Jua
OBJECTIVE
As part of the Master in Design Engineering (MDE) program at Harvard, students complete a thesis project addressing a real-world, societal challenge using design and engineering methods. As a result of our collaboration, our team received the 2023 Outstanding Design Engineering Project Award.
TOOLS & SKILLS
Problem definition, user research & testing, UX/UI design, data science, market & competitive analysis
TEAM & TIMELINE
Rebecca Brand, Caroline Fong
September 2022 - May 2023
PROBLEM SPACE
What is the systemic, global impact of climate change on agriculture? What role do smallholder farmers play in this system?
How might we empower smallholder farmers’ knowledge and access to information to support their long-term growth?
Unpacking the Agriculture System
Our research focused on understanding how smallholder farmers access information, resources, and markets, with a special emphasis on digital tools. By partnering with SunCulture, a Kenya-based agri-tech company, we were able to conduct extensive field work to craft and test our hypothesis.
In many subsistence markets, smallholder farmers are the focal point within the agricultural value chain sitting between inputs & suppliers and outputs & markets. They also interact and are impacted by lateral markets including creditors, transportation and educational programs.
In a given agricultural season, smallholder farmers consider these various levers when making decisions about their land; they influence farmers’ resilience and productivity.
User Research & Insights
Our research focused on understanding how smallholder farmers access information, resources, and markets, with a special emphasis on digital tools. By partnering with SunCulture, a Kenya-based agri-tech company, we were able to conduct extensive field work to craft and test our hypothesis.
"I have no problem [sharing with other farmers] because they share information with me. Why should I be selfish?”
1) Small-scale farming is highly collaborative. Farmers do not view their work as a zero-sum game and instead rely on each other for help and support.
“By nature, I’m a skeptical person. You don’t tell me something and I buy it that day. I do my research. I wouldn’t say no to information, but I want to test it.”
2) People are thirsty for more information, but when they learn something new, they will perform their own research to make a more holistic decision. They are willing to try new things and take calculated risks, but they ultimately need to try things themselves before they trust new information.
“I like [Mugambo wa Murimi] because I can see what other farmers are doing on their farms.”
3) Nearly every farmer we spoke with watched or listened to two specific farming programs on local television and radio. They liked the educational content where they could learn about what other farmers are doing.
“I use WhatsApp to talk to other people and other farmers nearly every day.”
4) Most people that had smartphones used WhatsApp. However, many farmers we spoke with expressed that they would love to join a group, but they did not know how to join one.
Design Hypothesis & Principles
Our desk research found that WhatsApp is the most used application in Africa and in Kenya, 22 million people (or 95% of all internet users) use WhatsApp every day. Therefore, we believe there is an opportunity to design an intervention that connects farmers to one another via WhatsApp and SMS to cultivate information exchange among farmers that may not already be happening, with the goals of empowering their decision-making and future planning.
Introducing Jua
When combining our research, hypothesis, and design principles, we devised our proposal for Jua: a multi-sided, digital platform that leverages conversation intelligence to support information and resource exchange among smallholder farmers and service providers in East Africa. As part of our pitch, we’ve written and edited a short teaser video that tells Jua’s story through the eyes of a smallholder farmer.
User Testing & Demand Validation
In order to test Jua’s hypothesis, we have begun facilitating and monitoring WhatsApp groups, or Jua Communities, composed of a small group of farmers who do not know each other. Our aim is to validate if farmers will engage on WhatsApp with people they do not know, how farmers will utilize these groups, and to identify the level of facilitation that we will need to provide in order to maximize and sustain positive, collaborative engagement within these communities.
After 2 weeks of user testing, we had placed nine farmers into two Jua Communities with a focus on similar interests in crops and livestock. Some early results of our test include:
Seven of nine farmers have sent at least one message
19 total messages across two weeks
One multiple-text conversation between farmers
When we returned to Kenya in March 2023, we spoke with farmers about their experience participating in their Jua Communities. Having performed robust user research and testing, we will spend the rest of the academic year prototyping and building out the platform as a functional MVP. We will also continue to develop a sustainable business and operating model as well as address risk mitigation when it comes to data privacy and security.
Prototyping Jua Communities
While initial user testing has been conducted with WhatsApp for Business, we have prototyped the end-to-end experience utilizing WhatsApp Business API. With Meta for Developers, Postman and Make, we are able to send text, image, file, and quick reply messages to a user while receiving responses in a Google spreadsheet. This end-to-end interaction is prototyped in the video.
During our March field visit to Kenya, we also conducted user testing with farmers on the onboarding process and quick reply messages within WhatsApp Business API.
How can we send and receive WhatsApp message data to customize group formation and gather insights?
How do we automate sending relevant resources to WhatsApp groups by analyzing conversation data?
Prototyping Jua Insights
The Jua Communities also gave us real data to conceptualize Jua Insights: a B2B solution that leverages farmer conversations to attract agriculture providers and buyers. Once a critical mass of farmers have joined Jua Communities, there is an opportunity to also expand their access to resources and markets.
Farmer conversation data becomes a strategic value add for providers and markets looking to boost their effectiveness. This data would be housed within an internal-facing platform (Jua Business). When aggregated and generalized, the message data becomes the foundation for Jua Insights, the external platform. The platform can delivers farmer activity and behavioral insights to other stakeholders on the value chain who may not have direct access to farmers currently.
Animations
The “Connect” tab allows Jua Insights customers to improve their lead/demand generation with farmers who might want their services, like a soil test provider that wants to send broadcasts about their offerings.
The “Locate” tab allows Jua Insights customers to see what farmers are talking about on a hyperlocal level, which could improve government response to pest outbreaks.
