Surfacing opportunities

The last six weeks have taught us a lot about development work. Whilst work can sometimes progress slowly, it always gets done. This took some adjusting to initially, being so different to the Western norms. But all in all, alongside the GDPU team, we’ve achieved a lot.

Whilst work has seemed to be at a slower pace here, we’ve been very busy over the past few weeks, and I think our progress has been significant. We’ve made 120 litres of soap, completed two rounds of monitoring of seven schools in September and October, three malaria trainings, two menstrual hygiene trainings, met with World Vision, met the President of Gulu City Rotary Club, attended the Rotary Club Conference, and worked on GDPU’s social media. 

Soap making!

Our second menstrual hygiene training with HerWorth at Awach Primary School.

Attending the Rotary Club Meeting.

Our new friend Faruk becoming a Rotarian! Congrats Faruk!

Alex (left), Joe (centre) and me!

Meeting current Rotary Club present and headteacher of a special educational needs school who work closely with GDPU.

Aside from work, we’ve met all the GDPU team (who all greeted us with smiles each day); made numerous trips to the Gulu main market; changed accommodation three times; gone on a safari in Murchison National Park; attended the final Ability Sports Africa tournament; and had a new wardrobe made for us by the WAW ladies! 

Gulu Main Market.

Gulu Main Market.

The wet streets of Gulu.

Coach Isaac and his team celebrating big after winning the Ability Sports Africa Premier League!

A frequent sight in Gulu!

A very large African snail.

Once in a lifetime experience at Murchison Falls National Park.

Balancing skills!

With the newly developed monitoring tool, GDPU are paving the way for future collaborations with other organisations to continue their work. Continuing to monitor schools will provide invaluable evidence for the success of GDPU’s model, something we are sure will continue in the future. 

We’ve found money is the biggest limiting factor, and this is likely the same for many organisations across the world. The GDPU team are absolutely not short of ability, drive, passion or direction, but are often restricted by a lack of access to funds. However, with lots of determination they often find their way around this, managing to do an amazing job with what is accessible to them. This is an amazing and useful skill to have, which I’m sure is a major factor behind GDPU’s success. 

Soap

Last week we made 120 litres of liquid soap for distribution to GDPU’s partner schools. 

The process was simple, although I’m not sure we should have been using sodium hydroxide so casually! For a step by step guide on liquid soap making, check out our Tiktok here: https://vm.tiktok.com/ZMApe1EWh/ .

To make 120 litres of soap, it costs approximately 240,000 UGX (~£50). This includes the 20 litre jerry cans for distribution (15,000 UGX) and materials (water, sodium hydroxide, glycerine, fragrance and colouring). Per 20 litres of soap, it costs 40,000 UGX to make. In terms of time, for a batch of this size, it takes approximately 1.5 hrs. It’s a simple but highly effective method. 

Emma, myself and Alex mixing Clean Wash soap

The soap is then bottled and distributed to schools who need it as part of GDPU’s WASH package. Schools get ~40 litres for free, and then they can pay for any more they need. This soap is significantly cheaper than soap available in local shops. 

The soap making production line is being expanded to include people with disabilities at GDPU. This provides an important skill to these young people, which can be used both personally for soap production in their homes, but also to sell and provide an income from.

Social media

The importance of social media has become evident to me over the past two years working with the Advocacy Project (AP). For AP, we’ve managed to advocate for numerous start ups across Instagram, LinkedIn, Flickr and TikTok, amassing 12,000 views in total across 21 videos. This is important not only for spreading the message of these organisations, but also for fundraising and donor opportunities. Social media gives an immediate insight into what projects are doing with donor money; this high level of transparency can encourage more donations as trust increases. 

In Uganda, I’ve been able to work with the GDPU team to establish new social media pages and develop their current sites. When doing this, it’s crucial that it is done in a sustainable way. Before setting up the pages, I made sure they would actually be used by the team here, and we were not setting up the pages purely because I was out here. I also ensured the accounts were all established using a GDPU team member’s email to ensure they would always be able to access their account, and were not relying on me to send a verification code from the UK!

We have found hashtags to be essential. They link posts together, so if someone sees one of your posts with #WASH, for example, they’re more likely to see similar posts with the same hashtag. This way, awareness about these projects can be raised amongst individuals who have already shown some awareness in that area. 

Whilst sites such as TikTok and Instagram Reels take some getting used to, it is simply a case of practice makes perfect! With the right tools and teaching, it’s easy to pick up on. It’s such an effective tool to reach global audiences quickly from your mobile phone. It’s unlike traditional campaigns which are often costly and time consuming – social media can reach a global audience in a matter of seconds! 

I will likely be stepping away from my social media role at AP from now, but it has taught me invaluable skills which I will continue to use in the future! 

We have had such a wonderful time in Gulu over the past six weeks and we’ll certainly be back in the future! Thank you to all the GDPU team for making out time so enjoyable.

And thank you Iain for always being on hand to support us from the USA!