February 2016, blog by Aleida van der Wal
On my fieldtrip to South Sudan, I attended the bi-annual meeting with the key staff. Many topics with regard to project implementation, finance, human resources, and fundraising are discussed and shared. Today we also touched upon the topic of reporting. The field staff explained that it is often very hard to meet the tight deadlines for several very relevant reasons. Reasons I am often not even aware about. The quantitative data, like number of antenatal care visits, are to be collected from the health facilities. Health facilities are scattered throughout the province and it takes quite some time to reach the facilities. Then often the records are not complete and our staff supports in completing the data or has to come back at a later moment. Another matter is the reliance of the data that are recorded in the health facilities. Many health facility staff are illiterate. Most of the elderly staff received their education in Arabic, while all current documentation is in English. Our staff notices and supports in getting the correct data. A third factor is the fact that we work together with the county health departments, who are part of the governmental structure. Through our project we intend to build their capacity, also in reporting. Therefore we do request their active role in reporting. They are often in meetings, or for another reason (lack of or resources, like transport, internet connection) not available. Our team does however find creative ways to keep them involved. It takes time and effort. I highly respect our team in the field dealing with different levels of priorities, capacities, and demands. Tomorrow they will travel back to their respective province of operation. Our Country Director closed the meeting today, with the word ‘mindful’. We should be mindful in the communication with each other, and we should be mindful about the tasks we do to support the people of South Sudan.