Volunteerism and Development in Uganda - A Case of Union of Community Development Volunteers (UCDV-UG)

JW Buganga

Kampala-Uganda

Volunteerism and Development in Uganda

Organisation History

Once upon a time, the UCDV was in 2 persons. It all began with the development initiatives of Eddie Mutebie, who went around cleaning filthily unhygienic slum areas in Kampala, sensitizing affected communities on proper hygiene and sanitation, and mobilizing volunteer youth in the localities to be the solution to their problems. In 2002, UCDV was born. It got its home in Mengo. As a community-based organization (CBO) in 2004, it mobilized and fundraised extensively to expand its operation to a wider central region of the country, which has Kampala City, Mukono District, Wakiso, Luwero, and Rakai. It very first funder was the Church of Jesus Christ of the Latter Day Saints, a Christian charity from the United States of America (USA). And in 2010, it got elevated to a National Non Government Organisation (NNGO), a level that accelerated it water access and livelihood development mission in the countryside and beyond, covering areas like Tororo, Buikwe, Jinja, Masaka, Mbale, Rwanda, and most recently, Namutumba District in Busoga. Ambitiously, it is eager to expand further to increasingly sky-rocketing demand for safe-drinking water in the rapidly growing urban centers, and in inaccessible rural areas.

Programme Title

The programme title shall be: ‘Safe Water Access and Sustainable Livelihood Development Programme.’

Programme Description

The programme design is based on the needs assessed, feasibility studies, and priorities made in relation to the area and population needs. Information about the community needs is obtained in light of the media reports about the awe of huge humanitarian problem such as acute water shortages, including issues like 3 hours in queue waiting for a chance to fetch water, security problem associated to wanting to be first to fetch water at the water source, arising from mainly the women and the girl child; and contact by concerned leadership, who upon recognizing our humanitarian responsibilities visit or call us to intervene. Despite the urgency of the matter, we are obliged to investigate by contacting a needs assessment and confirm the strongest need for water comparable to other areas of the country. This followed by a feasibility study to ascertain the topographic desirability and the level of water table. Water-sheds and areas with high water tables are favored. The entire fact-finding is done by a 2 different teams:  a team headed consisting of social workers with inclination to community development, and another involving environmentalists, water engineers, public health specialists, community members (beneficiaries), elders, and local leaders. Decisions made are an outcome of several stakeholder meetings, who agree on a mechanism, involving agreement to a budget incurrence plan, roles and contributions of different parties, and signing of memoranda by a representative from every party. The signing of the memoranda of understandings marks the beginning of implementation exercises led by the UCDV, and monitored by a joint monitoring team consisting of funders and community beneficiary representatives. The representatives are democratically selected by the communities to be part of both the implementation and monitoring teams. Essentially, UCDV does the man-power recruitment, assignment of tasks, coordination, and remuneration concerns. Among the UCDV task-force are programme director, projects team leaders, finance and accountability manager, field officers, quality control manager, community mobilization officer, programme interns and volunteers, and community and school affiliated clubs. On completion of the protect community elects a water-user management team, which is charged with carrying out water-source maintenances and ensuring of proper hygiene and sanitation around the water-source environment, and mobilization of funds from among beneficiaries to make repairs. Committee members receive training in all this aspects of water source management before handover. And on the commissioning day, a very colorful one, with presence of all stakeholders, including representatives of the funding institution and partners, the programme report is read and information shared among partners, certificate of completion is issued by a monitoring team to the implementation agencies, further guidelines given on water-source protection and maintain, water user management committee inaugurated, and announcement of official handover of the water facility made. This marks the end of the programme work in the area.

Primary Goals

• To facilitate access to free safe water and improved livelihoods of communities whose rights to access is not guaranteed.

Secondary Goals

a)      To promote the spirit of volunteerism so that target beneficiaries can be solutions to their own problems.

b)      To reduce incidences of sexual violence associated to sending girls and women to distant areas to fetch water.

c)       To increase household revenue in areas known to purchase domestic water expensively, at a cost between 200 and 1000 Uganda Shillings.

d)      To reduce the incidences of preventable diseases such as cholera, typhoid, malaria, dysentery, and bilharzias, which claim lives of mainly children below the age of 5.

e)      To promote education of the girl child whose education time is spent doing domestic chores and moving distant areas to fetch water.

f)       To promote environment conservation practices, which provide safeguards against global warming, natural disasters, disease epidemics, famine, malnutrition, and inflation.

Success Metrics to Primary Goals or Objectives

a)      Scale-up volunteerism (burungi bwansi)  by 60% in 5 years

b)      Increase retention of children in primary and secondary schools by 50% in rural countryside education centers in 5 years (due to diseases, burden of responsibilities at home (fetching water in far areas), early pregnancies, and household poverty.

c)       Reduce sexual related violence by 70% in 5 years.

d)      Guarantee 2 meals a day in 80% of the households in 5 years.

e)      Reduce incidence of water-borne diseases by 90% in 5 years.

f)       Household natural (environment) conservation by 60% of household heads within their private lands in 5 years.

Direct Beneficiary Groups

a)      Children below 5 years;

b)      Children below 18 years;

c)       Youth between 18 and 35 years;

d)      Women;

e)      And the elderly.

Over all Expected Outcomes

There will be more community involvement in solving their immediate problems rather than wait for good Samaritans to think, plan, and act on their behalf to clean their immediate environment, or mobilize projects for them to dig pit latrines, and water sources, even with their own leadership in place. This time around the community, through their leadership will identify problem and mobilize financial and human resources to solve them, accordingly.

Time will be saved for children and women to fetch water and go about their domestic chores. In this regard, room is left for parents to send their children to school, and safeguard them against sexual-related violence associated to letting children and women go to very distant and insecure areas in search for water. More children will attain higher education or its equivalent, attainable through study of technical and vocation studies, which increase employability.

Prevention and control of preventable diseases such malaria, typhoid, diarrhea, dysentery, which claim millions of children, annually; this increases household expenditures on medicine in efforts to save life. The stretching of household finances which deprives families of vital goods such as education and proper nutrition is remedied, so much that families get in position to save so much to meet those critical development needs.

The efforts to ensure sustainable free and clean water supply invokes similar efforts to conserve nature. In doing so, a wide scale of epidemiological, economic, including food security; and sustainability of life systems that are supportive of each other.

 

TEAM-BUILDING, TEAM-WORK AND TEAM RELATIONS: A STRONG BASIS OF ORGANIZATION DEVELOPMENT

Team relations is one indispensable part in organization's development, which managers could strongly emphasize in their plans. However, themselves must have recognized and trained in much of ever changing team-work dynamics.

Having done so, they would then nurture them in an organization, and later turn their scrutinizing eyes on future staff -during interviews and, as key emphasis in staff workshops. Some of the key workshop ingredients could be learning sessions in conflict resolution, negotiation and stress management.

Otherwise, without health team relations, staff performance can be adversely affected as there might be reduced morale to work in a conflictual work environment, high toll on the mental health dysfunctioning of workers; confusion, disengagement, absenteeism and dismissals of affected staff by their unsuspecting bosses.

In teams, however, conflicts are the most infectious yet inevitable challenges. There can always be strategy-based and content-based disagreements. Regular meetings have been known to be best remedy for organizations and groups marred with conflicts. It can also mean bringing to the table every arising individual-concern for solution-finding to avoid spill-over effect.

Modalities thought to best work for specific interventions must be discussed before executing the tasks in line with them. There are teams that could be “shrewd” enough to come out with suitable structures, forming suitable operations guidelines and systematic steps -with which to successfully implement organization programs, even when their initiatives contradict the organization ones -conceivable “not to be smart” enough; so long as in the end, anticipated organization goals are met. For order ya jjesi, it could be different matter, just as in organizations with overly centralized management systems.

While in the meeting, it is best when each member makes a contribution or suggestion; the most quiet members ought to speak or be encouraged too. For justice assurance, also, equal time for everyone to express strongly held views should be allocated.

At the beginning of meetings agendas can be created basing on key contentious areas in team relations; the causes of arguments, have discussions done around them, followed by agreements and ways forward.

While expecting that at the end of the meeting, conflicting team members re-think their positions and realign themselves with the rest of the team's mainstream one. However, care must be taken to ensure equal platform for everyone to air out his or her views.

In a team, it is all about consulting each other before action, reporting the action to the rest of the members, and involving them in any plan -whose outcome could affect them all. Every member must have either participated in the plans or sought to be furnished with information about it.

Some organizations may have a culture or history of nurturing all staff equally to become leaders -starting from the team situation. However, one wonders how everyone can be leader within a team of five people. What a test! It is usually difficult one, unless all members are given clear roles structures for them to play and achieve through.

In spite of that, there is always a tendency of one member in the team emerging dominant, and later imposing himself or herself on the team as overall decision-maker. Nature must have provided that; for anything to function normally, there must be a leader no matter how that leader comes to exist as one. It is such mysterious circumstances that even make people (spiritualists) think leadership is from God.

It is possible to realize group cohesion, enthusiasm, high commitment, high involvement, high performance, lessened achievement resistance, and easy conflict resolution if the organization presented alternative options (of members) for every team to elect its own leader.

However, set guidelines must be given to the electoral or appointing authority to ensure that a leader chosen suits the organization culture and history, and has its current vision and expected strength to grasp and execute tasks. But the approach could change with well oriented team members; aware of their roles in fulfilling objectives of daily field goals throughout the program time.

Where a team leader option is additionally considered by the organization, he or she should be charismatic enough to generate morale, solidarity and enthusiasm in the team-situation amidst field challenges.

In that regard, presence of a team-leader should not mean passivity for him or other team members, but active role play even when the rest of the team are burnt-out. There can be a tendency of over-functioning members of the team unconsciously lessening work-involvement of other team members. It is therefore a team-leaders' continued efforts that will, time and again, resuscitate the fatigued members' work-spirits; to push on, until the end of the field program.

Each member, as having equal life challenges that may be economic or career-related, must put in equal effort in relation to his or her distinct role. And, of course, the concrete tasks and responsibilities must be those that help the team, exactly, to achieve its set goals -reviewable at all meeting held regularly for enthusiasm raising.

Like in any other purposeful relationships, there must be specific values nurtured to bond members in light with the work they do. These could be; mutual respect, mutual responsibility, cooperation, listening and sharing -a kind of sisterly or brotherly relationship.

Where work conditions are not acceptable, and team pressure is channeled onto one person, very soon, it would cause agony -a feeling of injustice and a constant struggle to realize a comfortable position in the team and states within oneself. But, still, the element of competition can always erupt.

Different individuals will want to gather pomp, and searching for all they are best in and testing them on others' ability. This is when the tendency to disrespect, error-searching, and to making endless criticisms ensue, but with strong and focused leadership of one entrusted for the task -be it at team and organization level, all such could be contained. This can help save affected members from feelings of intellectual injustice, work-place insecurities, low work involvement, and negative field outcomes and reports,.

If team's dysfunctionality arises from the organizational structure and turns out to victimize team-members, then cooperation with a leader -who receives and listens to member complaints, keeps confidential information, ensures field-work constraints are included in the final report -along with specific recommendations that addresses them in future, becomes ideal.

In circumstances where the team is multi-racial, certain individual members' actions can be interpreted as offensive so much that those offended opt to grieve silently -wondering if the “offender” really meant it or not. Such confusion created amidst work tasks -supposed to be done, can be very agonizing while ,at the same time, too results into negative end-of-term report.

When ill-feelings are brought to the team leader's attention, he or she expectedly convenes meetings aimed at seeking explanations and clarity of the troublesome statements made or actions done, while ensuring that the offended members understand the cultural gaps or differences.

And such explanations related to culture ought to be made clear; both prior field placement and in daily group reviews of work done. To note is that learning process highly varies sharply; from on that is instant, one-day realization to weeks, months acknowledgment to years. Beyond that; it turns out to be an abnormality.

There, also, can be a time when work pressure is so overwhelming that members lose grip on work, tempers rise easily, and burn-out sets in. While in this situation the focus need to be; compromise, in the best interest of meeting project goals within the set period of time. But, as opportunities arise for friendly or casual discussions, dissatisfactions can be aired out politely, and with respect.

Alternatively, one could buy time until the end of the project so that as the bosses applaud them for the excellent field-work at the end of the year, the team ensures availability of time to air out the other side of the coin missing in the general report summary, though already stated in the detailed one.

It is helpful too to help colleagues adjust, learn or improve, no matter how arrogant they might be. This, as already pointed out, can occur immediately or even very long after the end of the program. Then, perhaps, the kind helper could receive a telephone call, card or nice gifts in appreciation. Of course, anyone would like to be honored.

It is a time when those oppressed in the team will want to get some airtime or breather to speak about what did not go well in the field. They could have chose compromise or to lose at hot arguments in the field, and win later (out of the field).

Calling for individual member reports alongside the main one presented by the team leader, too, could be excellent. This ensures that anomalies are never left to rot -to no reinstatement, but addressed as they arise.

Unfortunately or fortunately, every person nurses specific biases, social stereotypes and certain obsessions. With time, such attitudes lead to caucuses within the team, in which members find comfort -as they move to the field station, and during work breaks.

With time, some can be really nagging, especially when the obsessions -be it in ideology, culture and other behavioral specifics are perennial, where somebody continues saying the same statement every time at the pace of two minutes as though he or she has lost her mind. Anyway, reports say there moments when people are not at their best, and how quick they return to normal is what makes anyone unique.

Others may be sort of intellectual imperialists, who want to selfishly impose their views on a group at all cost and have them work in the team as general rules. Interestingly, they could even “steal” other members' ideas and make them their own -to give the imperialist's impression of a powerful figure that is manifested all the time. Indeed, it is debilitating working with the same person throughout the years yet, already, everyday to the victimized person can be like a year!

But also the group leader could ensure that times are set for group parties, casual-conversational meetings and talking about a wide areas of life, this time round, outside work arena -while constantly encouraging members to open up to such occasions.

The team leader must endure the trouble of appealing to members to share knowledge, rather than compete about who has best strategist. But because the focus, then, is about registering team results, such happy moments could be only ended by reviewing project objectives and setting next days' timeline.

In addition, the team leader could encourage sincere guidance rather than mere criticism, ridicule or sizing up of others in the team, and the same be the case with the parent organization's top management; ensuring that members report ill-feelings as well as physical illnesses that could be misinterpreted by the group as pretense or laziness.

While those with cherished ideas they wish other team members could adopt, gently and patiently explain how good they are since, as noted earlier, it sometimes takes longer time for people to understand, appreciate and adopt something new. And, as part of the team work ethic, mutual consultation ought to be encouraged -to avoid unnecessary criticisms and endless complaints -due to blunders and errors during role execution.


Jacob Waiswa
Situation Health Analysis
www.situationhealthanalysis.blogspot.com