Can't believe it is the mid way point of my field work in Uganda. It seems only 5 minutes ago I was getting started. But here it is, 6 weeks done and 6 weeks to go, all thoughts of missing home have flown away and I now worry if I have enough time left and wish for a couple more weeks to get things done. How things change!
As I write this I sit accross from my old friend Nicola Jamie - such a treat to have her here in Uganda for 10 days. She is doing work here but we are getting to hang out in the evenings which is just lovely - I think she will be bored to tears of me rattling on about my research and co-ops by the time she goes home! We are in a café come internet café and about to have supper – green thai curry for me and spaghetti for her. This café is one of quite a number of tourist style places in Jinja – being based on Lake Victoria and the River Nile they get a lot of tourists, coming for sight seeing but also for rafting down the Nile or doing bungee jumping or horse riding safaris. As my little brother Griff would be able to predict I will not be doing any rafting or bungee jumping having nearly drowned several times on the Zambezi River in Zambia doing rafting with him. There are therefore lots of places to go including lots of great Ugandan places serving local food including matoke (cooked banana), posho (maiza porridge), rice, beans and my fav goat and chips!
After I wrote my last blog I continued with my field trips to both of the co-operatives I have been working with. We have been doing focus group discussions on what skills and knowledge people develop through being a member of a cooperative. People talked of a range of skills but one that came up many times is the skill of keeping records for your business - recording how many pineapples you have planted, what the costs of inputs were, what you sold the pineapples for etc, enabling people to then analyse whether they have made a profit or loss. One member went onto to tell me that this type of skill had also enabled him to see that he should delay marriage as when he looked at it marriage was simply to costly to embark on at this time! What is clear is that access to education and training is extremely limited and the co-operative therefore presents a very valuable opportunity to gain more knowledge and skills whether it be through formal trainings from organisations supporting co-operatives like Uganda Co-operative Alliance or more commonly from each other. Going to visit a fellow farmer to see how he is growing his pineapples or how he is keeping his pigs is commonly sighted as crucial learning opportunities for a person and this is possible as they are in the co-op with other farmers.
At Kigayaza they are also embarking on a new project. Last year one of the members, Geoffrey Bwayo, was invited to a youth and co-operatives conference in Lesotho. There he learnt about how in the UK and in Lesotho co-operatives were being set up in schools to enable students to learn about co-operatives – through the curriculum and also by setting up co-ops in the schools, such as tuck shops, fair trade shops etc. He was so inspired by this that since returning to his co-operative he has persuaded his fellow members that they should work with students and schools in the area. Last week I attended the first meeting they held with the students telling them all about co-ops, the benefits, how co-ops could develop them as individuals and also help them develop their community. It was great to see Geoffrey transferring what he had learnt at that conference and doing what he could within his own rural community, not waiting around for policy changes or funding to come from somewhere to start this up.
I also had a successful trip to Masindi, this is about 5 hours North West of Jinja, where I visited Uganda's Co-operative College for 3 days. We had a good drive up there, enjoying the scenery and excellent fast food options on the road side - skewers of roast goat, chicken, roasted cassava..the list goes on and all delicious and all much better than a McDs or whatever the UK option is. You don't even have to get out of the car as soon as you stop it gets about 50 goat skewers get stuck through the window and you only have to then choose which one! They have over 300 students at the College who are studying for a Diploma in Co-operative and Business Studies. We held focus group discussions with the students and interviewed the lecturers. We are able to do this all in English which is different to the research we have been doing with the two co-ops I work with in Jinja - where Tonny my research assistant has to patiently translate the question and then the answer. It was interesting for me to therefore directly interview the research participants and I found it enabled me to probe more thoroughly on the research areas. It also meant it was worth recording the interviews for the first time. It is useful to have the audio files and be able to listen to them later but I do feel it adds a level of formality to the interview which also possibly hinders how open people are. Luckily I have been to the College before I think on this occasion they did not mind the recorder as they know and trust me to use what they say appropriately. However I think I would be skeptical to use it with someone I did not know as I think it would inhibit them.
Talking to the lecturers at the College was like having a long and fascinating history lesson on co-ops, they are co-operators themselves and come from families where the generation before was also into co-ops. They could therefore talk fluidly about the changing times the co-op movement has undergone – a lot centering on their changing relationship with the government. The co-op movement needs the support of the government to be able to survive but they need government to also respect their independence. The college is very dilapidated; holes in the ceiling, very old books in the library, 120+ students in a class but the quality of students and their commitment to the co-op principles is inspiring. In terms of growing the co-op movement again in Uganda, these students will surely have a key role to play in raising awareness about co-ops and also helping to develop co-ops in the ‘right’ way – member owned and member controlled – avoiding problems of the past where co-ops became dominated by a few people and by government.
Being a mid way point I have spent the week looking at all the data I have generated in the field – I have exercise books full of notes from the interviews and group discussions. I need to get these onto the computer but I have also been reflecting on them to enable me to plan for the next phase of the research. I have a few more visits still to do at Kigayaza and JoyFod SACCO and I will also begin working with a new co-operative. This is called Twekembe Co-op and has over 450 members with a youth group of about 60. They are based about an hour of the main road down a really bad road full of pot holes, ditches and gullies I am hoping the rain stays away as otherwise we will never make it!
Aside from the research I have been trying to do a bit of exercise and swim at the pool at the hotel, however I have also been checking out some of the lovely restaurants in Jinja (probably cancelling out my exercise with the beer and food I am consuming), took part in a crazy golf tournament and sat on my balcony enjoying looking at Lake Victoria, looking at the fishermen and the birds.
I have written a piece on JoyFod SACCO for the youth co-operatives website, you are welcome to take a look if you would like to know more about how young people can benefit from opening savings accounts - http://www.youngco-operatives.coop/Resources/International-Links/Youth-co-operatives-in-Uganda
Thursday, May 27, 2010
Monday, May 10, 2010
Getting started with the research - questions, questions and more questions..
It has been a good 10 days, I had a lovely birthday, have been on loads of field visits doing interviews and group discussions complete with thunder storms, government meetings and burials delaying activities and a mini bus ride that I thought I would never survive!
My birthday was celebrated with Nik singing happy birthday at 7am, chocolate cake complete with candles from the SPW staff, a field visit and then roast goat and chips and a few beers sitting looking at the river Nile. A good start to being 34.
Since then Nik has returned to the UK and I have been settling into the daily life of doing my research. This has mainly been trips into the field to meet with the members of the co-operatives I am working with. At Kigayaza Youth Co-operative this has involved touring around member’s farms looking at an array of crops from coffee to pineapples to maize. Also looking at their livestock projects, they have some pigs whose offspring they give out to other members so that they can establish their own piggeries. I keep getting asked a lot of questions about farming in the UK – what crops do we grew there? When do we plant crops? What diseases do our crops experience? Needless to say I have to admit to my absolute lack of knowledge on British farms but can throw in a few comments on farming in Zambia! I am better at answering questions on when do people get married, am I married, how many children do people have, do I have any children, what is life like in the UK, does everyone live in a village, what jobs do people have, do people go to church….I feel responsible for representing the UK and I am not sure I am that representative!
In Kigayaza I have been doing interviews with individual members to hear about their lives and the role that the co-operative plays for them. In the main the co-operative is a way for them to improve the way they farm and become more successful at farming – increasing the size of their farm and improving the quality of their produce. This is done through sharing ideas a as a group, being able to access training from other organisations and perhaps most importantly through linking up with other farmers, especially those that are doing particularly well and learning from them. Two trips to this co-operative have been delayed/cancelled due to the rain. The road to the co-operative is a dirt road and when it rains it becomes impossible to get through with a car. The last time we had to stop short the activities as it began to rain and we had to get out quick before the road became too muddy to get home! It is also important to remember that they are kindly giving of their time for my research which really they get no benefit from – if they therefore need to tend to their crops rather than talk to me, this is what they should do and I need to fit in around them. That said they are a great group of young farmers, very motivated and keen to work through the research activities in the spirit of international co-operation and learn what they can along the way.
At Joy Ford the savings and credit co-operative I am working with, we have been visiting members of this rural bank to see what they been doing with the money that they have been saving at Joy Ford and also the money that they have been lending. A loan of 100 GBP can make a real difference for a small farmer or businessman. This money plus Joy Ford’s repayment terms such as monthly installments rather than weekly mean they can slowly but surely build their businesses. We met Nora who started off selling tomatoes in the market, gradually started selling charcoal and other goods and now has her own shop. They all say the biggest things they have learnt is a culture of saving their money and also planning for themselves and for their business – rather than living and running their businesses day to day they look to the future and make plans.
All the research has to be done in local language, so Tonny, my research assistant and I work through each interview with him translating as we go along. We have found people respond better to group interviews and discussions rather than individual interviews, they feel more at ease. They tend to see the interviews as formal and their answers are often short. We are often surrounded by people as well; even if we go and sit in a room in their house, there are children peeping through the windows and the doors. In the focus groups they feel free to elaborate and debate the issues that we are asking them about.
Overall I am enjoying the research – it is like doing a puzzle, finding something out from one person and trying to fit this together with what someone else. Also like a jig saw it takes time and patience, there are unexpected delays I can do nothing about, like the weather and burials in the village. I can also feel that doing research is a process, going in and out of the communities trying one research method and then another to try and find out what is happening overall. The jig saw continues!
I am reminded of my time as a volunteer in Nepal and enjoying doing more grass roots work rather than the work of a development practitioner which is these days so often in an office in the UK/Europe, or if you are lucky in the country where the programme is running. To be out and about and chatting to people to understand their situation is a great place to be and one that I feel I have been missing out on in my work, for some years now.
Research aside I have been fighting off the river flies that arrive en masse into my room between 7.30 – 8.30 pm each night, I don’t know how they get in but it is lights off for that hour and then they disappear. I now have one motorbike taxi driver who knows how slow I like to go and so I go with him everywhere, with my yellow hoodie and my newly acquired helmet! I have had some fun nights out with some of the SPW staff and been enjoying my radio 4 podcasts, I have to admit it I am an Archer’s junkie!
My birthday was celebrated with Nik singing happy birthday at 7am, chocolate cake complete with candles from the SPW staff, a field visit and then roast goat and chips and a few beers sitting looking at the river Nile. A good start to being 34.
Since then Nik has returned to the UK and I have been settling into the daily life of doing my research. This has mainly been trips into the field to meet with the members of the co-operatives I am working with. At Kigayaza Youth Co-operative this has involved touring around member’s farms looking at an array of crops from coffee to pineapples to maize. Also looking at their livestock projects, they have some pigs whose offspring they give out to other members so that they can establish their own piggeries. I keep getting asked a lot of questions about farming in the UK – what crops do we grew there? When do we plant crops? What diseases do our crops experience? Needless to say I have to admit to my absolute lack of knowledge on British farms but can throw in a few comments on farming in Zambia! I am better at answering questions on when do people get married, am I married, how many children do people have, do I have any children, what is life like in the UK, does everyone live in a village, what jobs do people have, do people go to church….I feel responsible for representing the UK and I am not sure I am that representative!
In Kigayaza I have been doing interviews with individual members to hear about their lives and the role that the co-operative plays for them. In the main the co-operative is a way for them to improve the way they farm and become more successful at farming – increasing the size of their farm and improving the quality of their produce. This is done through sharing ideas a as a group, being able to access training from other organisations and perhaps most importantly through linking up with other farmers, especially those that are doing particularly well and learning from them. Two trips to this co-operative have been delayed/cancelled due to the rain. The road to the co-operative is a dirt road and when it rains it becomes impossible to get through with a car. The last time we had to stop short the activities as it began to rain and we had to get out quick before the road became too muddy to get home! It is also important to remember that they are kindly giving of their time for my research which really they get no benefit from – if they therefore need to tend to their crops rather than talk to me, this is what they should do and I need to fit in around them. That said they are a great group of young farmers, very motivated and keen to work through the research activities in the spirit of international co-operation and learn what they can along the way.
At Joy Ford the savings and credit co-operative I am working with, we have been visiting members of this rural bank to see what they been doing with the money that they have been saving at Joy Ford and also the money that they have been lending. A loan of 100 GBP can make a real difference for a small farmer or businessman. This money plus Joy Ford’s repayment terms such as monthly installments rather than weekly mean they can slowly but surely build their businesses. We met Nora who started off selling tomatoes in the market, gradually started selling charcoal and other goods and now has her own shop. They all say the biggest things they have learnt is a culture of saving their money and also planning for themselves and for their business – rather than living and running their businesses day to day they look to the future and make plans.
All the research has to be done in local language, so Tonny, my research assistant and I work through each interview with him translating as we go along. We have found people respond better to group interviews and discussions rather than individual interviews, they feel more at ease. They tend to see the interviews as formal and their answers are often short. We are often surrounded by people as well; even if we go and sit in a room in their house, there are children peeping through the windows and the doors. In the focus groups they feel free to elaborate and debate the issues that we are asking them about.
Overall I am enjoying the research – it is like doing a puzzle, finding something out from one person and trying to fit this together with what someone else. Also like a jig saw it takes time and patience, there are unexpected delays I can do nothing about, like the weather and burials in the village. I can also feel that doing research is a process, going in and out of the communities trying one research method and then another to try and find out what is happening overall. The jig saw continues!
I am reminded of my time as a volunteer in Nepal and enjoying doing more grass roots work rather than the work of a development practitioner which is these days so often in an office in the UK/Europe, or if you are lucky in the country where the programme is running. To be out and about and chatting to people to understand their situation is a great place to be and one that I feel I have been missing out on in my work, for some years now.
Research aside I have been fighting off the river flies that arrive en masse into my room between 7.30 – 8.30 pm each night, I don’t know how they get in but it is lights off for that hour and then they disappear. I now have one motorbike taxi driver who knows how slow I like to go and so I go with him everywhere, with my yellow hoodie and my newly acquired helmet! I have had some fun nights out with some of the SPW staff and been enjoying my radio 4 podcasts, I have to admit it I am an Archer’s junkie!
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