Coping with COVID-19: Making working remotely work
Over the past few weeks, SRFSI has been working hard to maintain productivity, with one of our achievements being the implementation of a virtual qualitative coding workshop with 10 members, including IRRI colleagues, as we look to more deeply integrate CSISA and SRFSI projects. Using new software such as Dedoose, the team has been upskilling in preparation for analysis of a mountain of qualitative data collected over the past year. While it has been challenging to adapt to this, the team has done an excellent job of learning new skills in new ways. We are now looking forward to utilizing these skills to create new learnings that inform how agricultural transformation can be catalyzed in South Asia – despite the continued lockdowns across our three project countries.
Though working remotely from home was more forced than planned, it’s getting easier with every passing week, as we begin to develop personal and organization-wide systems to understand how to work most efficiently in this unprecedented environment. We are finding ways to make working remotely work.
“Yay, I don’t have to spend my time in commuting everyday…plus, some extra time to snooze! That was my initial thought. Very little did I realize all the distractions of being a work-at-home mom.”
— Manisha Shrestha, Communications Specialist, SRFSI
“Working from home has been a part of my contract from the very beginning, and I am definitely more used to it than other members of my team. Though a unique experience, working remotely has taught me to be more self-directed and live a self-disciplined lifestyle. Although times are not favorable at this stage, there is a lot to be done on analysis part for the SRFSI project so working from home has been a very good learning and team building experience for me.”
— Pragya Timsina, Consultant, SRFSI
“While I enjoy the short commute from my room to my work room, I do miss seeing my colleagues and our informal chats during lunch. ”
— Emma Karki, Senior Research Consultant, SRFSI
There will certainly be some disturbances and barriers to smooth remote working and technology is not always quite up to the task. Power cuts, internet speeds and disruptions make downloading files troublesome, and teleconferences often have a frozen person or a broken audio…we’ve all been there. Yes, we do miss our conventional normal working environment, but for now we are managing the situation as well as we can.
For more information, contact Dr Brendan Brown ([email protected]).
