what am i doing here anyway?

So as I mentioned before, I am here to fulfill a practicum requirement for my masters degree. I am working for a non-profit, non-governmental organization which works in over 40 countries. Typically they work in conflict areas, offering services to refugees and internally displaced peoples (IDPs) and helping to rebuild in post-conflict areas. They opened an office in Cote d'Ivoire following the crisis in 2002. Initially, their program focused on offering IDPs education and health care services. But as things have become more stable here, they've started programs in water and sanitation (building and rehabbing water pumps and latrines), gender-based violence, economic recovery, and community-building.

I am working with the health program here. There are 2 main health programs just getting started. One is a health system rebuilding program. It includes training community health workers and traditional birth attendants, reestablishing the health committees and management teams that were functioning before the crisis, as well as some clinic rehabilitation and ensuring clinics are stocked with essential medicines. The other project is a pilot project for community case management of diarrhea, malaria, and pneumonia. Basically this program entails training community health workers to treat these 3 diseases, which are the top killers of children in lower income countries. Treating these diseases at the community level, and not just in health posts and clinics which the poorest cannot access, is critical to lowering the mortality rates of children. However, because it requires community members to handle medications, many doctors are resistant to it.

One way organizations evaluate how well their projects are carried out and what impact they have is to conduct pre and post surveys. This was done before I arrived, so my first task here has been to analyze the data from the survey. I'm hoping to finish my first draft of the report this week. This is my first real data analysis project, so its been a lot of work! Here is my proudest accomplishments from the report - a population pyramid of the survey population. Check it out:


As you can see, there are lots of young kids here. Over half the population here is under 20 years old. Also notice how the female side is bigger than male side. A lot of males here leave their villages to work on farms and factories. Anyway, this graph may not be interesting for everyone, but I think its super cool!