My last few weeks with ADIC were by far the busiest. “Normal operations” resumed after we finished analyzing the results of the survey. This means that I spent a lot of my time in the communities, where I helped ADIC monitor progress on a few of its sustainability projects (outhouses for organic composting, bamboo houses, etc.). I also handled chickens for the first time (story below).
One day we went around collecting chickens they had distributed to beneficiaries about a year ago. Every woman was responsible for returning the same number of chickens that she was originally given by ADIC, although they did not necessarily need to be the exact chickens. We checked them for size and visible diseases to make sure that they wouldn’t die en route to their new owners. I was really surprised to learn that they did not have specific criteria used to evaluate need. Instead, they distributed the chickens to women who were especially participative in the organization and who happened to be home at the time we stopped by. I couldn’t help but think that there is a better way to implement the project, especially because many women in the community already had a fair number of chickens, while others did not. Additionally, because the beneficiaries are financially responsible for the birds should they die under their “lease,” it seemed rational to make sure the women knew how to care for them, but they didn’t seem to ask about that either. Maybe I’m thinking too much into it, especially because they have been running this project for some time and, from what I understand, there haven’t been any major complications in their methodology. In the end, I’m happy I decided to spend the summer in Nicaragua. It was a really incredible experience to work with a local organization on issues that mattered to them. I learned a lot about how an NGO works, what’s important to donors, and, apparently, the ins-and-outs of chicken distribution in rural Nicaragua. Overall, a good summer.
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I have learned a lot over the past month. I helped ADIC conduct a survey a few weeks ago in the communities that they work in. We were trying to gauge residents' understanding of the social and environmental impacts that ADIC has had in the communities since it began its projects there a few years ago. I (unfortunately) spent the next week entering the data into spreadsheets.
I’m spending two months this summer with ADIC (Asociación para el Desarrollo Integral Comunitario) in Matagalpa, Nicaragua. I just finished my second full week at ADIC, and it has been a rewarding experience thus far. I did a bit of administrative work my first few days, but since then I have been traveling to rural communities with ADIC employees to survey projects, facilitate events at local schools, and participate in workshops with men about paternity, masculinity, and domestic violence.
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Brian McGoughBrian is interning this summer at Asociación para el Desarrollo Integral Comunitario (ADIC) in Matagalpa, Nicaragua. Archives
August 2014
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