https://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/114195 Wed, 08 Apr 2026 19:35:37 GMT 2026-04-08T19:35:37Z https://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/115525 Surveys from CITE "Solar Lantern Evaluation in Uganda"  Green, Jennifer; Spielberg, Jonars; Majumder, Mahdi; Skot, Tessa Fri, 18 May 2018 00:00:00 GMT https://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/115525 2018-05-18T00:00:00Z https://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/115524 Reports from CITE "Solar Lantern Evaluation in Uganda"  Asher, Jeffery; Breitbach, Timothy; Brine, Derek; Carland, Corinne; de Weck, Olivier; Farahanchi, Ali; Frey, Daniel; Gandhi, Amit; Goentzel, Jarrod; Graves, Steve; Green, Jennifer; Lesniewski, Victor; Majumder, Maia; Montgomery, Brittany; Pombrol, Christopher; Sanyal, Bishwapriya; Schade, Maitagorri; Spielberg, Jonars Thu, 01 Jan 2015 00:00:00 GMT https://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/115524 2015-01-01T00:00:00Z https://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/112624 Supply chain financing in Developing countries Breitbach, Timothy W There is no definitive blueprint for ending poverty and increasing prosperity across the globe, but the World Bank argues that inclusive economic growth is critical to achieving global development goals. This thesis focuses on supply chain financing, and its potential to make a positive and lasting impact on people and businesses in resource-constrained environments. It seeks to develop a better understanding of how supply chain and finance structures impact profits, sales growth and risk. The two-phased research design seeks to address the gap in the supply chain and development literature on supply chain finance in small and medium sized firms in developing countries. The first phase consists of exploratory, semi-structured interviews with stakeholders in international development, financing and supply chain management. The exploratory interviews were used to develop an understanding of how relevant stakeholders think about and make supply chain finance decisions. Additionally, the interviews were used to identify a company and supply chain for a multiple case study upon which the second phase of research is based. The company is a clean energy product distributor that has partnered with one of the largest banks in Kenya to provide consumer financing for clean energy products. The case analysis includes an in-depth examination of the company's financial performance by sales channel, drawing upon sales records and accounting documents. Interviews were conducted with the company's management, suppliers, sales force, retailers and bank lending agents. The mixed methods case study is used to extend hypotheses developed during the exploratory interviews and further develop theory on the role of financing in developing country supply chains. The exploratory interviews and case study are used to develop a framework of how stakeholders in consumer durable goods markets think about scale in developing countries. The World Bank's Logistics Performance Index (LPI) and Doing Business Report (DBR) data sets are used to demonstrate how organizations can base supply chain decisions on infrastructure, logistics and governance structures within a country. This research can be used by for-profit and not-for-profit entities when making resource allocation and supply chain design decisions in developing markets. Thesis: Ph. D. in Engineering Systems, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, School of Engineering, Institute for Data, Systems, and Society, 2017.; Cataloged from PDF version of thesis.; Includes bibliographical references. Sun, 01 Jan 2017 00:00:00 GMT https://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/112624 2017-01-01T00:00:00Z https://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/100113 Rethinking the design paradigm for university technology projects in international development Lesniewski, Victor Adam Since the appropriate technology movement of the 1970s, technology and engineering from developed countries have played a role in international development. In recent years, universities have created graduate-level programs that look to engage students to solve challenges faced by resource-constrained communities globally by leveraging technology and innovation. These projects must balance the need for graduate students to produce scholarly research and the objective of creating impactful interventions for the world's poor and marginalized population. Furthermore, these projects must be conducted responsibly, remotely, and in fulfillment of project sponsors. This thesis explores two projects to better understand such engineering for development initiatives. The first project is a technology evaluation project that aimed to design and employ methodologies to determine which products in the "developing world" worked best. Specifically, the project's first evaluation on solar lanterns used in Uganda is described. The second project is a technology development project that sought to develop a scalable electricity grid technology platform to provide universal electricity access in India. The two projects are documented as case studies and conceptualized as design processes, specifically product development processes. Through the lens of the structured product development process, selected aspects of the cases are further explained and secondary literature serves as a basis for suggesting alternative design decisions and actions. Although the successes and failures of the two cases are not assessed in this work, the analysis suggests that technology-focused graduate-level projects in international development may explore alternative approaches that more carefully consider (1) early-stage planning, (2) contextualization of the technology focus, (3) project timescales, and (4) the intent of community engagement. Further work is needed to document and analyze the processes of other projects in this space and to understand how they vary. The product development process may be a useful tool in understanding how these projects might systematically achieve both scholarly and international development impact through the use of design and engineering. Thesis: S.M., Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Department of Mechanical Engineering, 2015.; Cataloged from PDF version of thesis.; Includes bibliographical references (pages 65-67). Thu, 01 Jan 2015 00:00:00 GMT https://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/100113 2015-01-01T00:00:00Z https://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/93739 CITE Suitability : an exploration of product evaluation methodologies for developing world technologies Pombrol, Christopher Anthony There are a multitude of technological products that have been developed to improve the lives of bottom of pyramid consumers in the developing world. Unfortunately, many of these products fail to have the desired impact and there is a serious gap in knowledge of what works and what does not work. It is the goal of the Comprehensive Initiative for Technology Evaluation to fill this gap by creating a methodology for evaluating such products. This thesis documents the first efforts of the Suitability team, as part of the Comprehensive Initiative for Technology Evaluation, to develop these product evaluation methodologies. The Suitability team is focused on evaluating the technical performance of these products in a comparative manner with respect to user expectations and use patterns. Two different product evaluation frameworks were developed, implemented, and compared. The first is an attribute-based product evaluation, in the style of Consumer Reports, in which all products under evaluation are subjected to a standardized set of laboratory tests designed to differentiate among products in key performance areas. The second is a problem-based evaluation in which user feedback is gathered in order to guide product testing. Product evaluations were produced using both methods. Both user groups ranked the importance of solar lantern characteristics similarly, with a Kendall's -r coefficient of 0.4545. Each method also had unique advantages, revealing different kinds of information on solar lantern performance. This suggests that it may be useful to employ both methods simultaneously, with-the problem-based evaluation informing the attribute-based evaluation. Thesis: S.M., Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Department of Mechanical Engineering, 2014.; Cataloged from PDF version of thesis.; Includes bibliographical references (pages 135-136). Wed, 01 Jan 2014 00:00:00 GMT https://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/93739 2014-01-01T00:00:00Z https://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/88387 Development of methodologies for the testing and evaluation of solar lanterns Gandhi, Amit A. (Amit Arun) Solar lighting technologies have reached a point where they are affordable in many developing countries. While many of these products have had a positive impact on communities, the market also has poorly designed and manufactured products that develop a poor reputation among users and hurt adoption rates of solar technologies. current efforts to evaluate solar lanterns have resulted in the development of standards and testing protocols for solar lanterns manufacturers. In this thesis, we explored the development of new user-focused testing methodologies that include both field testing and technical testing. In particular, for the field testing, we applied projective methods to understand biases in reported usage, addressed individual decision making process, and applied maximum difference methodology to understand user-valuation. For the technical testing, we developed a new system for characterizing the light output of solar lanterns and developed embedded instrumentation for solar lanterns to understand how they were used in the field. Thesis: S.M., Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Department of Mechanical Engineering, 2014.; Cataloged from PDF version of thesis.; Includes bibliographical references (page 59). Wed, 01 Jan 2014 00:00:00 GMT https://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/88387 2014-01-01T00:00:00Z