Peer Support

Last week was VSO peer support week. This four day event held twice annually is an opportunity for all the volunteers in country to get together and share experiences.

This was my first and I found it to be a very useful event. On a personal level it was a great opportunity to discuss the general ups and downs of Malawian life and share some war stories with other vols. On a professional level it was great to hear about some of the projects people had started within their placements and explore possible overlaps and opportunities for re-use in other areas.

Some of the interesting projects being implemented or designed were as follows;

• A role playing game to teach children and young adults about the dangers of HIV and the importance of practising safe sex
• Free Wi-Fi routers for nursing colleges (donated by a technology vendor) which will enable students and tutors to collaborate more effectively
• Introduction of a visual flowchart for nursing students so that they can quickly assess a patients care requirements based on their vital signs. For example, if blood pressure is over X you should do Y immediately. This would be something that every student could carry with them on the wards
• Do’s and Don’ts posters in HIV testing centres that remind both patient and tester what are important things to ask and inappropriate things to ask during counselling.  Many people are currently put off from getting HIV tests because of the embarrassment encountered at clinics

In our own project we decided to form a permanent user group that would meet regularly and feedback on how useful or otherwise the system was being. We’re very keen to move away from talking only to management at the ministry and get users on the ground much more involved in the development process. We also discussed ways of motivating and incentivising such users with things like off-site conferences or maybe even small giveaways  

All in all a very successful week, full pictures available here: http://flic.kr/s/aHsjMEpHXK