Remote Learning

A guest blog from my colleague Maureen Ouma who is part of our admin team at Xavier Project

As a mother of four currently working from home ,I’ve been required to multi-task by taking up the role of teacher on many occasions to my children and by doing so , I’ve encountered numerous challenges especially because they are all at very different levels of education. I was used to helping my children with their homework whenever they return from school but I never envisioned that someday I would be required to monitor and assist them In their studies on a daily basis without the help of the teachers, but this is the new normal ,for me and many other parents for now anyway.

 Currently the schools in Kenya have adopted an online learning model, where they send classwork to the learners via either Email or WhatsApp to the Parents to relay to the kids and for this to work effectively, the children need access to internet services as well as access to devices such as smart phones and laptops. All these are things that I did not budget for and therefore I have to had to share my devices. This has been a bit of an issue, simply because I have had to try and balance my work obligations whilst doubling up as a teacher and sharing the same devices with my 3 children who are of school going age has enabled me to truly appreciate the art of patience. In addition to this access to the internet has exposed my kids to a lot of content. It has been really hard for me to monitor the content that my kids access and on several occasions I have really had to sit them down and discuss what they are searching online. On more instances that one they often decide to explore when I am not around and therefore require constant monitoring. In my experience turning our home into a classroom has had its own challenges.

 Creating the right learning environment for the kids has been an uphill task compared to school where they run on a per set schedule, being at home is different, it has taken so much out of me to explain why they need to try and stick to a certain way of doing things .My kids attention span and learning environment is affected by numerous factors such as their friends who come looking for them so that they can go out and play to neighbours who play loud music not to mention various activities going on within the neighbourhood that attract them . From my observation studying from home requires self-discipline which the kids lack, I’ve noticed they are really struggling to establish a daily learning routine in that whenever my husband and I are around they study, but when we step out they also stop studying and start playing despite the numerous warnings and threats we give them. This makes us reprimand them every now and then and has ended up affecting our relationship with them. I have to admit that I too have fallen short of my own expectations as sometimes I can’t resist the urge to send my kids on errands. I also have a toddler whom they baby sit while am busy or not around , and In so doing they end up wasting a lot of time helping me with the chores in between their studies and this also affects their concentration .

 On occasion I also find it difficult assisting my children when they have a questions that require clarification, I’ve forgotten most of the things they ask about and find that I lack the proper way to explain others in a way that they would understand easily, especially for the one who is in kindergarten who believes her teacher is the only one who knows any of the content even if it’s just shading within to lines. All in all I would like to mention that having my kids learning from home has given me as a parent the opportunity to understand their strengths and weaknesses in the various subjects .I have noted areas where they need assistance and I am able to make plans on the possible ways of resolving them. On the flipside, there is also a lot of time to bond with the kids and make learning more interesting .Who knows maybe I should branch into teaching……hahaha .

Localising humanitarian aid has been shown to be even more urgent by the COVID-19 crisis

This blog was originally published on www.xavierproject.org 

on April 9th 2020.

The refugee led agencies we work with, during normal times generally either worked in Education and Livelihoods, but all of them are now, during COVID-19, pivoting their work to providing basic human needs to their communities. I say “normal times” with the proviso that all the refugees we work with in East Africa are living in a semi-permanent state of crisis, with uncertainties and concerns around their asylum/refugee status, sources of income and basic needs such as food, healthcare and security. 

Uncertainties on an individual level are magnified several times when looking at the perspective of uncertainties on an organisational level. Existential threats come at refugee led organisations from every angle. I have observed refugee led organisations unable to pay staff salaries for up to six months at a time. I have witnessed government officials doing everything they can to shut down a refugee led initiative. I have seen refugee led organisations get evicted for being a year behind on rent. I have seen management teams hollowed out overnight by leaders leaving without warning due to security issues, or even being locked up. I have even seen donors renege on contracts and commitments to refugee led organisations, saddling them with debts and despairing beneficiaries. 

In view of challenges like these it is all the more remarkable that people who have gone through the gutting experience of displacement would choose to put their communities first and take on the mantle of humanitarian aid themselves. I am permanently in awe of the leaders of our 12 partner organisations and have learnt more from them than any other experience at Xavier Project. 

Resilience and resourcefulness are particular characteristics that are common to all of our refugee led partner organisations. For me to imagine going for months without paying salaries is incomprehensible and I don’t know if I would have the mental resolve to continue operating through such a situation. However, our partner agencies regularly do it and achieve it by drawing on the immense reserves of community solidarity they have built up over years of generous service. Their constituents, including their employees but also others in the community, are willing to make sacrifices to ensure their good work continues, with the hope of seeing better days in the future. 

Refugee led organisations understand the needs of their communities, because the leaders are experiencing similar needs. What do their communities need most right now? In one refugee hosting location food prices are rocketing and have already doubled on February’s prices. Fear is stoking food hoarding and this puts pressure on demand. This in turn hikes the prices. One of our partner teams want to buy food in bulk from outside the settlement and sell it slowly at cost over a prolonged period, so that for their constituents food prices will be stable and they will know what to budget for. They will also get their original money back and be able to recycle similar initiatives. This for them is the most strategic move right now, and who can question it? 

This is an organisation that focused primarily on youth education, but they are diverting their efforts to food at the moment. It is not easy to imagine an international NGO being so flexible and adapting so rapidly. In fact, due to decrees from national governments here, most international NGO staff are not in the vicinity (or even in the country). 

What is an unprecedented crisis to most of us humanitarian actors, is to refugees and the organisations they lead an additional challenge to be overcome, not so different from many of the other challenges they face. While the rest of us are restricted to quarantine (and rightly so) the refugee led agencies are showing that against the odds they not only keep up with the humanitarian response but they can lead it. Imagine what they could achieve if they could overcome the massive challenges they face in running organisations. Imagine if refugee leaders could be given the support structure they need and deserve in running large projects in a permanent state of uncertainty.

This is what Xavier Project wants to see happen. We have been saying that localisation is urgent, but more importantly it is the “how” that we are perfecting. We have developed a capacity strengthening and sharing course, with version one printed with funds we received when winning UNHCR’s Innovation Prize. It is always being added to, and the most recent drafting covers community initiatives in times of social distancing. Almost all the content in the course is based on either suggestions from our refugee led partners, or experiences of Xavier Project staff in working with refugee led organisations over many years. (It’s open source, so please use it and share it.)

Meanwhile, other organisations are doing great work to strengthen capacity, such as Urban Refugees and their course for refugee led organisations working in urban areas, and Street Child’s work developing a course for local agencies working in emergency contexts. The Global Refugee Led Network has quickly been growing advocacy efforts on behalf of refugee led organisations and The Entrepreneurial Refugee Network is leading the charge from the enterprise angle in Europe.

There are several others and there is more we can do. Capacity is only one element of localisation. More has to be done to strengthen chains of accountability, to promote principles of partnership that value the assets of all parties, and to accelerate mechanisms that can see worthwhile funding reach refugee led organisations without too much red tape. While more of us get to work on this it mustn’t be forgotten that we still need a wider consensus that this way of working is vital from across the sector. The COVID-19 crisis is showing that shifting power to refugee led organisations is not just a good way of working – it’s the best way.