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SECIP was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for me. I had never imagined that I would learn so much in just 10 days. This intensive program was designed in a way whereby students could get theoretical as well as practical knowledge hand in hand. SECIP has not only given me knowledge that I am using right now (and the knowledge that I'll definitely use in the future) but also made me an overall better, more critical 'environmentalist'. During week 1, we were introduced to the challenges in the Indo-Pacific through panel discussions. We had 5 people coming from different parts of the world, who explained to us how they worked with the people of the society, to identify and solve the issues in the community. They also talked about the challenges they faced (both with the people not wanting to work and adapt to the solution, and other problems like the COVID-19 pandemic). We also learned design thinking (problem framing) - identifying a problem statement. The concept behind this was to explore and talk to the people regarding the challenges they face. One thing that stood out to me was the fact that we had to understand the problem and its requirements with the larger open source community, and in order to do this, we had to identify and answer the questions who, what, and why. What is the issue? Who is the person/ are the people facing this issue? Why are these people facing this issue? Once this was decided, we had to come up with a problem statement clearly and profoundly mentioning these three things. Next, we had to brainstorm and paper prototype. To correctly do this, we had to empathize and understand the user needs and obtain user feedback.
An example of design thinking was when these ladies in rural India had to walk (while holding heavy metal pots on their heads) from their homes all the way to a lake/ river in order to collect water, and back.
We found a problem that people in the community were facing and we made a problem statement.
In order to solve this issue, people built a well near the ladies' homes so that they didn't have to travel so far everyday. However, they didn't use the wells, and continued to go all the way to the lake. When asked why, they said that this was the only time they could socialize with each other.
Through this, we learned that we needed to empathize with our users and ask for their feedback. We learned not to assume the problems and to actually communicate to get first-hand information from people facing that challenge.
After getting the user feedback, the social entrepreneurs came up with this 'rolling tank' solution. The ladies didn't have to struggle holding the metal pots on their heads, and at the same time could socialize with each other.
After they got user feedback, they were able to solve the particular problem that people in the community were facing.
The discussions I’ve had with my teammates during team meetings have demonstrated how to engage with others in good intellectual discussion and how a single problem can be approached and analyzed from a variety of angles with different perspectives.
When my team and I first got together, we all had different cultural backgrounds, and therefore had differing environmental challenges that we wanted to focus on; including water and waste management. We all tried convincing each other why the team should work on that particular issue. Eventually, we all voted for effective and efficient waste management. In order to frame our problem statement, we had to narrow down on an area to focus on, and since we had a teammate residing in Lucknow, we chose it. She said that there exist numerous people who just dump garbage anywhere without really looking for a trash can and caring about the environment. Together, we were also able to answer the 'why' part. Even though we had all the answers, developing and coming up with a good problem statement was difficult, but we managed. We were all excited to be working on solving this issue as a team.
When we had to prototype individually, one member made a trashbin, another did origami with waste, and I designed an app. When we all came together to show each other our prototypes, we all loved the app idea and chose to develop it further. Working with our mentor, we got the idea to design our app with similar functionality to that of Uber.
I really enjoyed the session by Mr. Deepesh Pancholi as he made me view particular things from different perspectives. I loved the creative ways through which you can make various things out of one thing. Suddenly, I started viewing things from different angles and my brain started functioning in ways I hadn't imagined before.
This is a really cool innovation for people who can't afford proper wheelchairs. Plastic chairs are easily available and affordable. I had never thought that we could turn plastic chairs into wheelchairs.
This is a really cool innovation for people who can't afford proper wheelchairs. Plastic chairs are easily available and affordable. I had never thought that we could turn plastic chairs into wheelchairs.
This innovation was meaningful to me as it taught me how we can use our creativity and innovative minds to turn simple things into more useful and meaningful things that can help people in various ways. Now that I look at this innovation, I can easily see more things that can be made out of a simple chair.
This was a 'jugaad' I found particularly useful. People sitting in two different rooms are able to share the same cooler without fighting who should get it.
This was a 'jugaad' I found particularly useful. People sitting in two different rooms are able to share the same cooler without fighting who should get it.
This was meaningful to me as when I went to India for vacations, my entire family had to squeeze into one room so that we could escape the heat. It was difficult and frustrating being around so many people in the same room. This innovation seems like a perfect fit for the issue we faced during the summers of India.
Every day was a new day and every day, I had an AHA moment. Some of the skills I learned throughout the program that will stay with me lifelong include design thinking - problem framing, how to do an effective user research and user testing plan, and frugal innovation. As I am majoring in BBA Hons, I am sure all the skills and knowledge obtained will be crucial in my entire life. My experience at SECIP has been an enriching one and has prepared me both professionally and personally.
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