Neema's outreach experience

Going through Readings and Discussions with Dr. Thomas Strong

Tom has continued to supervise and me up follow up with what I am doing. He has been very keen to select relevant literature that suits my community development work. The literature I usually read is helping me to engage in fruitful discussions on development challenges. Recently, we have been concentrating on reasons why many development projects fail, and these discussions have reminded me of the fact that there is no shortcut in development. If we are determined to engage in sustainable development for communities, we should stick to a bottom up approach and never ignore local people’s Métis (expertise and experience). If we are to copy programs or campaigns that have worked in other areas we should not copy blindly. We need to scrutinize them and see if they are appropriate in our settings.

Classes at Trinity University

My Wednesday lectures in statistics at Trinity College Dublin have continually increased my knowledge on the statistical part of research which is essential for presenting and analysing data.

Development Workshop

Judy (my Ugandan colleague) and I had an opportunity to participate in a development education workshop conducted for Irish students. In such workshops, youth are given an orientation to international issues such as human rights, war and conflict resolution, diseases and poverty. The youth came from Colaiste Lorcain and Knockdege College.  

The objective of the workshop was to let youth know about challenging issues that are not taught in schools, including gender inequality, poverty and development. Topics for that particular day were: Peace and Conflict in Israel and Palestine, Focus on Development and HIV and AIDS.

Patsy Toland (Self Help Africa) opened the workshop by discussing how the daily choices of individuals and groups of people affect developing countries. He sighted an example of Coca Cola and Nestlé, international companies spread all over the world but that do not adhere to human rights in certain parts of the world. He told the students that by purchasing these products, they are supporting these companies in depriving human rights. He explained some of the huge social economic differences between developed and developing countries, and endeavoured to enlighten the youth and encourage a spirit of consideration as regards challenges facing the developing countries. In this sense, the youth were challenged to make better choices such as choosing to stop or reduce the amount of products purchased from companies like Nestlé and Coca Cola, and also thinking of raising money for helping the disadvantaged population of the world.

After the opening remarks the students were divided into three groups. Facilitators were also divided according to the topics they were going to deliver. The workshop was arranged in such a way that each group had an opportunity to go through the three planned topics at different times and in different rooms. Joseph, Judy and I facilitated the topic of HIV and AIDS.

I observed that the Irish youth have very little knowledge on HIV and AIDS. I think that awareness-creation activities are low because the HIV prevalence rate (in Ireland) is very low. In countries where the HIV prevalence is high, governments and development partners are working very hard to create awareness in people, especially youth. According to a WHO 2007 report, young people aged 15-25 years fall in the most HIV infection vulnerable group. HIV is a global disease and reports show that the fastest rising HIV infection rates in the world currently are in Eastern Europe and Central Asia. I suppose it is high time for Irish government to start working very hard in order to create awareness in the youth - occasional development workshops are inadequate and there is need for more education; HIV and AIDS education should be introduced in schools as one of important topics. I also suggest the use of various awareness-creation activities such as peer education, community mobilization and the publishing of youth friendly educational materials such as leaflets, booklets, fliers and posters which could help increase knowledge of HIV. Youth media should air programs on HIV/AIDS awareness, and artists that attract youth should be encouraged to compose songs with HIV/AIDS messages.

The Irish government and development partners should make sure that youth get HIV/AIDS messages frequently and through various means such as TV, radio, posters, leaflets and from their parents and teachers.