Sioux Valley Dakota Nation

Bunmi Afolabi and Amber Balan jointly worked with Sioux Valley Dakota Nation (SVDN) for their 2nd field placement. They worked directly with the SVDN Health Centre on developing a comprehensive Health and Well-being Survey project. Part of their key responsibilities was designing and administering the survey questionnaire that would be used to gather information about the strengths, needs, and demographic information of the community.

Amber and Bunmi engaged in fieldwork by visiting the community to meet the Chief and Council, community representative and staff to discuss the mandate of their field placement, how the survey would be implemented and how community members would be engaged. They also worked closely with the Health Centre staff to identify how best to deliver the survey and how to incentivize community members.

Amber and Bunmi created the finalized version of the Health and Well-being Survey at the end of their field placement. The survey has been released and is currently being administered to community members. The data obtained from the survey will support the work of SVDN governance in identifying and prioritizing what policies, programs, and services need to be developed to strengthen the community.

“Through this placement, we’ve gained survey design skills and strengthened our community engagement skills. The placement has also reinforced the practice of listening to and learning from the knowledge that comes from the community where we are situated."