This week began with my supervisor giving me access to a spreadsheet with the monthly progress reports of 3 Sangama clinics (in Bellur, Hassan, and Kolar) from 2021 to 2024. The progress reports include the number of new client visits, number of returning client visits, and a monthly tally of the number of clients who came for a long list of services. For the sake of initial data analysis, I regrouped these services into 6 main groups: mental health counseling, sexual wellness services (including HIV testing and behavioral counseling), intimate partner violence counseling, resource connection (to legal services and other medical referrals), general primary care (including blood pressure and blood sugar checks), and social support services (such as drop-in-center visits or social outings). The reports also break down the number of visits for each service by the client’s self-disclosed identity, such as Hijra, Jogappa, Kothi, or transgender.
I was originally overwhelmed as I don’t have any prior experience with data analysis, but I referred back to my intro stats notes and made a few initial graphs to explore how service utilization changed across different clinic locations, across different demographic groups, and whether different demographic groups were differently represented at the three clinic locations. I was shocked to see thousands of new visits each month across the MPRs, only to have the clinics abruptly shut down earlier this year. After presenting my initial graphs, I got feedback from my supervisor and the Executive Director on changes to make and present to them next week. These graphs will be used in the impact report I am writing to help Sangama restore its funding for its health clinics/camps and also by the Sangama leadership team as they strategize about whether to begin operating a mobile health van rather than a new clinic if they get their funding back.
This week, my favorite moments came in the simple conversations with staff and community members. Over lunch on Tuesday, I heard from the Executive Director about his own experiences coming to terms with his sexuality and negotiating his passion for advocacy/organizing and providing social services and support to the LGBTQ community. It’s been interesting to hear staff members’ reflections on why they’ve discontinued certain projects, such as “LGBTQ sensitization workshops” for medical providers or police officers. He explained that those are areas where he’s seen that educational workshops from an NGO aren’t successful — instead direct community action and protests are the only way that he’s seen true change enacted.