Country: Mbale District, Uganda
Organization: Discipling for Development (D4D)
Taken together the internship with MCC Indonesia was an enriching one where I had the opportunity to build upon my background in Indonesia and enhance my language skills in addition to learning about a vast array of new sustainable development issues and cultivating field research skills.
Read MoreParoma spent almost three months working with the Microfinance programme of BRAC in Uganda. BRAC is an NGO that started as a small post-war rehabilitation operation in the newly born Bangladesh in 1972, and grew to be one of the largest NGOs in the world.
Read MoreManisha Basnet worked as an Economic Consultant for FIT Uganda. The eight week project involved field research on market information system, cost-benefit analysis and market trend analysis of agricultural commodities.
Read MoreDhriti Bhatta worked as a member of the consulting team at FIT, developing a rollout strategy for FIT’s latest product, FARMIS (Farmer’s Record Management System). She conducted value chain analysis for the coffee sub-sector, wrote proposals for consultancy projects, and conducted analysis for FIT’s trademark product, the Market Analysis Report (MAR) 2013, a comprehensive collection of price information of over 40 commodities from over 35 markets in Uganda.
Dhriti: “This experience was important for me, as I got a a sense of how rural Uganda still is and how difficult it is to operate businesses there. I was pleasantly surprised by the farmers’ groups we came across there. The leaders of these organizations seemed quite entrepreneurial and were excited to test out a product like FARMIS. Overall, my experience in FIT Uganda was quite important to my academic and intellectual interests. I learnt a lot more about how the agriculture sector works, specifically in East Africa. Also visiting a growing East African country gave me a sense of how those markets are expanding and increasingly becoming more important globally.”
Read MoreKyle Muther conducted a value chain analysis of four selected commodities in Uganda and Indonesia to identify market opportunities for bundling farm and crop management tools and financial services on mobile platforms. He attended meetings of the Indonesia World Economic Forum working group on Maize.
Kyle: “The internship was very useful for my career development… with a lot of interaction with high level MercyCorps staff. My main accomplishment during the summer was getting exposure to an exciting field – mobile agriculture information services and mobile money/banking.”
Read MoreBernardo Goriupp worked as Project Manager, responsible for design to implementation of a small scale fish farm. This included everything from technical and business modeling to investigating potential sources of funding to developing a business plan to be used for grant applications and for expansion.
Read MoreMichelle worked with two Kiva microfinance partners, BRAC Uganda and Pearl Microfinance Limited. Her goal as a Fellow was to ensure that each institution accurately represented Kiva and was utilizing Kiva funds efficiently. She saw how Kiva’s mission came together in the field and had significant involvement with top management at both MFIs.
The Fellowship reiterated my previously held belief that microfinance alone cannot solve problems in development, and that access to health systems, education, and good governance among other things, is needed for change to be sustainable.
Read MoreChristine assisted Twaweza, a Tanzanian based NGO with operations in Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda, to prepare an evaluation plan and research existing data for a baseline survey. Designed a way to use cellular SMS to conduct surveys and designed a reporting system to report violence in a timely manner.
Andrew focused for CARE in remote villages where there had been no previous NGO intervention and limited government presence to develop a baseline survey, platform monitoring future progress and building local commerce.
Read MoreRebecca conducted focus group discussions and designed a program manual for Innovations for Poverty Action (IPA), designed survey tools oversaw a pilot program in 8 schools. She also managed relationships with all partners on Google’s Social Impact Assessment including development of a study guideline and manual for marketing teams.
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