Field project continuity in the face of COVID-19

2022-01-18

By Subarna Sharma

COVID-19 isn't an isolated event but rather the largest outbreak to date that could change how we work, propelling us toward an increasingly remote workforce. However, certain projects can’t be handled remotely and need your physical presence in the field. Urban sanitation and hygiene for health and development was one such project. The field locations were four municipalities Chandannath, Birendranagar, Nepalgunj, and Khadak. Conducting fieldwork in rural municipalities has always been challenging but I never thought that fieldwork in the urban settlement could be more back-breaking.

As an experienced field manager, I was prepared to face almost all the adversities that I faced during my previous project amidst the pandemic. Having said that respondents allowing the enumerators to enter their houses during such a vulnerable period was another supplementary problem that I was all set to face. The unanticipated flight delay for ten long hours while traveling to Jumla messed up the project timeline. Along with that the language gap also created some major hindrances in the smooth running of the survey. In addition to that, some unfortunate events in the locality affected our working days. But despite all the turbulence we managed to collect quality data fulfilling all the requirements following all the safety protocols within the given time frame.

A new project, brand new problems and I am learning the art of creating avant-garde solutions to such obstacles. Lastly, I would like to take this opportunity to thank all the team members for their onerous support throughout the project. We may be strong as individuals but together we are invincible.