Women's Health
Summary of Project Status and Achievements:
The new Women’s Health Seminar program went well, and classes ran smoothly with only two teachers as opposed to the three teachers that had previously been teaching each class. The men’s class was successful, and the classes completed with a certificate ceremony on 11 October. At this ceremony, participants performed skits that they had organized to show their knowledge.
Indicators or Statistics:
Future Goals:
Our goal is to accurately document the service we are providing through the Women’s Health Program seminars, especially the new seminar for men.
Maternal Health
Summary of Project Status and Achievements:
The combined knitting and maternal health education seminar continues to be popular and to run smoothly. The last seminar ended on the 18th of September, and the Maternal Heath employees had no difficulties finding new students for the next seminar session. The new session began on the 29th of September and will finish on the 30th of October.
Indicators or Statistics:
Total Participants: 35
(30 that have received supplies from FORGE, 5 that are participating in the class without any support, supply-wise, from FORGE)
Future Goals:
PMs will work with Manager Lisa Kisimba to continue to expand and develop the curriculum to make sure it includes accurate and up-to-date information. We may also look into an alternate source for knitting yarn, as the price seems to be rising in the camp and Mporokoso. Substantial Problems or issues: None. Wishes and Requests: PMs continue to work with Red Cross to facilitate the training of Maternal Health Manager Lisa Kisimba as a Traditional Birth Attendant.
Women’s Rights and Empowerment (WRE)
Summary of Project Status and Achievements:
The WRE program has been, frankly, a bit of a disaster this month. The new intake of seminars began in September, later than anticipated due to issues finding students and establishing a schedule, with four classes operating simultaneously: one for young men, one for young women, one for adult men, and one for adult women. The teachers managed to recruit students for the seminars, but only for the adult women’s class did they manage to recruit the maximum amount of students (30).
Once the classes began, there were problems with attendance, both of the students and of the teachers. These problems were particularly prevalent in the classes for young men and young women. School also started in September, which caused scheduling problems with the WRE seminar. Schools in Mwange operate on a weekly rotating schedule, with students attending school in the mornings one week and in the afternoons during the next week, depending on what shift they are enrolled in (shift A or shift B). This made it extremely difficult to arrive at a functional schedule for the seminar, as both the seminar students and the seminar teachers are also enrolled in secondary school. Some of the recruited WRE seminar students were in shift A and some were in shift B; some of the WRE teachers were in shift A and some were in shift B.
There were also other problems with the WRE program, as due to scheduling problems the youth teachers stopped attending meetings with the other employees of WRE. Instead, they decided to hold their own meetings at a time that was more convenient for them. PMs met with one of the youth teachers and the WRE project manager to attempt to mediate this problem. The WRE manager felt that it was particularly important for her to meet with the youth leaders because there arose problems with their instruction of the curriculum, as they skipped ahead in the planned lessons, explaining that they did not feel knowledgeable in some of the subjects and that therefore they decided not to teach those subjects.
Additionally, when PMs and the Mwange Administrative Assistant observed WRE youth classes, there seemed to be some problems with the instruction that was happening. During debates, or weekly meetings combining the male and female classes to discuss issues covered during the previous week of classes, there seemed to be little participation from the few students who actually showed up. The instructors were not able to engage the class or to interact with them in a meaningful way. Also, during one lesson the youth teacher was observed presenting students with an incorrectly written description of SGBV (Sexual and Gender Based Violence), referring to the term as an acronym for Sexual and Gender Balanced Violence.
The PM did what she could to trouble-shoot problems as they arose, but due to a busy workload and travel schedule, she was unable to sit down to look critically at the entire program and at the root of many of these problems. Also, as she is only overseeing this project temporarily, she felt that it would be most appropriate to wait to make any significant changes until Margot returns from Kala, when both PMs can look at the entire Women’s Center with fresh eyes.
Future Goals:
PMs will work to clarify the goals and achievements of the WRE program, especially by critically examining the curriculum to make sure that it best fits the needs of the community. We will also look into implementing a Savings Circle curriculum, possibly in collaboration with the SGBV support group. Substantial Problems or issues: Described in the summary of project status and achievements.
Wishes and Requests: None.