Allys' Work

Our regular readers would be forgiven for thinking that Ed is the one doing all the work while I swan about patting rhinos and getting dubious marriage proposals. To be fair, if we are measuring our work in terms of outputs Ed is way ahead of the game, as he achieved more in two weeks in Kisumu than I've managed in four months of full time employment; but in terms of input I'm definitely in the running and I thought it was about time I updated everyone on the first third of my placement.

Before we get to that though, I think some back story may be needed. In fact, shortly after we arrived here I had an email from Rachel (Tika) saying: “Loving the blog, but what exactly is your job?”. I'm sure she's not alone in not really getting it, and an explanation is long overdue. Back in the UK I worked as a PR consultant for a multinational communications consultancy; which means that I helped organisations to achieve positive media coverage (stories in the papers, online and on TV and radio); to improve relationships with key partners (stakeholders); to arrange events; and to develop strategies to help them manage and measure these kinds of activities as effectively as possible. I am not like Max Clifford (he's a publicist and represents individuals); I am not like Alistair Campbell (he's a spin doctor); I am not like Bubbles from Ab Fab (the champagne dried up with the economy). If you are interested in finding out more about PR there's a really interesting BBC documentary about the history of the industry (The Century of the Self).

So how did I get from a communications consultancy in Bristol to a disability NGO in an obscure suburb of Nairobi? VSO works rather like a giant recruitment consultancy for not-for-profits in the developing world (or 'Global South' as we're supposed to call it these days). Once accepted on the VSO programme, I drafted a CV and this was then made available to organisations seeking people with particular skills. My organisation was looking for someone to build its capacity in communications and approached me through VSO; I reviewed the job description they sent through, accepted and was approved by them. So my role is actually similar to what I was doing at home, with one important difference: VSO's key strategy is that rather than just doing the work, volunteers like me are supposed to work towards a sustainable transfer of skills so that, by the time we leave, the organisation can take on the activity itself.

My new employer is Kenya Association of the Intellectually Handicapped (KAIH). It's a small NGO that works to improve the lives and advocate for the rights of people with intellectual disabilities and learning difficulties (including diverse conditions like autism, cerebral palsy, Down's syndrome and dyslexia). Disability in general is still hugely stigmatised in Kenya, with people considered to have been cursed or even having fallen victim to witchcraft: often women who give birth to a child with a disability will be abandoned by their husbands. Hence poverty and disability go very much hand in hand.

The effect is even more pronounced for those with intellectual disabilities, who are feared and misunderstood. There is even a popular myth that sex with someone with an intellectual disability is 'cleansing' and can cure HIV, so they are often victims of rape and abuse. Access to appropriate education and healthcare is difficult, and many poorer families struggle to pay for drugs to manage conditions like epilepsy. Kenya's New Constitution does guarantee basic human rights for those with disabilities, and Kenya has also ratified the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (2003), but implementation and real change is slow coming. Those of you interested in disability issues in Kenya might want to read this blog post, which is written in response to a recent expose conducted by CNN at the hospital for mentally ill people in Kenya. I think it illustrates the challenges we are up against in terms of media engagement as well as the fundamental problems.

KAIH is working to address these issues. It is a small organisation but has a very smart, devolved structure, focused mainly on parent support groups. These groups encourage individuals to work together to help themselves by campaigning for their children's rights, combining their resources to develop income generating activities, and pushing for their children's inclusion in education and community life. Through five regional centres (Migori, Siaya, Kiambu, Nyeri, Nairobi) they reach large numbers of people, including in isolated rural communities. KAIH's mantra is all about empowering and educating others so that they can fight their own battles.

So how do I fit in? My main goals for my placement are to:

• develop a communications strategy for KAIH
• improve the website
• increase engagement with the media and improve resources for media
• train staff to have the skills and confidence to work with the media
• work with staff to improve and expand stakeholder relationships, including with key funding partners
• support KAIH in improving its advocacy work

As you can see my aims are all around increasing the skills and knowledge of other staff members, and in such a small organisation this represents a big challenge. Resources – both human and financial – are stretched. The national team consists of me, the finance officer (Sam), the Programmes Manager (Cecilia) and the General Secretary (Fatma). The Chairman (Stephen) has a full time job and can only come to the office on Saturdays. There are then five regional coordinators and around ten field officers. That's it. Most of the team are volunteers rather than drawing a salary, and have no time to take on additional responsibilities. In order to train people I need to be face-to-face with them (Kenya is still very much an oral/ aural culture, and email communication just doesn't reach people effectively), but there is currently no money to pay for the five regional coordinators to travel to Nairobi by bus for training, plus it takes some of them around 10-12 hours to reach Nairobi on public transport, so money needs to be found to cover overnight accommodation too.

In the absence of being able to really train people I have done a lot of background work: creating training handouts; notes on how to take better photography; forms for generating case studies; learning how to work the content management system for the website (sort of – it turns out no one really understands it, and when the guy who built it came in to help me he accidentally deleted most of it); developing a bank of template press releases etc etc. But without the opportunity to explain this work to my colleagues it's effectively pointless. I am really hoping this will be resolved soon, as I'm already a third of the way through my placement and have achieved none of my aims, so I am starting to get nervous.

Practical barriers are everywhere too. Not a week goes by without a power cut (usually when you're just about to send an urgent email); the internet is haphazard because the power supply for the modem has a European plug, while the socket is UK 3-pin, so it falls out all the time; the office is cramped and dusty; my colleagues insist on listening to a slightly out of tune radio all day; the only coffee available is frickin Nescafe; my desk has the massive office printer on it so there is nowhere to put anything; until recently there was only one key so even when the matatu didn't let me down and I was early for work I had to stand outside waiting for the boss to arrive. I came in the other morning to find water pouring out under the door because we had not had water in the office for two days so no one realised the tap was on, and when the water was delivered in the night it flooded over the sink and swamped the whole kitchen. Just call me Mrs Mop...

In short, my work is what people call “challenging” in job interviews. But at least it's never dull and, sap that I am, I love working for the good guys. It's important to mention, too, that the transfer of skills and knowledge is far from one-sided. In fact, I think I have learnt far more in the last four months than I have passed on (not for want of trying, mind you). KAIH is an energetic little power house, battling on against the apathy of the powers-that-be and the wider community, armed with knowledge and a lot of laughter and good grace. They increased their funding stream ten-fold in five years; they are working to expand to three more regions in the next three years; they now have some clout through partnerships with international NGOs like Handicap International. They are an invaluable lesson that you genuinely can build something from nothing if you care about it enough. I just hope I can persuade them to take a little time and money to learn some new skills, so that Kenya and the wider world can see what an immense job of work they are doing and come to appreciate them as I have.