Rural Development and HIV / AIDS
Master of Management of Development
Career opportunities
The master is intended for professionals working within Government and Non-Government rural development organisations as a project/programme coordinator/manager or as a specialist/consultant.
In the position of project/programme coordinator/manager, professionals coordinate the work of their department. They implement national or organisational policies into departments' programmes of activities. They facilitate necessary processes of change so that new policies are adequately mainstreamed in the mandate and activities of the organisation. They contribute to and supervise in the development and implementation of monitoring and evaluation programmes. They are responsible for and collaborate in capacity building of their staff. They establish and maintain networks with related organisations and institutions.
In the position of specialist/consultant, the specialists work in a specific professional field. They advise the management and staff members with other disciplines on issues related to their specialisation. They contribute to the effective incorporation of these issues in the organisation. They work in interdisciplinary teams. They collaborate in development of monitoring and evaluation tools and in programme and project planning. They do research in their specific field of work. They provide training for staff of their own organization and related organisations. They make sure that issues related to their specialisation are on the agenda of their organisation and on the agenda of related organisations.
Within these positions, professionals perform some or all of the following roles: advisor, planner, facilitator, lobbyist, manager, policy maker, and researcher.
Graduates are likely to move to key positions within their organisations, particularly those related to policies, programmes and activities regarding HIV/AIDS, rural development, and food security.
"All professionals in rural development need to take this course, or at least a bit of it."
Patisiwe Esnath Zaba from Zimbabwe
Livestock specialist in the dairy development department
"When I came here, I had some prejudices about the HIV/Aids issue. I could not see the link with livestock. In the first days of the course I was enlightened. I came to understand that HIV/Aids is a threat to rural development. HIV/Aids causes a shortage of labor. Many people were forced to sell their livestock to pay for medical bills. The dairy production went down and people were losing their income. Poor people are more vulnerable to the impact of the epidemic. They have no access to resources, medication and nutrition. People's choices become limited. We need to promote new technologies to compensate for the labor shortage. And we have to work according to the do-no-harm rule. Zimbabwe is still in the infancy of implementing policies. But the level of awareness already has increased greatly due to activities of Aids-oriented organisations, like providing free condoms and medication."
Caleb Gumisiriza from Uganda
Policy analyst for the national farmers' federation
"Before entering this course, I did not differentiate between the effects of HIV/Aids on rich and poor people, and gender. Now I have learned to develop different strategies for these categories. So it will be much more effective. If we build a dam that causes people to migrate for example, we increase their risk of getting infected. So we must ensure that our programs do not make the situation worse. We analyse existing government policies, speak with farmers about their experiences and propose better alternatives when we find gaps in the policies. When the leadership is supportive, it is easy to respond and develop strategies to counter the impact of HIV/Aids. We already made big progress, but we aim much higher. I can't wait to go back and implement what we have learned."
"We can not talk about HIV/AIDS in rural areas without taking the gender differences into account "