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 

Personal Development Week at EBC

Nadia Putri - Ross School of Business

When EBC's General Manager asked me to organize training for recently-promoted supervisors during the rest of my time in Desa Ban, I was perplexed. What should I talk about and share with them in 10 days straight?!

The objective of her request was to get the employees used to the idea of strategic thinking, effective discussions, etc. Most of them came from the lowest level of employment at EBC. Some started the job not knowing how to use computers and now have to process data in Excel. They were hired for manual labor, paid by the kilograms or daily. Thus, it is a challenge to switch from an output-oriented work mindset to a more strategic work mindset. We hope to embed in their minds that they have bigger responsibility now, which is to coordinate, collaborate, and work across departments.

Considering all of these and after brainstorming with the head of people operations at EBC, I designed a one-week program called "Personal Development Week" for ~15 supervisor-level employees, including factory supervisors to headmaster of EBC's preschool. With "action-based learning" in mind, I created training-workshop program. Training is when I presented some tools related to the topic, whereas workshop is a stage for them to put these tools into practice.

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Training & Workshop 1: Public Speaking & Feedback Giving

In the first training set, I shared some tools on how to present your thoughts/ideas in a structured manner and deliver constructive criticism that provides learning insights for the recipients. During workshop the next day, I asked them to present a work problem that they're facing in front of their peers for 3 minutes. Their peers, in turn, provided feedback on their performance.

Whenever I bumped into them in the hallway, they would come up to me saying they're "very nervous about tomorrow's speech". I took every opportunity to remind them that this is just to increase their confidence, get them used to speak in front of a big group, and gain feedback from the audience. It's not to criticize or show their flaws, but to keep practicing!

Rinna Kustiana explained problem she's facing in her department

At the end of the workshop, one of them asked "when's the next time we do this again?"

Training & Workshop 2: Problem Solving & Effective Team Discussion

In the following training set, I partnered with one employee from people operations to present the material. He presented how to do critical problem solving and how to navigate teams with different POVs. We picked two best presenters from public speaking workshop, split the audience into 2 random groups, and assigned them with one of the best presenters' problems. During the workshop, we let them work in their respective team to brainstorm, discuss, and come up with recommendations to solve the problem.

Team 2 during problem solving workshop at factory's gazebo, surrounded by lush scenery

We gave them 1 hour to meet, yet we went a bit over because the discussion was so fun and insightful!

Training & Workshop 3: Presenting with Visual Tools

Finally, the last set of the training should put a bow on this one-week program. I shared some tips and tools to structure and design slide deck using PowerPoint. On the final training day, they will work in teams to create their slide deck, present their findings to the other team, and critique each other's recommendations! This final day serves as an opportunity to showcase everything they have learned this week.

Team 1 creating their slide deck to present their recommendations for AnaKardia preschool

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I was nervous about how this one-week program will turn out. It's never done before at EBC, especially since the employees have to take some time off work to attend a class every single day. But, this pilot training received very positive feedback! Post-training survey says that they wished they had more time during the training/workshop, and would like to join more similar training in the future

I was not expecting a major shift in the training participants only after attending a one-week training. I wanted them to experience and most importantly: enjoy the learning process, and luckily this mission was accomplished. I hope this training will continue and can be opened to a wider audience at the factory.

As the old saying goes, Rome was not built in a day. But I'm glad I took part in laying the foundation of something great in Desa Ban, East Bali.

Training participants and I at the end of our last workshop

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

Measuring the impact of gender-equality programs in Brazil

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

I am thrilled to be a WDI fellow this summer working with Plan International Brazil. Plan international is a global development organization with a focus on the health, safety, and education of children. The organization was founded in 1937 and is now active in 70 countries. Programs in Brazil began in 1997 and are headquartered in São Paulo, with program offices throughout northeast Brazil where poverty rates are highest. In the remote northern state of Maranhão, the average per capita monthly income is $157, less than half of Brazil’s national average.

Local street market in São Paulo 

In recent years, Plan Brazil has shifted its program focus to gender equality; the current programs are designed to reduce gender-based violence, promote reproductive health and healthy relationships, and advance female leadership and representation in Brazilian society and politics. Child marriage is a particular problem in Brazil. Brazil ranks 4th in the world for absolute number of married or cohabiting girls under age 15. Brazil ranks 4th in the world for absolute number of women who gave birth by age 18, following India, Bangladesh and Nigeria.  A recent study by Plan and Promundo found that the high rate of child marriage in Northeast Brazil is closely associated with unplanned adolescent pregnancy, interpersonal violence, limited economic opportunities for girls, and social beliefs about gender. Plan notes that its work is especially crucial in a climate of reduced federal support for reducing gender-based violence; the funds for tackling violence and promoting women’s equality were reduced by 74% in this year’s federal budget.

Plan Brazil implements numerous interventions with young boys and girls. One of their flagship programs is a female football league, in which girls learn to challenge gender stereotypes and occupy social spaces traditionally dominated by boys. Other programs train adolescents to teach their peers about reproductive health, teach young children how to protect themselves against child abuse, and enroll young women in an extracurricular Leadership School with modules on human rights and political participation. To learn more, check out this video.

My project this summer is focused on performance measurement. Before arriving in Brazil, I spent one week at the WDI office preparing and learning a ton about social impact measurement from the brilliant Performance Measurement Initiative team. I’ll be working with the Plan team to analyze their current monitoring and evaluation practices and launch a new methodology in order to capture the social impact that Plan’s work aims to achieve. I’ll also be collaborating with the finance team on a cost analysis project. 

Flag on a car's side-mirror: World Cup spirit is everywhere! 

Outside of work-related news, this week Brazil played its third match in the World Cup. The streets are all decorated for the world cup with brazilian flag banners and street art. The entire country pauses business to watch the matches! The Plan office did not even open until after the 9:00am game today so that everyone could watch. It was a tense game, with Brazil tied against Costa Rica 0:0 up through the last few minutes of the game. Then Brazil scored 2 goals for a victory! The streets erupted with firecrackers and vuvuzela horns. You can root along for Brazil next Wednesday as they play their next game!