Journal Entries Week 3: #1

Part A: Finishing final project, adding background information.

Part B: The past week, I was able to successfully finish my final project and turn it in to my supervisor. This project was an analysis and evaluation of the possibility of implementing a productive component to the educative projects that Fundacion Alpina has in the country. This week, I received feedback from my supervisor, she said that she really liked the project but gave me a couple of suggestions to work on to make it more complete. I did not realized that I designed this project in a way that I assumed that the reader would know exactly the specifics of the project in Sopo, and the other projects that F.A has in Colombia, so she suggested me to add some background information on what was Alpina, why did they created Fundacion Alpina, what was its mission, vision and how they worked their projects. This is one important lesson that I learned: never assume that the reports you turn in will be read by someone who knows what are you talking about (unless specified). With my assignment, it was extremely important to give a context to the final document, since my supervisor wanted others in Fundacion (who not necessarily knew all the specifics in the Sopo project) to read the document, since I was acting as an ‘external consultant’ for them. I believe this is an important lesson, because sometimes when we do our work we assume that the audience knows as much as we do, and that might have an impact in the quality of our documents.  

Also, after having the experience of meeting some people in Sopo, I changed my perspective a little bit on the project. Another important valuable lesson is that it is important to see “with your own eyes” the reality of the project. When I had the initiative to go there to meet the people, I learned a new side of the story. It does not mean that the reports created by the F.A where false at all, but talking to the people directly makes you think of situations that might not have been considered before, or were not documented. Thanks to this experience, I could give a more real context to my evaluation, and apply a direct example on how small productive parts of the project in Sopo could be better used and create an economic impact in the municipality. One of this was the use of homemade orchards as a way of supplying fruits and vegetables for the community and the stores.