Needs Assessment and (even more) Protocol

Needs Assessment and (even more) Protocol – Sunday, February 3, 2013

 

Over the past couple of weeks, I have been mostly focusing on my needs assessment.  The biggest part of that has been distributing, collecting, and entering the data from the surveys that we created.  My post-mate and I have mostly done this at the different high schools with teachers, administrators, and students, people we know in the market, the post office, youth center, credit center, etc.  We’ve got more than 50 collected so far, and we want to get at least another 50.  My report is due in a week, but I will probably continue the needs assessment even after our IST (inter-service training), so that I will be able to use the data I get for the paper that I need to write for grad school. 

 

Surveys aren’t the only part of the study we are doing though.  We are getting demographic data for the administrators at the schools, health information from the district health delegate, and other information about Guider from local officials.  We are also interviewing people to find out about their seasonal and weekly calendars, how they map their communities, and their general feelings about Guider – its problems, needs, and assets.  The calendars are to see when the best time to schedule our projects will be, and the maps are to find out what are important to them and what they leave out.  All of these different tools will help us find out what sort of projects to do, and the different needs of different groups (age, occupation, gender, etc.). 

 

Of course, this hasn’t been without its difficulties.  It’s been hard to reach people who do not speak or read French.  We will have to do more work over the next couple of months to make sure that we connect to everyone.  Luckily we have people we work wit here that have helped us give the surveys out.  Also, despite how straightforward we tried to make the survey, including help from several Cameroonians, we have also been having some comprehension issues.  Luckily, the vast majority of the surveys have been completed fully and correctly. 

 

While most officials have been very welcoming and helpful, we have also encountered some resistance.  My counterpart and I were told to come to the office of one to go over our survey with him.  What resulted was more than two of the most uncomfortable hours I’ve experienced.  He asked us each question on our survey, including things like how would you rate the education in Guider, or the quality of the hospitals.  Even after we said we couldn’t really answer questions like that because we were never educated in Guider or hadn’t used the hospital, he said he would wait for our answers, and then stared at us until we did.  Once we answered, he would argue with us and make us feel like we were personally insulting him by saying the quality of something was bad.  The entire time he kept pausing and would just stare at us.  He asked me several times if I was scared of him, and seemed to be taking pleasure in our discomfort. 

 

As I said, he has been the exception of officials we met with, rather than the rule, but it is frustrating to know that people like him exist, and that we will have to deal with him for the next two years.  At least the majority of the others have been so friendly and helpful. 

 

A friend of mine is going to try and get his post moved to Guider.  He is also an MI student (Master’s International), but he is in health.  His interest is in health systems and testing for certain diseases, like malaria and shisto.  Unfortunately, his current post isn’t even 400 people and doesn’t have the facilities he needs for his research.  Guider though, would be perfect for him, so hopefully they will let him move here.  He is doing his best on the needs assessment first; to make sure he puts in his due diligence.  It would be great to have a health volunteer in Guider too, and would open up a lot of collaboration opportunities. 

 

I’m missing the Super Bowl today.  I don’t really care who wins, but I really miss the atmosphere of it.  The food – wings, brisket, chips and dip, pizza – the good beer, the people, the commercials.  Trying to stream it here wouldn’t work, and even if it did, it doesn’t come on until 2 AM or something ridiculous.  I’ve been keeping up on the NHL too.  The Avalanche are doing decently, 4-4, but Steve Downie tore his ACL and was knocked out for the season, and now Landeskog is out with a head injury.  At least Duchene and Paterneau have been doing great.  Too bad I can’t actually watch it.