Nano-Corps

Children and young people in rural areas have little access to education, and they can hardly know what the world is like outside their community. Young people in urban areas who have access to education, know more about how the world is developing, but they almost never consider applying their knowledge and skills to the benefit of rural areas in their own country. Nano-Corps seeks to create a bridge linking these two sectors so that people with access to higher education share their knowledge with people in rural areas to achieve the comprehensive benefit of small communities. Thus, knowledge is transferred from the macro (world) to the nano-scale (small groups), empowering small communities through knowledge, skills, and values. This solution could improve the lives of people in Latin America and the Caribbean because "they are not fed, but they are taught how to fish".

In Mexico, the lack of access to educational opportunities has impeded the improvement of living conditions and the elevation of family and community levels of well-being. According to the latest census, 22.2% of the population in Mexico lives in rural communities, where the highest levels of inequality are manifested and where the poverty situation is most acute. In Mexico, as in the rest of the countries of Latin America and the Caribbean, the greatest weight of inequality is attributed to educational inequalities, which generates a higher dropout rate (around 50% in young people).

School dropout generates young people who do not reach the minimum educational capital and the skills required to stay out of poverty during the active life. This generates a vicious circle because the main factor for dropping out of school is precisely the lack of economic resources to buy school supplies, pay for tickets, books, or for a minimum cost of food.

Therefore, efforts must be made to provide the necessary economic conditions within rural communities in a self-sustaining manner, so that children and young people have the minimum necessary resources to continue their education, along with a motivation directed towards a prosperous future.

Nano-Corps seeks to help people in rural communities where a main economic activity has been developed over the years, only applying knowledge transferred through generations. This knowledge, although valuable to them, limits the development of this activity and, consequently, of their community.

Through introductory workshops, we can show the benefits and a projected image for the future of how the community can grow when new and updated knowledge is applied. Here, we make them part of the solution by showing them that if rural communities put emphasis on improving their main economic activity, the profit will be higher, and workers have a higher income, but more importantly, they will have a secure and stable income that currently do not have. Improving this economic activity requires learning and development of new skills imposed by the outside world with bigger challenges. With a new vision of the world, the education of young people and children benefits because they will prepare better, and with the new challenges they are motivated to continue with their studies (reduce school dropout). This gives them a new mindset, so young people and children would realize that “the sky is the limit”. 

The solution proposed here consists of forming small teams of less than 10 people (Nano-Corps) of professionals, or undergraduate students, who as a team prepare a proposal for the comprehensive development of a community close to them. It can be seen as a social service activity, but with clear and measurable goals aimed at improving the quality of life for all people in that community. This improvement in the quality of life can be measured from different approaches, such as economics, education, health, culture, among others, to achieve the integral development of the people who live in it. However, the main efforts will focus on optimizing the primary economic activity of the community.

That optimization process will require that people from a Nano-Corp team transfer their knowledge to the people of the community using technological tools: hardware, software, mobile applications, and any other that is needed. The knowledge transmitted to the community will be from a higher education level, covering a wide variety of areas such as medicine, engineering, economics and finance, law, among many others. In the end, the result will be that people from rural communities begin to have access to better tools and better education that allow them a better quality of life since their vision will be broadened. On the other hand, people from Nano-Corps will put their skills and knowledge into practice in real scenarios, and not only to solve book problems, because to achieve the success of their proposed action plan they will have to face life's challenges daily of a globalized world. In other words, for them, the real, current world will be their classroom.

This scheme represents a win-win solution. On the one hand, disadvantaged rural communities can participate in lifelong skills development and learning opportunities by leveraging the knowledge shared by people who have had access to higher education. Thus, a productive and prosperous way of life is created for them. On the other hand, people with access to higher education test their knowledge and skills outside the classroom, facing problems and challenges not found in books, leading to a new model of education for the 21st century that, while starting with Mexico as a pilot country, could be applied in various Latin American and Caribbean countries.

The innovation of the proposed solution lies in the application of a scientific concept in society. Nanotechnology is a research area currently under development and expansion, studied from various fields such as physics, chemistry, medicine, materials science, among others, and the interest in the study of matter and energy at the nano-scale must to something that can be summed up in a few words and without going into scientific and technical details in the following way: some phenomena occur differently at the nanoscale compared to how they occur at the macroscale.

If we consider that the world society has a population of more than 7 million people, its nanoscale counterpart equals seven people, that is, approximately the number of people considered to form the Nano-Corps teams. With this in mind, the question that arises is whether it is possible that social phenomena (poverty, crime, education, etc.), especially those derived from economic factors, may occur differently in small societies, compared to macro-societies or, world society. This approach to social development has not been explored (to the best of our knowledge), or at least not in a systematic way, and could be addressed by the proposed Nano-Corps program.

A communication bridge will be created between professionally-skilled people (Nano-Corps), and people living in small communities (target people), in which there will be an exchange of technical knowledge for the optimization of a primary economic activity within the community. This will provide new knowledge and better tools that are not accessible in the small community due to a lack of education opportunities.

The development of new tools will be shared with youth and children at basic education levels as part of their training, seeking to improve their preparation, and increase their motivation to reduce school dropout.

The main objective of optimizing such primary activity will be its economic stability, as well as that of the workers, thereby promoting the economic sufficiency of families. This economic sufficiency will be complemented by education for parents and children in areas such as personal finances, health, culture, family planning, habits, values, among others, which will be taught through courses and workshops to achieve an integral development of the entire community.

The short-term result will then be to establish a comprehensive community development plan based on the exchange of knowledge from the Nano-Corps. In the medium and long term, it will be the consolidation of economic activity within a community so that it is self-sustaining.

The secondary beneficiaries are the Nano-Corps teams, through the application of their skills and knowledge for the benefit of small communities, facing real-world challenges, giving rise to a possible innovative, updated educational model for current and future challenges.

Despite the fact that these data are not yet available, it is estimated that the pilot community with less than 2,500 people could be served at the beginning during the following year. For the next 5 years, through the optimization of the program, as well as the identification of more small communities where the solution can be implemented, it is estimated that the program can be extended to a range of 3-5 more communities in Mexico, likewise with populations of 2,500 people or less, allowing continuous and effective feedback so that the Nano-Corps program can continue to grow.

In the case of Mexico, considering that 22.2% of the population belongs to rural communities, this population corresponds to the entire target population that could ideally benefit from this program. However, it is very clear that there will be geographic, social, political, and security limitations, among others, that will force us to make a careful selection of where this program could be applied.

The objective in the following year is to apply the Nano-Corps program in a community with approximately 2,500 people. This community will be the pilot test of the program, and from it, the information will be collected to have feedback. From the sixth month, a call may be launched to identify an approximate of 2-3 more communities where the Nano-Corps program can be applied starting in the second year.

For the next 5 years, it is expected that the Nano-Corps program has been applied in approximately 4-6 communities in Mexico, and 10 more communities have been identified where it can be applied in the future. In addition, within the next 5 years, an action plan will be sought to extend the program to other countries in Latin America and the Caribbean.

The main barriers are financial and cultural, the latter ones perhaps the most difficult to overcome, since for the people from small communities, the implementation of a program like the one that Nano-Corps proposes represents a change of mentality, habits, values, i.e., a change in lifestyle. Therefore, the people from the Nano-Corps teams will have to face resistance-to-change on the part of the people from small communities. However, resistance-to-change can be found anywhere, even within large companies when they are forced to reinvent themselves when society demands it. This is also an area of opportunity for the people of the Nano-Corps to develop conviction skills, implementation, and development of action plans that will undoubtedly help them in their professional growth. Financial barriers may limit the mobility of people from Nano-Corps to rural communities.

Cultural barriers associated with resistance-to-change by people from small communities can be overcome by providing adequate training to Nano-Corps teams through courses and workshops during the planning of the action plan. With this, it is intended to provide them with tools and skills that help them succeed during the processes of conviction, implementation, and development of action plans.

Financial barriers may be reduced if, during the initial stage, the implementation of the Nano-Corps program is limited to nearby, easily accessible communities. In addition, priority will be given at the beginning to action plans and solutions that mainly involve the exchange of knowledge between people, that is, they do not require an initial economic investment to achieve results in the short term.

We believe that the countries of Latin America and the Caribbean are ideal scenarios to implement the solution that Nano-Corps proposes, because similar to what occurs in Mexico, a large number of the population is concentrated in rural communities having the same problem of lack of access to educational opportunities for youth and children. The expansion plans will be based on the periodic launching of calls to invite students from different countries of Latin America and the Caribbean to join Nano-Corps teams for the development of communities close to them. Those teams will receive adequate training to get their action plan going. With the advancement of the program, it is considered that the calls will be accompanied by financial support so that the Nano-Corps teams successfully carry out the activities of their action plan in Latin America and the Caribbean.

The team is currently in the process of being created, but 4 profiles have been identified: a general coordinator, a leadership expert with experience in education, a person with experience in social service in rural communities, and a person who was born in a rural community. These four members will work with the first community. Then, they will concentrate the information to design and optimize the program to be implemented in more communities through search and selection of future Nano-Corps teams that present the best action plans with achievable goals to be carried out in various communities.

The team that is being created will have a multidisciplinary and experienced profile, including leadership skills, teaching, good oral and written communication, as well as knowledge of engineering, economics, scientific and technological profiles, among others, to cover the greater needs than a comprehensive development program like Nano-Corps requires. However, the most important profile that distinguishes our team will be the close interaction with rural communities. This interaction can be accomplished through social service programs and participation with non-governmental organizations in programs with social approaches in which team members have participated in the past. Ideally, some of these social programs should have a presence in several Latin American countries. This interaction opens up the possibility of knowing more precisely the needs that exist in rural communities. In addition, having a member of the team from a rural community, allows us to delve into the lifestyle, customs, mentality, and aspirations of children and young people in these communities and determine how we can provide the tools to motivate them to a better future.

The main value proposition is to share professional knowledge with rural communities to provide them with economic stability by improving and optimizing the primary economic activity carried out in the community.

The key resources are first of all the Nano-Corps teams made up of professionals and/or undergraduate students who carry out an action plan for the comprehensive development of a rural community, based mainly on the knowledge they have acquired during their studies. Another key resource is the human resource that exists in rural communities. That is, all those people who live and work in the rural community on whom the Nano-Corps team's action plan will fall, and that it is important that they are convinced that their activities are an essential part for the success of the program.

Universities can be important partners, as the fact that their students participate in a program like Nano-Corps will help them delve into real problems where they will put their skills and knowledge into practice.

The operating costs will be mainly for the staff and their mobility towards rural communities. Initially, the development of the Nano-Corps program is contemplated within a social service scheme, where the main investment within rural communities is through knowledge. Then, scholarships and donations will be considered as part of the revenue, and in later stages, loans for those action plans where investment in a profitable economic activity is contemplated.

Initially, the development of the Nano-Corps program is contemplated within a social service scheme, where the main investment within rural communities is through knowledge. During this initial stage, the operating costs linked mainly to the activities and mobility of staff to rural communities could be covered through scholarships and donations, while actively participating in calls for financing social programs.

As the Nano-Corps program matures, a financial sustainability scheme could be designed as follows. The action plans where the investment in an economic activity that yields profits is contemplated will be promoted. Such action plans may be granted a loan with a lower interest rate than any financial institution can grant so that it is the best option viable for obtaining funds. It should be noted that such activities with the potential to generate economic profits may give rise to startups, or larger companies. Therefore, the contribution of donations by communities in mature or consolidated stages of the Nano-Corps program (potential startups) will also be encouraged, to support the implementation of the program in new communities, that is, mature communities supporting nascent communities.

TPrize can help us by making that our proposed solution effectively reaches in many rural communities. In addition, the most important help that we can get from the TPrize Challenge is the possibility of connecting with experts who send us comments and feedback, as well as different perspectives and new ideas that guide us towards the improvement of the program, since it is a solution with much potential to grow and impact thousands of people in Latin America and the Caribbean.

We would like to partner with Tecnológico de Monterrey, for various reasons that we believe will be important in the implementation and growth of Nano-Corps. First, it is an institution with a presence in various states of Mexico, which would help connect more efficiently with small communities. Second, the Nano-Corps program agrees very well with the vision that Tecnológico de Monterrey has in training its students: leaders with an entrepreneurial spirit, a human sense and internationally competitive. Third, its “Líderes del Mañana” program can be an important talent source for the formation of Nano-Corps teams that execute action plans, potentially in hometown communities of some members of the same program "Líderes del mañana".