COVID-19 has had serious implications since the beginning of the pandemic and will continue to last far into the foreseeable future. While COVID-19 has impacted many in multiple ways, I think Trinidad and Tobago has been impacted more significantly compared to the United States. I believe this is due for the following reasons, specifically with emphasis on the difference in economic success and population size.

Primarily, Trinidad and Tobago relies on most of its economic success via tourists and partnerships that require travel. Specifically, our main clients—NatureSeekers and DORCAS Women’s Group—relies on eco-tourism revenue to be successful. Both organizations are non-profits, and typically partner with tourists and schools. Through these partnerships, they conduct tours across the country as well as beach clean up and saving the turtles. With major restrictions on travel, Trinidad and Tobago as a whole, as well as the non-profits, are seriously hurting with the economy. In contrast, the United States has over 300 million more people than Trinidad and Tobago. Having a larger population size means the the pandemic was not as detrimental to the economy and its success. Additionally, the United States was much more divided when dealing with regulations of COVID-19, which meant state-by-state rules when it came to travel, entertainment, and tourism. In contrast, Trinidad and Tobago is much smaller which meant the government had a larger say in enforcing any restrictions. These differences in government meant individuals had very different experiences when faced with the pandemic and its new lifestyle.

Now, as vaccinations are coming out, Trinidad and Tobago continue to be hurting from the pandemic compared to the United States. The United States access to vaccines is probably significantly easier and more of a priority to access, as the population is much larger. I also think the ability of the United States to produce vaccines is much more advanced than Trinidad and Tobago’s. This means restrictions may lift sooner rather than later in the United States compared to Trinidad and Tobago’s, which indicates some form of normalcy may return quicker compared to our client’s country. Plus, being behind in the ability to vaccinate individuals means Trinidad and Tobago’s tourism will continue to stay down and their economy will continue to hurt. While tourists from other countries may be vaccinated, knowing that the natives within the country can be off-putting to some.

I believe these differences between Trinidad and Tobago and the United States has clear implications on our project. When developing our feasibility plan, the financial portion as well as partnerships we recommend will be impacted. With the financial portion, we are creating a cost analysis of the organization thus far and possible costs they may face in the future. While we can only hope that tourism will increase by the end of 2021, it is very uncertain how much levels will or will not rise with tours and lifted restrictions. Thus, the plan we are able to offer them right now may not be helpful a couple months from now. This means my team and I are required to carefully think about how we want to deliver our ideas, as we want what we share with NatureSeekers and DORCAS Women’s Group to be a success in some form. Furthermore, when recommending partnerships for both of our clients, it is much more difficult to offer concrete ideas about organizations they should take initiative from or develop ideas from. This is because these organizations are based in different countries around the globe, which again, have different COVID-19 regulations with their economy and populations. This is not preventing us from emphasizing the importance of other non-profit structures, but it does impact how feasible it will be to implement our ideas for both groups.

Working with Amizade, NatureSeekers, and DORCAS Women’s Group virtually has had large implications on our project. Each client has severe differences in access to internet connection, which has been clear in our ability to interact with all clients.

Regarding Amizade, our connection with them has been stable, which means we have been able to be more engaged with them. While Amizade is not a direct client with the scope of work and deliverables we are creating, they have been essential to us when answering questions regarding our other two clients. I think they have been very helpful, as they attend most of our weekly meetings and are responsive to our emails. However, this is because a portion of their team is based in the United States, which generally has good access to internet throughout. One of our contacts with Amizade is based in Trinidad and Tobago, but their access to the internet has been strong as they are in a different area than our other two clients. I also think her circumstances are much different, as she does not work for a non-profit and likely has a higher ability to access what is necessary to connect virtually.

Regarding NatureSeekers, their access to internet connection has been very on and off. When we first met with one of our contacts, the virtual video was unclear but the virtual audio was clear enough for us to get our questions across, and receive the answers we needed to begin to dive into our work. However, at our client check-in meeting, my team and I had a completely different experience. We had both our original client on the call, as well as another member from their organization. Both individuals had choppy internet that would cut out for long periods of time. This made it extremely difficult for us to ask the important questions that were preventing us from the success of developing our deliverables and objectives. However, I do understand this is not our clients’ fault. They are based in a much more rural portion of Trinidad and Tobago than Amizade, and their funds to have a stable internet connection is not their main priority. Their current efforts are focused on their mission surrounding saving the turtles and eco-tourism. While my team and I are doing our best to aid them in helping their organization, their main focus is not just our group’s ideas. I think as the end of our project finishes up, email will serve as the best method of connection, although that does not mean we will not attempt to connect live in a virtual setting.

Additionally, DORCAS Women’s Group has been an even more difficult contact to connect with. From what we have gathered, they are in an even more rural area than NatureSeekers, which means internet connection has been extremely limited to the point where we have not met with them on a zoom or video platform yet. Again, my team and I understand how difficult it can be to switch from such strong in-person meetings to be completely virtual, and everyone has such different circumstances. Since this contact has been difficult, Amizade has played a large role in aiding our questions and doing their best to connect us with DORCAS Women’s Group.

Overall, I think working in a cross-cultural setting entirely virtually has both positives and negatives. From a positive standpoint, at least my team and I are attempting to reach our clients. If technology did not exist, we likely would not even be able to have clients to work with. Thus, we appreciate the efforts from all our clients to connect with us. This allows for my team and I to increase our world business skills and expand our knowledge on different cultures and countries in the world. I think this is something that is easy to overlook, as we are not leaving the University of Pittsburgh to meet our clients. However, I am very grateful for the work and experiences I have experienced thus far. Getting to learn about Trinidad and Tobago’s environment and important practices has been so interesting, and something that I will take away with me for years to come. In contrast, from a negative standpoint, I think it is difficult to wrap my head around the fact that I may never get to meet these clients and understand their situation entirely. Typically, in a pre-COVID year, my team and I would develop a scope of work as well as get to travel to Trinidad and Tobago in person. This means we would be able to receive the full experience and get to truly meet our clients, which is essential to a strong connection. Plus, this would help us when designing our objectives and ideas because we would be able to clearly understand their situation once we got back from the country. Then, when putting our ideas into concrete action plans, we would be able to base our ideas off our personal experiences. Ultimately, I think any form of cross-cultural connection is important because it allows anyone to expand their global knowledge and understanding. It can be easy to glance over the positives and focus on the negatives, but this pandemic is something that is so unique to everyone and anything, that any experiences I can take away from different cultures is something that I plan to focus on.