Habitat for Humanity International
Asia-Pacific Office
Bangkok, Thailand
I. Tasks Accomplished
For the first few days of this week we continued to work on the monotonous job of putting all of the data into the excel spreadsheet. It was pretty boring since we kept on repeating what we did but I kind of got used to it and didn't really mind anymore. But around the middle of the week we were done with the input of all the hard data. By the end, we had more than a thousand names scattered over 5 different forms of survey, which we will have to combine into one sheet so that we can analyze everything in one go.
So by mid-week we moved on to figuring out how to download the data from Survey Monkey, which I don't think is hard to do. But the thing is, I've never done it before and our boss has no idea how to do it. But I think we finally get it after looking at the help section of the site though we haven't gotten around to doing it yet. There are a lot of data online and we're going to need it for the analysis part.
So the last task that we have to do for this week and until we get it done, is to sort everything by country and year (and even by host/affiliate). Then we're going to compute everything so that we can see the overall rating of each affiliate or country during a certain year. From these data we can compare each country's performance during a build so that eventually we can figure out what caused a country to perform well or badly during a certain year.
Okay, I think I lost you of boredom. Sorry, sorry.
Anyway, the gist here and what we have to remember is that the main goal of this entire project is for our big bosses to know how to evaluate each country and to give recommendations.
II. Problems and Challenges encountered:
Nothing much this week. The main challenge was really to get the data entry done so that we can move on to other things. And when we did move on to the online, the problem there was trying to figure out how to download it, which is pretty okay because we got a lot of instructions from Habitat Europe and the Survey Monkey instructions were pretty clear.
So now what we just need to do is to finish the statistics part so that we can move on to the analysis.
III. Knowledge applied
I hate to keep on saying this, but EXCEL, again. And maybe a little bit of marketing especially the part in marketing where we had to get people to answer questionnaires and collate the data for analysis. I remember that we also used Survey Monkey to get more respondents to answer our survey too, so that site sure comes in handy.
IV. General comments and suggestions
I have to share this. It's not part of the project that I'm doing but it's happening in our office and it's big.
All NGOs worldwide, including here in Bangkok are trying to get into Myanmar in order to see how they can help. Habitat is one of them. The problem is that Habitat has no office there so they don't have locals who can tell them what's going on. So since Wednesday, they've been trying to obtain visas to enter the country to no avail. The embassy runs a check on them, sees that they work for NGOs and denies their visa application unless they get permission from Yangon.
They tried using high level contacts to no avail and are partnering with other NGOs who also have the same problem. UN presided over a meeting of the NGOs and asked --- and this is the UN we are talking about --- for NGOs to share info on how they could get their visas if any of them are granted. Which didn't happen anyway.
I think it's sad how this is happening. How ten times worst things must be over there. And how helpless the NGOs must feel (some of them were just shaking their heads in frustration) --- not being able to go in and help.
Friday, May 9, 2008
Friday, May 2, 2008
Week 2: Official Entry No. 2
Karina Kirstie Paola Ayco
Habitat for Humanity International, Asia-Pacific
So we finally started official work at the office last Monday. The week started with what you can call an informal meeting of everyone in the office. Seeing that Habitat is a Christian organization, they gather together for prayers and say inspiring things at the start of every week. After that, their big boss, Rick, asked for brief updates on the different areas. This was particularly helpful and interesting for me because it helped me understand how things work and what the current projects are such as projects that fall under their volunteer programs like Global Village and disaster response areas.
Of course, before everything started we met up with our boss, Donald (who I think is a really cool boss) and had a tour of the office. Then we sat down to talk about what we had to do and how we should go about it.
I. Tasks accomplished during the week
The bulk of what we did this week is what I think is the hardest and most frustrating task of the entire project --- to input the data of all written surveys into the excel database that we made. And to think that’s just half of it. There are still surveys on-line. But the good thing about the online ones is that Habitat Europe has the program to transfer all of the data online into the spreadsheet in one go and they sent the information on how to do it over to us.
But I digress. Anyway, there are three evaluation surveys: volunteer member, team leader and host. The information that we have to input starts from 2006 up to early 2008 and is made up of a lot of teams. From our boss’ estimate, we have around 2,500 names all in all (printed and online combined). All of this information had to be typed one by one into excel. Imagine how tedious that is.
I consoled myself by reading the comments of the volunteers some of which were funny (not to mention hard to understand because of the broken English) and some of which were really touching and showed how the meaningful the experience was for them.
II. Problems and challenges encountered
Our boss only sent us one set of surveys to base the database on because it is the most recent and is what should be used. However, as we physically looked through the papers we noticed that there were actually three different surveys used over the span of 2 years. Most of the countries are still using the old survey which prompted our boss to email all countries to remind them to use the new ones. Anyway, this meant that we had to make 2 additional sets of databases where we can input the older surveys. This meant that we had to analyze again how to go about in doing the database. This was actually easier to do since some parts were similar. We just had to add the ones which were different. We also had to look through all papers and to divide it according to which format is used.
III. Knowledge Applied
I have to say, EXCEL. I never realized how useful this program is. And I guess in one way or another, English 11 lessons --- paraphrasing, summarizing etc. I am hoping that later on when we come up with the results and analyze what this means to the countries involved that we can apply more of our skills in critical thinking and analysis. I can’t wait for that part.
IV. General comments and suggestions
- Music helps while typing all the data. At least it keeps my mind off the monotonous work.
- I think that I know more Japanese and Korean names now more than ever after typing all of the volunteers’ names.
- How cool is it that sometimes an entire family joins a build? Talk about family bonding time.
-Some of the volunteers are still in high school. Nice to know that they help out in organizations such as Habitat.
Habitat for Humanity International, Asia-Pacific
So we finally started official work at the office last Monday. The week started with what you can call an informal meeting of everyone in the office. Seeing that Habitat is a Christian organization, they gather together for prayers and say inspiring things at the start of every week. After that, their big boss, Rick, asked for brief updates on the different areas. This was particularly helpful and interesting for me because it helped me understand how things work and what the current projects are such as projects that fall under their volunteer programs like Global Village and disaster response areas.
Of course, before everything started we met up with our boss, Donald (who I think is a really cool boss) and had a tour of the office. Then we sat down to talk about what we had to do and how we should go about it.
I. Tasks accomplished during the week
The bulk of what we did this week is what I think is the hardest and most frustrating task of the entire project --- to input the data of all written surveys into the excel database that we made. And to think that’s just half of it. There are still surveys on-line. But the good thing about the online ones is that Habitat Europe has the program to transfer all of the data online into the spreadsheet in one go and they sent the information on how to do it over to us.
But I digress. Anyway, there are three evaluation surveys: volunteer member, team leader and host. The information that we have to input starts from 2006 up to early 2008 and is made up of a lot of teams. From our boss’ estimate, we have around 2,500 names all in all (printed and online combined). All of this information had to be typed one by one into excel. Imagine how tedious that is.
I consoled myself by reading the comments of the volunteers some of which were funny (not to mention hard to understand because of the broken English) and some of which were really touching and showed how the meaningful the experience was for them.
II. Problems and challenges encountered
Our boss only sent us one set of surveys to base the database on because it is the most recent and is what should be used. However, as we physically looked through the papers we noticed that there were actually three different surveys used over the span of 2 years. Most of the countries are still using the old survey which prompted our boss to email all countries to remind them to use the new ones. Anyway, this meant that we had to make 2 additional sets of databases where we can input the older surveys. This meant that we had to analyze again how to go about in doing the database. This was actually easier to do since some parts were similar. We just had to add the ones which were different. We also had to look through all papers and to divide it according to which format is used.
III. Knowledge Applied
I have to say, EXCEL. I never realized how useful this program is. And I guess in one way or another, English 11 lessons --- paraphrasing, summarizing etc. I am hoping that later on when we come up with the results and analyze what this means to the countries involved that we can apply more of our skills in critical thinking and analysis. I can’t wait for that part.
IV. General comments and suggestions
- Music helps while typing all the data. At least it keeps my mind off the monotonous work.
- I think that I know more Japanese and Korean names now more than ever after typing all of the volunteers’ names.
- How cool is it that sometimes an entire family joins a build? Talk about family bonding time.
-Some of the volunteers are still in high school. Nice to know that they help out in organizations such as Habitat.
Friday, April 25, 2008
Week 1: Official Entry No. 1
Karina Kirstie Paola Ayco
Habitat for Humanity International
I'll be working in the regional office of Habitat for Humanity International here in Bangkok, Thailand. Habitat for Humanity International was founded by Millard and Linda Fuller. It is a non-profit international organization that is dedicated to building affordable houses to those in need. But what makes this different is that the concept is "partnership housing" where homeowners work hand in hand with volunteers to build simple and affordable houses. It currently has build sites and offices the world over including Bratislava. Our office, being the regional office for Asia-Pacific, is composed of an international staff --- American, Canadian, Mexican, Filipino, Pakistani, Indian, European etc.
I. Tasks accomplished during the week
- Used Microsoft Excel to create the databases that we will use next week as we collate all the data from volunteer evaluation surveys answered by Habitat build volunteers.
- These databases are important for us to collate the date efficiently so that the data can be analyzed later on in order to find the strong and weak points of the volunteer programs and the areas for improvement of each country and for the entire volunteer program as a whole.
II. Problems and challenges encountered
- I only have basic Excel skills so I had to ask help on how to go about creating the databases.
- I didn’t have an idea on how to go about creating the database based on the evaluation forms sent by our boss.
- From this experience I realized that I need to learn more than basic excel and that I need to brush up on other Microsoft office skills that can be helpful in the workplace.
III. Knowledge applied
- Really basic excel skills
- Analytical skills on how to go about with creating and designing the database.
IV. General comments and suggestions
- Provided that we haven’t really be in the office yet because official work starts Monday (because the staff have a conference this week) I’d have to say that it was a good idea to have take-home work done since we can actually do the database at home. So we didn’t waste any time.
- I learned that when you are confused and don’t know what to do, never hesitate to ask for help. Hahaha.
- I’m actually looking forward to next week when the real work in the office starts.
Habitat for Humanity International
I'll be working in the regional office of Habitat for Humanity International here in Bangkok, Thailand. Habitat for Humanity International was founded by Millard and Linda Fuller. It is a non-profit international organization that is dedicated to building affordable houses to those in need. But what makes this different is that the concept is "partnership housing" where homeowners work hand in hand with volunteers to build simple and affordable houses. It currently has build sites and offices the world over including Bratislava. Our office, being the regional office for Asia-Pacific, is composed of an international staff --- American, Canadian, Mexican, Filipino, Pakistani, Indian, European etc.
I. Tasks accomplished during the week
- Used Microsoft Excel to create the databases that we will use next week as we collate all the data from volunteer evaluation surveys answered by Habitat build volunteers.
- These databases are important for us to collate the date efficiently so that the data can be analyzed later on in order to find the strong and weak points of the volunteer programs and the areas for improvement of each country and for the entire volunteer program as a whole.
II. Problems and challenges encountered
- I only have basic Excel skills so I had to ask help on how to go about creating the databases.
- I didn’t have an idea on how to go about creating the database based on the evaluation forms sent by our boss.
- From this experience I realized that I need to learn more than basic excel and that I need to brush up on other Microsoft office skills that can be helpful in the workplace.
III. Knowledge applied
- Really basic excel skills
- Analytical skills on how to go about with creating and designing the database.
IV. General comments and suggestions
- Provided that we haven’t really be in the office yet because official work starts Monday (because the staff have a conference this week) I’d have to say that it was a good idea to have take-home work done since we can actually do the database at home. So we didn’t waste any time.
- I learned that when you are confused and don’t know what to do, never hesitate to ask for help. Hahaha.
- I’m actually looking forward to next week when the real work in the office starts.
Tuesday, April 22, 2008
The Premise
Here's the premise for everything I'll be writing here.
I am in Thailand for my OJT. I will be working for Habitat for Humanity International.
And work starts on April 28 upon the request of our boss.
Once it starts, I'll blog some more.
I am in Thailand for my OJT. I will be working for Habitat for Humanity International.
And work starts on April 28 upon the request of our boss.
Once it starts, I'll blog some more.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
