Check out our Proposal!
Weekly Objectives and Achievements
As the weeks progress, we learned more about our project and began to identify more issues which need to be tackled. In keeping ourselves on track with a busy schedule, we found that outlining our weekly objectives and accomplishments helps our team function more systematically. The outline will not only help us focus on what needs to be done, but it will also serve as a reminder of how far we have come.
What it’s like to represent an herb’s life?
As temporary ambassadors of the herb gardens, our team felt a sense of responsibility to be able to put these gardens to their fullest potential. We were so excited about the project and came up with a variety of ideas that we thought would be very helpful in bringing awareness to the herb gardens. Having proposed those ideas to Joey, she seemed enthusiastic about it, but also reminded us of the limited time and resources that we have. Joey suggested us to narrow down our options into ones that would be the most effective and feasible to be carried out in the period of time that we have. Although we felt discouraged by the fact that we will not be able to turn all of the ideas into actions, we were glad to have discussed and clarified the best approach that we should be aiming for.
What We can Do Now
After creating our proposal, we had our second meeting with Joey. Due to her busy schedule, we only had a very short period of time to go through all our proposed ideas to her. Although most of our ideas were discussed and debated, we understood that the most important part of the project is the communication between our group and our community partner. As Ernesto Sirolli has mentioned in his TED talk, “Want to help someone? Shut up and Listen!” (2012), we should listen to the community members to make sure the project is bringing positive impacts to the community’s development.
Despite the little time we had during the meeting with Joey, she continued to give us new insights regarding GNH and our project. The more we exchanged ideas with her, the more we felt encouraged and excited about our project. With the support and encouragement from our community partner, we will strive to complete our project successfully and we hope to leave a footprint for the GNH to grow upon.
For the Road Ahead
During the process of our project, we could possibly improve it by having more frequent communications with our community partner in order to have a deeper understanding of the neighbourhood. Also, before progressing through our project, it is crucial to communicate with our community partner to make sure our plan is achievable. We are also currently waiting for the feedbacks from the herb gardens’ volunteers. Meanwhile, we plan to conduct some research on the appropriate methods for trimming and harvesting herbs. In order to demonstrate the proper interactions with herbs to the community members, we first have to learn the methods ourselves. Additionally, we plan to serve the passersby some herb teas while connecting with them near the herb boxes. This will not only allow the community to learn how herbs can be incorporated into their daily diet, but it can also serve as attraction to make the herb box stations more appealing and noticeable.
Due to the scale of our project, we are expecting some bumps ahead of the road. However, these upcoming problems should not be seen negatively as Tim Harford (2015) explains in his TED talk, “How messy problems can inspire creativity”. Harford believes that a little unpredictability and changeability early on will reduce the chance of problems during the final stages. Together as a group we are looking to take on these upcoming problems that we will be faced with, head on and use our communication abilities to assist us.
Upcoming objectives
In our second meeting, we were able to gain insights on what Joey thinks about our proposed ideas. Having clarified our focus, we plan to achieve the following objectives in the upcoming weeks:
- Design a poster showcasing the proper way to trim or harvest the plants
- Connect with the community and gain information about their awareness on the herb boxes
- Create a poster showing the types of herbs that are present in each herb box and ways to incorporate them into different dishes
- Send out survey questions to the volunteers tending the garden to find out how the community interact with the herb boxes
In order to achieve the objectives mentioned above, we have come up with the following strategies:
- Research on the proper way to trim herbs from plants and create a poster through the use of computer softwares such as Photoshop
- Visit three different herb boxes with different kinds of traffic and talk to people walking pass the herb boxes
- Identify the types of herbs located in different herb boxes through the information given by Joey and research on their uses as well as benefits
- Revise and finalize the survey questions based on the suggestions given by Joey
This list of objectives and strategies allows us to manage our time and work efficiently throughout the following weeks. This also enables each person in the group to tackle different tasks based on our personal strengths. It is expected that we will face more difficulties later in the term, but we hope that our group will be able to overcome the challenges ahead through effective communication.
References
Siroli, E. (2012, November 26). Want to help someone? Shut up and listen! [Video file]. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=chXsLtHqfdM
Harford, T. (2016). How messy problems can inspire creativity. [Video file]. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jd_j_kw_jZQ