work: week one

Well, I've had my fist week of work, and to be honest, I'm really not sure exactly what my role here will be. This week was based on learning how the UT (Territorial Unit) operates, so the focus was on administration and organisational structure. The UT here in Bucaramanga supports three UAOs (Attention and Orientation Units), which are where next week will be based. It's in these units that most of the 'coal face' work gets done, which interests me far more than anything that may happen in the central office - I came to Colombia to work with people, not with numbers, or names on forms. The UAOs are the key points of contact for internally displaced people that are seeking government assistance (I should point out here that to be eligible for government assistance the displacement must have been due to the armed conflict - displacement as a result of natural disasters, economic factors or development in rural areas doesn't count); from what I understand, the UAOs are over-stretched and under-funded, so working in them should be a real challenge. I hope that at the end of this coming week I'll have a better understanding of the full picture, and more of an idea as to what my role/impact here can/will be.