SUCCEED Formative Research Data Collection: A lesson on Resilience
By Olubukola Omobowale, SUCCEED Nigeria
It was the 13th day of May 2022. I had been assigned to lead and facilitate a key informant interview with a policymaker. I remember the phone call detailing me for this assignment “Hello Dr Omobhowaley,….….” Rita’s voice with her sweet Cameroonian accent chirps from the other end of the phone. I was given the necessary details for this interview and a follow-up text message came two days before the interview day.
I’m a Community Physician, and the Ministry of Health at the Oyo State Secretariat is my familiar terrain, so I was all ready for this task. I was selected for this task because getting the policy maker’s audience is supposed to be without stress for me....Why? This particular key informant is a physician with Public Health leanings like me, so the engagement would be easy! Or so we thought!
The interview was slated for 2.00 pm, a time picked by the policy maker herself. Our team arrived at her office about 20 minutes before the time and we were prepared to wait for 20 minutes in the anteroom.
I decided to say an informal hello to her, as we arrived. Oh, I was received warmly by my professional colleague and I looked forward to having this chat with her in a short while.
Little did we know that this 20-minute wait will roll into a 2-hour wait!
Every half-hour delay was an opportunity to reschedule, but team members were hopeful. "what if she’s ready for us, the moment we stepped out?" The thought of wasting resources kept us patient.
We eventually had a brilliant and informative interview session with the policy maker and we learnt a valuable lesson on resilience!
