ISWS social worker recipient, Maggie Fenwood, just returned from Kasese, Uganda having recently completed an incredibly successful project there. As you know, our mission is to provide stipends to trained social workers to engage in global volunteer projects to build local capacity and have a positive impact on struggling communities. Our first project was mission accomplished!
Maggie worked with Marjorie’s Fund, a non-governmental agency ((NGO) that serves individuals with Type 1 diabetes in Kasese. Her purpose was to conduct an assessment of the needs of the patients supported by Marjorie’s Fund, who expressed the wish to better understand the psychosocial aspects of their patient population. Maggie spent several days collecting information by questionnaires, home-based interviews and focus groups and along with 51 completed questionnaires from local health care providers, focused her attention to concerns about living with Type 1 diabetes in the area of the world with severe food insecurity and anxiety about the continued access to the life-saving medication of insulin. The data have been analyzed and summarized into a comprehensive report that has been provided to Marjorie’s Fund directors, including recommendations for supportive services they may want to offer their patients going forward. This was a job well done!
December 5, 2017