In class I started making the chart of the stakeholders and what my product would do/effect them. (will update when complete) and i also get a chance to speak with Mary, who really opened my eye to maybe a new direction? I felt like the government and the traffickers would not give up this money making business (last year alone, human traffickers profited 32 BILLION dollars, that's more then Starbucks, Nike, Google's profit combined!) and why would they want to work with the NGO to distribute my product that might lower their profit. Mary said maybe to look at the issue's costs to the government, (sex slaves cost HIV, STDs to spread rapidly in a short amount of time) and try to convince the government that it is actually costing more in the long run (medical fees) .
Continuing on my week's research, after deciding on my targeted country and unsuccessful brainstorm sketches, I felt like maybe i had to even go narrower? so I researched about Cambodia and found a specific place in Cambodia -a garbage dump near the the Cambodia capital where Cambodians that can't find jobs in the city goes and survive by picking trash/ recycling, at this point I feel like i am dealing with poverty issue more then human trafficking and came up with the idea of maybe finding plants that can grow in the garbage dump to improve the people's life quality (80% of the children living in the garbage dump grow up extremely mal-nourished) and that would effect parent's decision on sending their children away?
After talking to Len, I found that my plant idea would be hard to work out and i should step back to look at what would actually make the parents not want to send their children away or educate the community by local plays/ cinema, whatever is accessible (back to the camera idea - educating through imagery / actual footage of the trafficked victims)
For next week-
I will be preparing for my pin up and revise my design ideas to be more appropriate.
4 comments:
OMG, Angela, the idea of using the sanitary napkin wrapper as a public service announcement is pretty astonishing. I have to go and read the rest. Be right back....
OK, I'm back. I read through everything. You are reaching in many directions at once, Angela, maybe because the problem that you are setting out to fix may not be easily fixable, otherwise it would be fixed already. Keep in mind that you are not responsible for solving the entire problem, just to make things a little better for a few people, and to push things forward a little. Product development is an evolutionary process, and change occurs incrementally.
I'm not sure why you are focusing only on impoverished people. Sex slavery and kidnapping for ransom happens with people who are middle class and who can afford to buy things. What if there was some kind of high-fashion accessory that would basically be permanently attached to a child. As long as the customer can afford to buy it, there are all kinds of things you can do. but if you are only working to help poor people, then you also have to convince the government or charities to help, and that's hard to do right now.
In general, I am in favor of developing products for which there is a customer in mind who is in a position to buy it. Otherwise you have to spend all your time begging someone to make it happen for you, and you lose control over the project. You will have better success if you drive the deal.
steven
:) ok keep me updated!
i have the email follow up comments
thanks
Angela
Dear SL,
Thank you for the insight of "Keep in mind that you are not responsible for solving the entire problem,just to make things a little better for a few people, and to push things forward a little. Product development is an evolutionary process, and change occurs incrementally. "
I am focusing on impoverished people because they are the most venerable one, in a way the one that needs help the most from my belief, i feel like i cannot solve the kidnapping part, but i've been realizing that EDUCATION is really the KEY component to solve/improve the situation.
Cambodia is such a poor country, (as you can see from my chart- 34.1 % of cambodians live on less than $1 a day, 77.7% of cambodians live on less than $2 a day) I don't think they can afford to buy any product.
However, i agree 100% with you especially after Carlos's talk that i should have strong reasons to convince the government/charities (important stakeholders) to support my project. i will work on a relationship chart of all the stakeholders related to my issue and product and update soon.
thanks so much to respond so fast!
Angela
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