Learning log 4 – reflection on systemic approach to a field trip to Mozambique – Millennium Villages case
Autor: Nicholas B. Torretta | Publicado: 2012-03-19T11:50:00-07:00







This is the second reflection on System
Thinking concerning the field trip to Mozambique (from 4.3.2012 to 16.3.2012),
now focusing on the local level of the UN Millennium Village in Lionde (country
side of Mozambique, about 300km from the capital Maputo).



I must say that the more I make reflections and
researches in a Systemic approach, the more I get convinced that all the
problems we have today (environmental, social and economic) exists due to a
lack of this method of inquiry. They are results of “punctual solutions”,
solutions that aims upon one specific factor without considering any other
related system and their interactions.



The reason behind our field trip was to
research more about the UN Millennium Village (MV) in Lionde, so to cope with
the briefing presented by the local Ministry of Science and Technology which
was: to develop a business model, packaging and advertisement for the products
and activities held by the Village.



We spend 8 days living with local families and
visiting the Village’s activities. These activities are divided on 5 pillars:
Agriculture (Farming, Agro-processing and Fish farming), Education, Health, Water
and Sanitation. From which we chose to focus on Agriculture, more specifically
on the issues of Farming and Agro-processing.



I’ll try to explain here the systemic problem
which damages the success of these initiatives, it may look a little bit
confusing to explain an interconnected and related set of reasons in a linear
text, but let’s try...

I’ll use as example the agro-processing group.









From the research we found three levels of
problems where changes have to be made.



The first level is “motivation”: 92% of the
people involved in the MV initiatives are women, this happens because the
majority of mans migrated to South Africa to find jobs and short term financial
results; so, if the MV initiatives can’t provide a daily income, they have to
find other means to feed their families. And even for the women involved, they
can’t get a daily income, for that reason, if they are involved in an
initiative, is for passion. That is the main reason why many women drop out
from the initiatives; for example, the agro-processing group started with 30
people, then reduced to 12 and when we were following their activities, there
was only 3 or 5 people working.



But then, how to produce so to have a reliable
income? Produce more?



It could be a solution, but then we get to the
second level: infrastructure



When they produce, for example, cassava biscuits:
They get Cassava from local farms, peal the cassava, cut it, use a machine to
grain it and then, after that, all the other processes are hand-made: drying,
crushing and sieving. In this method, they can produce only 3kg of cassava
flour per day; what is way too little to compete even in the local market. End even further, almost all the flour they produce they use to make biscuits; therefore there is no flour left to be sold.

Now, about biscuits: They can produce around 70 biscuits per day (if
everybody is doing the biscuits). However, they have only one mug to pour the
ingredients, only one pan to mix them, only one oven with only one baking tray
to use. 



Small details would make a big change, such as
one more mug, for example; they would not need to wash the mug every time they
have to deal with a different ingredient. But even further, their behavior
while cooking is just like a group of friends in a home kitchen: while one is
mixing the ingredients with a mixer, another is holding the pan and other is
seating and talking.

Therefore this second level has many different
sub-levels, where one is “behavior”. There must be a behavioral change, if they
want to compete in the local markets (and grow to even bigger ones) they have
to have a “step-by-step” process, just like a production line. I don’t think
they have to stop acting as friends and taking, they just need to have specific
tasks for each one to complete. 



If those two levels work and all the changes
are made and adopted to their reality, then they can reach the third, the
higher level, which is the demanded “business model”. This document will
describe the nature of all activities in Farming and Agro-processing; its procedures,
products, production capacity, and so on. And then, when they are established
as a “company” they can start working on branding, packaging and advertisement.



In a nutshell, this is the result of our
research there: we identified that just a business model would not work there
because it has related systems that must be working accordingly to support it
and to make it sustainable. And now we will work on the detailed description of
each change in all the levels; hopeful to have a good impact of those people
lives!