Introduction:

“1.3 billion tons of all food produced in the world is lost in the production cycle or wasted” – Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO)

The FAO mentions this staggering statistic, one that rarely considered. With our project, we aim to lower make a difference with this stuatistic, where more food is used for human consumption over being thrown away due to spoilage. Over the past few weeks, our group has worked towards and gained more clarity regarding the goals of our project and the expectations through research and our community partner. As a group, this has enabled us to successfully complete our project proposal, an immense achievement for us. We look forward to moving onto the next step, where we begin with our research and data collection. Through this step, we will begin to formulate some of the answers to our inquiry questions as well as the some solutions to the overall purpose of our project: supplying low-cost, low-tech solutions to the Punjab region of Pakistan.

Our project proposal can be seen here.

Objectives & Achievements:

Week	Objectives	Achievements
1 (January 16th – January 22nd)	Start working on blog post number 1 Organize who will be working on what aspect of the blog post. Contact our community partner to set up a meeting Research LET’S and learn about their mission and aims Brainstorm any questions we have about the community organization and project. Propose the critical thinking questions.	Had our first group meeting Introduced ourselves and began assigning different roles to each group member. In our group meeting we started a Facebook group in order to have a more efficient medium of contact. We began brainstorming ideas about our group interests and what we wish to gain from in LFS 350. Came up with questions we had regarding LET’S and our community partner. We emailed Saadan Sulehri to organize meeting in order to become more familiar with LET’s as well as the specific outcomes and expectations of our projects. Began research on our topic, starting with agricultural status, climate conditions, storage methods, government regulations, etc. for both Pakistan and Uganda.
2 (January 23rd – January 29th)	Meet with our community partner. Edit first blog posting for submission.	Our group met with Saadan Sulehri, our community partner, on January 23rd. In this meeting we established the expectations for our project. We narrowed down our focus from Pakistan and Uganda to the Punjab region of Pakistan. We answered all lingering questions that were not answered from research. Submitted first blog post on January 27th.
3 (January 30th – February 5th)	Revise first blog post. Distribute roles for writing up the proposal. Each group member finish Tutorial Course on Research Ethics.	Submitted revised blog post. Distributed roles for proposal and begin draft. Submitted individual Tutorial Course on Research Ethics certificates on connect. Completed first draft of proposal for revision.
4 (February 6th – February 12th)	Get started on second blog post. Amend any errors on proposal as per instructor feedback	Alter proposal as per instructor suggestions. Submit final draft.
5 (February 13rd- February 19th)	Finish second blog post draft.	Edit second blog post for submission.

Upcoming Objectives and Strategies:

• Begin research into economics and agricultural aspects of the Punjab community of Pakistan.
  • Investigate current status of local farmers, including strengths and challenges in storage, through internet resources.
• Contact LET’S representative, Saadan Sulehri, regarding contact with a community member of Punjab.
  • Probe for more information in terms of objectives of our proposal.
• Prepare contact for local representative through listing questions for interview.
• Organize all information collected through interviews as well as research.
  • Brainstorm several solutions through analyzing pros and cons.
    • Consult with food storage experts in the the lower mainland and academic institutions (eg. UBC) to ensure plausible solutions.
  • Rank possible solutions in terms of accessibility, durability, and feasibility in order to create realistic solution.

A Moment of Significance

What

As a group, we had the opportunity to meet Saadan Sulehri, the LET’S founder and president. Through this meeting, we discussed both parties expectations for the project. We were able to learn more about the future of Takhti, the server that was mentioned in the previous blog post, and what the connection between our research and this device will be. Furthermore, Saadan provided us with some history into the organization, which assisted us gaining a better perspective into what is to be accomplished when Takhti is implemented. To our surprise, our research is going to be used in the use of another application of the Takhti server. Together, we narrowed down our focus from the countries Uganda and Pakistan, to the region of Punjab, Pakistan, an area for which LET’S has multiple resources. The meeting provided better direction for our team and established a connection with our community partner.

So What

Meeting with Saadan gave us the opportunity to develop a better understanding of LET’S and a relationship with our community partner leader. We were able to demonstrate our enthusiasm about this project, which we were unable to establish through an email. It was important for us to witness Saadan passion for LET’S,  to understand why this non-profit was founded, and the future use of our project.

Talking to Saadan, we became aware of the expectations and purpose of our project. This information helped us tailor our project objectives such that we can display the necessary knowledge that can be of use to this organization. LET’S has listened to the needs of the individuals and communities prior to this devices implementation rather than imposing their technology on the people they wish to help; this quality is one that Ernesto Sirolli talks about in his TED talk, “Want to help someone? Shut up and Listen!” (2012). Understanding how stakeholders’ organization and device works will enable us to develop an appropriate framework that fits the goals of our project. Moreover, gaining insight was the first step towards creating asset-based community development, or ABCD. Through this, we can focus on utilizing and expanding the existing strengths of the community over identifying the weaknesses and faults and attempting to provide them with solutions to fix said issues (Mathi & Cunningham, 2003).

Now What

Due to the scale of this project, we are able to contact Punjab community members with first hand experience in the food storage pros and cons.  With the diversity of individuals involved in this group, we will be able to split our group such that the interests and abilities are utilized in a way that strengths are displayed.

As Tim Harford (2015) explains in his TED Talk, “How messy problems can inspire creativity”, problems should not always be approached as a negative to a project. Harford mentions how facing problems head on may be more beneficial than avoidance (Harford, 2015). The idea is that small gains tend to direct you, slowly, towards a dead end, however, a better solution is to “add a dash of mess” (Harford, 2015). His solution is that unpredictability and randomness during the start reduces the chances of problematic matters at the final (Harford, 2015). As a group, we strive for open communication between one another and have been successful through this method up to date.  

Concluding Remarks

Our group has been grateful for the opportunity to work with and learn more about the LET’s organization. We are excited to see how our objectives and strategies develop and how our research can aid individuals in the future. We invite readers to continue following our blog as we continue to grow and develop our project and ourselves!

 

References & edit (Sarah/Lynn):

 

Harford, T. (2016). How messy problems can inspire creativity. [Video file]. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jd_j_kw_jZQ

Mathie, A., & Cunningham, G. (2003). From clients to citizens: Asset-based community development as a strategy for community-driven development. Development in Practice, 13(5), 474-486. doi:10.1080/0961452032000125857

Siroli, E. (2012, November 26). Want to help someone? Shut up and listen! [Video file]. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=chXsLtHqfdM