Jessica Laporte
September 17, 2015
I was initially motivated to work for Kouzin Dlo because of their ultimate goal of improving health conditions in Haiti. This objective aligns with my public health interests, and my desire to be a positive influence in the movement towards global health equity. Additionally, the model through which Kouzin Dlo is promoting change appeals to me. I believe traditional aid is failing at effectively improving conditions, and a new approach is desperately needed. Kouzin Dlo’s social entrepreneurship paradigm works to create a stronger local economy, which in turns allows people to help themselves. Any sort of aid that enables the local community to help themselves is going to be able to generate longer last change than aid that is imposed from the outside. Thereby, social entrepreneurship resonates with me, and Kouzin Dlo’s model of utilizing community members to sell to other members of their community is a project I can wholeheartedly get behind.
The project that I will be working on during my time in Port-au-Prince is implementing a CommCare, new data collection software. Through this system Kouzin Dlo will be able to collect a plethora of data, and more easy analyze this information. CommCare will be used to more effectively track sales. Additionally, Kouzin Dlo will be able to interact with their customers directly by sending them SMS messages and surveys using this system. Informational messages about the about clean water practices and the importance of chlorinating their water will be send out to customers. By pointing out these facts out the hope is that it will encourage people to continue to make smart health practices and to continue to purchase from Kouzin Dlo. Additionally, surveys to the customers regarding their product satisfaction, as well as their clean water knowledge, attitudes and practices will be sent out. This information will allow for more targeted marketing, and hopefully more customer retention. I will be responsible for making sure CommCare is up and running. This includes ensuring the software is actually functional. Additionally, I have drafted these messages, and will as putting them into the software program. Sales Agents and Managers will be trained in the system, and the final step will be monitoring the success of the system. The implementation of CommCare will be an ongoing process, where the success and utility of what is being sent out to customer will be assessed, and changes to the system will be made as we go. I’m excited to get the process underway and see how it goes!
