The Mellon MIT Inter-University
Program on Non-Governmental Organizations and Forced Migration
Internship Field Report – Summer 2004
Sarah Titus
The Mellon/MIT Inter-University Program on Non-Governmental Organizations and Forced Migration enabled me to undertake an eleven-week internship with CORD (Christian Outreach, Relief and Development) in Zambia . CORD is a UK based agency that aims to address the needs of vulnerable and marginalized people, especially children, displaced communities and refugees. Founded in 1967, the agency currently has programs in 11 countries in Africa, Eastern Europe, South East and Central Asia . For the past twelve years, CORD has been developing community services programs in relief and development settings. After the organization's success working with Rwandan refugees in camps in Tanzania , CORD was invited by UNHCR to implement community service programs in Zambia with Angolan refugees.
The focus of my internship with CORD centered on two research projects. One was my own thesis research, which consisted of exploratory research examining the experience of women living in a refugee camp context. My research question was whether or not women become empowered in a refugee camp due to the information and resources available to them there. The second principle component of my work with CORD consisted of testing a baseline survey instrument to collect data concerning CORD's micro-credit program in Nangweshi refugee camp. The project included conducting interviews, focus groups and general observation in the camp to help evaluate the micro-credit scheme, as well as establishing a monitoring and evaluation system for the micro-credit program going forward. The two projects were complementary as collecting data related to the micro-credit program also contributed to my understanding of women's experience in the camp, as it proved to be another opportunity to discuss with women their access to resources and their opportunity to improve their status through business activities.
In addition to these two central projects, I also had the opportunity to engage with CORD in many activities at the head office ( Lusaka ) and at field level. Some of these include:
In the rest of this report, I will summarize the main issues and problems relating to my research and then conclude with some general reflection on the internship experience itself. I had originally hoped to conduct my research in the two refugee camps in which CORD operates in Zambia – Nangweshi and Mayukwayukwa – and interview a control sample of urban refugees who had not settled in one of the camps. However, due to logistical constraints and timing – my internship coincided with repatriation – I was only able to make two brief visits to Mayukwayukwa and conduct some focus groups there. It also proved extremely difficult to locate a comparable sample of Angolan refugees who had not settled in one of the camps. CORD facilitated my link to YMCA who provided access to a population of women urban refugees. I interviewed these women at YMCA's office in Lusaka , and while these interviews proved interesting, they were primarily with Congolese refugees, a sample not directly comparable with the Angolan women in Nangweshi. As a result, my project evolved into a case study of women in Nangweshi refugee camp where I was able to spend a considerable period of time, conducting individual interviews, meeting with key informants, talking to NGO and UNHCR staff, and observing the programs and activities happening within the camp. Despite the lack of rigorous comparative data from a sample of Angolan women – either those who had never left Angola or those self-settled outside of camps – some general conclusions can be drawn about opportunities available to women in refugee camps to increase their self-reliance and status within their communities.
Although Angolans have been fleeing civil war in their country and crossing into Zambia since the late 1960s, Nangweshi refugee camp is the newest settlement established first in January 2000. In 2002, another influx of refugees arrived in the area due to and resurgence of violence in Angola . Nangweshi Extension was opened at this time to accommodate the thousands of new arrival. Currently there are 26,509 refugees living in Nangweshi. The refugees who make their home in Nangweshi are almost exclusively from UNITA controlled areas in Angola and most of the refugees spent time in a UNITA camp/military base prior to fleeing Angola . From conversations with the refugees, I gathered some information pertaining to life in the UNITA camp. The level of order and discipline in the camp was extremely high, a characteristic which has carried over into a fairly formal and structured ordered to life in Nangweshi. Similarly, education was a priority for the UNITA forces and this attitude continues to be reflected in the high level of attendance at schools in Nangweshi. Education was compulsory for all under the age of 15; however, once over age 15, there was no opportunity one to study further as girls and boys were expected at this time to perform what the refugees describe as ‘revolutionary tasks.' For women and girls, these task frequently involved in delivering weapons and ammunition to soldiers fighting in different towns.
Some type of work was compulsory in the UNITA camps, though the laborers were not paid wages for their work. UNITA instead provided for the basic needs of those living in the camp. It is important to note for this study that though the women often ‘worked' in this setting, the UNITA rebel leader Savimbi emphasized the African woman's traditional role, like dancing at special ceremonies. Nangweshi refugees commented that despite holding ‘jobs' and other positions within the community, women in the UNITA camp were not allowed to make decisions independently and sexual abuse and harassment from the male soldiers was common.
Prior to leaving for Zambia and my internship with CORD, I developed a questionnaire to obtain information concerning women's access to information and resources in the five areas I had identified as critical to improving status in the refugee context. (See Appendix A for a copy of the original survey.) The final category of questions related to women's perceptions of their status and gender relations. Based upon on the first several interviews, I adapted the questionnaire to ask more directly about women's experiences in the camp – for example, I inquired as to whether they felt it was different being a woman refugee as opposed to man and I also questioned if there was anything they wished they could do (job, program they could participate in…) but were unable to just because they were women. Finally, I adjusted the qualitative survey to ask the women about both the positive and negative aspects (or challenges) of life in Nangweshi. My original thought behind this idea was to then compare their responses with the answers to the same questions from refugee women found outside of the camp. Even without the comparable data, this line of questioning proved extremely revealing of women's experience in Nangweshi and frequently prompted the women to share informative stories with me.
I aimed to get a cross sample of women from the camp to whom I would administer the questionnaire. I first approached the Refugee Officer to see about obtaining a copy of the camp registration list, from which I could randomly select a group of women. The Refugee Officer explained that the list was over 140 pages long and steered me towards working through CORD and their refugee staff to obtain my sample. CORD employs 30 refugee Community Development Workers (CDWs) in the main camp, representatives of and leaders in each one of the 16 camp sections. I met with the CDWs and explained my work in the camp. They returned to their sections and sensitized the community to my presence and explained that they would be randomly approaching women to inquire if they were willing to participate in my research. The CDWs then provided me a short list of willing participants from each of their sections (4-5 in each section); I selected a woman from the list and then walked to her home to interview her. Using this method, I interviewed a total of 22 women, ranging in age from 18 to 59.
Among the sample of women in Nangweshi, education proved to be a revealing variable in terms of their access to resources, but interestingly, not in the way I had anticipated. Nearly all of the women – 18 out of the 22 – indicated that the attitude concerning education for both girls and boys was the same in Angola as in Zambia and that they had equal access to attend school. One might have expected that because the many of the refugees in Nangweshi come from very rural areas in Angola, they may not have had access to, nor valued education to the degree it would be available and emphasized in a NGO-run and internationally-influenced setting such as a refugee camp. This response, however, makes sense in light of the Nangweshi population's involvement with UNITA. UNITA stressed the importance of education and made it available (and compulsory) in their military camps. Nevertheless, the average length of time in school for the women interviewed was five years. 10 women left school because of war, 6 because they got married, 2 because their family lacked resources for school materials and clothes, 1 because of health reasons, 2 did not say why they left and 1 woman was continuing her schooling in Nangweshi. There was some indication from the women (as well as NGO staff) that it was slightly easier to stay in school in Nangweshi as opposed to in Angola if one marries or becomes pregnant. This seamed to bear out based on the information I received from CORD – who is in charge of the schools in the camp –that between the Main Camp and the Extension, there were 66 pregnant girls in school (which ends at grade 9). The largest constraint on education as a resource in the camp is that general education is only through grade 9. Students wishing to continue through grade 12 or beyond must be sponsored by an NGO or UNHCR to attend a Zambian school, unless the pupil's family has resources enough to send the child outside the camp (which very few do). One woman interviewed mentioned this as one of the biggest challenges refugees face in the camp. Despite this drawback, 5 of the women interviewed mentioned education as one of the most positive aspects of living Nangweshi.
The most revealing part of the education discussion came when I asked if the women had attended any trainings, courses or workshops outside of general education. Nearly half – 10 out of the 22 – had been involved in such an activity in Nangweshi (provided by the aid agencies there) and also indicated that such trainings were less accessible in Angola (whether because of war or simply in general was not apparent from their responses). The types of courses the women described participating in included things like Sexual and Gender Based Violence (SGBV) training, counseling workshops, HIV/AIDS campaigns, English classes, forestry and agriculture workshops, livestock programs, business trainings and vocational training courses (VTC) which include things like tailoring, baking, typing, hair dressing and computing. The women described how they had learned new skills in Nangweshi. For example, two women mention learning how to solve problems and work with neighbors to help with issues of abuse, unwanted pregnancy and other health issues. One woman who had started English classes stated, “I see from the camp that if you have English you can get a job.” Not only was she accessing a resource available in the camp, but also she intended to leverage that opportunity to further enhance her status with employment. My translator during these interviews was a perfect example of success story in this exact regard. A woman in her late twenties, she finished her schooling in Zambia and studied English. Now she was employed by CORD as a teacher and part-time as a translator for visitors like myself. She informed me that her work with the NGO and with visitors to the camp had increased her status within her family and in the greater community. Such opportunities were rare in her area in Angola where there was far less interaction with NGOs and other foreigners.
My categories of education and NGO involvement overlap heavily, since the the workshops and courses described above are all provided by the NGO implementing partners of UNHCR. CORD in particular provides the refugee population with many different opportunities to learn new skills and obtain information. CORD's Reproductive Health Officer runs workshops on gender and sexuality and oversees the Anti-Aids Clubs and HIV/AIDS awareness campaigns. CORD manages the Vocational Training Center which offers courses in a variety of skills as mentioned previously. This past January, CORD took over from CARE the management of the agricultural and forestry program that trains facilitators on reforestation and conservation and runs the community garden project. Like all of UNHCR's implementing organizations, CORD strives to meet the UN's goals of full participation from women. For example, 14 of the 30 CDWs are women, 7 out of the 10 Peer Educators – sensitizing the youth about HIV/AIDS issues – are women, and there are 73 women out of the 172 participants in the Vocational Training Center programs.
Of my sample of women, 14 of the women had some sort of interaction with NGOs back home in Angola . However, none of them had ever worked or volunteered with an organization, they primarily knew them only in the context of receiving relief. In Nangweshi, all of the 22 women interviewed were aware of the various programs run by the NGOs in the camp. 10 of the women had at some point volunteered with or had been employed by one of the NGOs. Of the 12 that had not volunteered or been employed, 5 had at least participated in one of the NGOs campaigns or workshops or had been involved in a project or course run by an agency. The women offered what they had learned from the work with the NGOs and some even commented about how it had changed their status in community. For example, one woman who worked with CARE as a SGBV Motivator stated:
“It [my status] has changed because I've got knowledge about the way of caring for children and about health and disease prevention. So I get more respect in both the community and family.”
An Agricultural Facilitator for CARE (now for CORD) commented about her role:
“…because I learned from my experience, I get more respect.”
Based on the data from my sample, the women in Nangweshi have access to a great deal more information and skills training than they did back home in Angola . For the women who have had the opportunity to take advantage of the programs offered by the NGOs, they all report having learned valuable skills and some even point to a marked difference in their feeling of self-reliance/independence or improved status within the family or community. Nowhere outside a camp setting in Zambia can one find such a breadth and depth of programs and campaigns targeting refugees. Admittedly though, this conclusion is based only upon talking with the agency staff and a small sample of urban refugees, as I was unable to interview a population of Angolan self-settled refugees. Above all it was became clear to me, based on my observations and conversations, that refugee camps can provide resources that give women opportunities for greater autonomy and improving their status.
One extremely powerful resource an organization can provide to an individual – man or woman – is credit or some type of support-in-kind (livestock, seed, tools) to bolster an individual's livelihood. Becoming more financially secure and successful in business is likely to be an empowering experience for a woman (assuming she isn't targeted for doing too well ), particularly for the women of Nangweshi who come from a context in which women were primarily doing small farming or petty trading (if they were doing business at all). Of the 22 women in my original sample, only one had had access to a loan in Angola . She reported using it to support her children. She was then engaged in business as well, baking and selling scones along with buying and selling beer. In Nangweshi, 4 of the 22 women have received loans through the CORD micro-credit program and an additional woman reported having benefited through her husband's loan. When asked if the loans had changed anything in their lives, two of the women indicated they had just received the loans so it was too early to tell, one woman had no response and the final woman indicated that her status within her family had changed because of the loan. She commented:
"There are times when I need something and I don't have to go and ask for it…[I am] more independent."
My work on the micro-credit baseline survey provided me the opportunity of interviewing another sample of refugees on this topic. I interviewed 35 randomly selected loan recipients, 12 of whom were women. CORD designed the scheme such that it is equally accessible to women as it is to men – in order to apply for the loan, the credit group must include women. The women all reported that business is now the main source of their income and that the training in Start Your Business greatly assisted them in planning for and running their small business ventures. Only four of the women had been engaged in small business activities in Angola prior to their flight – primarily in selling vegetables and meat. For the others, they moved into business from work such as teaching, farming and nursing.
In a focus group I held with the loan committee and the credit officer, I learned about the impact managing the loan scheme had on their lives. The group indicated that they felt they had power within the community as a result of their positions with CORD. In particular, the women – 2 of the 5 committee members and the credit officer – discussed their increase in status because of their roles running the loan program. Their neighbors approached them for information and acknowledged their responsibility in approving loan applications.
It was extremely difficult to determine what if any affect aid has on women's position in Nangweshi. I had originally hypothesized that with aid – in the form of food, goods or small grants, women might be less dependent upon their husbands/male members of the family and engage more regularly in trading or economic activities outside the home. If the women had new access to resources above their usual household allocation it might open up opportunities previously unavailable to them, particularly if they made the decisions about what to do with the aid. In my interviews I explored whether or not the women had access to international aid while they were in Angola . All but five of the women indicated that had been recipients of assistance and this ranged from food from the World Food Program, to clothes and household supplies from Catholic Relief Services. All of the women acknowledged receipt of substantial amount of aid since coming to Nangweshi.
I inquired of each of the women, whether or not she alone determined how to use the rationed food and goods, i.e. if she had to consult her husband or another male member of the family. Five of the married women indicated that they alone made the decision about what to consume and what to sell/trade. Six additional women also reported making independent choices regarding use of the food and supplies but they had no men present in their lives to consult. The remaining 11 women said that the decisions were made jointly with their husband and/or children. I realized during the early interviews, however, that even if the women did have complete control over the aid resources it was unlikely to provide them with much - if any - additional power or leverage within the family or community. When I probed as to the assistance's impact on their lives, most simply shrugged and indicated that it was ‘obviously' important because without it, they would perish (refugees in Nangweshi still receive bi-weekly food distributions from WFP). There was no mention of the aid enabling the women to participate in any new activities as I had hypothesized – where trading occurred, it was similar to that which had occurred in Angola and was simply an exchange of goods for food diversity and basic subsistence. Furthermore, the resources available remained minimal – according to the refugees themselves – and barely served to meet the basic needs of the refugees. In fact, many of the women used this line of questioning to complain to be about the deficit in quantity and quality of food and household goods they receive, suggesting that my question was poorly framed. Three women claimed that the biggest problem in the camp is the food – lack of diversity of what they receive and deficiency in amount - and a similar issue was raised in nearly every other interview when I asked in general about life in Nangweshi. In the future, I might ask the question differently, for example probing for examples of ways in which the aid has changed the women's activities or how the refugees live. Additionally, this line of questioning would presumably be more useful when the responses (and thus freedoms and activities of the women) could be compared to those not living in the camp setting and not receiving similar aid.
While not helpful in the manner originally intended, this area of questioning did provide more details into women's experience in Nangweshi and give me a real sense of some of the frustrations the women face on daily basis. One respondent summed it up by saying:
“The food is not enough…it is sometimes rotten, it is always the same kind…[and] when we complain, we are told [by agency staff/Zambians] that we don't have the right to eat what we want.”
The area of healthcare did not prove to be a significant indicator of change in women's status in Nangweshi. The interviews with the women revealed that this population had access in Angola to what was self-reported as adequate healthcare. Healthcare services are provided in the camp by AHA (Africa Humanitarian Action), which operates one clinic located in the main section of the camp. The clinic employs one doctor (a Ugandan national), several international nurses and clinicians, as well as a large team of refugee nurses and clinic assistants.
The hypothesis that women would be in a better position to control their lives and improve their positions within the family and community does not appear to play out in Nangweshi. Nearly half of the women interviewed (43%) stated that they felt the healthcare provided in the camp was worse than what was available to them in Angola . These women sited the overcrowded facility in the camp, the shortage of medicine, lack of doctors, and one woman also commented about the exacerbation of problems due to the lack of a variety of foods to aid in the treatment of illnesses. 48% of the women interviewed thought the quality of healthcare they were receiving in Nangweshi was the same as what they had in Angola . Only one woman reported finding healthcare better in the camp than that received at home. However, she then described the importance of access to information, a different resource than actual health services:
“Here is better because when we were in Angola we were not informed about individual care. Here we get this information.”
Interestingly, another woman (who thought healthcare was better in Angola ) also commented about what she had learned in Nangweshi:
“We learned something about women's health – if we compare when we were in Angola , we were not told about healthcare. Here there are illustrations about how to care for your children, like boiling water before you give it to them.”
The interview results indicated that most women had access to family planning information and resources in Angola . For 6 women, however, this resource was new and two women commented that it made a difference in their lives because they could space their children. There was nothing in my conversations with the women that suggested that they viewed contraceptives as providing them with increased independence or the ability to choose whether or not to have children. For the few who indicated that the resources had any impact on their lives – in Angola and/or in Nangweshi - their comments focused entirely on the spacing of children, not whether or not to have them.
The refugee women of Nangweshi are lucky in many respects. They are given food rations, medical care and legal protection. In the camp they have access to numerous social and educational programs, many of which provide them with new information, skills and resources previously unknown to them in Angola . During my time in the camp I noticed or was told of examples that suggested the opportunities in the camp had made some – albeit probably small – progress in the advancing the position of women in society. Foremost in my mind is the example of Mama Esther. Mama Esther is an older refugee woman who is currently President of the Refugee Council, the camp's governing body. Several women mentioned her as a positive role model in my interviews and informal conversations. Would the woman have had the chance to see women in influential positions had they settled outside of Nangweshi? Would they have had the opportunities to test their own capacity for development – in education, business or social activities – and would they have seized the chance as many in Nangweshi have? And do the positive opportunities available in the camp outweigh the continued challenges and hardships of the environment, such as restricted freedom of movement, lack of market access and limited employment positions? While these questions remain mostly unanswered, I think this case study highlights the great number of positive resources are available to the women of Nangweshi refugee camp and the impact those resources has made on improving the lives of these women.
My 11-weeks in Zambia with CORD was an incredible experience that provided me valuable insight to the on-the-ground work of an UNHCR implementing partner and nuances of doing research with refugees. First, I learned first-hand how the difficulties of geographical location and limited resources can constrain programmatic activity and research. This is important to keep in mind whether one is on the donor end setting timelines many miles removed from a project site, or if one is on the ground as a NGO officer or a visiting consultant. Flexibility is key, improvisation is necessary and contingency plans are often useful. I was able to observe how organizations coordinate efforts to support one another in relief and community development work – and where they run into challenges.
One thing that stands out to me from my work with CORD is its approach to working with refugees. Observing meetings between CORD staff and the refugee CDWs, or VTC groups, I saw in practice CORD's approach of facilitating their work such that all programs are “owned” and managed by the refugees themselves. CORD does an excellent job of providing information, technical assistance and (occasionally) inputs, while also working hard to let the refugees themselves really drive the work and set the priorities based on their needs and goals. CORD strives to break the pattern of dependency that can so often (and understandably so!) be created when doing ‘relief' work with refugees. The CORD staff members treated the refugees with dignity and respect in every interaction that I witnessed, and I learned quickly through observation and conversations with refugee that this unfortunately not always is far from the norm with other groups in the field.
During my 11-weeks in Zambia , CORD also faced many organizational challenges, which I also found to be a great learning opportunity for me. I witnessed the Acting Country Director tackle some difficult personal issues and handle them with sensitivity, yet also efficiency. I debated with her some of the ethical consequences of CORD's policies and actions and observed as she delicately negotiated the tricky balance between her own /CORD's (western) values and practices and those of the local Zambian culture. Running a non-profit organization in Africa is not at all the same as running one in the US . While this statement is obvious on it's face, one cannot imagine the numerous ways in which this plays out until one is actually in the field doing the work. During my brief time in Zambia , I learned a great deal about the importance of clear systems of accountability for all activities, no matter the organization and no matter its size. I observed how endemic corruption is in Zambia and the significant impact this has on NGOs doing relief and development work there.
In undertaking the research projects I also learned some valuable lessons. Here again, flexibility is key – beyond just the logistical and organizational issues that can impede access to the population – things like timing became an issue with which I had to contend. The pace of operations (and life in general) is much slower in Zambia than that to which I am accustomed in the West. In addition, I experienced immediately the challenges of asking fairly personal questions to strangers in foreign culture. In the first couple of interviews – and at the start of most of the rest – I received only yes/no response. I had to work hard to get the respondent to elaborate. Nevertheless, something positive that emerged from the experience – one I could not have anticipated – was how genially open and receptive to questioning (even if shy at first) the refugees were. I was told countless times “thank you” and shown enormous gratitude for speaking with them, when in fact it was I who was grateful for their time and candid responses.
One extremely important element that emerged for me through the interviews, observation and informal conversations with agency staff and key informants, was the understanding just how different women's baseline starting point in terms of independence and social status is in this African region as compared to in the West. Again, this idea may seem fairly obvious but I had not anticipated how this would play out in the survey questions or how I structure the interviews in general. For example, when I realized I was getting many yes/no answer and response that didn't get to heart of the gender equality issues, I began to modify the questions some. I started to asking what the women wished they could do but can't simply because they are women. The most common response to this was “build houses,” which it turns out had been an example of a “stereotypical” male activity given in a recent gender training workshop. From what I could tell, the women didn't really understand what I was attempting to get at and simply responded with what they thought I was looking for. Upon reflection, the results made perfect sense given their circumstances – being from rural areas of a country that's been in civil war since the 1960s. They have missed out on the progress that's been made in the women's movement in the West in the last 40 years. What was perhaps most surprising to me in this area was the role Zambian culture plays in the situation as well. I hadn't realized that the host-countries concepts of gender equality also do not necessarily line up neatly with those of the West. Therefore, I see the work being done in Nangweshi as positive, but as a very small start to a larger set of objectives to secure greater autonomy for women.
Finally, I learned a great deal about myself in the field. I learned what aspects of the life in rural Africa I enjoy - the people, the sights and smells of the natural environment - and which I found particularly challenging - the isolation, the rats. I discovered how rewarding I find it to work so closely with refugees and how easily I can adapt to sharing my daily life fairly intimately with a team of people. I was impressed by the significant impact a relatively small NGO can make and look forward to applying the lessons I learned in similar context in the near future.
Appendix A
Exploratory Research Study: Can Refugee Camps Improve the Status of Women?
Date:
Interview Code:
Location of Interview:
Background of Respondent
Married - -Single - -Widowed – Divorced
Age
Fled Angola :
Lived in Refugee Camp(s):
• i. What did you do with wages earned? (Did you have to hand them over to anybody?)
• i. Do you think your interaction(s) with NGO(s) in Zambia has caused an problems or risks?
• i. If yes, did you have access to family planning resources (contraceptives) in Angola ? Yes.
• ii. Did you have to ask permission to use family planning methods?
• i. Overall do you think it is better, worse or about the same as the medical care you received at home in Angola ?