Preparation phase
Location: The Netherlands, Delft.
Fundraising
To collect the full 9000 euros the team looked for different possibilities.
- Personal grants: TU Delft stimulates students to explore projects and internships abroad. An International Internship Fund was granted for each of team member with an amount of 250 euros. Unfortunately this will be transferred after the project, so in the meantime the team members will do the payments in advance.
- Foundations: there are foundations who’s vision match with our and who are willing to funds the project. Student4Sustainability is a student organization that support developing projects organized by students. They funded this project with an amount of maximum 1600 euros. This amount may only cover construction costs.
- Donations: friends, families and fans are willing to support this project.
A banking account was opened, as a sub account of Incombinación foundation. It is registered on Sophie’s. Contacts could transfer money to this account.
Also a donation page has been opened, on which everyone with a Dutch banking account could easily transfer money online. Due to delays, this page wasn’t opened until the second week of October.
- Fundraiser: through activities it is also possible to collect money. The initial plan was to organize workshops for elementary schools, but this was blown off due to little interest.
People did seem interested in the idea to organize a farewell party. The Bambú Social Night is an open event with the main goal to collect money through drinks, as for publicity. All sponsors and supporters are invited as well. This event will take place on the 17th of October.
Donation page Sophie
Bambú Social Night Sophie
International Publicity
It is very important for the project to stay “alive” and keep reaching people, even when another team is operating. The goal is to reach more people and get more support. Dutch and international parties make this project realizable. These are both the existing organizations as potential new partners who can support the project Bambú Social 2.0. Therefore, good communication with these organizations is crucial.
An information brochure was made in Dutch for friends and family and other social circles, in order to gain more publicity.
In the appendix you can read the full promotion plan which describes how we’ll stay in contact with supporters and fans. This also relates to the second phase in Nicaragua. This contains the following components:
Facebook updates Marie-Louise
Website updates Marie-Louise
Ginger updates Sophie
Information brochure (hard copy) Sophie
Official updates Sophie + Marie-Louise
Research
The research done in advanced could be separated into technical research and implementation research. In the technical research a lot of has been reviewed. Some of the literature was already gathered by the previous team.
The even most important research is the implementation research. This is done by the cultural development tools taught in the course Development, Sustainability & Culture (WM0942TU) at the TU Delft.
The team tries to find an answer of two main questions. A detailed analysis is in the annexes, only the conclusions are presented here.
How does the project become successful? By applying all the functions on the current situation, one main conclusion could be drawn: there’s a serious lack of knowledge about the available construction material bamboo. Due to a lack of management and guidance, there are little entrepreneurial activities in El Rama, this should be stimulated by the directors of El Rama. People are interested in the bamboo, but there has to be an extra push coming from Bambú Social. Building with bamboo is spread easily, but this has to be done by the Universities. Building companies should invest better the housing demand and possibilities. By articulating better on the demands and responding to the research at the Universities, the housing market could function much better. People do not have access to loans yet; banks and micro finance organizations could provide this. The designers of (bamboo) housing should take into account that the house could function be independent of the infrastructure. After all, Bambú Social will stimulate all the actors mentioned before to use bamboo as a standard construction material, by responding to the lacks in the current system. Bambú Social 2.0 will contact the director and Universities, of the actors mentioned above.
How can Bambú Social contribute to development? The direct components of which Bambú Social has influence on are the education and research system and business system. By doing research and sharing knowledge with the local students and Universities, the foundation will contribute to bamboo research. By working with local craftsmen and visiting the bamboo farm, the foundation could provide starting companies with entrepreneurial activities. The aim of both components is to upgrade and upscale the bamboo usage in the housing market. The goal for Bambú Social is to eventually let go of the components so that they can develop thereselves independently of an intermediate organization (external help).