UW1020: Professional Communication in International Social Enterprises: A Community Engaged Scholarship Course in Partnership with Clinic+O, taught by Dr. Jessica McCaughey.

At its core, this course interrogates the question: How does writing allow mission-driven organizations to get work done? This first-year writing class is themed around the topic of international healthcare communication, particularly that of our class partner, Clinic+O, a relatively young organization in West Africa that is “committed to

improving healthcare infrastructure and outcomes in Guinea, with the goal of creating a sustainable model for primary care that addresses the needs of all Guineans, particularly those living in poverty.” In teams and individually, students work directly with the leadership at Clinic+O to learn not only about their outreach in rural communities, but also about the essential writing and rhetoric of the organization. Our class writing projects–in a variety of ways and in genres as diverse as white papers, social media, and research reports–support the organization’s authentic development efforts.

In doing so, we study the organization’s contextual backdrop–the healthcare structures and challenges of medical access in Guinea, particularly as they relate to issues of culture, political history, womens’ health, and rural vs. urban communities. We also consider critical questions related to nonprofit communication, such as: In what ways are culture and “data” sometimes at odds when it comes to healthcare? How do we ethically represent communities in written development materials? West Africa has seen a number of NGOs “set up shop,” and then fail; how has this happened, and in what ways do community-based, local organizations differ from these international NGOs? What does it mean to “decolonize philanthropy”? 

As we work to help solve some of the real-world writing problems faced by Clinic+O, students gain an understanding of the work our partner organization is doing, the region and people involved, and how writing allows for progress to occur there and in other authentic spaces. We look at crucial differences–and overlap–between writing and research in academic contexts and professional settings, ask nuanced questions about audience and purpose, and work to rethink and remake arguments for various audiences in varied forms. Students develop a structured research and writing process, as well as a set of rhetorical tools and techniques that help them not only in our classroom and in our work with Clinic+O, but also in the future when they encounter new and unfamiliar writing situations. Projects are determined in conversation with the community partner; each semester, we discuss the "problems that might be solved by writing and research" that they are currently facing, and we work to develop student projects that might contribute to the organization.

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Semester Reports

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Fall 2023

Professor: Jessica McCaughey
Students Reporting: 12
Time Reported: 293

Example projects reported by students:

I researched the impacts of colonialism on health care in West Africa to create a podcast aimed at informing donors about the historical significance of the organization. Throughout the semester, I gained professional writing and collaboration skills that will translate into my success at this company.

We helped to facilitate a social media plan and measurable outcomes from the plan and the impact that it will create for Clinic+O.

I created a proposal presentation on how to improve the company's grant writing, completed an annotation on what diseases most affected women in the countries that surrounded Guinea, and made a remix project by creating an online quiz to educate donors on how women were affected in other countries and what Clinic+O can do to prevent that within Guinea.

I worked with a group to write a grant proposal for Clinic+O with the hope that our fresh perspective on important aspects of their work would assist in earning additional funding. I also conducted independent research on another topic and presented my work to Clinic+O in an interactive whitepaper with my findings and advice for their future work.

I worked on a project aimed at addressing fundraising gaps. Our final product was a 12-page best practices document that outlined three major suggestions: Increasing social media engagement, hiring a PR intern, and modifying the website design. My second project was aimed at looking at the impacts of colonialism on healthcare access in West Africa. Its goal was to inform donors on the history of the region to emphasize the importance of the organization’s work. The final product was a podcast aimed at engaging donors with information that gives insight into the historical significance of Clinic+O.

For this project, I created a podcast for the leadership team and developers of organizations, especially Clinic-O. My research was on how to leverage AI in an NGO setting.

My group and I researched how Clinic-O can utilize social media, internships and other methods to increase funds and donors. We prepared a presentation of our findings which we delivered to the organization via Zoom.

Student Comments:

I loved the experience that was provided and would never have imagined I would have learned so much. I loved the fact that I was actually able to help, working side by side with the company's CEO.

There was immense impact on me. I had never known how an organization like Clinic-O operates, the roles, funding, and daily operations were quite different from other 'businesses' that I am used to. It inspired me to the point where I went ahead and also created a venture in my other business class relating to Clinic-O but focusing on education instead of healthcare. Just learning about the founder's story gave me a wider perspective of the world and why people really do what they do.

I learned how to professionally communicate with experts in the field as well as my peers. I have learned about topics like presentation construction, online quiz making, and the struggles for proper and accessible healthcare in Guinea, subjects that while I didn't expect to cover, were a joy to research.

Through this project, I learned a lot about AI how it is already used in the healthcare realm and how it can be used to provide a better service.

Doing the annotations document was very helpful for me, I learned how to properly write an annotation, refined my professional writing skills, and learned how to do proper research.