Project Development in the Peace Corps

The credit for the information in this blog post goes to Venchele Saint Dic. She’s been a goldmine of friendly generosity and professional advice since I first met her. Venchele, I can’t thank you enough.

One of the many things Venchele and I talked about during Volunteer Visit was project development. I don’t have any experience in this particular area, so I was eager to pick Venchele’s brain for advice. Here are the steps she listed in developing health projects.

1) The first step is crucial because it gives the entire process direction and purpose. Before initiating any kind of work, we as PCV’s need to access the needs of the community. 

There are many ways to access needs:

• Hold community meetings to talk about the needs of the community at large. The president of the CARE health group, the general secretary of the CARE health group at Dassalami Soce and the ASC should all be there. Other important community members, such as the village chief and the Imam, should also be invited and included in the discussion.

• Conduct one-on-one interviews with a diverse group of individuals (women, men, boys, mothers, farmers, matrons, Talibés, etc…).

• Engage in direct observation (e.g. litter on the road creating unsanitary conditions could be cleaned up)

• Use PACA (Participatory Analysis for Community Action):

As PCV’s, our ultimate goal is that our communities be able to improve their own livelihoods in a sustainable way, to insure that they will not need foreign aid in the long term. PACA is a collection of methodological tools a PCV can use in order to get to know a community better, which always involve active participation on the part of different community members.

There are four main PACA tools: community mapping, seasonal calendars, daily activity schedules, and needs assessment. Ultimately, the community itself should get a better understanding of its diverse internal needs and should have a clearer sense of what needs to be done in order to improve their community’s livelihood. I’ll be coming back to PACA in much more detail later on, especially once I get some hands-on experience with it.

• Conduct Household Baseline Surveys 

Venchele sent me the baseline survey that she administered to a diverse group of villagers during house visits between November 28^th 2012 and January 21^st 2013. Thanks to this survey, she got a better sense of mosquito net usage, safe water and latrine access, hand washing knowledge, equipped hand washing stations, maternal and child health, diarrhea, mother and child nutrition, family planning, and youth development on sexual education. She used this information to get a better sense of what projects she could work on, what her priorities should be according to the numbers, and which health challenges demanded immediate action.

 Obviously, there’s quite of bit of overlap between these different tools, and they are most efficacious when combined.

2) Once needs are identified, start looking for ways to meet those needs. 

Sometimes, a village can fix its own problems, because it has the necessary resources at hand. In this case, a PCV would identify which resources and individuals could be mobilized. Sometimes, another PCV can a source of knowledge and a link to another helpful resource or individual. Sometimes, help and support must come from an external source. 

A PCV could also research different organizations and NGO’s that cater to those particular needs, and establish a partnership with them. 

A) There are several ways to find the right NGO or organization.

• My APCD (Assistant Program Country Director, I think) has a ready list of organizations and NGO’s that work on specific health challenges in Senegal, and will provide references as needed.

• My ASC will be a great resource to me in general, and will most likely be familiar with all the organizations and NGO’s that work in the area.

• Other PCV can refer me to organizations and NGO’s that they have worked with.

• Internet research to get a better sense of what the organization or NGO does, and what their mission statement and goals are.

B) From there, a PCV can ask for a letter of reference from the APCD; this letter often lends credibility and status to the PCV, and makes it more likely that the NGO will want to work with him or her. The APCD will send the letter of reference directly to the representative. After this initial contact, the representative will contact the PCV directly. Alternatively, the PCV can call the representative directly to plan a meeting, but should probably avoid going into specifics just yet.

C)  Usually, the NGO or organization’s office is in a large city. It’s the PCV’s responsibility to travel to meet them there. At the meeting, she will want to introduce herself as a PCV, talk about her site, and what her project is. She’ll want to ask about the NGO or organization’s mission and work in the area thus far, and whether they conduct work in her region or whether they might be wiling to extend to her site. Now she’ll want to be more specific about what she hopes to accomplish, and about how her site could benefit from working with this particular organization or NGO.

D) Now the PCV will want to talk to her counter-part, so that they can organize a community meeting together. The purpose of the meeting is to inform the village of the opportunity, to include them in the decision-making process, to get approval, and to discuss the community’s active role in this new partnership. Important individuals to definitely include in this conversation is the ASC, the Imam, the village chief, key members of the CARE group; that said, anyone from the village interested in attending should be encouraged to do so.

E) Finally, the PCV can invite the representative to come and visit the site, to get a better idea of what needs to be done. This can be tricky, because a PCV has to respect the representative’s timeline and schedule. If they do agree to work with you, it’s a good idea to get written proof of the agreement; in the past, other organizations and NGO’s have agreed to do work at Dassalami Soce, but then never followed through. At this point, a PCV can work with the community and the representative to establish a realistic timeline for getting work done; they might even want to discuss possible follow-up projects further down the line.

Should the representative decide against working on your project, there’s nothing to do but start the research process again and find another source of help. Sometimes, the representative can point you in another direction, too.

It’s always a good idea to check in with counterparts, the APCD, and key community members regularly at all stages of project development.