A couple of readers have pointed out the lack of posts on my work (ostensibly the reason I'm here in Uganda), and they've made a request for some more information on the actual work I do between the long mornings of eating mangoes on the veranda and evenings in front of the television watching English Premiere Football. Fair enough. And it's good that they've asked, because the work has become more focused and productive each week. At the end of my third week spent in Yumbe (where, as I've said, I'm camped at a hotel Monday through Friday), I can say that I can finally write a clear entry on my work.
As I said a while back, I'm stationed in Yumbe, a small town 90km north of Arua, where I'm helping two small, indigenous non-profits (or Community-Based Organizations) "build capacity" - non-profit speak for "get bigger" and "be functional." I divide my time between two non-profits: Safe Motherhood and Needy Kids. Both non-profits are working with WellShare International, the Minneapolis-based organization through which I'm volunteering, to implement a USAID-funded anti-malaria program. These non-profits are also doing half a dozen (or more) other things that are more or less related to health and education.
Safe Motherhood was founded by Abaru Beatrice, a teacher and mother, to set up support networks around the district for HIV-positive folks. Beatrice is a tall, graceful, middle-aged woman with high cheekbones and a wide smile. Her movements, like her thoughts, are usually slow, careful and deliberate. She started the network after finding out she herself was HIV+. She now oversees eight networks of around 20 people each. They meet at least once a month to talk about adherence to their HIV treatment drugs (which require strict adherence in order to work), acceptance of HIV-positive people in the community, and to encourage other people to get tested and if they're HIV+, to "come out." There is in Uganda, as in most places, a stigma attached to the disease, and without telling people they've got it, someone is not likely to get treatment or take precautions. In addition to her HIV work, Beatrice has a few other programs related to health, clean water and education. The office where she works has no electricity and no computer (pictured above). No one in the organization (there are about five people who contribute time) is paid. To get to work in Yumbe, Beatrice catches a ride to work from 20km away. Sometimes she's unable to hitch a ride for two hours or more.
The other organization I work with, Needy Kids, is run by a man named Muzamil. Between his work hours, his indefatigable attitude and his humor, Muzamil seems a bit like a movie character. He seems to arrive everywhere on someone else's motor-bike or in someone else's car. He has a narrow mustache and sly smile. He is, like many Ugandans, quick to laugh. His organization is a little bit larger and works on a wider variety of issues, including anti-corruption and environmental degradation. Like Beatrice's office, Needy Kids has no electricty, no internet, and Muzamil works from a donated laptop. Because there's no electricity in Yumbe, work on the laptop usually happens in the evening when it's possible to use the power generated at a nearby hotel. Many of my evenings, I'd run into Muzamil typing away when I came for dinner.
The main challenges to both organizations include, but are not limited to, (1) basic infrastructure, (2) searching for donors, and (3) maintaining an effective, basic organizational structure. As you can imagine, it's tough to contact people by e-mail, write grant proposals or organize information without power. I'm working with both organizations to get solar power systems donated from DED, the German development service (kind of like USAID). DED has also offered them energy-efficient desktops to pair with the solar power systems. Everything is heavily subsidized by German and other International government, while a 20% cost share is expected to be covered by the non-profits themselves. The search for donors is a major, ongoing challenge for these non-profits, and it's probably safe to say it's a similar challenge for non-profits in the developing world everywhere. Part of the challenge lies in the differing perspectives of the indigenous non-profits and the outsiders who would fund them. Western countries provide a lot of money through development agencies and foundations, usually posted on the internet somewhere, sometimes larger grants will appear in the national newspapers. As far as Western countries are concerned, it's ripe, low-hanging fruit. But out here in Yumbe, The internet is not an easy tool. Most of the information Beatrice and Muzamil give and receive in a given day is face-to-face conversation or over cell phones. To access the internet, both organizations have to pay someone else what quickly becomes a lot of money, and neither Beatrice nor Muzamil are very familiar or comfortable with Google, let alone with a program like Raiser's Edge (a popular fund-raising program in the U.S.). Down here, the low-hanging fruit still seems pretty high up.
The result is neither organization has regular, core operating money. They volunteer until they get a project grant. Often, they adjust their missions and visions to suit available money. It's true there's money out there for the taking, but it's hard to find for a small, indigenous non-profit. From Yumbe, it's a donors', donors', donors' world. And it's hard to say how the system should change. A major push for internet access and basic computer literacy would be one way to help. Another option would be for more donors to be on the ground, looking for and talking with (face-to-face) the organizations they want to fund.
I got bogged down for a bit there. The third area I'm helping with is maintaining a basic, effective organizational structure. A lot of the advice and guiding the non-profits here have been given has been tailored over decades to suit American language, culture, law and non-profits. It can be very difficult for a highly educated American to understand some of the policy documents that guide an American non-profits. It's downright impossible for a Ugandan. So it can be a challenge for Muzamil to see what precisely is useful about an organizational Constitution or a financial policy (and to make sure that both actually fit Ugandan society).
And that's my work.