Capacity Building Specialist
Hi! My name is Petra Daly. I am originally from Galmoy, Co Kilkenny. I left for Nairobi Kenya in November 2014 to work as a capacity building specialist with the FSMJ sisters. It was all very new and exciting for me and while I was in Zimbabwe 15 years ago. I was excited to see what the year would bring. My job is to work with all the projects being managed by the FSMJ congregation and support them in capacity building and strategic planning. A community development worker by profession I have always been interested in a challenge and in the three months since I have arrived here I certainly have been challenged.
I have spent the first few weeks travelling to each of the 6 projects and spending time with the sisters there. Getting to understand what the projects are involved in and what the biggest needs are. Its an interesting challenge for me as the projects are spread all over the country and the needs are there for everyone. The biggest challenge is now prioritising where to spend the limited time I will have with each project. At the moment I am working in Luanda with the St Josephs Rehabilitation centre and I am supporting Sr Pauline and the workers there to carry out a needs assessment so that we can advocate more for the children and try and secure further funding. It has been a very exciting and interesting piece of work. The centre works with street children from as young as 4 to 18 who are living on the street to try and work with them to get them home or if not at least back to education and believe me its not an easy task. There are huge cultural and other issues from poverty, HIV, abuse, marriage breakup, which stop the children particularly boys from going back to relatives. The children who are accommodated at the centre are great there are 25 in total all boys who would melt the heart of anyone.
The project is hoping to develop and work with more of the children who are on the street and Im very privileged to have the opportunity to be here. In the next few weeks I will move north to Marigat to help there with their health programme and also with a new programme with refuges in camp Turkana who have no land rights and live in extreme poverty. I am hoping to support them in developing a project proposal so watch this space.
