Field Placement:  Population Secretariat (Popsec) and Partners in Population and Development (PPD)
Location:
Preceptor: Dr. Jotham Musinguzi
Student Name: Bonnie Smith
Year: 2008

During the period between June 27 and September 5, 2008, I completed a ten-week internship with Population Secretariat (Popsec) and Partners in Population and Development (PPD).  My preceptor at Popsec was Dr. Betty Kyaddondo, a medical doctor with a Masters in Demography.  At PPD, my preceptor was Dr. Jotham Musinguzi, an OB/GYN with a Masters in Public Health from State University of New York (SUNY) at Albany.  Dr. Musinguzi headed Popsec for 20 years prior to taking a leave of absence to run PPD.  They share an office space, however, and work closely together.  Dr. Kyaddondo is the head of the Family Health Department (FHD), one of five departments at Popsec.

Popsec was founded in 1988 by the Ugandan government as a response to unchecked population growth and poor reproductive health indicators.  It is the main education and advocacy body for family planning and reproductive health issues.  It is funded primarily through UNFPA, though it receives some funding from other donor organizations.  On the national level, Popsec works to promote family planning and population stabilization through policy consulting.  On a community level, it is mainly concerned with promoting smaller family size and family planning by working with implementing partners to ensure that Ugandans are aware of family planning and can access services.  Popsec liaises with faith-based organizations, district health organizations and NGOs to achieve this.

PPD is a global organization that seeks to promote the issues of reproductive health and family planning to governing bodies and mobilize policy-makers in developing countries to promote population stabilization.  The Kampala PPD office serves as the Africa Regional Office (ARO), and is responsible for coordinating with other African countries to promote family planning and population stabilization.  It also works with other regional offices to engage in organization-wide activities.

During this internship, I spent the majority of my time working with FHD at Popsec, although I participated in some PPD activities, as well.  Throughout the summer, I attended the various meetings and conferences hosted or attended by Popsec and PPD.  These included a sexual and reproductive health (SRH) advocacy meeting for policy makers, World Population Day, the Safe Motherhood Conference in Arua and the Stop Cervical Cancer in Africa Conference, among others.  For many of these meetings and conferences, I conducted research prior to the event and compiled reports subsequently.  These reports were distributed internally to Popsec and PPD as well as to partner organizations and donor agencies.

In addition to these activities, I participated in the planning of third and fourth quarter events for PPD and Popsec.  These events included conferences and community rallies, meetings for policy makers and stakeholders and a conference for implementing partners.  Challenges and limitations were confronted during regular meetings held within PPD and Popsec to address issues in planning these events.

During this internship, I learned a tremendous amount about living and working in East Africa.  I came to understand reproductive health, family planning and population as they occur in the developing world.  The skills I honed during this internship included health communication and program implementation, particularly from an international perspective.

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