Volunteer field reports from a global pandemic

Grace Kajange, 29, is a volunteer business development service officer for gender equality from Mbeya region, Tanzania. She is especially concerned about the economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, especially for small business-owners and entrepreneurs, like those she has been supporting through a VSO project.

“Many business owners here in Tanzania don’t have the skills and knowledge to develop their businesses and just do business to earn a living,” says Grace.

Illiteracy (especially among women), lack of access to capital and credit as well as the paucity of business education, all make it very challenging to start a business in Tanzania. Now COVID-19 poses a huge new threat to the small businesses Grace has been supporting as a volunteer.

“We expect changes in sales for small business owners, as people now have changed their consumption behaviours. People are less able to move around and some people have lost their jobs, so many people are now focused on making savings rather than using their money to buy things they used to before COVID-19.”

Many Tanzanians work in the ‘informal sector’ – meaning they have to go out most days to work for that day’s living, such as selling items at a market or the roadside. For families struggling financially due to COVID-19 there is no furlough scheme or government grant available (Tanzania’s economy is about 2% of the size of the UK’s).

“The nature of life here means people need to leave their homes to go out to work and make a living,” says Grace. “It is not that easy for people to reduce their movements and avoid gathering in some places, if they are to be able to feed their families and themselves. People are trying hard to take precautions but still the majority can’t afford to buy things like face masks and sanitisers.”

One of the reasons these items are so expensive for people in Mtwara, where Grace is a volunteer, is a lack of supply. But now, volunteers like Grace are helping address this challenge through the same small businesses she has helped to grow.

During the COVID-19 outbreak, VSO has provided training to well over a hundred small businesses, helping them adapt to selling products that are now in high demand but short supply – such as soap, hand sanitiser and face masks.

Since the training, these small businesses have won contracts worth thousands of pounds and even been able to hire on more staff. Through volunteers like Grace, business owners are surviving, and even thriving, amidst the most difficult circumstances.

Wangdic Justine, 28, is a volunteer with his local village health team in the Gulu District of Northern Uganda. The area remains scarred by two decades of civil war. Many families who live here endure poverty and severely limited health services, especially in rural and remote villages. It is not uncommon for pregnant women to have to walk for hours whilst in labour in order to be able to reach a facility, tens of kilometres away, where they can deliver safely.

Usually, Wangdic’s role involves helping local people access health facilities, including pregnant women, young children and malaria sufferers. Travelling large distances between remote villages on a bicycle provided by VSO, he’s an important link between the community and health services.

When coronavirus arrived in Uganda, Wangdic was equipped with additional training in COVID-19 prevention to allow him to continue to volunteer safely.

“I’m now telling people to wash their hands, to avoid crowding, and to stay home if they have a cough,” explains Wangdic. “Most people listen. They are very worried about this coronavirus, as am I. But as I see it, we are all fighting this virus together.”

“All households in the community have now installed handwashing facilities for anyone entering or leaving their homes. That means that they are listening to us on the village health team.”