Learning Launch      Challenge       Botswana government has tasked the Ministry of Local Government and Rural Development to provide  basic amenities such as portable water, clean sanitation and housing to the rural area dwellers. As a Woks’  Superintendent in the local municipality, the housing initiative falls directly under my supervision. At its  core, the municipality endeavors to provide habitable housing units to the less-privileged members of the  community at a cost not exceeding sixty thousand Pula (P60, 000.00). Our challenge as Housing  Department is to cope with high numbers of applicants that are eligible for the housing scheme;  something that we have not been able to overcome, resulting in backlog. One of the major reasons that  hinder our efficiency is the sourcing of building materials since most candidates reside in very remote  areas where there are no local suppliers. Now, my team that comprised of eight members from diverse  professional background, including both civil and mechanical engineering, quantity survey, material  science, finance and accounting and social work; was assigned to find ways by which project delivery time  could be maintained at the set ministerial operation standards of six months delivery period at most. No  external support regarding human resource has been sourced; we were all employees of the ministry. The  project was expected to run for twelve months in order to cater for both research and prototyping. The  team focused on discovering what team members and recipients of the project considered to be the  challenge in that lead to untimely execution of our mandate.     Selection      Learning launch is a design thinking tool that is applied through a cautious approach in which the solution  is introduced gradually while being considerate of the feedback from external stakeholders who are  involved from inception to delivery. Initially the team comes up with a hypothesis and test its relevance  through stakeholder involvement in order to ascertain that there is no confirmation biasness. It deals with  rapid experimentation aimed at finding the practicability of the solution proffered. When the idea has  been confirmed as the one meeting the needs of the recipients, it is rolled out gradually, mitigating  whatever challenges identified so that the solution is ultimately perfected with time. My team found it  relevant for the challenge because of its ability to allow necessary interactions and consultations between  recipients and the team. Also it has a cost-saving ability since the project is rolled-out in batches and  feedback is analyzed and mistakes rectified on time in order to improve the product before its final rollout.  Also the approach was selected on the basis that it saves money, time and human resource that would  have been put to use to produce a whole lot of wrong product.    Application       Initially the team came together and brainstormed to establish factors that led to our challenge, and  several factors were raised. However, at the end the identified factors were evaluated to pick the most  stringent one, and the team collectively hypothesized that scarcity of building materials led to the delay  in service delivery. From there, the eight-member team was divided into sub-teams to engage different  stakeholders such as potential recipients, builders and suppliers to establish their opinion regarding late  delivery of projects and what may have led to that. Each team was mandated to engage at least three but  not more than five interviewees so that the quality and quantity of data could be easily validated.  Furthermore, engaging other stakeholders other than the investigators guarded against confirmation  biasness whereby the team was likely to only look for data that would ultimately confirm their opinion.  Ultimately, the data gathered from various stakeholders confirmed our hypothesis. Subsequent to that,

multi-functional teams were and assembled and focused on strategizing execution of tasks assigned in an  effort to ensure timely service delivery. It was expected that at the end of the project, the team produce  a detailed document outlining how our new techniques were going to lessen delivery time so that  customers get houses on time, therefore eliminating backlog.       Since the main factor that led to untimely service delivery was identified as having to do with scarcity of  materials, civil engineers, quantity surveyors and material scientists were tasked to look at the possibility  of coming up with substitute materials and construction techniques that would not compromise quality  of the final product, yet remain within budget while reducing delivery time.  Tasks and priorities were  clarified to members. Solutions were generated and evaluated before the team settled for the best  solution that solved the need of both the team and the recipients, while being better than the  conventional ideas. The team came up with a design that uses pre-casted slabs made from locally available  raw material instead of bricks and mortar. The new composite material was tested against harsh weather  conditions that characterize the area, and proved to be as strong as the conventional brick and mortar.  Finally, the proposed solution was taken and explained to stakeholders during the design phase so that  their input, if any, may be incorporated into the final solution. This was all done within a set timeframe of  four weeks, after which the solution was endorsed by the Chief Civil Engineer.     Completion of the structure took between four and five weeks as compared to the initial period of six to  twelve months that was as a result of scarcity of material. To kick-start the project, six houses were built  in different localities and were handed to recipients who were asked to give feedback on the quality and  general well-being of the structure. All the recipients unreservedly applauded the initiative, albeit minor  concern to the effect that window sizes be increased to allow more light to enter the house; and this was  done. After a thorough evaluation of the findings, the minister gave the project a thumbs-up and currently  forty-eight families have been assisted through the project. Now backlog is a thing of the past as it  generally takes between three and six months for someone to receive their house, unlike previously when  people had to wait sometimes for as long as two to three years.       Insight      Through the learning launch tool, our team hypothesized and designed launches to test our assumptions  that untimely service delivery was as a result of scarcity of materials. The team thought that results from  this research would assist in finding an everlasting solution to the problem of delay in execution of our  key mandate, hence resuscitate public trust and rebrand the department. Furthermore, it was anticipated  that all stakeholders would embrace the new technology; and that happened. Our initial results were not  as best as we had thought as slight improvements were initiated by the recipients. Team members were  tolerant enough to take constructive criticism and improve the project. I want to opine that the project  was grossly accepted on the basis that recipients were made to feel like critical stakeholders, unlike if the  project was just “pushed” onto them.  It is the intention of the team to continue monitoring the project  with the view to continue learning on how to improve the design in future. More learning launches are to  be rolled out to other municipalities before a full national rollout is instigated. Moving forward, our team  will review this insight and incorporate it into future launch designs. The future learning launches are  expected to reflect insight gained and progress made after the preliminary launch.     As a team leader I learnt that team members should be made to feel free to air their views, and NO idea  is useless. Also I discovered that despite intensive consultation of stakeholders, designs are highly  vulnerable to alterations once they get to realization phase. This was evidenced by the way the team had  to alter the window sizes to meet customer taste after construction of houses. Furthermore, I realized

that the more users/recipients are involved, the more they become part of the project; hence  minimizing/eliminating possibilities of the project being rejected at a later stage.    Approach  In future, I would like to involve local and tribal leadership (chiefs and area councilors) since these are the  people who work closely with the community. The team encountered some problems when arriving in  certain settlements because community members shunned the meetings thinking that the team is from  the ministry of lands that previously clashed with them over land issues. It was only after soliciting the  support of the village chief and councilor that villages attended our meetings. Also, the use of graphic  illustrations and modelling may be very handy during preliminary engagement with stakeholders. Lastly,  media, more especially radio should be utilized to assist with dissemination of information so that people  are aware of changes taking place in their area. This is another important stakeholder that we overlooked.  The team will need annual retreat to introspect with the view to improve service delivery.

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