Quarterly Report for OSP-Yangon1 Cluster (Myanmar) Oct-Dec 13
Narrative
Report
A-AREA SELECTION
Many NGOs are having their projects in Dala
Township due to its under development, poverty stricken population and
proximity to the Yangon City - just across the River. Dala Township is a
neglected area of Yangon in terms of resources made available for population.
One exhibit is that it has no bridge to connect to the city despite providing
tens of thousands of laborers for menial jobs in the city on daily basis, not
so good functioning medical care and shortage of clean drinking water especially during
summer when the water ponds get dried.
Helping Hand for Relief & Development (HHRD) USA wanted to start
one Orphan Support Program (OSP) Cluster (Project) for the most deserving section of the society i.e. the
fatherless but school going children lead by a Social Organizer (SO). Their representative who had visited several other
areas in Yangon was convinced to start the OSP Project in this area and decided to collect
data of 100 children in its initial phase.
B-DATA COLLECTION
I was directed to visit the township and prospective schools and
masajid/madaris and community organizations and volunteers often to socialize
and to introduce the project. I was also given detailed instructions on
different aspects of program, its components and the assignment in hand, i.e.
data collection. The following notables were sensitized among others: Secretary
of Nyaung Gone Masjid and its Imam, Community leader and Imam of Kamarkatwe Masjid,
Community leader and the Monk of West Monastery Education, One Retired Head
Mistress of the West Monastery Education and the Head Mistress of Basic
Education School No.1 in wards # 5, 11 and 14 while we (Mr. Arif and me) kept
working on the data collection tool, its translation, field test, online test etc.
which took almost two weeks.
Forms were distributed through the community leaders and
teachers of the school who were given training on how to fill the data
collection tool! It took many weeks in recollection and translation of these forms into English due to unfamiliarity of volunteers of such technical
work. There were many mistakes which were later corrected during data cleaning,
uploading and then approval process. Unfortunately many mothers/ guardians did
not have factual details about the children. They were so much busy in the
bread earning activities for their families. On the other hand uploading was
the most tiring task as during the whole day it was not possible to upload.
Until a portable Wifi ‘Red-Link’ was bought along
with router. Now it works at least during the late night when the speed was little
bit better.
The 100 children data was made clear and available by the
beginning of October 2013 and was subsequently approved.
C-IMPLEMENTATION
The management of Share Mercy/HHRD, their staff and local community
leaders helped to organize and socialize with the Township Administrator and
then relevant Ward Administrators. The first
activity was the distribution of Hygiene Kits. Each set of items was equally
given to 100 sponsored children by reaching them at different places where they study, proper receiving sheets were also collected.
The second activity was the distribution of food items. After the
first experience and knowing more about the program, its objectives and
strategy, the OSP Team was more confident this time. A detailed survey
was conducted for the purchase of food items and new bag was designed and
procured for packing. The Hygiene Sessions were delayed due to unavoidable
circumstances conjoined with these distributions and left an impact on the
beneficiaries and other stakeholders. The ward administrators and community
leaders were appreciative of these activities as were the mothers of children
and their teachers. These activities also have attracted many volunteers both
at HHRD/Share Mercy office and in the Dala Township.
We are implementing the remaining activities of Health Screening
and English language classes which were already planned for the
execution but deferred due to late transfer of funds. A documentary was also
shot as a special assignment and uploaded for the information of donor.
D-INTERNAL COORDINATION
There were few meetings and communication with HHUSA - Head Office
(OSP Meeting) which made it to understand the functioning of the whole
network of OSP Clusters globally and the prospects of further expansion
of OSP in Yangon and Myanmar.
Share Mercy management and their facilitating team afforded the required support to accomplish the tasks during field
work. Their instant feedback as well as extempore feedback from the community, authorities or
beneficiaries was pivotal in these accomplishments and learning.
E-EXTERNAL COORDINATION
Extensive meetings with relevant school heads and community
leaders were held. A number of lessons learned which are described later in this
report. Now being more organized the SO is able to deal with several issues on his own and can see the outputs from the jobs which have been accomplished so far.
Government representatives were engaged and permissions
obtained. The credit goes to our implementing partner Share Mercy management
and staff. The government authorities are now appreciative of our work and like
to recommend for the continuation of our project if needed in the future.
F-ISSUES
-
The religion based political sensitivities
sometimes do not allow carrying on the regular work. Owing to such situation Head
Mistress did not permit to collect data from Ward # 5,11&14 for some time
that caused delays.
-
Commitment from the Community Leaders is still
low and they do not respect the time they promised for the cause of vulnerable
children. This happened so often during the collecting of orphan children’s
data.
-
Unfortunately, the internet connections are very
weak despite promises by the service providers, both structural issues and
greed for business. This caused many a delay in uploading process and now
disrupts quick reporting especially heavy data due to photographs etc.
-
The understanding on budget use, the timeline
had been a big confusion; need to know budgets detail for the implementation
process of OSP. Now it is getting better with the mentored implementation and
has enhanced the confidence for next quarter’s implementation.
- Facing difficult for making arrangements for
activities for example preparing bags and their binding to save the project
money.
G-LESSONS LEARNED
- Community Leaders are busy for their livelihood
and engagement in others social works.
- Internet connection is strong during late-night
time.
- Dala Township had been having rumors at the grass root level. It might be due
to the fear that terrorizes the people. It paralyzed the positive activities.
- Difference between purchase and procurement from capacity building trainings.
- It was good experience knowing more suppliers
and vendors to get the best price and quality of bags, their printing for the
distribution.
- Many children are living a shanty.
- Some of the guardians are blank about the
biography of their orphan, could not provide reliable information.
- Data Collecting Strategy should be informal owing
to the local situation of Dala Township.
- We can get the help from community leader for
implementation process.
- There was an opportunity to learn the basic filming
and editing from OSP Documentary assignment.
- It is impossible to make an activity for all the
100 children in one day and at one place.
- Clear understanding on implementation process.
- Clear understanding regarding budget, planning
and execution of activities, roles and job description.
F-FUTURE PLANS
- Map of Dala Township showing concentration of
sponsored children and involved institutions.
- Social Economic and Demographic base line data of
Dala Township.
- Creation of a Children club/ forum and provision
of member cards.
- NGO Network of Dala Township and active
participation of local groups in community work.
- To survey the fatherless children of Dala
Township starting from ward # 5, 11 and 14 to know precisely how many children in
how many categories need support from HHUSA.
Accountability,
Feedback & Monitoring
When the HHRD decided to implement the Dala OSP project with
Share Mercy, the Share Mercy had accepted alongside the core principle of the
Accountability systems that each project we do must have an accountability
component. The accountability process requires the project implementation to be
conducted with visibility and transparency. To start with this process a joint
team (Share Mercy and HHRD) met with township authority in Dala township in their administration
office. The SO and and the local focal person - retired head mistress,
made the meeting well-coordinated and we got the verbal
permission from township officer to begin our project activities. We submitted
to them activities plan and the estimated budget for the whole project. After this
initial meeting and permission, we continued to the ward authorities and
informed them about the project implementation and introducing both the
organizations. The introduction process yielded very well due to the ward
authorities’ commitment that they would help us in these activities.
In continuation of our principle of accountability and promise
of transparency we reported for all activities to authorities: ration
distribution, hygiene kit distribution and special talk the reports were
prepared and submitted. Following up with the accountability process for coming
activities, we are preparing to announce what will be handed over to children
in material terms. Also that currently we are implementing for the selected,
first batch of 100 members; and that we will enlist the leftover children
during the upcoming assessment. The expansion of this project is ripe in the
target area and will help us reduce the overhead program costs and to bring the
maximum benefit to the targeted children.
Feedback
In the ration distribution, the message that we gave on the
bag was attractive for the community and the teacher said that it is very good
for the community to know it well. Following up with this feedback, we would
need to develop leaflets and other IEC materials that would be information,
educational and communication item to use for the whole activities. This will
help us inform the community about our projects and to bring up the interest of
the community for the later community based activities.
In the special talk program, one of the teachers who
participated in the program recorded the activities about the personal hygiene
talk. She gave her feedback that they could use it as the reference in their
own class where they are teaching. We learned that the teachers in monastic
school are untrained or volunteers and HHRD can provide them training or build
their capacity.
In the special talk program, we could not provide food to
the sponsored children because there was huge number of other students who were
attending the special talk. We decided to provide them with light meal such as biscuits
and the rice soup which was affordable to treat all students in the school. The
children were satisfied with such activities and they are willing to
participate in the future activities. Our volunteer, Stephanie is helping us
connect with the community stakeholders and recording their feedback.
