Back again!!!

Ok, I am making a very real effort to begin keeping my blog up to date. So here is a little about how PC Uganda is arranged.

Background for Peace Corps Uganda
Peace Corps Uganda’s program differs from the programs in some other countries. Here in Uganda volunteers are assigned to work with local NGO’s, or CBO’s, to support their programs. These host organizations provide housing for the volunteer as well as a supervisor, to help manage the volunteers work within the organization, and a counterpart, a person who will work directly with the volunteer on a daily basis to assist in community integration, language learning and work projects.
The volunteer is expected to devote a majority of their time to working with, and for, the host organization in whatever capacity the host organization has indicated to Peace Corps country staff is needed. This work is considered the volunteers primary work assignment and is intended to be primarily in a capacity-building function rather than performing specific “jobs” such as office work, accounting, etc.
The host organization is also expected to make time available for the volunteer to work within the community on secondary projects which are determined by community need and volunteer interest. The volunteers counterpart is also asked to assist the volunteer, as needed, with their work on secondary projects. Due to the high rates of HIV/AIDS in Uganda all volunteers, regardless of their primary assignments or training, are expected to work in some way to help address the problems associated with HIV/AIDS in the community.
While projects that volunteers participate in outside of their host organizations official work are termed secondary in many instances these projects have a larger impact on the community than a volunteer’s primary work. Due to organizational challenges some volunteers find that their secondary projects can occupy the majority of their time and energy. This is recognized by Peace Corps Uganda and is supported as long as there is clear communication between the volunteer, host organization and Peace Corps staff.
This organizational structure for Peace Corps Uganda places a significant burden on the staff to find and develop sites for volunteers that are with organizations which are actively undertaking activities that benefit the local community, can provide appropriate housing and are not corrupt. This challenge is not always met by the local staff and this can result in volunteers terminating their service early, being in unsafe environments, being ineffective or simply working without the benefit of support from a local organization or individuals. These challenges result in a certain percentage of volunteers terminating their service early or changing to a new site. The exact numbers are not readily available but it is accepted that as many as 40% of volunteers will change sites at sometime during their service. It should be stated that many times the problems that result in a site change may not have been due any failure of staff or volunteer, but simply from unforeseen, or unknowable, circumstances.