Day 1 in Uganda

Blayney's Story

We started the day with a visit to the World Vision national office in Kampala where we received a very warm welcome from our colleagues.

We met with the national office communications and advocacy teams. I was inspired by the dedication and hard work shown by all of our staff. Many members of the team based in Kampala leave the district where their families live and spend weeks away from them to work in the national office. The love for their work beams through them and shows in their efforts and results.

 I was inspired by the dedication and hard work shown by all of our staff.

We were able to speak with two of the key members of the Communications and Advocacy team; Moses and Laurence. They gave us an insight into the step by step process they use to gather information from our programmes. When we share stories and pictures that show how your donations are making a difference these are the people on the ground who collect the information.

They also collect information that helps us gauge how successful our programmes are. They ask community members impacted by our programmes to rate how happy they are with them on a scale of 1  to 5 . This gives us a good idea of how all of our programmes are impacting the communities where we work in all areas, including healthcare, education, savings groups and child protection.

The comms & advocacy team also collect qualitative information from the field by sending teams out to our programmes who speak directly with members of the community. It is great to be have such a dedicated and professional team collecting first hand information from the community about the difference our work is making thanks to the generosity of World Vision supporters.

This gives us a good idea of how all of our programmes are impacting the communities

After a very informative meeting with our colleagues we headed out to Busia, a 4 hour drive east, to meet the staff at the Busia cluster office. A cluster office manages programmes in nearby communities. The Busia cluster office looks after programmes in Lunyo and Busitema that are funded by Irish sponsors and donors.

Image caption: Carmel (World Vision Ireland) with the Kampala national office Advocacy team

As we drove from Kampala to Busia the effects of global warming became extremely apparent.  We passed many dried out and barren fields. The problem is very real  to the people here and is destroying their livelihoods. Uganda is highly vulnerable to climate change  - its economy and the wellbeing of its people are tightly bound to climate. 

The problem is very real  to the people here and is destroying their livelihoods 

World Vision is working closely with farmers affected by climate change, teaching them new drought resistant farming techniques and advising on the best crops to plant in order to maximize their yield in times of drought.

Image caption: Effect of climate change on crops

Image caption World Vision cluster office Busia

The team in Busia briefed us on our itinerary for the next few days. We will be meeting community leaders, teachers, children and community groups set up by World Vision and we will be asking them how has their lives have changed with the help of World Vision’s support.

Image caption; A baboon on the side of the road en route to Busia

Image caption: Busia, Uganda

---