Field work adventures of a PhD Researcher

Happy to be homeward bound and very satisfied with my trip

2010-11-20T00:40:00.000-08:00

So I am sat at Lesotho International Airport, which is delightfully small and easy to navigate, staff are laid back and relaxed as there are only about 6 flights coming through each day. That said my bag just got tagged for Tunisia – I was able to spot this as I had not even checked in but my bag was tagged and off around the carousel towards the plane – maybe there is something to not so friendly but efficient airport staff! It is a beautifully clear day, not a cloud in sight at present and so my hope is that the flight will be a smooth one, that said is it very hot today around 28c already (at 10am) and so there could be some heat thermals coming off the mountains to navigate but I will be able to view splendid Lesotho from the aeroplane even if I am bouncing along! I then have 8 hours in Jo’berg before my connecting flight so lots of time to get some of the pages and pages of data entered.
The last two weeks have been busy but fruitful. As I am interested in capturing a detailed analysis of the youth co-operatives I am looking at, these last 2 weeks have been crucial in getting data with depth. It is like I have been building up to this point – first selecting the co-ops to work with, then doing initial visits and interviews and starting to build relationships with interview participants. In my last interviews, they now know me and I know them and their co-operative – I can therefore ask better questions and I think they feel more comfortable to answer. Alongside this busy last 2 weeks I have been nursing some flu and a then a cold, maybe my body telling me it is time to go home! I think it was mainly brought on by the fact that there has been more rain here and when it rains it really rains with cracking thunder storms – which I love as long as I am not flying! I have got drenched a few times and had to wade through the floods that flow down the sides of the roads. The issue is that when it rains it gets really cold and I think this brought the cold on! Anyways plenty of time to get better when I get back, although I hear I will have to wrap up – I have several layers of clothes in my bag ready to put on when I arrive.
One of my key activities in the last 2 weeks has been to research some of the co-operatives in Maseru. Up til now I have been concentrating on those co-ops outside of Maseru. Maseru is where most of the youth co-ops are located and many are made up of university graduates. They really range in activities from tourism and travel, catering, savings and credit and professional consultancy to name a few. Many of these are now only doing limited activities as they started the co-ops while at school and are now scattered and doing jobs but all say how important the co-op experience was to what they are doing now:
Preparing youth for world of work. “Before one becomes a professional you can get a chance to get acquainted with things in co-op movement, learn business things that you cannot learn in schools. It helps us ‘enter the world of business’. It has helped me get my job as a computer technician.” (Extract from an individual interview with a member (27 years old) of a youth co-operative)
My final activity yesterday was to prepare a report on my research and present this to the Commissioner for the Department for Co-operatives. This was quite a big job to do – as it meant trawling back through the data and trying to summarise the many things that I have learnt. However it was a really good task for me to and helped me get to know the data and also start to organise things in my mind. It was also the least I could for the Department to repay them for their kind support while I have been here. I thought some quotations I included in that report from the data would be nice to also share with you:
Impacts of being in a co-operative – “They get a loan for paying school fees. They get food as they produce food together – the school gave water and the space for a garden – they eat from this and then sell the surplus. They develop a sense of solidarity – if they see one not having clothes they then donate some. It also helps them to be linked with people outside - other youth in the country, youth from overseas and they get a chance to go to the youth forum.” (Extract from an individual interview with a teacher who supports a student co-operative)
Personal Development - “The best thing I have learnt is how to live and work with other people. Some people are bullies and not patient. I have learnt this by mistakes and then tomorrow I know not to do it again. I have also learnt how to communicate with others – when to go with one person and at times go with your own opinion. I have learnt to negotiate. I now see relationships with members working in a peaceful way but before there were quarrels, now willing to say let bygones be bygones. Shows me that I know I can get on with people, as I can let things go and forget yesterday.” (Extract from an individual interview with a member (27 years old) of a youth co-operative)
Head Teacher’s opinion of how students change through being in a co-op “Discipline; one could be aloof before, could be selfish and not having a sense of sharing. They develop a personal discipline to chat to each other and think of one another. They are competent; they believe in what they are and accept their situation. They do not feel ashamed – they know their income levels and their orphan status and accept this and realise that stealing not an option for them. They find ways of helping each other and learn how to live with their problems. Girls might think they have no cash, go out and have sex for money. Learning not to do this is the discipline part of it. They need to not see this as an option. They develop a sense of self-esteem – they trust in themselves and others – they learn to co-operate with others. They have a sense of good relations and friendships. They bear with other people’s problems and try to understand them.” (Extract from an individual interview with a Head Teacher of a school where there is a student co-operative)
One of the central things that I have learnt is that co-operatives can provide youth with a very positive experience – they develop and change, becoming more responsible for their lives and spending their time usefully rather than on risky behaviours like unhealthy relationships or drugs. They develop business and technical skills. They get to earn some extra income (not always a lot but a bit to help with books and school fees and much needed access to credit). But the extent to which youth experience this depends on whole host of factors – how active they are as a member, how active their co-operative is, their educational levels, whether they hold a leadership position in the co-op, what external support they receive – especially in the form of education and training, how much they know and understand about co-ops. That said the opportunities for development and to earn a livelihood are so limited especially in the rural areas – that any opportunity for this, despite the level of development they get, is a much appreciated opportunity.
As I say Goodbye to Lesotho I feel privileged to have been able to visit the country and get to spend 7 weeks here, time to get to know people and places and have ‘some feel’ for the country – same for Uganda. It has been hard being away from home but at the end of it a very worthwhile experience and one I would not swop. I have met some great people and really enjoyed hearing young people’s stories about their co-ops and being in a position to now tell them. I have really enjoyed being here and find it easy to be here and get around and do the research – mainly due to the support of the Department for Co-operatives. I feel I have got to know the youth co-operatives and have enough information to be able to share some very interesting ideas and stories with people back at home and further afield. The question now is how to put it together with the data from Uganda!

Co-operatives and Basotho youth

2010-11-04T08:41:00.001-07:00

As I write I am nursing aches and pains from a pony trek around the beautiful hills of Lesotho. I had some time off over the weekend and visited a lovely place called Malealea about 60 kms from Maseru. It was nice to get out of Maseru and see more of Lesotho and Malealea Lodge is a great place from which you can easily explore the surrounding areas either on foot or on the back of a pony. It is quite scary as the pony navigates the rocky mountain passes but so worth it to enjoy the spectacular views of the low lying valleys and the beautiful hills and see Basotho people going about their daily lives. Passing Basotho (term used for the people of Lesotho) on their ponies, horses and donkeys as they go on their way, seeing shepherds herding their goats, sheep or cows, often with a couple of dogs to help them and people tending their very dry fields and hoping for rains soon.
I have now been in Lesotho for 4.5 weeks and in the last 2 weeks I have been concentrating on trying to understand and investigate the context of co-operatives and youth in Lesotho and also getting research activities going with the youth and student co-operatives.

I have being doing interviews with people from Department of Co-operatives, other government Ministries such as Ministry of Youth, Agriculture and also different stakeholders involved with co-operatives. These interviews went well and they have helped me understand the context of co-operatives and youth in Lesotho and some wider issues in the country. Economically Lesotho relies on agriculture, remittances from Basotho people working in South Africa particularly in the mines and also through a trade agreement between South Africa, Botswana, Swaziland and Nambia. This agreement is based on set of trade tariffs and disproportionately distributes money from South Africa to the other countries especially Lesotho and Swaziland. In fact it provides Lesotho’s government with 65% of its revenue. The number of Basotho working in the mines has drastically reduced in the last ten years and this has caused problems for government revenue and personal revenue. Basotho farmers have also been affected by changes in weather patterns – at this current time it should have been raining since August and there have only been a few days of rainfall since I have been here. Lesotho also seems to have bottle neck in terms of processing raw materials; mohair and wool are a primary agricultural product but none of the many Lesotho blankets are made here they are all made in South Africa. This is a common problem across many sectors, including water. Water is Lesotho’s great resource, they sell to South Africa, the dam projects that have been going on in the last 10 years have brought in important revenue to Lesotho but there is controversy about how much fertile land this has cost the country. Furthermore farmers struggle to have enough water for their crops as there is not the infrastructure to bring the water to their fields. Despite these problems, visitors to Lesotho cannot fail to be struck by how proud Basotho people are of their country and their traditions and how determined they are to improve their lives and take care of themselves and their families.

The interviews highlighted to be that the driving force for youth co-operatives came from interest from youth and teachers to establish co-operatives and was greatly supported by the Department. There was no ‘donor’ driving this but the Co-operative College UK provided a key role in building the capacity and motivation of the youth co-operatives through their presence at the annual youth forums in Lesotho provided since 2008. Generally donors do not play a role in the co-operative sector, IFAD (International Fund for Agricultural Development) and ILO (International Labour Organisation) are stakeholders for co-operatives but their influence is minimal. This makes the co-operative sector very much a Basotho led and owned approach that has high hopes to address some of the challenges mentioned above; such as getting processing going, supporting farmers to buy inputs and market their products and give people who want to help themselves a group model that fits with these values. Added to this there is a revival of co-operatives taking place in Lesotho, this is characterised by increased interest and priority being placed on co-operatives - this seems to be driven by demand from co-operative members and the ‘mood’ and ‘activities’ of co-operative sectors in other countries in the Region and the ICA Regional Office – again not due to any particular donor.

Part of the revival is about the set up of youth and student co-operatives, there are now over 20 that have registered and 20 – 30 more which are preparing to register. I am conducting research with one youth cooperative in Leribe District, Subeng Dinosaur, about an hour from Maseru. They are the tourist co-operative, I mentioned in my last blog entry that are offering tours of dinosaur footprints and selling handicrafts. Data from interviews highlights that members are developing and learning through their co-operative membership and this is mainly through the annual youth forums (organised by the Co-op College UK and the Department for Co-operatives here), from other members and through the experience of being in a co-operative. They receive some income from co-operative but not much. However they are committed members as there are little livelihood options open to them in their community and believe the co-operative takes time to develop and will bring them income in the long term. Furthermore they place emphasis on the co-operative keeping them focussed and busy and doing something positive instead of remaining idle. They are supported by the Department, but this is quite minimal and they also receive some donations from tourists who have visited them, however they are very self-driven and self-motivated. That said they only have a low number of members and whilst these members are committed, they find it difficult to recruit new members as they think other youth do not share the commitment to co-op principles and time it takes to get a co-operative going and are just interested in what income they can get from the co-op.

I am also doing research with a student co-operative based at Mohales Hoek High School, Rise and Shine Student Co-operative, about 2 hours from Maseru. They have 40 members and primarily do savings and credit. They do provide an important source of income, through sharing of profits and through the availability of loans to the members, many of whom who struggle to pay school fees and they primarily use the money they get from the co-operative for this. They also learn and develop through the co-operative, learning how to manage their personal money, developing self confidence, leadership skills and some business skills such as accounts and how to handle clients. The co-operative also do fundraising and support other students at the school, particularly the vulnerable students. Orphans are a big problem at this school, they estimate 60% of the students are orphans and the co-operative tries to help these students through loans for school fees and also for the particularly vulnerable they donate clothes etc.

I am also trying to identify a youth co-operatives in Maseru to work with. I have met with one youth co-operative, Ledcon. They are a professional consultancy and offer consultancy services in a number of areas included IT, Marketing, Graphic Design and Co-operative Management. I also met with Bocha-Ke-Palesa, another youth co-operative, they are not currently doing many activities but members still consider themselves to be part of the co-operative. However when they joined they were still at school and had time for the co-operative but they are now either in work, or at school and so no longer have much time for the co-operative. That said the member I spoke to thought his co-operative experience was invaluable in preparing him for work – giving him experience and knowledge that helped him get his current job. I am looking forward to doing research with them and finding out what their story is.

Starting field work in Lesotho

2010-10-18T02:12:00.000-07:00

I have been in Lesotho two weeks and feel settled into this beautiful country. Lesotho has a population of around 2.5 million and 150,000 in Maseru. These first two weeks I have been based in the capital Maseru, it is a small and hilly city, surrounded by more rocky hills. Maseru comprises of a long main road of shops and offices, called Kingsway, a big and new shopping mall, a big church, the convention centre, government ministries, a number of hotels and then the suburbs. It feels small, friendly and pretty easy to navigate. I left Maseru yesterday for the first time to visit Mohale Dam. Once out of Maseru you are quickly in a world of never ending hills, making your way up and down winding roads the views are spectacular. As soon as you get out of the city you feel a real change in the way of life as well as the scenery – people and life seems very spaced out - villages far from each other and often at the bottom of the rocky hills, people often wearing their Lesotho blanket, worn very stylishly and pinned over one shoulder, it is a symbol of Lesotho and very necessary to keep warm in those cold hills, children herding their cows, goats and sheep and donkeys and ponies everywhere as they are the main mode of transport for goods and people outside of Maseru. The other thing that strikes you as you leave Maseru is the drop in temperature, not surprising when you can see snow on the mountains in the distance.

The first week I spent at the Lesotho Youth and Students Co-operative Forum. This involved 200 youth co-operators being trained by people from Co-operative College in the UK, teachers from co-op schools in the UK and me! We were training them on co-op values and principles using interactive games and techniques which gave the youth a chance to understand the values in the context of their lives and their co-ops. These values and principles are the essence of a co-op; they are what make a c-op different to a private sector business. They include self-help, self-responsibility, equality, equity, democracy and solidarity. These values are then enacted through the co-op principles of Voluntary and Open Membership, Democratic Member Control, Member Economic Participation, Autonomy and Independence, Education, Training and Information, Co-operation Among Co-operatives and Concern for the Community.

The forum also gave me a chance to get to know a number of the youth co-operatives. The co-ops are smaller than the co-ops in Uganda, with an average of about 15 members. They conduct a range of activities including professional consultancy services, handicrafts, tourism, savings and credit, agriculture – but often do a combination of activities, making many of them multi-purpose co-ops, rather than specialising in one area. Some have not managed to start doing business yet, mainly due to financial constraints and the ones that are doing business are generally not making much income; they are invariably not giving out profits to their members. However they recognise it takes a long time to develop a business and continue to be committed to working towards that. The core support for these co-ops comes from the Department for Co-operatives (government department responsible for co-ops) and there is no donor support for them at the present time. The ones that have managed to get business started have done so out of sheer determination, hard work and good ideas.

I am planning to work with one youth co-op called Subeng Dinosaur from Leribe District (about 50 kms from Maseru). They are registered and were set up in 2003. They are a tourist co-op, conducting tours to see some dinosaur footprints in their area; they also make and sell handicrafts. They have 12 members and their members tend to be unemployed or in low income jobs. I will then select a student co-op – this is a co-op in a school. I have identified one called Rise and Shine saving and credit co-op at a school in an area called Mafeteng (60 kms from Maseru). These co-ops give students a chance to develop useful skills while in school, such as working with others, solving conflicts, managing your time etc, which then put them in a better position to get a job or set up their own business when they leave school. A teacher from this school felt that the students also developed a sense of self-help, crucial when up to 60% of the students at the school are orphans and responsible for looking after younger siblings. This is largely due to Lesotho having one of the highest HIV rates in the region.

This second week I have been at the Regional Assembly meeting for co-ops in Africa. This was a fascinating opportunity to learn more about co-ops in many different countries. I came away from the meeting very much aware of the growth and importance of co-ops in Africa. One statistic that stuck in my mind was that 67% of the population are using services provided by co-ops and that co-ops are significantly contributing to GDP in many countries. 2012 is UN Year of the Co-operative and co-op movement across the globe is planning to raise public awareness of co-ops and update people’s ideas on what co-ops are.

As I embark on my third week I will be concentrating on conducting interviews in Maseru with government ministries and co-ops and finalising which co-ops to work with. I am really looking forward to getting to understand the situation of youth and co-ops more and also seeing more of Lesotho.

Its goodbye to Uganda and hello Woburn Sands..

2010-07-02T03:24:00.000-07:00

It is Friday 2nd July 2010 and tomorrow I travel to Entebbe to be near to the airport and ready for my flight on Sunday morning back to the UK. I am very much looking forward to going home and very happy that BA did not decide to strike but also feel sad to be leaving Uganda after such a great trip. I have developed real liking for Uganda and also really enjoyed conducting the research here.

Since I wrote last I have been in a whirlwind of final visits to the co-operatives, trips to Kampala for interviews and desperate last minute entering of my data! We have visited Twekembe Youth Group the most as this was the last co-operative that we started to work with and we have therefore had lots of activities that we needed to do with them. It has been interesting to work with this group as they are a more traditional cooperative that was established some time ago and more recently have set up a youth arm to the co-operative; however they are not specifically a youth-focused co-operative like the other ones I have worked with. This means that they have not been able to access the same kind of support and training that the other cooperatives I have looked at have. That said they are still working well together and benefiting by working as a co-operative. They have done quite a number of animal husbandry projects where one member is given some pigs or goats or cows, they look after them for some time and when the animal has offspring they give this to another member and get to keep the original animal. David a 19 year old at Twekembe told me all about this through the photos we asked him to take. One of my research methods was a photo project. I brought some disposable cameras out with me to Uganda and then asked a member in each co-operative to take photos of their co-operative. It worked very well as it gave the young people the chance to take control of what information they were giving to the research. By taking lots of photos of the animal husbandry projects David was trying to show that co-operatives are crucial in building trust among members. We have heard a few times that there is a lack of trust among young people and David feels that these type of projects necessitate that youth trust each other – relying on a member to look after the animal well and then relying on them to give up the offspring to another member. David at 19 is a farmer and is responsible for looking after his grandparents and his 2 younger siblings, his Mum and Dad have passed away. For a 19 year old he is very mature and serious about life. This really highlighted to me that whilst he may be a youth in age he is carrying out an ‘adult style’ of life which is necessitated by the situation he faces. It is so important to go beyond youth categorised by the number of years someone has lived to what their life is like and what responsibilities they have; are they married, do they have kids, are they looking after others, are they male/female, do they live in rural/urban areas, as these experiences really change their experience of youth.

During a recent visit to JoyFod SACCO in Buwenge I was observing a loans appraisal – an half an hour interview with the member requesting the loan and the loans officer at JoyFod, the member of the SACCO was requesting for a loan of 400,000 Ugandan shillings (just over 100 GBP) to boost his business. It was interesting to observe this activity and see that the wife of the member who was asking for the loan was also required to be present in the loans appraisal. This is now standard practice for SACCOs - that if a wife or husband wants to take a loan then their spouse also has to also agree to the loan. Many of the members say that this process has encouraged them to include their wives in all decisions and consultations that they make for the family and at times their business - a very positive change for rural communities where men would typically make most of the decisions.

During this loans appraisal I witnessed a very strange event, as we were sat in front of the man’s shop, members of the community started to appear wearing handcuffs. They had been arrested as their homes had been inspected to check they had proper toilets (a clean pit latrine) and over 15 members of the community were found not to have and were arrested. This seemed a harsh arrangement to me, children were crying as their mum’s were carted off and I wondered whether they could even afford to build toilet. But everyone I was with felt it was what needed to happen if there was to be development in rural communities around hygiene and sanitation - particularly has there have been several outbreaks of cholera in the area. It was a stark reminder for me that I may view things very differently to people here based on my background and arrangements in my own country but it is important to understand a situation from the perspective of the people who live there.

It has been so sad to say goodbye to the youth in the co-operatives I have got to know them so well and it has been a pleasure to spend time with them. During the goodbyes I have thanked them sincerely for helping me and providing information to me – without it there would be no research. But much to pleasure they have said they are grateful for someone coming and taking in interest in their lives and what they are doing – all so keen to have their photos in the research and their names used (no problems with consent for me!). They say they feel re-motivated and have even learnt a few things and I am happy that the research to some extent has been a 2 way process where the participants also benefit as well as me getting the information that I need. I hope that I will always do research in this way as I think it is a much more balanced approach.

As this is my last blog for Uganda I am very pleased to able to announce that I can now ride side saddle on the motorbike taxis, it has taken 3 months but the other week I managed it. Most women in Uganda ride this way and it is necessary if you want to wear a skirt and still look decent! It gave me a real sense of achieving something, as I was so scared to even get on the motorbikes when I first came and there I was perched in a very respectful way wearing my skirt and managing to stay on! As I was basking in my own glory when I read an article in the local magazine that said women are mainly hurt in motorbike taxi accidents and the reason why is that they sit side saddle and this means they fly off the bike more easily when there is an accident. Needless to say I am now reverting to straddling the bike even if I look disrespectful and am flashing a bit of leg to the residents of Jinja!

I have loved being in Uganda. I have really enjoyed the research, it has been a real privilege to be able to spend time with the youth in the co-operatives and ask them many questions and get to know their lives and ways. It has definitely given me a new found motivation for academic research and my PhD – I have realised I like doing research, it is really interesting to really find out about people’s lives and I think very important that this information is shared with people who are interested in co-ops and young people. It will I hope give them insights into their work and programmes and that as a researcher you can act as a bridge between the youth in rural communities and people who sit I offices making decisions about youth and co-ops in both Uganda and the UK – this I think is a useful thing to be able to do and is what makes the research and the PhD worthwhile for me. As part of this I will be writing a publication for the Co-operative College in the UK on youth and co-operatives in Uganda and I am really looking forward to doing this and for people to be able to read it and hopefully learn a few things. I have also really liked Uganda, it is beautiful and green and people are very welcoming and friendly here. There are many things I have enjoyed here, in particular I have found it easy to meet people and form relationships, which has made my research all the easier. I love that people take time to greet each other properly, to everyone at work, people in shops - nothing less that Hello, how are you?, how is here?, would be considered rude, it is important to make time for this and when you do it really makes you see the person in front of you and have an interest in how they are. Anyone who has been to Africa before will have experienced this but it is sadly so different to how we interact in the UK – we can definitely learn a thing or two from Uganda. So there are things I will miss and things I won’t miss like worrying about whether there will be a loo where we are going to visit, to feeling a bit ill and worrying if it is malaria, to people being late to meetings - as the concept of time and time keeping in Uganda being very different to the UK.

So 3 months are done and it is time to get back to Woburn Sands - Nik and Mosi and summer in the UK are calling. I will be sad to leave here but also happy to come home to my own bed, to long walks around the woods in Woburn, to see friends and family. After a summer of entering my data into the computer – each word of every interview and every focus group discussion – over 80 activities altogether – I am then off to Lesotho for more of the same in October 2010! Til then goodbye and thanks for reading.

it is a countdown

2010-06-13T04:41:00.000-07:00

only 3 weeks left in Uganda and lots to do - the expression crazy busy springs to mind! Nik arrives tomorrow for 10 days escorting a potential donor for SPW to Uganda. Will be great to see him and have him around for a while.

Things have been going well here. I have started work with a new co-operative - Twekembe Co-op in Bukanga. It has 450 members and is a well-established farmers co-op. They have a youth group of 60 members and it is with them that I am working. I have only been a couple of times but they are keen to work with us and share their experiences. The area where we met them is called Bukanga and it is much further than the other places we have been. It is about an hour of the main road down a very rough road that becomes impossible when it rains - we are constantly having to watch out of the window and work out if it is going to rain! There is one young farmer, David, who is only 19 but supporting his family through farming and I am looking forward to interviewing him and finding out his story. Often I have found that whilst the groups are called youth groups, the young people are often older youth, 25 - 30 and it will therefore be interesting ti hear how David is managing. The group is majority male like with Kigayaza, we have only had 1 girl attend in a group of 20 men. The parents of the girls and women are reluctant to let them join the co-op as they see it simply as a group of men and they fear that their daughters may start getting into relationships and get pregnant. Girls in the rural areas also tend to marry and have children quite young, often before 18 and they are then seen as adults by the community and themselves to some extent and would therefore not see the need to be part of a youth group. That said, there are are some female members but as the men attending explained they are often too busy at home with their chores to attend the meetings- like cooking lunch for the men! Whilst things can be tough for these farmers, women and girls have it harder and are more disadvantaged - in terms of access to schooling, their ability to make decisions for themselves and the priority they are given in the household. This is not always the case and is different in urban areas but equality of males and females is still an issue in many rural areas.

I attended an Annual General Meeting (AGM) at Kigayaza Youth Association last weekend. I begrudgingly got up early on a Sunday and drove the hour out to Kangulimira but I am so pleased I did. Their AGM was a very exciting event, well attended by members and local leaders. What impressed me was how democratic it was. The AGM is the time when they elect a new Executive Board for the co-op. This is done by nominating members for positions, who then give a short campaign speech, they are then asked to leave the room and a vote is then taken. It was great to see the eager participation of all the members in this process and how well it was organised. This against a backdrop in Uganda of discussions on the upcoming elections in Uganda and whether they will be fair and free. And to see such an event was inspiring - people enjoying a democratic process and fully executing their role in it. To read more about Kigayaza Youth Association and the AGM have a look at the youth co-op website which I have been writing pieces for - http://www.youngco-operatives.coop/Resources/International-Links/Kigayaza-Youth-Association.

I also had a good trip yesterday to Buwenge to JoyFod SACCO, they wanted to show me the demonstration garden that they are supporting. They have selected a farmer, Fred, to set up his garden in such a way that it becomes a demonstration garden of good practise that other farmers can visit. He is growing a range of of things - bananas, rice and also has a cow. He is demonstrating some new farming techniques such as zero grazing - where the cow lives in a small pen 24/7 and is fed there too. This allows the farmer to collect all the manure much more efficiently than trying to collect the manure from a cow that can wander around everywhere which is the norm. Fred is also using the manure to make compost - mixing it with leaves etc and leaving it for some time to then create a more effective compost - normally farmers just spread the manure. JoyFod whose core business is savings and credit believe that they have to help local people improve their farming, helping them more beyond simple farming for their own needs to a farming situation where they can make some extra cash and then be in a position to uses the services of JoyFod - able to save some money and take a loan to expand a business.

I have also been making some trips to Kampala to conduct interviews. As part of my research I am conducting research at a National level to try and understand the broader context that youth co-ops operate in - what are the bigger issues and discussions on co-ops. This has involved me doing interviews with Uganda Co-operative Alliance, the government department for co-ops and also interested donors, such as the Canadians and DFID. It is really enlightening to do these interviews, and really helps me understand some of the issues that are being faced by the co-ops in the village. It is also nice for me to do research in English as it really allows me to dig deeply and effectively on the issues I am interested in. I will be going again tomorrow, a nice 7am start to get through the traffic in Kampala and to my meeting at 10am and then leaving the city at 4am gets me back by 7pm. It is under 100 kms away!

With only 3 weeks to go we (me and my 2 research assistants) are mad busy with field trips nearly everyday. I have about 2 trips left to Buwenge and to Kigayaza and it is now a case of deciding what are the priority activities are that I want to do with them. This is difficult as now that I am engaged with the different groups and trying to understand their situations I have found there are layers and layers of detail to the situations that could keep me here for the next 3 months never mind weeks! But as we are always told at Uni a PhD is a 'bounded' piece of work and you have to stop with collecting the data and start to try and make sense of what you have and start to work out how to say something useful! Plus think I need to get back home to Nik, the garden and walking Mosi! (Big thank you to Andy and Sarah for helpng nik manage Mosi in my absence and putting up with her deer chasing antics!) All the best to you all an looking forward to seeing you all soon.

Mid Way Point

2010-05-27T03:53:00.000-07:00

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

Getting started with the research - questions, questions and more questions..

2010-05-10T05:25:00.000-07:00

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!

Making Progress...

2010-04-28T02:08:00.000-07:00

well a bit! I am now set up in Jinja Town. I have found a nice hotel called Hotel Triangle that have done me a good rate for the next 2 months. My room, complete with bath and fridge (which means I can do my own food when I want to) overlooks Lake Victoria and I love sitting on the balcony watching the Ibis, Crested Cranes, hawks, kingfishers and the fruit bats all swooping by so closely that you you can see their markings clearly. It is nice to feel settled here and know it is my home for the next couple of months. Jinja is a good town, lots of nice cafes/restaurants, good shops where you can get most of what you need (including ginger and lemon tea!) and is easy to get around, walking or on the back on the motorbike taxis or bicycle taxis. I am all set up for these now as I have bought myself a bright yellow hoodie to wear, to keep me warm in some of the chilly evenings we are having that I did not prepare myself for and the hoddie also acts as some kind of protective/reflective wear!

Work is going well. I had some great field trips at the end of last week during which I visited lots of co-operatives. I will be conducting my research with a young farmers co-operative called Kiygazi Youth Association, in an area called Kangulimira, about an hour from Jinja. It is pretty rural setting, about half an hours drive til he Kangulimia Trading Centre (cluster of shops, bars, houses on the raod) and then another half an hour on farm roads/dirt roads to the farmers land. They have about 70 members who are all farmers - farming maize and pineapples and also have some pigs. Mainly young men but they are doing their best to increase the number of women. They share ideas and skills with each other and have been able to access training from UCA on new areas of farming such as keeping pigs. They are also selling their produce together. This has enabled them to increase their income and some have been able to buy motor bikes or improve their housing as a result and all said that the extra income allowed them to pay school fees for their children. There is a widespread belief in the need to educate children for their future and therefore the future of the family. They are keen to work with me and be part of the research and so I will be visiting them again this Friday to attend their Executive Committee Meeting and visit some of the members farms and then about another 12 times to do different activities with them! On my departure they gave me two lovely big pineapples that were delicious - was anyone else aware that pineapples grow on the ground and not in trees? They had a good laugh about that one!

Next stop was Kangulimira Area Co-operative Enterprise (ACE), the umbrella organisation for all of the co-operatives in the area. They are meant to play a role in training and supporting all the farmers co-ops in the area and are also involved with value addition with the farmers. This is process whereby they try and manage other parts of a value chain of a product(a business term for the chain of activities involved in developing a product). This in turn generally increases their income. This ACE are therefore involved with adding value for farmers growing pineapples and are involved with drying pineapples and making pineapple wine. The dried pineapple is grown organically and is fair trade and eventually ends up on Sainsbury's counters. They gave me some of the dried pineapple to taste and it was delicious. I am enjoying this food tasting, an unexpected perk of my research!

I also visited a savings and credit co-operative (SACCO) in an area called Buwenge, about a 30 minute drive from Jinja. It is called Joy Ford SACCO and I am also planning to do my research with them. They have 700 members who having savings accounts with them and who might have a loan ith them. They firmly believe in savings first and then when a person has developed this skill of managing money they then qualify for a loan. They aim to have young people as members which is a key service that they provide as many other SACCOs or banks do not like to loan money to young people as they see them as risky. However this SACCO believes that young poeple can manage savings and loanings if they are given the opportunity and the right training. They therefore offer business advice and other training to their members. Their youth members take loans for different reasons for the set up of a business, young farmers, or the motorbike taxi people, or hairdressers and also to pay fees for education or emergencies such as paying for funeral costs or health needs. I am looking forward to researching them further to understand how they have successfully loaned money to young people when other banks and SACCOs have failed to do this.

I have also set up camp at the SPW Uganda office and it is great to be back in an SPW office. They have given me a desk and are kindly allowing me to use their internet and helping me lots!

My biggest challenges at the moment are sorting out transport; UCA were kind enough to lend me a vehicle and a driver for the trips last week but this week I need to make another plan. Public Transport is there but you cannot rely on it to get to where you need to go on time - this is mainly as the mini buses that drive in that direction need to fill up with passengers before they are willing to leave. My other options are car taxis or trying to borrow a car and drive myself. The other challenge is to get the members of the co-operatives to tell me about the real situation rather than what they think I want to hear. I think the key to this will be repeat visits to the co-operatives to build up trust and this means solving the transport issue asap!

Other than work I have been enjoying nice walks around Jinja, enjoying different views of the Nile river and Lake Victoria at different spots around Jinja, going to the lovely craft shops on the Main Street, seeing SPW colleagues here for a drink and looking after Nik when Stoke City lost 7 nil to Chelsea!!!

Til the next time...

In the beginning..

2010-04-20T06:04:00.000-07:00

there is me sat in an internet cafe in Garden City shopping centre in Kampala. I arrived here on the back of a motor bike taxi, helmetless, clutching the poor driver around the midriff, while telling him to slow down! Not sure I will ever get used to this mode of transport.

I am in Uganda undertaking the field work research for my PhD. I arrived a week ago and will be here for the next 12 weeks. My PhD focuses on young people's involvement with co-operative enterprises in both Uganda and Lesotho. Here in Uganda I will be working with 3 youth co-operatives, trying to find out the details of how being part of a co-operative benefits them.

In many countries in Africa there are high rates of unemployment among young people and a large numbers of young people, this creates the need to find ways to provide them with a job or an income. This is where co-operatives come in, they are a way for a group of people to set up a business together. Working as a group gives them advantages; they can combine their resources (whether it be land or money or their skills and their ideas) and they can increase their bargaining power with other stakeholders. In short it can enable them to build a stronger and more effective business. Co-operative enterprises also focus on members working together in a values driven manner - working democratically, showing and acting upon concern for the wider community, equity and self-help. In this way they operate as a different kind of business that has benefits beyond the important profit that a business generates.

In Uganda co-operatives have a long history; they have been around for 100 years or so and there is an established set of structures that support the development of co-operatives. Generally co-operatives have been agricultural co-ops where groups of farmers work together to sell their produce, as a group they can command better prices. They also buy necessary supplies together such as fertiliser and they are able to get these for cheaper. Today farmer co-ops are still prevalent but there is also a growth of savings and credit co-ops that aim to provide banking services to people that cannot access the formal banking system - either because they are too far from a bank or they do not have the capital to set a bank account up. There are also co-ops for people involved in transport - such as my friends on the motor bike taxis, who work together saving their profits to mend their bikes or buy new ones, one day perhaps they will even buy helmets for their passengers! There are also co-ops making handicrafts or setting up catering services; a real range of areas. My interest lies in the co-ops that have been established by young people. The main co-operative support organisation here in Uganda is the Uganda Co-operative Alliance (UCA) and they have been busy trying to encourage young people to set up co-ops and have managed to set up 60 across Uganda - they are mainly agricultural or savings and credit co-ops. It is these groups that I will be focussing on.

So with that quick introduction over - what have I been up to? Well I managed to arrive pre-volcanic ash cloud eruption and landed in Uganda on a sunny Sunday morning. After a day in Kampala Nik and I had a nice few days holiday in on the River Nile. We had a stunning view of the river from how tent and enjoyed watching the rafters go down the nearby Bugali Falls, the storms coming in and out and the absolutely beautiful bird life. We are now back in Kampala following a good bus ride that took 2 hours and cost 1.20 GBP each and I have had my first few days meeting with UCA who will be supporting me while I am here. I have been walking into meet UCA from our hotel which is about a 30 minute walk on the way there, all down hill and about 45 minutes on the way home as it is all uphill! It is great to walk around (as it means less motor bikes!) as you can take in the city. People in suits bustling up to work, traffic everywhere grid locked as it would be in London on a Monday morning, people selling anything and everything laid out on sheets on the street.

On arrival at UCA in down town Kampala I was warmly welcomed back despite only having spent a short time here in December 2009. I spent Monday catching up with Leonard the General Secretary at UCA, enjoying tea and samosas and talking through the upcoming elections in the UK and in Uganda. Time is taken to have meetings, discussions and do business, it is important to catch up and get to know who you are working with. We have now made a plan for my field work and will be doing some visits to several youth co-operatives this week around the Jinja area. This is a lovely town 80 kms from Kampala where I will be basing myself to complete the case studies of the youth co-ops. We then went for a lovely lunch of traditional Ugandan food and I have to say I love the food here. Fresh fruit and juice for breakfast and for other meals yummy fish, vegetables including my fav sweet potatoes .

It is nice to have Nik here too, easier to do new things with some else the first time around! He has another 1 and a half weeks left before he gets back to the UK and Mosi. But whilst 12 weeks in Uganda seemed an age before I left I think there is so much for me to do in terms of my research and enjoy in terms of Uganda, that it will fly by.