WDI Interns Ready To Hit Road

The summer internships are broken up into two categories – Institute initiated and student initiated.

The 14 students who chose a WDI initiative-driven internship partnered with an organization identified by the Institute that is doing work related to one of its research initiatives: base of the pyramid, globalization of services, sustainable development, and healthcare.

The 8 students who chose to do a self-generated internship identified and contacted an organization in an emerging market that is doing innovative work. The student, along with the organization, co-defined an opportunity, received a commitment from the organization, and submitted a proposal to WDI.

“WDI is pleased to support summer internships for graduate students at the University of Michigan,” said WDI Associate Director Rosemary Harvey. “This year, the projects cover a wide variety of topics including health care, microfinance, renewable energy, and business approaches to poverty alleviation. Students will travel to all parts of the world, from China to India, from Ghana to Rwanda.

“These programs in emerging markets give students a perspective that they never would have developed in the classroom.”

The 22 interns represent nine different departments, schools, and colleges at UM, the most ever for WDI’s internship program. These include: the Ross School of Business; the Ford School of Public Policy; the School of Public Health; the School of Natural Resources and Environment; the Department of Economics; the UM Law School; the School of Social Work; the UM Medical School; and the Biomedical Engineering Department.

“WDI is committed to supporting students at UM so we’re very pleased to draw students from all over the university for our internship class this summer,” Harvey said.

Here are descriptions of the WDI Global Impact Internships:

Institute-Initiated

John Asante-Antwi
The Access Project
Rwanda

The Access Project improves the health of impoverished people and communities by applying business and management skills to public health systems in poor countries to increase access to life-saving drugs and critical health services. It hosted a WDI summer intern, Karen Tam, in 2009.

2010 intern John Asante-Antwi will work with the Access staff to prepare a protocol and initiate a controlled study to determine the impact of recently-donated emergency obstetric care equipment (EMOC) in the Rwanda health centers compared to those in a district that did not receive any equipment. The study will collect data before and after equipment distribution. Asante-Antwi will complete the design and baseline data collection and the donation process, then ensure the study management is adequately handed over to Access staff for the follow-up phase.

Galo Perich
Academy for Educational Development
Peru

AED, the Academy for Educational Development, is a nonprofit organization based in Washington, D.C. that works globally to improve education, health, civil society, and economic development. The Hygiene Improvement Project (HIP) is a USAID-funded project operated by AED, and is intended to reduce diarrheal disease and improve child survival.

Perich will contribute to critical market assessments that will be used to decide whether to scale the project. To this end, he will profile consumers who use sanitation suppliers other than those who are part of the HIP program. Perich also will contribute to a catalogue of marketing, promotional, and training materials and adapt them to particular demographics or market segments.

Eshanthi Ranasinghe
CARE
Bangladesh

CARE is one of the world's largest private international humanitarian organizations, committed to helping families in poor communities improve their lives and achieve lasting victories over poverty. The Rural Sales Program (RSP) is an initiative of CARE Bangladesh to generate income and employment opportunities for the rural poor. The program has been successful and will be expanded into new regions.  

Ranasinghe will assist in documenting the transition process to a successful social enterprise, help develop a competitive marketing and branding plan for the new enterprise, and assist in developing an impact measurement tool for the enterprise to ensure that the needs of the poor are being met.

Lauren Miller
Grassroots Business Fund
India

The Washington, D.C.-based Grassroots Business Fund (GBF) is a not-for-profit organization that uses a venture capital approach to support businesses in developing countries that provide sustainable economic opportunities to thousands of people at the base of the economic pyramid.

Miller will assist GBF in implementing its Impact Planning, Assessment & Learning (iPAL) framework for a client in India. She will: develop a custom-tailored Progress Out of Poverty/ Client Feedback survey; create a “how-to guide” to implement and refresh the survey including training local staff on survey implementation; design a data aggregation system that meshes with the client’s operational structure and existing need to collect social and financial data; and prepare a “lessons learned” note on experience.

Karen Tam and Kallol Mukherji
GE Healthcare
Bangladesh

GE Healthcare’s Rural Health Initiative (RHI) was launched with a goal of providing access to low-cost, appropriate diagnostic technology in rural areas of developing countries to improve clinical efficacy and tangibly improve public health outcomes.  

Tam and Mukherji will put into operation recommendations from the Ross School student project team, which provided recommendations in April on how to establish the metrics and mechanisms to identify, monitor, and assess progress towards the learning objectives for each pilot site. The two also will lead research efforts for baby warmers or oxygen devices that RHI will develop as its next technology, as well as finding a potential pilot site.

Dale Jackson
Murika
Rwanda

Murika is jointly owned by four Rwandans and PiSAT, a for-profit organization that manufactures and distributes solar-powered lights that were initially developed by Koinonia Foundation.

Jackson will work with Murika, which supplies solar power to large institutions in the country, and a Rwandan not-for-profit organization, which distributes portable solar power to rural areas that can be used for lighting or recharging cell phones. Jackson will review the current distribution process, marketing methods, accounting methods, and supply chain management. Afterwards, he will develop recommendations that can be implemented in the short run.

Colm Fay
PATH
Seattle; India

PATH is an international, nonprofit organization that creates sustainable, culturally relevant solutions, enabling communities worldwide to break longstanding cycles of poor health.

Fay will develop a global demand model for the non-pneumatic anti-shock garment (NASG), which decreases obstetric hemorrhaging, with a focus on India. Fay will work with the PATH team to assess the current demand as well as future demand for this lifesaving product.

Chris White
Pfizer
New York City

Pfizer Inc is the leading pharmaceutical company in the world with top-selling products in a variety of different therapeutic areas. Recently, Pfizer launched the Global Access to Medicines (GA) team, whose goal is to develop commercially-viable and socially-responsible business strategies that target the Base of the Pyramid (BoP) as a new commercial market segment.

White will have the opportunity to help develop the GA operating plan for 2011. Specifically, he will: analyze available data from various team work streams and help develop the overall story of the GA business plan, supported by data; work with work stream leads to support further refinement of GA’s strategic approaches and tactics for 2011; help quantify revenue opportunities and additional benefits of GA’s strategies for the corporation, customers, partners and patients; and work with the GA team to develop overall story line of the operating plan and develop impactful materials such as slide decks and other supporting materials.  

Gaurav Parnami
PharmaSecure
India

PharmaSecure connects manufacturers to people buying their products in emerging markets, offering systems designed to create a simple, secure, and effective line of communication that cuts out counterfeiters and allows manufacturers to build relationships with their customers. PharmaSecure is preparing to launch a pilot project across India in which it will print its codes on packages of drugs, allowing consumers to verify the authenticity of the drug via text message.

Parnami will join the pilot effort near launch date and track the three-month pilot to completion, applying WDI’s Impact Assessment Framework to it. This will allow Parnami to identify performance indicators that PharmaSecure will track and develop over the life of the venture.

Greg Thorne
Ruli Hospital
Rwanda

Ruli District Hospital is a 150-bed hospital with eight physicians on staff, located about 85 km from Kigali, the capital of Rwanda. It is funded by the government and user fees, and is interested in identifying opportunities to increase its financial independence by developing revenue generating opportunities and reducing costs within the hospital.

Thorne will work with the hospital to gain a better understanding of its viability as a financially-sustainable distribution center for health care services. Specifically, Thorne will: analyze all parts of the hospital in developing a case study focusing on its ability to cover costs; and, depending on Thorne’s analysis, consider the suitability of adding a food fortifying mill to the hospital.

Cynthia Koenig
Association of Bhutanese Tour Operators (ABTO)
Bhutan

ABTO is the recognized representative of tour operators in Bhutan, serving member tour operators in service delivery, product enhancement and development, marketing and promotion, capacity development, and professionalism in tourism business.

Koenig will help the ABTO: identify new potential international markets; improve current market linkages with the U.S. and Western Europe; develop ABTO’s brand image to its membership and key stakeholders; enhance both internal and external communications; and improve membership database and information systems.

YuanYuan Fang
PATH
China

PATH is an international nonprofit organization that creates sustainable, culturally relevant solutions, enabling communities worldwide to break longstanding cycles of poor health. It is looking to implement a successful and efficient launch plan for the Woman’s Condom in China, a PATH-designed product offering an advanced contraceptive option and a tool to combat sexually transmitted diseases such as HIV.

Fang will assist in the execution of a variety of commercial activities for the launch, which could include things such as: creating and implementing a consumer pricing study; developing promotional print materials for consumers, retail stores, and healthcare providers; developing and implementing a coordinated set of demand generation activities targeting women’s and/or community groups; conducting market research on packaging options and developing the most promising options for various market segments; working with the manufacturer to monitor product distribution in drugstore and retail channels; and developing and using forecasting models.

Borja Inchaurraga
VisionSpring
El Salvador

VisionSpring is a non-profit social enterprise that alleviates poverty in the developing world by broadening access to affordable reading glasses. Committed to employing market-based solutions to solve this global issue, VisionSpring has developed a replicable, scalable, micro-franchise model to train low-income men and women, called Vision Entrepreneurs, to conduct vision screenings, sell affordable reading glasses, and refer those who require advanced eye care to reputable clinics.

Borja will implement the recommendations of the spring 2010 Ross VisionSpring MAP team, making any changes he sees as necessary. Borja also will work with VisionSpring to create an expansion strategy for El Salvador with the overall goal of bringing the program closer to financial sustainability.

STUDENT GENERATED

Sara Blumenthal
Ghana Coalition of Healthcare
Ghana

The Ghana Coalition of Healthcare NGO was established under the Ministries of Health and is financed by the World Health Organization and the Netherlands Embassy. Its goal is to coordinate the efforts of NGOs throughout Ghana to improve and support the health delivery system of the country.

Blumenthal will help conduct research on pertinent health issues in various communities in Ghana, with a focus on malaria control, family planning methods, tuberculosis, drug abuse and administration practices of partner NGOs. 

Natalie De Sole
College of Ama
Ghana

The College of Ama uses summer camps to provides higher education to rural girls from the southern, central, and western regions of Ghana. This program has run for three years and is demonstrating a model of how to successfully reduce the high poverty rates in Ghana by empowering a generally marginalized population. 

De Sole will author a report on the strengths and weaknesses of the program by reviewing the expected outcomes of the program, interviewing past participants, and analyzing the data collected. She also will identify the major revenue needs to sustain the program, and then write a grant proposal.

Cree Jones
Innovations for Poverty Action (IPA)
Philippines

IPA is a nonprofit organization that creates and evaluates solutions to social and development problems, and works to scale up successful ideas through implementation and dissemination to policymakers, practitioners, investors, and donors.

Jones will be researching whether increasing access to micro financing for potential overseas Filipino workers will increase the probability of securing work abroad. The financing is used to fund visa applications and travel to Manila for recruitment and paperwork completion.

Joseph E. Perosky
Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST)
Ghana

The vision of KNUST is to be globally recognized as the premier center of excellence in Africa for teaching in science and technology for development, and producing high caliber graduates with knowledge and expertise to support the industrial and socio-economic development of Ghana and Africa.

Perosky will work with the colleges of Health Sciences and Engineering at KNUST and several secondary supporters to establish in-country manufacturing of medical simulators that are both low-cost and high-fidelity. Perosky will: develop the manufacturing plan, including selecting suppliers, the manufacturing sites, and a final cost analysis of both of these components; help manufacture a prototype of a simulator; develop the distribution channels of these simulators, with potential clients being the three teaching hospitals, the 10 regional hospitals, and the 170 district hospitals.

Sofia Latif
Islamic Relief USA and Islamic Relief Worldwide
Ann Arbor; Washington, D.C.; UK

Islamic Relief Worldwide (IRW) is an international relief and development agency working towards a caring world where the basic requirements of people in need are fulfilled. IRW responds to disasters and emergencies and works with local communities to reduce poverty by promoting sustainable economic and social development.

In order to enhance Islamic Relief USA’s ability to assess the impact of its programs, Latif will first evaluate its current measurement, evaluation, and audit procedures - as well as the in-depth framework utilized by IRW. Utilizing the framework and metrics developed from the evaluation, Latif will evaluate the Orphan Sponsorship Program in Indonesia, writing a revised framework based on the learning from her field visit. And Latif will prepare a final version of IR-USA’s impact assessment framework, evaluating to what extent the organization is utilizing feedback from impact assessments to drive strategy. 

Robert Liou
Guizhou School of Management and The Asia Foundation
China

Founded in 1954, The Asia Foundation has deep experience running developmental programs in nearly every country in Asia. Guizhou University is a public coeducational university located in the suburban outskirts of Guiyang, the capital city of Guizhou Province, China. Working with the university, Liou will help organic tea farmers develop, market, and brand their products for export to foreign markets. He will perform a detailed market analysis, as well as develop branding and advertising strategies to change buyer perceptions of organic tea grown in China. Liou also will work with The Asia Foundation to establish collaboration between WDI and the foundation on the Institute’s Green Leap initiative.

Eva Luo
Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST)
Ghana

The vision of KNUST is to be globally recognized as the premier center of excellence in Africa for teaching in science and technology for development, and producing high caliber graduates with knowledge and expertise to support the industrial and socio-economic development of Ghana and Africa.

Luo work will help determine the specific health system improvements needed at the peripheral health facilities in order to meet the demands of care and provide quality training to medical students and residents. To that end, Luo will identify characteristics of functional health facilities and areas and patterns of systems improvement. She also will find a pilot test health facility and collect necessary data to determine the impact of the medical students and residents on human resources management, health systems improvement, and improvement of the health of the population.

Ryan Chen
China Greentech Initiative (CGTI)
China

The CGTI is an open source, commercial collaboration of over 80 of the world’s leading technology and service companies and organizations to uncover and create business opportunities that address China’s need for sustainable development.

Chen will research and assess common market constraints and regulatory challenges of developing and applying renewable energy technologies, services, and products at local levels in China, particularly in underdeveloped rural areas. He also will join with colleagues to conduct working sessions and develop presentations and publications to raise local stakeholders’ awareness of the availability and benefits of renewable energy solutions.