This summer, I completed my LiA in Mexico City with Make_Sense Americas, working with the partner organisation ‘Genera Territorios’. Genera Territorios is an organisation that works to empower communities in Mexico through socio-environmental projects that regenerate local ecosystems and economies.
I worked in a group with three other Laidlaw Scholars to create an AI chatbot companion, which delivers an educational course on Everyday Economic Strategy to women in rural Mexico.
Aims
The goal for the six weeks was to design an educational agent or offline tool prototype that allows rural and indigenous women in Mexico to advance through an Everyday Economics learning route, receiving training capsules, questions, practical exercises, and follow-up resources.
At the beginning of the six weeks, the scope of the project appeared broad, and it was difficult to grasp the specifics of what a successful and useful product would look like for Genera Territorios. Therefore, the goals I set myself at the start of my LiA were centred around the impact my work would have, not yet the technicalities of the product.
My overall aim was to plant positive seeds of change for individuals, their families, and communities. I was conscious that I could not solve issues that I cannot fully understand the context of, felt by communities I am not part of, within the space of six weeks. Therefore, I aimed not to transform financial community systems, but support existing ones, and leave the potential for growth of the project in the future.
I set myself the goal of remaining focused on the UN SGDs to keep sight of my intended impact and purpose. The UN SDG 5, ‘Gender Equality’, and SDG 8, ‘Decent Work and Economic Growth’, were my priority impacts that I hoped to advance in communities by the end of my LiA.
Outcomes
By the end of my six weeks with Make_Sense and Genera Territorios, my team and I successfully created an AI companion, named Izcalli, that delivers a four-module course on Everyday Economic Strategy, delivered through WhatsApp. We created the AI chatbot itself, the curriculum it delivers, and resources to support learning.
The curriculum we designed was centred around four modules: ‘Organise’, ‘Recognise’, ‘Protect’, and ‘Project’, which aim to guide women in acknowledging their resources, how these resources can be maximised and also be used to offer protection from future income shocks. Throughout the curriculum, we maintained an intentional focus on the value of the community and social support networks etc. in order to avoid harmful, traditional understandings of finance as the sole resource in a household. We also ensured that the curriculum does not place blame for financial struggles and the responsibility to overcome them on the individual, but rather highlights the support and potential of the family and community to help.
The chatbot itself, and the supporting resources and exercises completes the overall, broad aim, that was set out by Genera Territorios. However, the aim of making the prototype function as an offline tool was not met, as it became clear very quickly that this would not be feasible within the time, with our skills, and with our limited resources.
Whilst the goal of the agent being offline shifted in this way, my original goals were exceeded in other ways; creating a functioning AI chatbot required my team to learn the new skill of coding and animation, and develop our language skills as we translated our content into Spanish.
Izcalli also surpassed my original goals, as my team tailored the course the user. Whilst the curriculum we created will remain the same for all women, in terms of the information they receive, the delivery of the content can be tailored to their interests. For example, we animated videos to contextualise the information they are receiving, and made multiple videos with focuses on different skills, to make it relatable to the user.
I reached my goal of planting seeds of change with my project. This potential for change is most obvious in the curriculum and prototype itself, empowering women to recognise their resources, and use them to achieve their dreams in the future. My goal of a positive impact also saw a tangible success, when my team and I delivered a workshop about Everyday Economic Strategy to 30 people in a local community in Iztapalapa, located in the peripheries of CDMX.
My aim of creating positive change will continue to be achieved, as the prototype itself can be extended in the future. We left Izcalli editable for the organisation, so the resource can be translated into regional languages, and its impact can be extended to more women. In terms of extending the positive impact of our project, my team and I presented our product of Izcalli to stakeholders and organisations, such as Oxfam Mexico, who are interested in using the framework of our product to tackle other social issues across more of Mexico.
Therefore, the impact of my project has seen a positive impact in real-time, the future, and for other social issues.
The workshop my team and I led in Iztapalapa.
Lessons learned
My LiA has taught me many valuable lessons. Many of the lessons I will carry forward are thanks to working in an international context and team.
The international setting of working on a project in Mexico City taught me to be aware of my position, the limits to my knowledge about the context of the problem I am working to improve, and how to minimise the impact of this on my product. For example, my team used our Mexican volunteers to handle the culturally-sensitive aspects of our project, such as the example videos, and to make our chatbot relatable to the women who are taking the course.
The international aspect of my project, working with the organisation and with multiple cultures, also taught me lots of lessons about leadership and project-management. Throughout the six weeks, there were many incidences of miscommunication, largely due to language barriers and working with a translator. The miscommunication about the expectations and processes of our project caused a lot more work, especially in the later stages, when we effectively restarted our project in the final week. Much of this last-minute work could have been avoided, or at least reduced, if there was clearer and more intentional communication throughout the process, from both my team and the organisation. The challenges that arose as a result of miscommunication taught me that constant, clear, and purposeful communication throughout any project is imperative, especially in an international context.
Whilst the challenges of my project were often tedious, the experience taught me that the process of managing a project and creating a product is not linear. The rollercoaster of the project and its progress put into practise the Design Thinking model we learned about with Make_Sense; whilst there are stages of the model (Empathise, Define, Ideate, Prototype, Test), these steps are not linear or smooth, and it is common to return to earlier stages throughout the project. I am often uncomfortable in project management when I feel like I am not making clear progress towards a goal, but this experience of working with Genera Territorios has shown me that a non-linear progress is still progress, and discomfort is part of the process.
I have also learned the importance of resilience in project-management and leadership. The frustration of effectively having to restart the project in the final week of my LiA taught me to persevere when things inevitably go wrong and there are unexpected challenges. This obstacle also taught me that it is vital to maintain a clear focus on the goal of the project and its impact when encountering challenges, as it provides the required motivation to complete a project.
OCP and Laidlaw 3 Cs
I am extremely proud of myself and my team for the tangible product we made in the six weeks, but it is crucial to highlight that leadership is not only about what you achieve, but also how you pursue it. Therefore, it is key to reflect on the Oxford Character Project and leadership values.
Change-maker values
I remained conscious of all change-maker values throughout the six weeks, but a couple stood out to me.
- Ambitious - My team and I learned new skills, such as coding, animation, and using an unfamiliar software, to complete a final product that would be most suitable and beneficial to its users.
- Determined - Even when we were faced with obstacles and short deadlines, my team pushed on together, and created a final product that Genera Territorios are happy with, and will have a positive impact on women and their communities in Mexico.
OCP Character Dimensions
The most important OCP Character Dimensions I used frequently and advanced during my LiA were:
- Courage - My courage can be seen in my personal character, travelling to an unfamiliar country to work with new people. It can also be seen in regard to my project and leadership, learning new technical skills, and delivering a financial workshop and leading tasks in a different language.
- Collaboration - My team worked well together, remaining aware of each individual’s strengths, and how to use these in the most effective and fair way to produce a useful product. We kept an open communication space between us, and clearly divided the tasks to complete our project. My team also kept a positive atmosphere by motivating each other and acknowledging each of our hard work and progress.
- Temperance - My team remained calm and patient throughout the 6 weeks, especially at times of frustration and large workloads.
Laidlaw Capacities
All capacities were important to some extent, but a few are more obvious to me when reflecting on my project and the process.
People
- Communication - I advanced this skill throughout the six weeks, being more comfortable with communicating my abilities, progress and concerns with the organisation by the end.
- Collaboration - This capacity was important to remain fair and effective within my team, and use our skills and ideas to create the best product possible.
- Emotional Intelligence - I used this capacity during the ‘Empathy’ stage of Design Thinking, when considering the needs and context of the women we were designing Izcalli for, and who were at the workshop. Emotional intelligence was also key in working with a team, both in my immediate group, and that of the wider Laidlaw Scholar group. Looking back, I can appreciate my emotional intelligence, and where it was required more in situations, and I can learn from both of these and carry the lessons into future experiences.
Process
- Project management and Design Thinking - I recognised the non-linear progress of project-management and the importance of returning to earlier stages of the process to refine the product and its intricacies.
Performance
- Creative ideation - My team and I used collaboration here to come up with the idea of an AI chatbot that can deliver a course to women, and maintain creative mindset with courage to ideate the details of example videos and supporting resources.
Life in Mexico City
Whilst my six weeks in Mexico City involved hard work on my project and growth in my leadership skills in the context of teamwork, my personal growth and experiences cannot go unmentioned.
Living in Mexico City for six weeks with sixteen other Laidlaw Scholars pushed me out of my comfort zone, but rewarded me with unforgettable experiences and lifelong friends. My most precious memories from my LiA were made exploring the city and its vibrant culture with my Laidlaw friends. Experiences such as salsa dancing in the park, watching many World Cup matches at Zócalo, seeing the incredible Teotihuacan, venturing to the nearby cities of Puebla and Cholula, spending the day swimming at Las Estacas, partying after Lucha Libre, drinking tequila at Xochimilco, and watching a football game at the iconic Estadio Azteca, are ones that will stay with me forever.
My time in Mexico City taught me that leadership is not a skill required at stand-alone moments, but rather is a continuous process, in learning and execution. A lot of the lessons I learned about myself and leadership were not discovered in the context of the office and the project, but rather in everyday moments, such as chatting and laughing with my friends for hours on the rooftop of our accommodation, sat around the table eating tacos, or walking to get an orange juice and cookie from our favourite bakery for the hundredth time.
Farewell picnic with my Laidlaw friends.
Concluding Thoughts
Reflecting on my LiA in Mexico City, I am proud that I have made a meaningful impact on the Everyday Economic Strategy of women in Mexico and have planted seeds of change for many communities, and for Genera Territorios.
During the six weeks, I not only saw my project begin to blossom, but also saw myself grow. I gained more confidence collaborating in a team, working to my strengths and effectively communicating these.
My LiA has showed me the importance of pushing myself out of my comfort zone: I had to travel to a new part of the world, learn new skills, and speak Spanish, but this gave me the opportunity to make meaningful progress for a cause I am passionate about, allowed me to meet amazing people, and make lifelong memories with them.
I will carry the lessons I learned through my LiA into my future experiences of leadership, collaboration, and project management.
I am extremely thankful to the Laidlaw Foundation and the University of Cambridge for this opportunity, that otherwise would not have been available to me, and to Make_Sense Americas and Genera Territorios for facilitating the process. Finally, I am very grateful for the people I met through my LiA, and all of the other Laidlaw Scholars, without whom I would not have had such an incredible time.