The Next Four Months

By: Orrin Tiberi, Global Health Corps Fellow

Where did the last 8 months go? I keep asking myself that question each time I consider that Julius and I, the first Global Health Corps Fellows at UVP, only have four more months left with this great organization.  I suppose part of it went to continually following up with the Uganda National Council for research approval, and another part editing the goals and objectives, and probably another part to data collection.  When I look at each of the goals Julius and I have accomplished over the past 8 months I wonder how we had time to do them all, but looking at the time overall it has flown by.  I hear that is pretty standard though, and am content with our work and looking forward to the next four months.

As many of you know, Julius and I conducted an impact evaluation of the villages where UVP does the majority of their work.  The rest of April will be taken up by entering that data (approximately 5700 individuals were captured in the data), and also collecting more data from the villages we are graduating in May: Namunkesu, Kidaago A, Kidaago B, Kazigo A, and Kazigo B.  We will use the data from the graduation survey, as well as the data we just collected in the 5 year Healthy Villages Survey, in order to gauge the level of progress those villages have made in the past 3 years.  Their graduations are in mid-May, which will be just enough time to enter and analyze all the data.

Just a few weeks after the graduation fairs in June, Julius and I will be introducing the brand new summer 2015 interns to the M&E tools that we have created and the M&E framework of the organization. We hope to be able to provide guidance for the interns as they embark upon a life-changing summer out in the communities.  We have also created a survey tool for the new villages that the intern teams will be able to use to get a picture of the health of the village.  Julius and I are both excited to see the results of that comprehensive data collection!

Our contracts end in July, but before we go we will have the chance to work directly with our replacements from Global Health Corps.  This model, having two weeks together with the old fellows, helps facilitate institutional memory for the fellows and we hope will provide the new fellows with some great jump-off points!

It has been a great experience so far, and I know I can speak for Julius when I say we can’t wait for the many experiences we will have in the next four months!