Conclusion

REFLECTIONS FROM THE FIELD ON OUR PROGRAMS

9. SCHOLARSHIP FUND

In 2019, a scholarship fund was established with support from former United States Peace Corps Volunteers who had worked in Eswatini several years ago. This fund aimed to support girls, particularly orphans, who are vulnerable to intergenerational, transactional sexual relationships to finance their basic needs. In most cases, these relationships have led to girls becoming pregnant, dropping out of school, and/or acquiring HIV.

Several surveys found that girls who engaged in transactional sex often came from impoverished families who cannot afford their school fees. With the support of the PCVs, PDI can buy books, school uniforms, bus fares and pay the school fees for these children.

While the scholarship fund was established to mainly support girls, in the last few years, it has been decided that up to 15% of the awardees could be boys.

ACHIEVEMENTS:

• PDI’s Fun Run in May 2021 was successful in raising funds to support an additional five scholarships. • A total of 15 students were supported this year. • The program began in the Lubombo region, but now reaches three regions of Eswatini

Lubombo, Manzini and Hhohho. • All but one student was able to progress to the next grade. Unfortunately, one student had to leave school due to a severe heart condition (for which she is now receiving treatment for).

CHALLENGES

• Due to the pandemic, schools have been closed for the past 15 months for all students except those in Year 10 and 12. This means less students were supported this year compared to previous years. • Despite increasing funding for more scholarships, it was difficult to implement new applications as most schools were closed. • Many children are unable to fulfill their dream of education due to closure of schools due to the pandemic.

OPPORTUNITIES:

• Once schools resume as usual, we hope to find methods to raise more funds for this program to allow more students to continue their journey of education.

REFLECTIONS FROM THE FIELD ON OUR PROGRAMS

10. ADMINISTRATION & TEAM MAKING IT ALL HAPPEN

The COVID-19 pandemic presented a huge challenge for the PDI team. Frequent lockdowns, rising cost of living and increased demand for our services made it harder to implement our projects. Despite this, we were able to build 3 houses, deliver all MM packs, complete 15 toilets and provide 30 mattresses to those in need.

COVID restrictions have changed the way the team worked on a day-to-day basis. Strict adherence to face masks, regular hand-washing and frequent cleaning of the PDI vehicle were some of the new measures implemented to keep our team safe.

The Field Team continues to have 5 key members; two on a part-time basis and three members working full time. Our accounts manager resigned to pursue a new career path, but luckily a replacement was quickly found. The field team remains grateful to our very active Board and International Team who continue to find innovative ways to raise funds and ensure the fieldwork continues. The Field Team were also able to remain employed which was a big morale boost. This was certainly a challenge during the tough economic times of the pandemic.

Unfortunately, there was a burglary at the PDI office where money was stolen. Luckily the culprit was found and sentenced by police. In response, the team have upgraded the security system at the office and made active attempts to minimise cash kept on the premises. There have been widespread impacts on the community due to the pandemic. The Eswatini government has reported a 90% increase in suicide rates and threefold increase in genderrelated violence.

Due to COVID-related travel restrictions, it has been 2 years since the last group of Australian medical students visited Eswatini. Their trips provide valuable funds, new ideas and inspiration for the PDI team to continue to implement new projects and support pre-existing ones. We hope to resume these once the pandemic improves.

ACHIEVEMENTS:

• The team was able to implement all planned activities and projects, despite facing financial constraints from the pandemic. • Successfully completing three new homes despite frequent lockdowns and supply issues. • Being able to deliver mattresses to families for this first time was a highlight. • Completing the sanitation project grant of building 14 toilets within the planned time frame despite significant supply issues. • Providing our community with much needed support during challenging times was incredibly rewarding for our field team.

CHALLENGES:

The pandemic was a major challenge this year, impacting the Eswatini community and creating new hurdles for implementing our projects: • Commodity prices significantly increased again this year in the context of the pandemic and political unrest affecting supply. This has increased costs for our projects, but also left more families in poverty due to rising cost of living. • High unemployment, leading to increased crime, gender-related violence and suicide have adversely impacted the quality of life for many in the community. • Political uncertainty in June 2021 has resulted in shortages of basic commodities, food and fuel.

OPPORTUNITIES:

• We want to continue to look into more avenues for funding.