Taking their master’s project to Mozambique

During eight weeks, they worked alongside the non-profit organisation Project Vita in Linga Linga, a small coastal village in the Morrumbene district. There, they explored the opportunities available to female entrepreneurs looking to develop their businesses. Their focus was on fish, an integral part of everyday life for the local community.

“We carried out interviews, observations and workshops with members of the local community. Based on what we learned, we developed and tested various ideas and prototypes, including fish powder, fish samosas and improved fish-drying racks,” explains Emma Andersson.

Working in an unfamiliar environment often presented a number of challenges.

“Language, culture, access to information and other practical considerations meant that we sometimes had to rethink our approach,” says Emma.

“It certainly placed a lot of responsibility on us to manage the project independently in an unfamiliar place, without speaking the local language. At the same time, that was precisely what made the whole experience so incredibly exciting. We constantly had the feeling that we were contributing to improving people’s everyday lives,” says William Samin.

The project also gave them the opportunity to put the knowledge and skills they had acquired during their master’s studies at Chalmers into practice.

“At university, you often work with clearly defined problems, data and deadlines. Here, we had to identify the problem ourselves, gather information and determine what was actually relevant,” says Emma.

The work also required them to rethink their approach and adapt their ideas on several occasions.

“One of the biggest lessons was that reality rarely follows the plan you make at the outset. We had to reassess our assumptions several times as we received new information from the field,” says Emma.

William feels that the experience gave him something out of the ordinary.

“Although what we had learned during our studies provided the foundation for the entire project, this kind of work showed us just how different reality can be from theory. It was fascinating to take our knowledge to a completely different setting and contribute to addressing a real-world problem.”

Both students came away with a greater appreciation of the importance of being curious and listening to people with different experiences and perspectives.

“We learned that a solution that seems logical from our perspective is not necessarily relevant in a different context. It is important not to arrive with a ready-made solution, but first to try to understand people’s everyday lives and needs,” says Emma.