Miran Song

Location / Country: Mbale District, Uganda
Organization: Discipling for Development (D4D)

SONG: "As a Blakeley fellow this past summer, I had the incredible opportunity to travel to Mbale District in Uganda as a research intern with Discipling for Development (D4D), a department of The Navigators, an internationally recognized NGO. D4D is a community-based development organization focusing on empowering people in rural villages with sustainable knowledge and skills. Their mission is to help community people grow in their ability to solve their own problems in various aspects of their lives. As a catalyst for development, they assist the community people in identifying the resources they don’t realize that they have and building on those resources for improving their lives. Their approach is unique and sustainable in that it helps people stand on their own feet by taking ownership of the resources, knowledge, and skills that they identify themselves.”

__

Internship Goals

“My main goal that I wanted to achieve during my internship was to experience first-hand how sustainable development is being lived out in rural Uganda and to help the D4D team document impact through my research. Other goals included:

• To learn about Ugandan and East African culture

• To actively engage in the communities with development perspective

• To observe how D4D transforms communities

• To document the impact of the D4D projects with a focus on how women in the communities have been empowered by D4D

• To hone facilitation/leadership skills ”

__

Responsibilities & Accomplishments

“For the first half of my internship with D4D, I was given the chance to give workshops on the phases of a D4D program to the staff and visitors. The five phases of a D4D program (preparation phase, exploration phase, mobilization phase, empowerment phase, and reproduction phase) have been the foundation for the work of D4D community development. Learning about the phases and teaching on them myself was a good learning opportunity to get a better understanding of the organizational vision and values and enhance my facilitation/leadership skills. I also could learn more deeply about the work of D4D through attending community workshops, trainings, and project follow-up meetings in the villages.

For the second half of my internship, as a research intern, my main task was to do an impact study/research on how poverty has been alleviated and lives have improved in the communities that D4D has been working with. The research was conducted mainly through formal and informal individual interviews and group discussions over the period of one month. Through my research, I was able to get a vivid picture of how the people in the rural villages have been transformed and impacted holistically by D4D over the past three decades. My research focused on areas of environment, agriculture, and health, with a focus on women’s empowerment. “

__

Conclusion

“Overall, my internship with D4D was a very rewarding and enriching experience that changed my view of development. Professionally, my experience working with Ugandan locals for 10 weeks dramatically changed my narrow, pre-conceived notion of what development truly means to local beneficiaries, thus helping me refine my definition of development. And through my encounters and interviews with local people in Mbale, I made the conclusion that health issues in Uganda and other Sub-Saharan African countries are what I want to devote my future career to and where my passion lies. Personally, I feel privileged to have been able to develop meaningful relationships with the staff and local people in the villages. I still have much more to learn, but I am sincerely thankful that I got a glimpse into what it means to put myself in those people’s shoes that I am trying to help. I am beyond grateful to the Blakeley Foundation for this incredible, life- changing opportunity that I had this past summer!”