Semesters i with a Humanistic Outlook 2018
Context
The town of Chenalhó is located in the Highlands region in the Mexican State of Chiapas. Approximately 80% of the population speaks Tzotzil, of whom over 60% are monolingual. Basic education among the population is incomplete, as 34% of inhabitants aged over 15 are illiterate, and 16.4% of 6- to 14-year-olds do not attend school. This project’s region is considered to have a high rate of marginalization.
After foraying into Acteal during the 1990s, the women artisans began to produce more textile material to sell and, thereby, contribute to their family income. However, the artisan industry is affected by all types of merchandising, intermediaries, competition with mass-produced industrial items, low prices, unfair competition and the complete lack of protection for this sector of the population.
Challenge(s)
- Students were set the following challenges:
- Generate a sense of identity and belonging among the artisans.
- Dignify the artisans’ work.
- Create a name, slogan and image for the work group.
- Design new products: training.
- Create a product catalogue.
- Establish the group’s values.
- Create a network of contacts.
- Create and set up seed capital.
- Arrange meetings among all the artisans.
Outcomes
The outcomes of the intervention were:
- Creation of the towel model.
- Creation of the textile product catalogue.
- Implement workshops and training sessions.
- Integration activities and teamwork.
- Participation of the group of artisans in an exhibition for entrepreneur.
- Formulation of labels for closing the bags.
- Creation and training in the use of social networks.
- Creation and training in the use of a work log.
- Implementation of the seed capital.
- Creation of the group’s name and image.
Sustainable Development Goal(s)
The SDGs linked to the challenge are:
- 1-No poverty.
- 4-Quality education.
- 8-Decent work and economic growth.
Education partner organization
The bridge between the actors of the block experience and society was:
- Maya Vinic.
Population
The sector of the population impacted was:
- Women textile artisans.
- Families of the group of artisans.
Learn more
The following images (PDF file) show some examples of the activities that students carried out in conjunction with the educational partner organization and the inhabitants of the different communities.
PDF file with images
Challenge
To generate a decent space for childbirth through citizen participation and endogenous development within the Cruzchén community, to generate midwife empowerment through the use of appropriate spaces, by means of sustainable architecture.
Intervention outcomes
A solution was proposed that will help to reduce social disparity by means of a social device. In other words, an adapted childbirth house with multidisciplinary spaces, so that the community can participate in workshops to raise awareness of their reproductive rights, thus generating citizen participation in the community.
This center aims to generate endogenous development in the midwives and in the community by means of ongoing citizen participation and the generation of life and physical health capabilities.
The purpose of the childbirth house is to validate the right to life, to a decent birth and the right to be registered at birth. Ta Na is a means to propitiate the generation of knowledge, awareness and citizen participation, since Cruzchén’s involvement in decisions that will affect their way of life and the future generations who will be born there is of utmost importance. Construction plans were formulated for the social device and support was given in building a childbirth house in the Shishintonil community, where the situation before the space was built was the same as in Cruzchén.
Context
The project seeks to find a solution to the institutional divergence and reinforce the organizational convergence of the actors in the community in order to achieve satisfactory levels of socioeconomic development, providing them with the appropriate conditions to guarantee their right to education, health, decent, dignified housing, as well as access to, supply and treatment of drinking water. Its structure is based on the creation of a social fabric that drives the development of the partners’ individual and collective capacities, in order to generate a sense of identity and belonging on the basis of collective well-being and a solidarity economy.
Challenge(s)
- Students were set the following challenges:
- Mechanisms proposed to clearly define the objective, values, mission and vision of the savings bank.
- Empower the savings bank partners through dynamic workshops, strengthening their mutual trust.
- Establish clear, concise regulations for the administrative processes.
Outcomes
- The outcomes of the intervention were:
- Modification of the structure of the savings scheme to achieve equitable and collective growth.
- Encourage the active participation of children in the savings bank.
- Formal regulations and infographics of the savings culture, handbooks with activities and workshops for children, young people and adults, training for the committee partners and registration forms.
Sustainable Development Goal(s)
The SDGs linked to the challenge are son:
- 1. No poverty.
- 2. Zero hunger.
- 3. Good health and well-being.
- 4. Quality education.
- Education partner organization
The bridge between the actors of the block experience and society was:
Lagos de Colores Cooperative.
Population
The sector of the population impacted was:
Families participating in the savings bank (women homemakers, farmers, young people and children).
Learn more
The following images (PDF file) show some examples of the activities that students carried out in conjunction with the educational partner organization and the inhabitants of the different communities.
PDF file with images
Context
Lagos de Colores is a cooperative association based on a solidarity and cooperative economy. It has several projects in place, such as the production of organic coffee and artisan honey, etc. Other projects have now been implemented, including an agro-ecotourism experience called “Junkolal” created so that visitors can know and learn the community’s philosophy of life, generating an exchange of knowledge and experiences between visitors and the community. This project seeks to expand the scope and define the direction of the “Junkolal” project by means of a business model that will increase visitor flow and drive the members’ autonomy.
Challenges
The SDGs linked to the challenge are:
- Strengthen its business identity by connecting the different spaces that make up the experience.
- Reach potential visitors through Below-the-Line (BTL) and Through-the-Line (TTL) advertising.
- Divide the areas into zones in order to harmonize the environment and install signs.
- Generate ties with educational institutions and those that promote an environment of reflection and meditation.
Outcomes
- The outcomes of the intervention were:
- Training for the SLDC members regarding personal and family finances to improve understanding and management of this topic.
- Order, coordination and visual work in each of the areas that comprise the space in order to identify each area clearly and make it more agreeable.
- Improvement of the existing platforms and implementation of new dissemination channels.
- Design plans for building a cabin to increase accommodation and offer visitors privacy.
- Introduce the “Junkolal” and “Our Water” projects into the market through the design of logos.
Sustainable Development Goal(s)
The SDGs linked to the challenge are:
1. No poverty.
2. Zero hunger.
3. Good health and well-being.
4. Quality education.
8. Decent work and economic growth.
12. Responsible production and consumption.
Education partner organization
The bridge between the actors of the block experience and society was:
Lagos de Colores cooperative.
Population
The sector of the population impacted was:
Members of the cooperative and their families (women homemakers, farmers, young people and children).
Learn more
The following images (PDF file) show some examples of the activities that students carried out in conjunction with the educational partner organization and the inhabitants of the different communities.
PDF file with images
Context
The Snaul Koónton artisan group is made up of women artisans from the different communities in the Chenalhó municipality. Given the distance and diversity between the communities, a lack of communication, commitment and motivation prevails in the group, which has resulted in a weak organizational culture. Even though they are united by a common goal and love for their work, these artisans need to understand the role each of them has in the group in order to obtain better results and growth, both individually and as a whole, thereby achieving a better quality of life for themselves and their families.
Learn more
The following images (PDF file) show some examples of the activities that students carried out in conjunction with the educational partner organization and the inhabitants of the different communities.
PDF file with images
Challenge(s)
- Students were set the following challenges:
- Standardization of prices of the garments made by the artisans.
- Foment the empowerment of the artisans to make decisions within the group and the community.
- Structure and strengthen the organizational culture of this group of artisans.
- Increase the textile product sales with the help of training and a catalogue of the garments.
Outcomes
The outcomes of the intervention were:
- Campaign for new designs in t-shirt (formulation of designs).
- Design of labels for the garments.
- Formulation of business cards.
- Training in sales and dressmaking.
- Creation of an embroidery and sales catalogue.
- Leadership and satisfaction test.
- Survey for the general public.
- Execution of a runway show with textile garments made by the group of artisans.
- Implementation of roles among the group of artisans.
- Training was arranged for the artisans by an organization called Impacto.
Sustainable Development Goal(s)
The SDGs linked to the challenge are:
- 5-Gender equality.
- Education partner organization
- The bridge between the actors of the block experience and society was:
- Snaul Koónton.
- Population
- The sector of the population impacted was:
- Artisans of the group.
- Artisans’ families.
Learn more
The following images (PDF file) show some examples of the activities that students carried out in conjunction with the educational partner organization and the inhabitants of the different communities.
PDF file with images
Reto
Generar un espacio digno para el proceso de parto a través de la participación ciudadana y del desarrollo endógeno dentro de la comunidad de Cruzchén, para generar empoderamiento en las parteras a través de la utilización de espacios adecuados, por medio de la arquitectura sustentable.
Resultados de la intervención
Se propone una solución que ayude a reducir el rezago social, mediante un dispositivo social. Es decir, una casa de partos adaptada con espacios multidisciplinarios, para que la comunidad pueda tomar talleres de concientización de sus derechos y de reproducción sexual, de esa manera generar en la comunidad participación ciudadana.
En este centro de atención se busca generar desarrollo endógeno en las parteras y en la comunidad mediante la constante participación ciudadana y la generación de capacidades de vida y de salud física.
Challenge
To resolve the problem of temporary accommodation for high school students who stay in the Norogachi community in Chihuahua, a region of the Sierra Tarahumara with an extreme climate, reaching up to 40°C in the summer and -20°C in the higher areas in the winter.
The design proposal considers the community’s social, development, architectural and urban needs; sustainability, accessibility and ergonomics principles through the use of local thermal construction materials; low-cost maintenance; and compliance with the building regulation specifications of the local Office of Urban Development and Ecology. This was to generate a space that promotes the right to education, coexistence, equality, decent housing while the students are in the community. These actions represent sustainable changes in a Priority Attention Zone with a high degree of margination and violence, through the increase in the number of students who will be using the hostel and through the community’s involvement in the design and construction of an appropriate space.
Intervention outcomes
In this experience, students spent a week gathering information in the community, interviewing users, parents and teachers. Once the preliminary plan was ready, they met with the community to present it to the users and the authorities to obtain their feedback. It must be noted that the projects complied with the users’ needs since they considered employing the construction systems in the zone.
The design of this experience allowed the students to learn the reality of young people who wish to continue their studies in the Sierra Tarahumara communities.
Finally, the students submitted four preliminary executive architectural projects, together with all the necessary construction plans.
The beneficiaries were the 60 high school students in the Norogachi community in Chihuahua.
Challenge
Generate products in different media to reveal a specific social, political, economic and/or cultural issue affecting the inhabitants of the Tlalpan borough, in Mexico City, with the ultimate goal of raising awareness among the community, society and decision makers regarding the problem in question and demonstrate opportunities for improvement.
Change Leader: Creating value for the company and society
Context
The experience was carried out with the education partner: KIA México. This company has a huge corporate social responsibility initiative in place. Nevertheless, they hope to go beyond typical CSR actions, seeking initiatives that would truly generate meaningful value for society. They are certain that one of the most important Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) for them is education (the fourth goal) and seek to reinforce it with something innovative and meaningful.
Challenge
To design and pre-prototype proposals for non-traditional CSR (Corporate Social Responsibility) products and/or services based on the education partner’s (KIA) strategy for creating value for its stakeholders.
Intervention outcomes
First of all, the students had to learn about the organization in order to recognize what was important and strategic for them, so that the proposals could be in some way strategically aligned and easy to implement. Next, each team, with the proposal idea, had to investigate and engage with the community. They conducted studies and surveys, visited the community and gained insight into the environmental needs, after which they were able to develop the pre-prototype linked to their proposal.
As a result, each of the three teams generated a Corporate Social Responsibility proposal that would benefit both the company and society. One of the teams focused on education topics, another on vulnerable groups, such as the disabled, and the third on environmental protection and energy topics.
The product was a pre-prototype which explained how the project would be in the event that the company decided to implement it.
Context
The issue addressed is the reduction of the physical space existing in Mexico to implement social policies in the face of growing debt and pension payment commitments.
All the public policies that address the country’s social needs depend on budget allocation. Improving the efficiency of public expenditure in the face of the reduction in physical space is key to guaranteeing that fulfillment of priority needs.
Challenge
To create a public policy proposal that will maximize social wellbeing with efficient public expenditure in a specific area (education, health, poverty, security, economic development, etc.) and with a sustainable public finance base.
Intervention outcomes
The students worked with the nonprofit, nonpolitical Center for Economic and Budgetary Research (ciep.mx), which provides affordable, relevant and technically solid data and analyses to impact, enhance and democratize discussions and decision making on economics and public finance, in order to achieve the sustainability of the fiscal system for the benefit of current and future generations.
The students formulated 12 publications in research bulletins that were submitted to CIEP and will gradually be published. Moreover, four investigations were presented aimed at streamlining the country’s revenues and influencing fiscal spending and environmental impact topics in the city of Monterrey.
Finally, the students organized an event called “Roundtables: Democratizing Public Finance” with the objective of fomenting public debate so that more people can learn about how public resources are managed, thereby fostering citizen participation for decision making in our country. The media attended the event that enjoyed the participation of the Nuevo León State Ministry of Finance and approximately 10 members of the Tec community, including students, faculty and parents.
Challenge
To improve the sound experience of Pabellón M Auditorium (APM) users by means of technology tools.
The challenged enabled students to develop competencies in three stages, with interdisciplinary implications.
Pre-production
- Investigate, on the basis of a diagnosis, possible user experiences at an entertainment center to design and implement a sound experience.
Production
- Integrate knowledge from the different disciplines involved and the competencies and sub-competencies required in the sound and/or music project design process for the education partner.
- Include the value of a humanistic outlook based on profession-related ethics. To this end, the students invited children from the Instituto Nuevo Amanecer (a center for children with cerebral palsy) to participate in the experience of feeling as though they were in the Pabellón M Auditorium through a 360o virtual reality video and providing English-Spanish translation services for the dental treatments offered by this institution.
Post-production
- Carry out relevant technical, methodological, marketing and communication improvements for the specific user.
- Show the education partner the solution and the version in Spanish to the institution in a Semester i closure events.
Intervention outcomes
The results were as follows:
-
Submit a 360o virtual reality video to love the experience of the Pabellón M Auditorium.
- Formulate a documentary guide on values and moral principles for the education partner (Pabellón M Auditorium)
- Offer Instituto Nuevo Amanecer English-Spanish translation services for auxiliary dental treatment materials.
- Adapt the challenge to the needs of the education partners.
- The beneficiaries were the people who could have access to the Pabellón M Auditorium experience and the children from Instituto Nuevo Amanecer, thanks to the translation and APM experience.
Challenge
The students completed a virtual and in-person immersion in Baja California Sur, collaborating with diverse fishing communities in the region, in order to:
Analyze and propose improvements to the sustainable fishing model of the “El Manglito” community for its scaling in San Ignacio (Luis Echeverría, Cardón, Dátil, Delgadito).
Strengthen the fishermen’s management, production process and marketing capacities to enable their performance as sustainable producers.
By resolving this challenge, students develop and consolidate competencies with an interdisciplinary, strategic and prospective approach to the sustainable management of commonly used environmental resources, through conflict management, scenario modeling and social entrepreneurship.
Intervention outcomes
Contextualization of the social issue
- Virtual immersion in the communities using 360º videos with the education partner and the fishermen.
- Video links with the education partner
- Review of documents on the El Manglito community
- Design of instruments to interview the fishermen
Project implementation, part one
Interviews and field visits in the El Manglito and the Laguna San Ignacio communities.
Intervention plan design
- Diagnosis documentation to design participative session for the next stage.
- Session design.
- Design of interviews with the fishermen and the players from the Punta Abreojos Cooperative and Cabo Pulmo communities.
Project implementation, part two
Immersion, first trip: Carry out participative sessions with children, women and fishermen from the Luis Echeverría, El Cardón and La Base communities.
Closure and final reflection:
- Documentation of the results of the participative sessions.
- Final design of entrepreneurship projects.
- Negotiation proposal creation.
- Future scenario design.
The main achievements obtained include:
- Development of disciplinary and transversal competencies.
- Study of sustainable fishing modes and fishing-to-ecotourism transition models.
- Definition of sustainable fishing model.
- Socioeconomic and environmental diagnosis of the Laguna San Ignacio fishing communities.
Raising awareness among children, women and fishermen to start transferring the sustainable fishing model in Laguna San Ignacio.
Challenge
To build and automate the necessary financial inputs for the valuation of investment portfolios.
Intervention outcomes
The students did not intervene in a community, but worked on the issue to be resolved presented by the education partner, which consisted of the generation of software ad hoc to the specific needs, in this case, of the Banorte Financial Group. Their involvement began once academic ties were established with a representative of the education partner, who offered the students some face-to-face sessions to share his experience within the world of finance. The students developed the software required by the education partner. In this process, they were able to identify the relative ease with which sensitive information and data can be accessed, making awareness and ethical reflection an aspect that needed to be addressed throughout the module corresponding to the course Business Ethics.
Based on this experience, the students were able to:
- Explore diverse facets of the world of finance, which, given its nature, are fragile or susceptible to violation in terms of professional integrity and ethics.
- Identify the scopes of their profession and, within them, the practices that are highly delicate and that, as a result, require greater discretion in terms of data confidentiality and consequently strict discipline and knowledge so as not to carry out practices that would be detrimental to their integrity as finance professionals.
- Identify personal and professional disagreements that could lead to inappropriate practices within their professional framework, based on case analyses and constant reflection in the classroom.
Challenge
- To design, build and implement a physical land model of a wind turbine that has the capability of simulating diverse real faults and situations that occur in wind turbines, generating a prototype in order to train maintenance staff in accordance with company specifications.
- To design, build and implement a prototype based on the use of autonomous or remote controlled aerial devices (drones) equipped with telemetry and sensors that make it possible to diagnose the wind turbines, according to the company’s specific needs and requirements.
Context
Region surrounding Córdoba, Veracruz, where coffee and milk producers who supply Nestlé are located. The issue is related to the buildup of agroindustrial waste derived from removing the green coffee beans from the coffee cherries. This buildup is the result of the lack of value-generating processes and of the need to convert waste into byproducts and, therefore, a new source of income for the communities. With regard to the milk producers, the aim is to avoid waste through the small-scale, low-tech generation of specialty products that will have a positive impact on workers’ pockets.
Challenge
- Design a new product derived from what is currently considered as waste from the coffee or milk production process. The objective is to innovate a product whose validity is based on ethical and sustainable considerations that can offer civic and economic benefits for the community, in order to enhance its autonomous and cultural development.
Intervention outcomes
The students applied their knowledge and skills in the field of Biotechnology to develop new processes that are easily transferable to rural communities. They analyzed the principal waste and described the processes to the manufacturers for their implementation. They also demonstrated a business model for the products and a medium-term plan for scaling production, depending on reinvestment in technology.
Nestlé and the related companies were not aware of the potential of waste recovery, which can be achieved by making a few small changes to their processes. In addition, the producers learned new ways of generating business and selling their raw materials.