My Role at TICH
It occurs to me I describe life in Kisumu without telling what goes on at TICH, the college where I work. As their marketing and communications advisor, I've been busy putting together a marketing business plan, targeting TICH's niche markets of students, partners, donors, members and organizations requiring consultancy in development. Most TICH staff members have lived and studied abroad. Their English is very good and all meetings and communications are in English, giving me no impetus to learn Kiswahili or Luo. (Speaking these two languages is essential, however, when working with communities such as Nyalenda. Luckily, Jose, a fellow VSO volunteer from Holland, is arranging four days of Kiswahili training for us in Kakamega in late May.)
Development is a huge topic in Africa and everyone, including slum-dwellers, are well-versed in the vernacular; People living with HIV/AIDS (PLWHA), vulnerable persons, capacity building. The sick Mamas in the slum can talk to you about the psycho-social needs of orphaned children. Students wanting to work in the health industry and to help these “vulnerable” persons come to TICH for diplomas and degrees.
TICH, in its sixth year, continues to grow. Two programs in Community Health and Development, a PhD and a master's program, have been approved and will be launched as soon as the Commission for Higher Education awards TICH university status. Students follow a rigorous coursework curriculum and also experience hands-on, practical training by going into the field every Wednesday. Field visits are performed by students and staff, who work in partnership with community members to determine which programs will most benefit the community. Students collect data for baseline surveys, write their reports, guide the communities in implementing recommended programs and follow up on the community's progress, all of which is documented in their research papers. Through this partnership program, students learn theoretical and real world concepts while communities receive the benefit of shared knowledge and techniques that improve their health and agriculture.
TICH has friends around the world and they'll all come to Kisumu later this month for the 4th Annual TICH Scientific Conference, co-sponsored by UNESCO, a division of the United Nations. This year's conference theme is: “Linking Research to Policy for Evidence-Based Action Towards the Realization of the Millenium Development Goals (MDGs).” MDG's are goals set by the UN and adopted by developing countries. Each country puts numbers to the goals and aims to reach their objectives by 2015 (See the blog post from February for Kenya's development goals).
It's quite exciting to be part of the conference planning committee. University professors and guest speakers will join us from Ethiopia, the UK, Tanzania, Australia, Uganda, Canada, South Africa, Botswana, the US, France, and Holland. Physical preparations are under way at TICH. Our water system is being repaired with a new tank and piping. The old well in the central courtyard, once covered with wood slats, has now been demolished and filled with dirt. New gravel is being laid and floors are being painted. We're even ordering a screen for the LCD projector (seems someone complained last year when the presentations were projected onto the bare wall).
Everyone here is busy working on their research projects, preparing class materials, developing the Enterprise Department (five chickens arrived this morning, huddled into one corner of a cage, on their way to the field), making travel arrangements for our conference guests, preparing the conference agenda, printing banners and moving computers to a new e-center. In addition to the three-day conference, we'll host several workshops before and after the conference. An Israeli organization and TICH are co-hosting a four-week workshop in entrepreneurial projects. Visiting academics will convene to optimize TICH's master's degree program. Three editors from African peer review journals will conduct a one-day workshop instructing attendees in writing research for publication. And, finally, two workshops will be held to explore social determinants of health status and tackling health improvement through community partnerships.
Quite an exciting time here at TICH! I'll keep you posted as the conference draws nearer. To learn more about what TICH does, visit www.tichafrica.org.
Development is a huge topic in Africa and everyone, including slum-dwellers, are well-versed in the vernacular; People living with HIV/AIDS (PLWHA), vulnerable persons, capacity building. The sick Mamas in the slum can talk to you about the psycho-social needs of orphaned children. Students wanting to work in the health industry and to help these “vulnerable” persons come to TICH for diplomas and degrees.
TICH, in its sixth year, continues to grow. Two programs in Community Health and Development, a PhD and a master's program, have been approved and will be launched as soon as the Commission for Higher Education awards TICH university status. Students follow a rigorous coursework curriculum and also experience hands-on, practical training by going into the field every Wednesday. Field visits are performed by students and staff, who work in partnership with community members to determine which programs will most benefit the community. Students collect data for baseline surveys, write their reports, guide the communities in implementing recommended programs and follow up on the community's progress, all of which is documented in their research papers. Through this partnership program, students learn theoretical and real world concepts while communities receive the benefit of shared knowledge and techniques that improve their health and agriculture.
TICH has friends around the world and they'll all come to Kisumu later this month for the 4th Annual TICH Scientific Conference, co-sponsored by UNESCO, a division of the United Nations. This year's conference theme is: “Linking Research to Policy for Evidence-Based Action Towards the Realization of the Millenium Development Goals (MDGs).” MDG's are goals set by the UN and adopted by developing countries. Each country puts numbers to the goals and aims to reach their objectives by 2015 (See the blog post from February for Kenya's development goals).
It's quite exciting to be part of the conference planning committee. University professors and guest speakers will join us from Ethiopia, the UK, Tanzania, Australia, Uganda, Canada, South Africa, Botswana, the US, France, and Holland. Physical preparations are under way at TICH. Our water system is being repaired with a new tank and piping. The old well in the central courtyard, once covered with wood slats, has now been demolished and filled with dirt. New gravel is being laid and floors are being painted. We're even ordering a screen for the LCD projector (seems someone complained last year when the presentations were projected onto the bare wall).
Everyone here is busy working on their research projects, preparing class materials, developing the Enterprise Department (five chickens arrived this morning, huddled into one corner of a cage, on their way to the field), making travel arrangements for our conference guests, preparing the conference agenda, printing banners and moving computers to a new e-center. In addition to the three-day conference, we'll host several workshops before and after the conference. An Israeli organization and TICH are co-hosting a four-week workshop in entrepreneurial projects. Visiting academics will convene to optimize TICH's master's degree program. Three editors from African peer review journals will conduct a one-day workshop instructing attendees in writing research for publication. And, finally, two workshops will be held to explore social determinants of health status and tackling health improvement through community partnerships.
Quite an exciting time here at TICH! I'll keep you posted as the conference draws nearer. To learn more about what TICH does, visit www.tichafrica.org.
posted by Cindi at 5:12 AM
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