an outside consultant. One of the highlights was an exercise in which the group was divided into three groups and tasked with putting together an “evening news program” to present. Each group presented the perspective of either Plan staff, Plan leadership, or Plan clients in a 5-minute skit. During the debrief, the facilitator explained that parody and humor is a powerful tool in helping an organization reflect on its strengths and weaknesses. He noted that important issues surfaced in our hyberbolic skits that likely would not have been brought up in a more serious discussion. I thought this was an entertaining and useful activity to bring to future teams and organizations. It was also my debut acting in Portuguese; I was awarded “Best Actress"--  I think to compensate for the entire staff laughing at my Portuguese!

One delightful thing about Brazil: there is cake and coffee at most meetings!

Plotting our evening news broadcast

After 3 long days that were both exhausting and energizing, we came back to São Paulo with new ideas, friendships, and a clear vision for working towards a fair and just Brazil for all girls.

Beautiful sunset lighting up Poá in the distance

A Day in the Life

Chris Owen - Ross School of Business and School for Environment and Sustainability

No morning alarm needed here in Madurai. Prayers are projected from a nearby temple via loudspeaker at four-thirty every morning. A street sweeper with bells on his broom acts as my 5am snooze button. And of course, the cacophony of beeps and bells, horns and honks by motos, bikes, and buses begins at six—a definitive dream crusher. Night owls have no hope here.

After a morning meeting or two via BlueJeans on side projects that are progressing stateside, I depart for the gym where I’m welcomed by Justin Bieber. “Let Me Love You” and “Despacito” are my fitness instructor’s favorite songs. He's had them on repeat for the past month and I secretly approve. After emerging from the sweatbox, breakfast is up one floor at “Temple City Family Restaurant.” Idly, dosa, vada, chutney, and Pongal complete the palate—South Indian food that’s both flavorful and fun to eat with your hands. I’m free entertainment for the wait staff who enjoy watching my unorthodox “shovel ‘n thrust technique.” I also have the dubious distinction of being the first person they've ever seen who's attempted to eat a soup with his fingers.

Off to work at 9am. I carpool with my neighbor, The Marvelous Mr. Selva. Despite the short distance, the commute always proves adventurous or, more accurately, treacherous. If a cat has 9 lives, everyone here has 900. My office is a glass palace—the home residence of the Chairman, a guru and gifted visionary. From nine to six I work on my core project and one of the Chairman’s top priorities—creating a coaching program for entrepreneurs in emerging economies. At 5:55 pm, as the sun slowly dips, the security guard kindly slips into my office to turn on my lights. At 6 pm, I kindly turn them off, pack my things, and depart for home.

I choose to walk home in order to stretch my legs and because nothing beats the thrill of a nightly near-death experience. Might is right on the roads in Madurai where pedestrians rank just above bugs on the commuter hierarchy scale. For dinner, I stuff as many mangoes in my face as humanly possible while squishing mosquitos so I don’t have to sleep with them. A little reading before bed, then repeat Monday through Saturday. Sundays are for letter writing (my favorite 19th century hobby), church (in Tamil), Bollywood flicks (“3 Idiots” is a must-see modern classic), and daydreaming of Culver’s Beef Butterburgers (something I must never admit aloud).

Parting Shot: The best part of my internship is the balance between autonomy and support from my project partner.

Pictures Below: 1. The glass palace. 2. South Indian breakfast. 3. My mustache (which I promptly shaved off despite it being the predominant style in India)

About the Author: Chris Owen is a rising second-year dual-degree student with the Ross School of Business and the School for Environment and Sustainability at the University of Michigan. He is passionate about social entrepreneurship, sustainability, and people strategy. He joins the 2018 WDI Global Impact Fellows program after serving for three years in Ecuador with the U.S. Peace Corps, first as a business consultant in the natural resource conservation program and then as a Regional Volunteer Leader.