Our four days of visiting finally came to a close. It was a bit of a tiring activity and one needs to learn to exercise extreme patience when it comes to field work because communication proves quite difficult since many of the places we were trying to visit were quite rural and therefore cell phone reception wasn’t always available for us to call ahead and announce our visit (and only a very small percentage of Malawians have land lines). We managed to meet 2-3 groups each day, though for some we only managed to track down the leader. Nevertheless we were still able to ask some questions and get some answers.
One of the things that stands out for me as a major lesson learned from this inaugural trip has nothing to do M&E however. When we go out into the field overnight, we receive a per diem to cover accommodation, food and incidentals. It’s a set amount that works out to about CDN$58/night, and is gratefully welcomed by any member of staff who is setting out to travel because there is no way an individual will need to spend that much money, and therefore they get to keep the excess (and I won’t try to fool you into thinking that I’m not right there with them). I probably got by on about $15-25day for food and accommodation, not completely by choice, but simply because there aren’t nice or expensive places to eat or sleep where we were working. It’s an obvious incentive. From what I see however, it also leads to a lot of wasted funds unfortunately. One of the biggest “bees in my bonnet” (as Janna has referred to it) is the MANET+ policy that whenever per diems are to be given to workshop or meeting participants (a necessary requirement is to provide for transportation costs at a minimum, or more if accommodation and food is required) an Accounts person is required to actually distribute the money. If we are talking about a one day workshop or meeting, this doesn’t bother me. The accounts person goes for the day with the program officers and then they all return. I have a problem with the idea of having a 4 or 5 day workshop where an Accounts person is paid their per diem for each day, and the only work they do is an hour or so at the beginning or end when they hand out the money to participants. Proposal budgets aren’t written to include per diems for this extra member of staff and therefore the result is that fewer participants are able to participate. I started to make a stink about it when I first learned about it, and was very quickly pulled aside by some of the women in Accounts and politely, but oh so obviously, had it suggested to me that I should shut up. “We help each other” is what I was told. Ethics or friends? Hmm, tough call. 13 more months with half the office mad at me doesn’t sound so pleasant so for now I think I’m waiting for some donors to stop by so I can drop some hints that maybe they should check some of the policies. Gotta learn to play the game sometime! If anyone asks why I’m working with the donors, besides the fact that it is part of my job, I think the answer is clear. “We help each other”.
Anyways, I digress. The whole Heather vs. Accounts battle started (and ended?) before the field visit, and was not the lesson learned from my trip. What I learned, is that when you are travelling with 3 men, to boring dirty towns with nothing to do, with per diems burning holes in their pockets, there is really only one thing to do: drink beer.
Our second day ended earlier than expected because we weren’t able to make contact with or locate one of the groups we had intended to visit. We found an ok place to say, ate some decent lunch and at 3pm strolled into a local bar. It had a pool table, which qualifies it as a classy joint I suppose. It wasn’t large, Cole and I were obviously the only white people, and I was the only female. I enjoyed the first hour or so because I beat Paul (the driver) at a game of pool and attracted a respectably sized audience in the process. Then Isaac beat me at the next game thereby placing the universe firmly in balance once more. I really wish I enjoyed beer. It would make my life so much easier (and more fun). Around 5 (aka Beer 4 or 5 for the guys) I realized that the drinking wasn’t going to stop and that getting a ride back at Beer 4 was better than waiting for the men to decide it was time to go. “Call me when you want to go for dinner” I said as Paul dropped me off. Around Beer 8 (7pm) Cole called to see if I was hungry (I was) and they came back to get me. There was a restaurant just up the street so I convinced them that we, in fact, did not need the car and should walk. I was the only one who ate, but must admit that the Beer 9-11 conversation was rather entertaining. Having never grown up in a world where it was deemed acceptable to drink and drive, my stomach turns at the knowledge of how much it happens here though, and I was pretty upset that after walking me back to my room they actually got back into the truck and went out. As the sober voice of reason (and the one who would be up until they got home worrying) I even called then when I heard the engine, saying that it was a really bad idea that they were in the car. I was told “Noted. We’re not going far. We’ll be careful”. Of course they made it home safely, around 1am (and Beer Unknown) and I got to be woken up by the sound of the horn as they tried to get the attention of the gate guard to let them into the parking lot. Ah, the joys of field work.
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