Staff Spotlight: Introducing Sam Arop

Sam joined Farm Africa in September 2018, as our Programme Manager for Uganda. With a Masters degree in Development Studies and over ten years’ experience with high-profile development organisations such as Technoserve and International Rescue Committee, we are proud to have him in our team.

Describe a typical day at work.

Providing operational support to the project teams is one of the core responsibilities of my role, so after I have responded to emails and reviewed any important documents, I schedule catch up calls with all the different teams I work with. I also visit each project once every quarter to provide support to the staff, talk about any issues and find solutions together.

What do you enjoy most about your role?

The role is broad and I have to tackle a lot of challenges, but I enjoy working with others to come up with joint solutions. It’s a very interesting role! Seeing the people I support succeeding gives me a lot of job satisfaction. My role is very interesting! When I speak to the teams and hear the success that the projects are having, and when I hear about the impact the projects are achieving, those are the kind of things that give me a lot of job satisfaction.

What has been your proudest moment at Farm Africa?

In my first week I visited the field with our Director of Programmes. The energy that the staff had on the ground was really great. I could tell they were very committed to Farm Africa and to the farmers we are working with. I felt very proud to be working with them and I thought “This is the place to be!”

Do you have a message for Farm Africa supporters in the UK?

The key message I would like to send is that your support is having a lot of impact on the ground. Your contributions are really making a difference to the lives of people who have been very vulnerable for a very long time. So I would like to thank you for that.