I've been travelling again over the past 2 weeks. I spent 2 days in Soroti, 2 in Lira and 2 in Gulu. It reached 42 degrees one afternoon in Soroti! Very hard to concentrate on figures in that heat. The town looked completely different, very dry.
I've travelled with colleagues on both occasions and it's been lovely to sit and chat out in the cooler air in the evenings. While in Lira we joined up with the Lira based volunteers and had a wonderful shared Indian meal.
In Gulu we brought all of the partner organisations together for a partner meeting as we move towards the end of the current programme. We talked about future plans for the work and I introduced a draft policy on costs I've been working on. We haven't been successful in recent funding bids partly because the cost per beneficiary has been too high as we've been working through multiple partner organisations so have had each partner's administration costs to factor in. We're looking at a policy to cap indirect costs with a consequent increase in direct costs and therefore an increase in the number of beneficiaries who can be reached.
We are also looking at the payment of allowances, a structure which is completely different to what is possible in the UK. At the meeting I introduced the draft policy and the partners considered the good and bad points in groups. They then looked again at the policy from different viewpoints, beneficiary, donor etc. and prepared a short role play to illustrate. These were great fun, highly amusing but also a real eye opener for me on the work they are doing and the challenges they face.
I've been reviewing my workplan for the final 8 months of my placement with the Country Management team. I'm going to start my handover early to allow for joint visits with the person who will be taking over my work on the Livelihoods programme. I will also visit partners on the Gender and Governance programmes with him. I'm looking forward to learning more about these programmes and meeting the people involved. Some of these were at the Integrating Programme and Finance training in November so it will be good to meet up again.
I will also be looking at other options to 'add value' and hopefully leave a legacy of my time here. Part of that will be to discuss the proposed policy more widely, to continue to provide training and to share my learning. Some of the partners would like to implement a version of a Full Cost Recovery system so I hope this will also be possible.
As well as being busy at work we have also enjoyed several meals out with other volunteers. We've discovered a small local café called the York Bar! We asked how it came to be called the York Bar and apparently it is named after an area in Dubai! I think we'll be visiting again with some pictures of real York Bars! Finally we also made another visit to the Ssezibwa Falls with a work colleague on the bank holiday Monday at the end of January.
We went on one of the very few rainy days we've had since returning but we didn't mind as the rain was very refreshing and it kept the temperature down to a more pleasant level for walking around. We took a shared picnic and had a wonderful feast of pate, cheese, guacamole, salad and bread. This was followed by an invitation to another volunteer's flat for dinner on our way back. Altogether a lovely day.
Today we have had thunder and rain. The parched ground in Kampala is soaking it up gratefully. Friends from York are currently in the skies above the Mediterranean. We are looking forward to seeing them at Entebbe airport later tonight and showing them around Kampala this week and Uganda next.
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