Why I am here -- The Maatla Project

I thought I should start writing a little bit about why I am actually here, and what I am doing for work -- lest you all start thinking I am only here for the safaris - ha!

Through my placement with WUSC/Uniterra, I am contributing to a Botswana/Canada/USA umbrella initiative called the Maatla Project. Maatla is the Setswana word for strength, and the goal of the project is to support civil society's response to the HIV and AIDS epidemic in Botswana through strengthening the organizational development capacity of 4 core national HIV and AIDS networks to provide prevention, care, and support services at the grassroots level through their member organizations and/or sites. I have been placed, or embedded, in one of the 4 partner networks as an organizational development capacity advisor.

I am so excited about the many layers and textures to this assignment, and hope to describe them all in due time (once I find a succinct way to do so) ! In the meantime, I will prepare a couple of short posts to give you an idea of the scope of the HIV and AIDS epidemic in Botswana, and what is being done to address it, particularly by the network with which I will be working for the next year.

Stay tuned !