In this interview, you’ll hear from Kim Izzarelli, a Peace Corps Development volunteer in Uganda. Kim shares what daily life looks like, the work being done, and how service has shaped their personal and professional growth. You’ll learn about cultural differences, project work, and what it’s like to live and work in a new country. This interview offers a real look into Peace Corps service and what future volunteers can expect.
What does your day to day at work look like?
My organization, Foundation for Development of Community Empowerment, or FCDE, provides capacity-building training and services to roughly 51 nonprofit community-based organizations in Uganda. Capacity building is an often overlooked, but critical aspect of development work and one which requires more seasoned individuals with unique skill sets to teach and coach nonprofit leadership, board members and Executive Directors, in areas such as proposal writing or strategic planning.
On a day-to-day basis, I meet and work with our local partners to determine what their needs are and develop a plan to move forward. Often my work involves updating and reviewing training materials, organizing webinar training sessions on topics such as financial management and board development. I also spend time helping organizations develop policies, budgeting and marketing plans.
Tell me, what have you been working on recently?
Two of the organizations I work with have been awarded Learning Grants through FCDE. One group is teaching indigent women to make eco-friendly Bio-Briquettes, which not only provide supplemental income to them through sales but it also obviates the need for them to gather firewood for cooking.
The second group includes women and families affected by Gender-Based Violence. That grant provides vocational training in baking and jewelry making, so these individuals will have an income source to build new lives and livelihoods. After implementation, my work will be supporting them through ongoing monitoring and evaluation.
What impact do you hope to leave behind?
Kim: I successfully achieved the transfer of my advanced business skills and hopefully, knowledge to move the needle forward in some way for many of the people and organizations we work with at FCDE.
With my team, we developed and hosted three educational webinars for the benefit of our local partners during my short tenure here: “Building Financial Strength and Resilience in LPO’s”; “Using Soft Skills to Develop an Online Media Presence”; and, specifically for our executive directors and nonprofit board leaders, “Understanding Your Role as a Nonprofit Board Member”.
Many of our local leaders and board members were inspired to make improvements to their boards and organizations and implement change as a result of attending these events.
What project or accomplishment are you most proud of?
Initially, I thought I’d be coming to Africa and writing a bunch of grants, not realizing that my years of working in financial services, experience as a marketing manager, and leadership on various nonprofit boards ended up being among my most valuable contributions here – through direct skill transfer.
In terms of resource mobilization, navigating the post-USAID development landscape is extremely challenging for most of the smaller, community-based nonprofit organizations we work with here in Uganda.
Many no longer receive consistent funding or support and are now competing globally for funds against better resourced organizations that are staffed by individuals with much higher levels of computer and financial competency. This uneven playing field particularly hurts organizations that lack skills and software to properly track and document their financial activity.
Financial accountability
For example, only one of the local partner nonprofits in my organization’s portfolio was using QuickBooks or similar financial software applications when I arrived. My first challenge was convincing my counterparts that, “the world had changed” and financial accountability is the new normal. Once my organization accepted this as a need, we moved on to educate our partners. This was a pivot in thinking to create more transparency and accountability in operations versus solely demonstrating need.
No amount of stellar grant writing narrative can make up for poor financial accountability. To quote my Fifth Grade Math Teacher “Show me your work with your result” meaning most grantors and funders want to visually track last year’s award with accurate financial reporting (along with the Monitoring and Evaluation) before they will commit to award another grant.
This required a shift from the more casual, informal day to day practices of our local partners, particularly concerning cash management — to the development of new policies and procedures, allowing for the implementation of Internal Controls and the creation of proper financial statements. Truly stepping up their game. We also encouraged ongoing diversification of revenue sources to protect the future of the organization.
Software challenges
Unfortunately, the subscription cost of software application packages remains a big obstacle to nonprofits. Even an $80 annual QuickBooks subscription through TechSoup, a nonprofit licensing arrangement, is unaffordable for most organizations and the more sophisticated, multi-year grant management software packages are completely out of reach at a cost $500 or more.
As the development world moves toward more integrated technology, I hope more grantors will consider absorbing the cost of software within grant funding. All boats rise with the tide and this would help level some grant funding inequities. Big Tech should also donate more software access to nonprofits. Most have laptops and Smartphones in Africa – what is missing is access to high-level program applications.
Along with eliminating redundancy and gaps, we are truly within a new and evolving period to measure nonprofit impact in Uganda. I’d like to believe in some small way I helped initiate some change here.
What will you miss the most when you leave?
Definitely the people I’ve met and relationships I’ve made. Most Ugandans do not have the resources to travel and leave their communities, so I would have never met them. Further, it’s unlikely we’d ever have the opportunity to meet had Peace Corps not created my assignment in Rukungiri.
As a transfer who served in Belize (2023-2025), I know how deep and meaningful life experiences are, and I’m grateful for the opportunity to develop these life-long friendships in both Africa and Central America.
What is a tradition, celebration or event you have enjoyed experiencing?
This is probably your toughest question, because just thumbing through my photos, it is hard to choose one among so many amazing, beautiful multi-cultural experiences I’ve had here.
I have enjoyed Matoke at lunch with my lovely counterparts; working out in the evenings with my neighborhood fitness group; and laughing with my friendly local shopkeepers in town when I attempt to speak to them in local language.
Uganda, in short, is a sensory experience. Music, food, language, culture, people, street life, even the colorful fabrics and just stunning beautiful scenery – are magnificent and overwhelming at times. I walk to work each day and think: how lucky am I to be here!
Serving in Uganda has been the most exhilarating experience of my lifetime. Above all, I’m grateful to be one of very few Americans over age 50 selected to serve. Truly an opportunity to see the world the way it really is; and that is something most of us never get to do.
Kim’s experience in Uganda offers an important lesson for anyone considering Peace Corps service: you may arrive with one idea of what you will contribute and discover that your most valuable skills are something else entirely. Her background in finance, marketing, and nonprofit leadership became useful in ways she had not expected, while the relationships she built became just as important as the work itself. For future Peace Corps applicants, her story is a reminder to stay open to where your skills can make a difference. You may have a plan for your service, but the people and community you serve will help shape what that service becomes.
Are you thinking about joining the Peace Corps? If you’re curious about service and ready for something new, apply today. Like Kim, you can live abroad, work with communities, and grow in ways you didn’t expect. Apply to the Peace Corps and take the next step.
The content of this post does not necessarily reflect the views of the U.S. Government, the Peace Corps, or Uganda Government.
