In lieu of a thesis, students at the Bush School of Government and Public Service are required to conduct a capstone project with a real-world client. Broken into small groups, students work together on a diverse array of topics, assisted by a faculty advisor, to produce a professional-grade deliverable to the client. My capstone project was contracted with UNICEF Jordan and tasked with evaluating the effectiveness of the Hajati cash assistance program for Jordanian children. This experience required teamwork and the ability to persevere in the face of unforeseen setbacks.

 

Building the Team

 

Our team started preparations early, since we would travel to Amman, Jordan to conduct on-site interviews with beneficiaries and UNICEF employees. We designated roles for each person on the team, with my role as the budget manager. Our team effectively scheduled all necessary interviews with local experts and jointly developed the way in which we would conduct our research on the ground in Jordan. Since our project required international travel, my role as the budget manager proved crucial for ensuring that we would have the funds to fulfill our needs for the duration of the trip. I worked in close conjunction with our logistic managers to ensure that we did not exceed our provided funds. Our overall team dynamic thrived on our collective ability to designate tasks and establish deadlines, while keeping each other accountable. Throughout our project, we encountered little friction between members of the team due to our shared understanding and acceptance of individual responsibility to achieve our stated goals.

 

Expect the Unexpected

 

In the weeks leading up to our departure date for Amman, the COVID-19 pandemic effectively halted all international travel, including our capstone trip. Our team had been preparing for weeks to conduct our interviews in person, only for our trip to be cancelled for safety reasons. We quickly realized that we would not be able to conduct our interviews with the majority of our demographics, specifically the beneficiaries of the program. Concerned that our project had seemingly disintegrated, our group took the initiative to continue distance research about the program and effectively evaluate the program from afar. We also relied on conducting interviews over the internet to fill the gaps in our research. Though it took time to establish our contingency plan, our team was able to overcome this devastating setback and continue our research in line with the original goals of the project. Our ability to persevere through this complication is what led our team to success.

 

Learn from Change

 

Adjusting our project to the changing environment demanded we alter our methods of data collection. We employed internet video-conferencing software to conduct our interviews, though it drastically reduced the number of interviews due to accessibility. With less raw data to use in our analysis, we were forced to rely on previously published data, often from the implementing organization itself, possibly reflecting bias. Had our team been forewarned that events would unfold as they did, we would have benefited from constructing a contingency plan using alternate means to acquire our data. One of the biggest takeaways from these events is the necessity of building backup plans to ensure that unforeseen issues do not completely derail a project, as nearly happened to ours.

Successfully concluding our capstone project required us to rely on each other’s strengths as a team, especially in the face of unexpected roadblocks. Our ability to effectively work together as a team as well as to persevere through issues outside of our control are what ultimately led to our success. This project provided me a valuable exercise in working as a member of a team to achieve a collective goal and tested my ability to overcome unanticipated hurdles, and accentuated the need to make contingencies for when things go wrong. These are skills that I can apply in all of my work, both in an academic and professional environment.