Acronyms. I never gave acronyms much
thought before Peace Corps. Sure, I knew that they were around and
that some words in the common English language are actually acronyms
(LASER, SCUBA...), but I didn't think that I would be using acronyms
in my life (other than in chat). Boy, was I wrong. It all started
in staging and in training, where acronyms were thrown around like
nothing, such as how us PCTs had to do our TDAs during VV. Before I
knew it, I fell into using acronyms and they became such second
nature that I was called out on it because of this very blog. I
would inadvertently use acronyms in my writing because they were
ingrained in my everyday speech.
Even though some acronyms have wormed
their way into my head, I am shocked to report that I am swimming in
acronyms. In the past three weeks, I've been reading a lot of
reports and manuals pertaining to the projects that my team is
working on. Every document has a list of acronyms that usually spans
two pages and since I'm reading things in both French and English,
the letters all blur together. I'm beginning to get the hang of the
acronyms for the nutrition documents, but then there are conflicting
acronyms in different languages; e.g. PMI stands for both
President's Malaria Initiative and Programme Maternelle et Infantile.
It can get confusing in an office where we work on child and
maternal health programs and Malaria programs.
The development sector likes it's
acronyms and it's something that I have to work with. When I read
the documents (on my computer to save paper), I have to print out the
acronym sheet in order to keep everything straight. Here is what a
meeting with my supervisor might include: Discussing the role of
ARCs in AID and if the PMI provides funding, then talking about the
PRN and what the BEN wants, while referring to PAIN for the
indicators. Translation? Discussing what relais will do in the push
to spray mosquito insecticide in homes and what the national office
wants from the nutrition program and the manual that was provided.
Confusing? Yes. Although our discussions don't actually sound like
that, I find that I have to clarify acronyms fairly often. One day I
will be a wiz at this, but it's going to take time.
GTG! TTYL
Peace
P.S. I learned a new acronym yesterday that made me go "hmm". WAR- West Africa Region. Interesting...
P.P.S. If you're bored, http://www.acronymfinder.com is a fun site to procrastinate on.
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