Organisation and human agency : a comparative study of challenges faced by fieldworkers in NGOs working to mitigate the impact of HIV/AIDS in Uganda

Mastergradsoppgave i "Comparative social work" - Høgskolen i Bodø, 2006As a devastating disease with bad long-term predictions and often with limited mponse, HIV/AIDS has cxeated health, social, economic and cultural crisis that requires a multiplicity of responses. There is increasing literature on the impact of HN on the community, but little on the actual experiences and challenges of those who attempt to mitigate its impact. in light of this, this study intended to analyse the challenges of working for HN/AIDS NGOs in Uganda. To compare the chailenges faced by fieldworkers, the study interviewed fieldworkers korn TASO-Uganda and CCF-Uganda. A qualitative study was conducted and anaiysis of the data was based on groded theory. Results are therefore discussed in terms of their implieation to the work of fieldworkers and their perceptions towards the organisations The findings suggest that work in the organisations especially those that endeavour to miwate the impact of HN/AIDS is very demanding for fieldworkers. There are many difficulties, and resouces within the organisations are far less than what is necessary to meet the existing needs. Both TASO and CCF work to mitigate the impact of HIV/AIDS but they are als0 different in mmy respects. TASO and CCF differ in size and structure. Significant also to note is that, TASO is a pioneer organisation in the fight against HIV/AIDS and may have more resources than CCF. The study however reveded that most of the experierices and successes of fieldworkers in the two organisations were relatively similar, differem were only emerging prnibly in the number of people supported and in few programs that could not exist in either organisations. The study reveded that it was the internai differenca within the two organisations, which was the mod distinguishing element in the study