The Past Nine Months

For the past nine months I've been living and volunteering at Mzuzu University - and it occurs to me that this has been very hard to document on facebook (especially through pictures) and even harder to convey what I have done to everyone back in Canada. I came here not know exactly what I would be doing - just that it would have something to do with my area of study: public policy. As soon as we came, I was offered a teaching position in the Department of Land Management for a Development Policies course and a program evaluation position in the Children's Library and Information Centre. School ended at the end of October, and my exams were marked by mid- November, so for the past 3 months I've been solely focusing on the Children's Library and my other projects. Malawi works a bit differently than the rest of the (Western) world. Time is a constant and isn't chased - It just happens. Nine months is long and short - long time to be away from home, but short time to have significant projects started, processed and completed. In Malawi, nine months has proven to be short. When working on projects here, there is still a set deadline in place, however, that deadline isn't actually respected. Just because the department says we will have something done by December 5th doesn't mean it actually will be done by then. It's done when it's done - and this is what we have been working with. So here is what I've done the past nine months - with the lucky breaks of a week in Zambia, a week travelling around Malawi and a week off for Christmas. Don't mind the style of writing - this was written for a final report. 

Department of Land Management

                During the first semester at Mzuzu University, my work concentrated on lecturing in place for the head of the Department of Land Management in the level 2 Development Policies course. I utilized the minimal lecture notes that were given to me to help develop and shape my course outline. However, the majority of the course was developed from my own research of Malawi's various development policies and lining my teaching up with the course objective. I delivered lectures on 9 separate development policies, required 3 assignments, lead 3 seminar workshops and wrote 2 exams for this course. Once the final exam occurred and was marked, I submitted all of my lecture notes, research notes, PowerPoint presentations and assignment outlines to Dominic so that they can be reused in the future or applied to a web environment. I also helped develop a basic evaluation plan for a future intern to complete a full curriculum evaluation. As program evaluation is part of my specialization, I created a work plan that lays a base for the development of a complete and thorough curriculum evaluation for the department so that strengths and flaws within the entire department's curriculum can be discovered and remedied. This will be an extensive evaluation that is necessary for the department.

Children's Library and Information Centre

The Children's Library has been the main area of my interest and is the root of my projects at Mzuzu University. I have developed a program evaluation template for each of the services offered through the Children's Library. These templates will help measure the strength and reality of each program offered. In addition, I am aiding in program development. This involves analysing the current status of each program, relating the status to the goals of the program and bridging the gap between the two. This involves small areas such as finding a local partnership to illustrate local children's books, and much larger areas such as developing a new branch of a program to incorporate young mothers into literacy clinics. I have fully edited each program proposal documents, as well as all of the program evaluation sheets. With this system in place the Children's Library will be able to move forward with a specific work plan and goals. The program evaluation system will allow all of the limitations and realities of each project to be clear for a much easier future path. Additionally, I am developing a website that will act as a technological connection to the public so that there is a potential for more people to access the services offered by the Children's Library. 

Other Projects

                Outside of my projects at the university, I have begun working on my own research project involving energy and the dependence on fuel wood, using Malawi as a case example. I hope to complete my research while in Malawi in order to write the paper in Canada. My goal is to have my paper published. I am also partnering with Mike to write a paper on coffee production and the future of the coffee industry in Malawi. Additionally, I developed and delivered a funding proposal workshop to a local organization, Ungweru. This presentation is available to anyone at the university or future interns working in areas where funding proposals are needed.