By Orrin Tiberi, GHC Fellow
The research enumerator team is now in their third week of
data collection, meaning they have collected data from 28 villages out of a
total of 72. We’re slowly making our way through the villages where Uganda Village Project (UVP) has
worked and control villages to determine UVP’s impact on health in each
village. Each day the enumerators gather at the UVP office at 7:30 am to head
out in the field early to catch potential interviewees before they move out to
their fields. That is especially important now with the coming end of the dry
season as many community members spend the relatively cooler morning and
evenings in the field preparing for planting. Though the fields are usually
within walking distance of the house, the added wait time for someone to return
home often means the difference between returning at 4 pm or hours later.
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| UVP enumerators heading to their next house for data collection |
Each team of four enumerators goes to one village,
collecting information from a randomly drawn sample of 15 households that will
represent the village during analysis. Julius and I have been out in the field
each day with the team, getting a much better picture of the community makeup in
the Iganga District and viewing first hand many of the challenges to healthcare
that rural communities face. We have also been able to enjoy rural hospitality,
and the whole enumeration team has enjoyed jackfruit and traditional dishes at
the invite of different community members.
The research team is made up of eight enumerators, many of
which have been associated with UVP previously. The two team leads, Reagan and
Simon Peter, were both interns with UVP for numerous years and intern leaders
for many of those. We also have a former intern, Jairus, who worked in
Buwerempe this past summer. Finally, we
have a former UVP-supported student Robert as an enumerator.
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| Robert interviewing a household member |
UVP took Robert on as a student in our Orphan Support Program
in 2004 when he was starting secondary school. UVP paid for Robert school fees
until 2013 when he graduated from Kyambogo University with a Bachelor’s degree
in Community Rehabilitation. Since graduation, Robert has been working with
NGOs in Iganga including Uganda Parents of Persons with Intellectual
Disabilities and ANPPCAN where he has been advocating for and providing direct
support to persons with disabilities and their families. Robert is passionate
about making positive change in the communities in Iganga. At enumerator
training, Robert mentioned he was happy that he could contribute to the work of
the organization that made his dream of graduating from university possible. He
is committed to working hard on these hot dusty days to get quality data to
inform our programs.
We’re glad to work with these four young people who have
been associated with UVP, as well as the other four enumerators who are showing
great promise. Despite the tiring days, it’s been a great experience to
interview rural households and gain a better understanding of how UVP has affected communities.
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