HIV is a growing problem in Nepal. Sex workers and victims of trafficking are particularly vulnerable. The Nepal government has a national plan for controlling HIV & AIDS, but poor management skills within local HIV organisations mean that they aren’t operating effectively. VSO volunteer Rutti Goldberger worked as a Management Adviser with General Welfare Pratisthan to support colleagues to develop their management skills. The skills she developed herself from working on the ground with VSO were invaluable in helping her to secure her current job with an international non-governmental organisation.

Assessing the needs of an HIV & AIDS organisation
Rutti started working for General Welfare Pratisthan (GWP) in Kathmandu in 2005. ‘It’s an HIV & AIDS organisation focusing on prevention and care, working mainly with female sex workers and trafficking survivors,’ says Rutti, who returned to the UK in June 2007. ‘I was a Management Adviser, which involved working alongside colleagues at GWP to implement an organisational development strategy.’

GWP works with around 5,500 sex workers and 900 girls and women through its anti-trafficking programme. Rutti’s role included an initial assessment to help GWP identify their strengths and weaknesses and decide which area to focus on.

‘One area that needed addressing was communication. Though they are based in Kathmandu, GWP work all over the country with three other field offices and nine other unit offices in remote areas,’ says Rutti. ‘We also worked on proper monitoring and evaluation systems so that we could look at progress and impact in the communities GWP work with.’

Rutti believes that the greatest impact you can have in an advisory role is to help people think in a different way – to think beyond their experiences. ‘I worked with female sex workers and they were amazed that prostitution is illegal in the UK, and yet it still goes on. They were shocked that we have trafficking too. Finding commonalities rather than differences is always surprising.’

The challenges
Despite two months’ language training when she arrived in Nepal, language was a major obstacle for Rutti so she went out of her way to learn it. ‘People really appreciate the effort,’ she recalls. Another challenge was the pace of work. ‘It’s so much slower in Nepal, but you get used to it. In fact you even grow to like it. Spending time chatting and drinking tea with colleagues is so much a part of fitting in.’

Personal and professional development
Working with such a wide range of people at GWP has made Rutti a better communicator. ‘Since I’ve come back I’ve noticed that people speak in the most complicated way, using so much jargon. I’ve learned to communicate at a level everyone understands. I’m also far more creative and innovative in the way I work with people, presenting complex information and not relying on technology. Nepal could have up to 36 hours of power cuts a week, so use of computers was often not an option!’

Before VSO, Rutti was the Regional Co-ordinator for Southern Africa with Save the Children. Although she was already working in development, she believes volunteering was a great opportunity for progressing her career. ‘It was invaluable seeing things from the grassroots up rather than from the donor perspective down,’ says Rutti. ‘I managed to get my present position as Organisational Learning Officer with International Planned Parenthood Federation by drawing on my experience as a VSO volunteer in Nepal.’

Impact

• Rutti worked with an organisation serving over 6000 vulnerable people, including sex workers and trafficking survivors.
• As a result of her placement, Rutti has become a better communicator and far more creative in the way she presents information.
• Rutti’s experience on the ground in Nepal was instrumental in securing her a job at the International Planned Parenthood Foundation.