Up early this morning and had breakfast with the evaluation team and a 'caphe den' (black coffee). We then walked about 30 minutes to the Huong Hoa ADP Office (the blog photo) and spent a couple of hours going over the schedule for today, tomorrow and Thursday, outlining who we will meet, when and how we will get there. The days are chocka block and time needs to be allowed for travel between places (the furthest commune is 25km away). We've tried to group interviews in the same place into a block of time, but sometimes it's just not possible. And, we need to work around the schedules of those we are interviewing.

I will be interviewing a variety of people related to education. Teachers, education government department, school principal, parents of CWD as well as observation at the school (which is a little pointless as the kids are on summer holidays!!) On Thursday, I'll have the opportunity to visit a child with a disability in their home. The child is also sponsored, and I cannot wait for this experience.

I sat in and observed the first interview that Julie conducted with the ADP Manager, to get a feel for the interview approach and process. I wasn't too concerned about the interview itself, but I was worried about how I was going to possibly take all the notes and listen to the person I'm speaking to. Our colleagues from WV Vietnam don't recommend recording interviews as their experience is that people aren't honest in what they say.

So with the interview over, we head for lunch and they bring out the motorbike helmets. My first ride, yay! I rode on the back of Hai's motorbike and it was awesome! Albeit, we only went about 5 minutes, but hey it was a great introduction. There will certainly be more motorbike riding over the next couple of days.

After lunch, we had a little break before heading off to meet the Vice Chairman of the Project Management Board, Mr Khanh, who is the Vice President of the local government in the district. It is protocol and customary when you visit a town to meet the leader of the twon, so wee all went to meet meet him and after that it was expected that Julie would stay back to interview him for about an hour. We all sat in this room that looked like it was meant for royalty, big decorative chairs and was told this is the room for the international guests and other important parties. Mr Khanh told us a bit about his thoughts on the WV project and how much it has helped his district. In particular the income generation activities that have helped boost the economic situation of his district. It was good to hear from his perspective what had been happening with the project. After this I was off to my first interview. I'll write about that in the next blog!!