Spencer in Ghana

Farming, Rural Ghanaian Style

2009-08-12T11:39:00.004Z

So if coming to Ghana to work in the Agriculture sector wasn’t good enough for my green thumb/brain, I just happen to be staying with a community of farmers. Saakuu, my host brother, studied agric in SS, taught it at school and will be going to College this September to further his studies as he pursues a certificate in Agric business.

A few things I’ve learn from farming and farmers in Lawra but can be summed up in one word, unpredictability.

The 1990s were a decade of steady, improving rains in northern Ghana, but since the turn of the century, the seasons have lost their shape. The region’s five-month rainy reason, from March to August, has shrunk to just two or three months, but sometimes with just as much, if not more, rain. Last year 95mm of rain – 10 per cent the annual – fell on a single day in August, destroying crops and houses. Flooding, normally unheard of in northern Ghana.

This land is my land...

Animals free range and are left to eat neighbors crops. If animals aren’t tied up, disputes can arise when one farmer’s animals are benefiting from another. The number of animals you have is often a distinguishing factor of how wealthy you are. Cattle are the ultimate prize, as they are an endless source of manure but are most often used for the brides dowry.

Settlement patterns and history of the area plays an important role. Lawra is an extremely dense district which has led farmers settled in ways that don’t separate the farm from the house. This means that animals are more likely to roam free, instead of being housed near humans.

Bush burning is a common practice, despite MoFA efforts to encourage farmers to change their behaviour. It is usually done to clear grass so that fire wood is easier to spot, to get rid of pests (rats, snakes, mice, spiders). However, this practice is depleting the recycling of essential nutrients back into the soil. Composting is a labour and time intensive process so when farmers go to clear land, they rather burn it. Organic farming is almost out of the question for many farmers, considering the soil is so depleted as it is. Without behaviour changes from farmer and MoFA level the dependence on fertilizer and pesticide chemicals will only continue. Organic manure can be difficult to get a hold of, if your animals aren’t housed in so chemical fertilizer is an easier alternative. It’s really easy to take the chemical fertilizer route because of the subsidies offered by MoFA and the difficulty to acquire more organic forms of manure.

Global warming is starting to show its ugly face and is increasing the level of environmental refugees in the country. Quite how many people are going to leave the savannahs of northern Ghana has the attention of policymakers in the capital. In Accra, as in Lawra, the question of what to do about environmental migration, and climate change as a whole, is entirely bound up in the overall challenge of development.

My small-small farm.

As for my farm, my groundnuts, which are a main cash crop, was planted on June 4th in rows about a foot apart (as per MoFA suggestion!), they’ve been weeded once and are near ready for harvest. As for my Maize, it’s suffering because I haven’t added fertilizer because I can’t find organic forms and I refuse to uses chemicals. I’m beginning to understand the ease of allure of chemical fertilizer, especially when MoFA gives farmers coupons that subsidize about half the cost.

The reaction of my community has been nothing but positive. At first, everyone was asking Sam why a white man was planting in his farm but he’s made it very clear my eagerness to learn, and he’s really proud to assist me. “You’ve done well!”, “you’re becoming Ghanaian”, “when in Rome/Lawra…”. A few farmers have jokingly challenged me to a weeding race, of which i would likely lose. I’m really happy with the level of integration I’ve had in such a short time span. I never really realized just how easygoing I can be in new situations.

Some members of the community take the other approach when they learn that I’m living and farming with farmers. That is, they think I am a uptight westerner who is used to hot showers, refrigerators and whatever else. They are shocked and appalled to learn where I am staying and can’t believe MoFA would allow it.

The screams of baby goats are quite similar to those of small children…

Juicy ticks.

Only half done my weeding!

Pretty goats all in a row.

GROW FASTER!

Tasting the fruits of my labour.

There’s nothing more enjoyable than knowing exactly where your food came from. The disconnect we seem to have in North America about our food is quite amazing. Don’t get me started on the whole genetically modified issue. Growing up with giant peppers, tomatoes and onions and seeing them grow here without genetic modification is really amazing. “Why is everything so small?”, because that’s how they’re supposed to be. I’ve come to respect the land so much more when you actually have invested your own energy in it, been able to watch it grown as if I’m coaching it to do better everyday. Farming is risky. Agriculture is pretty new and it’s important to keep working to try and reduce the harm when, god forbid, nature is unpredictable. It’s a sweet and sour feeling to know that many are still at the mercy of the earth.

Before:

After!

Can you spot the foreign species? Basil! Orko!

I wish I could stick around to help harvest, not to mention really taste the fruits of my labour. Learning the next steps, how to get the produce to markets would be my next learning which I'm hoping to pass on to the new JF volunteer that is coming, Elizabeth!

Through the Maize, over the hills and off to the village we go....

2009-07-30T19:00:00.004Z

I have just come back from a village stay in an undisclosed location of Western Africa. Saakuu (my host brother) and I literally biked into the bush to the village of the man who makes the keys for his xylophone business. The upper west region, of which I have called home for the past 3 months, is the most remote and little-visited of Ghana’s administrative regions. For some reason, the fact that I was staying 3 km outside of the district capital of Lawra, the smallest district in the region, with a family of farmers wasn’t remote enough. So, into the bush we went. Where would we end up, I hadn’t a clue. We strapped a weekend supply of yams, mangoes, rice, tinned tomatoes along with our bed nets and we were off.

An hour into our ride and my bicycle ran a flat. Great. Stuck in the bush with a flat and no pump. Game over. We’re done for. Bring on the lions. However, the great thing about Ghana is that you can ask most anyone for help and they’ll do their best to accommodate you. We saw a compound, and were warmly welcomed and 30 minutes later, we were on our merry way with my puncture fixed (after taking an offering of a gourd-full of pito, local millet beer, of course).

Another hour passed. We were lost. Lost in the bushes of rural Ghana. Now we’re done for. This is it, bring on the hyenas. Saakuu assured me that he knew the way, and so I just kept following him, deeper and deeper into the Savannah. We kept riding and came to another compound and voila, were pointed on our merry way (after taking an offering cool borehole water, of course).

We emerged from the maze of trees and grass to discover a veritable ecosystem of human life. At the centre of the community lies a pretty steep hill on which all compounds are built. The mother compound like I’ve never seen before. Most of the time, compounds are individual. This one was a dense amalgamation of homes. Along the slopes rise the maize that seems to be doing pretty well, sparked jealousy in Saakuu and I.

We are warmly welcomed by our hosts, whose kids run to us to collect and guide our bike inside. “Fo ziema!” I greet the family and they all start laughing in shock at my Daagare. “A sorbe song?” (how was the journey?), O bay song! (fine!), more laughter. “Fo morah!” the mother says (you’re doing well!). I run through the regular list of Ghanaian greetings (how’s the house, how is work, how are the children, how is your husband, how is your health) and with each greeting the woman becomes more and more hysterical, as if each question were a bullet.

A number of kids poke their head around the compound door and spy me, others come in to watch the adults conversing but really they’re just here to ogle the hairy white man. We exchange stares as I look at them with curiosity, trying to see myself in their eyes.

As it was getting late and the sun was setting we have plenty to do. It was market day in the village and the rain was threatening. Whenever there’s a market, I’m there. No exception, I don’t care if I get washed away. Let’s go. So we got on our bikes, Saakuu and I, Kakper and son on our backs and we headed off to market with the storm growing stronger in the sky. That’s the thing about this part of Ghana. You are always looking to the sky to see if, finally, the rains are coming. We arrived at dark, to a small gathering at the side of road where small fried bean flour cakes are being sold with hot pepper and salt in giant leaves. Men and women take pito and apeteshie, local gin from palm, inviting us to join.

The next morning, the community members started coming to welcome Saakuu and I. Before I was up there were already 10 people sitting and drinking pito in the compound. There’s nothing like taking pito and having a marriage proposal (“You should take me and send me to your place!”) by a 70 year old woman with a baby on her back before 8am. At 9, we headed to the centre of the compounds to meet the chief. It’s custom to greet the chief, and buy him a drink if you plan on staying the night in his village. I had time to ask him two questions. What is the biggest problem in the community? He informed me that there are only two boreholes for a population of nearly 500, both of which are spoiled. The community relies on rain water, river water and a nearby swamp to meet all of its needs. What are you most proud of? To which he simply replied: we don’t give up on each other.

We were off to visit the farm, managed to gather a few shea and ora fruits (I have no idea what the English name is but it can be described as a sweet and sour aril fruit, for those of you have taken a botany class). We even caught a rabbit for dinner! On the way back, we found a few of the scarce trees. Liga, that Saakuu uses for his xylophone keys. He get them from Kakper no cost, as the tree is relatively abundant in this area (Kakper and Saakuu’s family have a close history and friendship of reciprocated assistance. Apparently my presence has only helped to strengthen the ties between these two men. I think the white man card shows just how serious Saakuu is about his business, or so he has told me. The biggest frustration I’ve had is not being able to communicate. Kakper is the most adorable man, with the most contagious laugh and warmest eyes. Some things don’t need to be said.

I watched as Saakuu and Kakper carved away at the pieces of wood, revealing a rich- mahogany like wood beneath a dirty grey bark. While the rabbit was being smoked and the TZ was being stirred, and the keys being carved, I climbed up on the roof of the compound to get a look at the entire village and surroundings. Beyond the farms lay the Black Volta. In the distance you can start to see the lights of the communication towers of lovely little Lawra town twinkling.

After dinner, we headed over to the community’s most well known xylophonist. In the dark we followed the sound through the maze of the compounds to the heart of the village. Saakuu was invited to join. Their instruments not only speak to each other but inviting dancers to the fire. As the rain dance song was played, I was pulled into the centre to join the other men as they quickly move their torsos to the sound of the beat while hopping on alternating feet. I’ve got it down. I couldn’t tell if they wanted me to dance and were laughing because I was doing the wrongs moves, or dancing the way women do. In any case, when in doubt, it’s because you’re white. “You’re doing well!” fellow dancers shout.

Too hot from dancing around a fire boiling away some shea nuts, we went back to our compound. After a refreshingly cool bucket bath by moonlight I was in bed under a holey mosquito net. Tomorrow we would head home with just as much as we came with. Offerings of rabbit, eggs, chicken and all the keys that were carved strapped to our bikes. Another day, another adventure.

To Market to Market

2009-07-18T14:49:00.002Z

On market mornings, my favourite thing to do is take my tea by the roadside and greet all the early morning market goers.

As many of you may know, I’m a market man. Or, as hippy –Halifax- farmer’s market frequenters go, I am THE bread man. That is, I work at the weekly farmers’ market in Halifax (and will be doing so for another year when I get back!). I have the comfort of working behind a counter… with plenty of space from the long line of eager organic-French bread/freshly baked croissant- consumers. I forgot what it’s like to be on the other side of the counter.

My very first market experience here in Ghana was in Tamale, the biggest city and gateway to the Northern regions. It was an overwhelming, almost suffocating experience. The market in Tamale is a maze of corridors, cramped full of stalls and crowds. The amount of people, the disorientation, and the variety of new sights, smells and sounds left me on the brink of an anxiety attack. I had to rush out of the market and take a breather.

My first impression of Markets in Ghana was, “but… everybody is selling the same things?”. At my market in Halifax, everyone is offering something different. There are three different kinds of bakeries, a variety of crafts and artisans selling homemade goods. You get your tofu from Acadiana soy lady, you get your jam from the Mennonites (or if you want the high end stuff, you go to Tangled Garden), you get your ice cream from DeeDees, your meat from Sweet Williams etc. Here, there is much more competition for goods. When the rains finally start becoming more regular up here in the north, vegetable season will kick in and the market will be flooded. This is good for consumers, but not so good for producers. Simple economics, too much supply means a lower price for farmers. Those who benefit most right now are the market women who go to southern areas and purchase good and have them shipped up here and make a profit.

Most markets occur every 6 days. Special buses are scheduled to connect people on market days from all around the region. As a lot of vegetables at this time of the year are grown in southern regions there is a lot more transport to get those goods to markets around the north.

Non- Market day at Lawra:

On Market day, this empty space becomes a plethora of sights, sounds, smells and people: tons of women sit on the ground with mats full of vegetables for sale (tomatoes, baobab leaves, okra, onions, hot pepper etc). There are stalls for rice, beans and maize, groudnuts (peanut) and all kids of grains available by the bowlful. Between the stalls, small boys pulling carts with bags of seeds and grain. Others pull wagons piled high with clothes for sale (what I assume to be the leftovers of Value Village), ringing a bell and screaming “1 GHANA, 1 GHANA, 1 GHANA”! There are huts at the back of the market for taking Pito, local maize or millet beer, where people of all ages hang out and grandmothers offer you a gourd-full to drink.

“Nasado, come and buy my onions”.

On the other side of the market is the fast food: namely kose, deep fried bean flour cakes with hot pepe and salt. You can get them in balls to dip in pepe or as pancakes to take with cabbage and baobab.

Mme. Dabaraa, Sam’s father's 4th wife. I am drawn to this woman!

Scattered allover the market are girls with giant plates of fruit, boiled groundnuts, tofu-kebabs, or cold sachet water (“ICE-PURE WATAH) and drinks (Aura/Yellow berry fruit juice and Sole Bombeka, which is made from a boiled flower found in Burkina and mixed with Ginger juice) for sale carried on their heads. Crowds swarm the local medicine doctor when a new batch of morenga powder comes in, a local cure all.

Knowing who to go to is difficult, which I have been trained to do at my Market. I try and change up who I am getting what from every week. It’s a great way of meeting new people. The advantage, however of staying with the same vendors is that you usually get a few extra things thrown in. BUT, if become a regular to a vendor, you better be prepared to explain why you were spotted buying from someone else!

It is expected of you to bargain by saying Alabarka (Reduce the price)! When I first arrived, I was worried about being taken advantage of, but its bound to happen until you understand the price for things. Then, when I did figure out the price for things, I found myself over bargaining just because I knew how. I even tried bargaining the only mango vendor in town for a few cents. I’ve since relaxed and usually pay whatever they offer, unless the price is obviously over inflated.

Smocks for sale, get your smocks!
This is the traditional dress for men in the northern regions.

Market is a social event for the entire town. At night, when vendors pack up their goods, and market-goers from all over climb back into a packed bus, piled high with sacks of grains and coal, and head back to their communities, it becomes a veritable playground for courting youth. At the local drinking spot, which is a hut on the side of the road near my compound, community members join in song and dance and drink.

I love markets. Period. It’s a the very centre of Northern Ghanaian life. It’s a lot of fun for me to show off my language skills, laugh and be laughed at.

If only I could stay longer so I could try and sell the things I’ve grown. I think the novelty of buying from a white man (Nasado!) would be pretty profitable.

Heading home from the market with a wailing goat.

Obama is coming, Obama is coming!

2009-07-09T08:18:00.000Z

President Barack Obama is coming to Ghana, for “small-small” time. EWB is trying to get him to come to the north, or at least, address the issues of the north. Basically, we want him to give a shout out to all Ghana’s Northerners.

How are we doing this?

By asking Junior and Secondary school students in all the districts we are working with to answer the following questions:

1. Why should Obama come to the north?
2. What does Barack Obama mean to you?

Lawra Secondary School students in the student lounge

Eremon SS students outside class

1…2…3… OBAMA!

As a symbol of the north, and a welcome package, we have sent all the letters along with a Smock and a Xylophone made by Saakuu.

In all, EWB collected 1400 letters from students all across the North. I contributed around 130 alone…. and considering students in my district were in mid-terms, I’m really happy with the level of engagement. Students’ went beyond answer the questions, but explained in great detail their reasoning. These letters (along with a few items, included the xylophone and company profile of Saakuu) were sent to the US Embassy in Accra. The white house was notified as were several media sources in Ghana, Canada (we were asked by a CBC world producer to give a Canadian reaction to Obama in Ghana).

So much to do...

2009-07-06T12:19:00.003Z

This blog post is work related dense, so watch out!
It provides an update about the Farmer Innovation and MoFA innovation challenges!

Since the in country retreat and meeting, the objectives of my placement have shifted, expectantly. After months of innovation searching, the AEAs of the three districts that we’ve been working with in the Upper west (Lawra, Sissele East and Wa West), came for a workshop to share innovations, discuss findings and consider next steps. In short, the innovation challenge was all about addressing the issue of low adoption of MoFA technologies because we saw a lot of the time it was inappropriate. More importantly, it is about getting MoFA to see farmers in a new way, and to try new approaches and thus engage Agriculture extension agents to think more critically about the implications of their actions. Also at the workshop, there were a large amount of reasons why there is low adoption (its may not be inappropriate, but it could be because farmers don’t have a business mind). This just happens to tie into the Agriculture as a Business curriculum, the mainstay of our strategy in Agriculture in Ghana.

EWB Guide to the AAB Curriculum
The goal of the Curriculum
First you should know that the curriculum is really just a strategy. Meaning that it is not the goal itself but part of our work to accomplish two main things:
1. MoFA is an innovative, critical, learning organisation (it starts with the curriculum to get AEAs doing things in a different sort of way and for EWB and MoFA to have something tangible around which to criticise, learn from and innovate on!)
2. MoFA is shifting from the production oriented, technology focused to promoting agriculture as a business (we see this is all about strengthening farmer groups and doing business analysis and farm management with farmers)
Where the Curriculum is at overall
The curriculum can roughly be separated into two parts. The first half (cards #1 – 4) focus on farmer group development.

The second half of the curriculum (cards #5 – 8) focuses on business analysis as the cards follow a group through a project such as producing, trading or processing. It has been tested in bits and pieces. Also being tested is the curriculum in its entirety. The whole series of 8 cards have yet to be tried from start to finish. It is uncertain whether the process of going through all 8 cards will be effective for groups and how much AEAs will be flexible with skipping over certain cards. This process is focused on having the groups go through experiences that will develop the group overall – e.g. successful group project and successful group development.

Okay so that's the AAB tool in a nutshell. However, the AAB is not being used in the Upper West and has been more of a ground for other approaches. Suzanne wanted to address another problem, the problem of low adoption and out popped the farmer innovation and mofa innovation challenges which is working to un-root some of the assumptions that AEAs have about farmers as a way of learning about farmer realities in order to provide more relevant extension services. Challenging assumptions and hypothesis testing is something that EWB constantly talks about, but hasn't been addressed in the agric sector strategy. We are working to incorporate some of these ways of learning from testing hypothesis into the AAB.

Farmer Innovation Challenge Update

From the workshop that we had earlier this month, AEAs and MoFA staff got together to share the innovations, indigenous and MoFA adaptations they found and to discuss next steps. Some of the next steps are as follows:

Agric Extension Agent:

-Collect and share indigenous technologies and innovations amongst farmers
-Invite farmers to innovate upon and adapt technologies taught and demonstrate by MoFA
-Facilitate farmer problem solving
-Seek farmer feedback/input into projects and technologies
-Write proposals with farmer groups so they can pursue their own solutions

District Level:
-Give prizes to most innovative farmers on farmer’s day
-Give prizes to AEAs who collect the most farmer innovations
-Create forums for AEAs/farmers to share innovations and indigenous technologies
-Create forums for AEAs to share methods of facilitating farmer innovation/problem solving

Regional/National Level:
-Organize a national or regional wide innovation competition
-Collect promising farmer innovations and send to research

EWB Level:
-Publish a document of all innovations/indigenous technologies found
-Support AEAs and districts in their efforts to promote farmer innovations and generate farmer’s own solutions to the problems that thye face
-Generate farmer solutions on how to move from subsistence farmer to farmring as a business.

As mentioned, one of the discussions that came up when asked about why there is low adoption of technologies by farmers was because farmers don’t take farming as a business. In other words, “farmers don’t invest in their farms”. MoFA policies encourage farmer groups and market oriented approaches to farming. Linking farmers to markets is key which is why, I think, the AAB has really taken off the upper East because it is already something MoFA is promoting. However, we want to investigate further what this means, are farmers not adopting because the technologies are inappropriate or is it a behavioral problem related to business? What are some of the assumptions behind why farmers aren't investing in their farms? How can we test these assumptions, track what we've learned so we can provide more relevant solutions with farmers? The next steps for me is to look more specifically at elements of curriculum and work in ways we can test our assumptions and learn from them. The AAB is mostly a farmer learning tool, however we’re looking to involved more AEA/MoFA and EWB learning. When I was introduced to the idea of promoting Agriculture as a Business, I was immediately skeptical. I've come to realize that giving farmers tools to help them to make choices that can ultimately bring more income to their work is important, given the current capitalist system. But what I enjoy about the work that I'm doing with the Innovation Challenges goes beyond that, it's about coaching AEAs to ask more questions, challenging current ways of providing services to farmers and learn from our mistakes and successes.

What does this mean for the rest of my placement? Well, I’ve decided to specifically work on demonstration plots. Every year, AEAs run demonstrations with farmers on an improved crop variety. They demonstrate the MoFA what when and how’s of the improved crop. Currently, there aren’t any indicators or records for comparison of new crops to old crops that demonstrate the advantages/disadvantages of new vs. old. This means developing a card/tool for AEAs to test their assumptions about the demonstrations, to track what they’ve learned and to see, along with farmers, the results. Then, can AEAs and farmers make better judgment on what works and what is appropriate.

So that's what's going on with the Farmer Innovation Challenge.
There's also the..

MoFA Innovation Challenge

Program description
The MOFA Innovation Challenge is a project which provides some extra incentive and resources for district staff to innovate and experiment with creative ways of improving their work. Specifically, The MOFA Innovation Challenge is a competition between three districts in the Upper West Region to see which district can come out with the most innovative and creative solutions to the problems they face at the district. 2,000 Ghana cedis is available to all staff in the three districts for them to access if they would like to take up the innovation challenge and pilot an innovative approach/idea or project. No-cost innovations are also being encouraged and given special recognition.

The district which comes up with the most innovations, wins! A grand prize will be given to the District Director of the most innovative district. Individual prizes will also be given to staff in both districts whose innovations are particularly creative and useful. All innovations and the learnings generated will be shared across districts and sent to the regional and national level to potentially be scaled up.

Objective
The objective of this challenge is to encourage all MoFA staff at the district level to come up with innovative new ways of doing their jobs which will improve the relevancy, efficiency and effectiveness of MoFA work. It is important to note that the goal of this challenge is to encourage innovation and learning and therefore we are looking to support creative, new and experimental ideas. These kinds of projects/approaches may be of higher risk with uncertain outcomes, but the goal is to experiment and learn from our experience so that we build our capacity to innovate and drive change. There are no boundaries or limits to they types of innovations which staff can pursue – the aim is to think outside the box and learn from the innovation process.

Justification
For any organization to be effective it must be continuously learning from its experiences, identifying problems, finding innovative solutions and changing its approach. The people that are in the best position to learn, identify problems, innovate and drive change are the ones who experience the problems themselves. At the district level, it is district staff themselves who have the most clear idea of what the problems are within the district and what the most appropriate solutions to these problems might be. AEAs, DAOs and DDAs are in the best position to learn, innovate and drive change at the district.

Preliminary Results.

A total of 18 innovations were proposed by district staff from Sissala East, Wa West and Lawra. All innovations were assessed by a committee of staff at the district level and finally 8 innovations have been chosen for funding. A total of 5 no cost innovations are also being pursued.

LAWRA
The Lawra district has been awarded 1250 Ghana cedis to pursue the following innovations. 3 no cost innovations are also being implemented in the Lawra district which do not require any outside resources.

Disabled Farmer Demonstration: An AEA will do one of his demonstration plots with a blind farmer. The AEA will invite other disabled farmers to the field days, as well as other AEAs from the district. The goal is to encourage AEAs to work with disabled farmers and show that they can be successful recipients of packages.

Suggestion Box: The DDA will create a suggestion box to be placed in the district office where staff can anonymously offer feedback. The suggestions will be read at the montly meetings and a committee f staff will be created to deal with the issues that arise.

Weather Forecast Farmer Training: An AEA will hold a workshop to sensitize farmers in his operational area on the functioning of the new weather forecast gadgets which have been distributed to the districts. The goal is to gather farmer feedback and build trust and demand for weather reports. At the workshop farmers will also develop a system for disseminating the weather forecasts amongst themselves.

AEA Conceived Demonstration: An AEA will conduct a demonstration on a farming practice that he finds most pertinent to the farmers in his operational area and on a topic of which he has particular expertise. Specifically, the AEA will conduct a bee-keeping demonstration which is an income generating project which can be pursued during the dry season.

AEA Ideas for Demonstrations (NO COST): The district will collect AEA ideas for demonstration crops/practices which would be most relevant to the district and based upon AEA expertise. Dry season demonstration ideas will also be collected.

Outside Experts to the Field (NO COST): An AEA brings a range of experts, students, professionals and friends to the field so that they can share their own ideas with farmers, learn from farmers and generate a deeper appreciation for rural challenges.

Participatory Technology Development (NO COST): An AEA is working with a farmer to engineer a local injection pod – using local resources and expertise. The AEA and the farmer have partnered in a unique way to develop a technology together from the bottom-up.

So, I'm working hard to support AEAs and they take on their change projects!
I have a lot to do, and not much time to do it.
There are also bunch of other things I've been involved with. I have a friend who is starting a music shop in town, there is Sam's business, other projects I'm learning about and then my FARM (stay tuned for the big farm post... coming up soon!)

Questions welcome, bring 'em on!

Peace and love from the Upper West/Best side.

Baaru & Sons Xylophone Centre

2009-07-03T14:04:00.001Z

Hey everyone, here’s the company profile of Saakuu, my host/brother/roommate/teacher. I now have a contact at 10,000 villages, an organization in Canada and the US that works closely with artisan groups in developing countries to understand their needs and ensure they meet acceptable standards (fair wages and working conditions) to protect employees and the environment.

My contact at 10,000, Farah of the music department, has informed me that due to current sales levels and the request from existing artisan groups for more work, we cannot form any new relationships at this time. However, I am more than welcome to send a catalogue and/or information about the centre organization to have on file for future reference. My next steps then are to put together a wicked file on Sam’s behalf! Be sure to check out the video at the end of this profile!

Baaru and Sons Xylophone Learning Centre

Motto: Sky’s the Limit
P.O. Box 96
Lawra, Upper West Region
Ghana, West Africa
Phone (233) 20-8917027
Alt phone (233) 24-6977696

Company Profile

Baaru and Sons Learning Centre operates in the Upper West Region of Ghana. Based in Kouli Junction in the Lawra District of the Upper West Region, it was founded in 2006 by the Baaru and Sons who envisioned forming such a Learning Centre to train and promote our youth to become self employed and promote our culture. Baaru and Sons mandate is to combat migration of the youth into other Regions for jobs that are not available, through the implementation of sustainable cultural development projects aimed at assisting the youth to increase their income security while improving their skills in xylophone production. Baaru and Sons concentrates its training to all interested individuals and targets the youth who become the future leaders of tomorrow.

Mission

To be the number one xylophone producer and to market our products in the international market.
To train women, men, and children to preserve and develop their culture by protecting the natural resources.
To work in partnership with development agencies, government and communities to improve and sustain our culture by increasing their capacities and skills in the xylophone industry.

Objectives

Enhancing the livelihood and income security of resource poor.
Improving the cultural values of our community.
Supporting the local technocrats to quality product.
Building the leadership qualities of the youth for sustainable development.

What we do / Community Programs

Relying on our enterprise manpower, material resources, information resources, our greatest effort is to best serve our clients. Along with our growing company, we support every person who passes through our training program with a little start up capital and basic tools. We are involved in xylophone manufacturing, education, and environmental protection.

Protecting the Environment

Baaru and Sons is working with the Ghanaian Ministry of Agriculture and The Savanna Agricultural Research Institute protect the environment and to ensure its sustainability for future generations.. Currently we are involved in tree planting programs to promote the sustainability of our projects and to prevent deforestation.

Xylophones as a part of African culture

Referred to as “The Beginning and the End” the xylophone plays an integral part in Ghanaian and African culture. They xylophone is used to celebrate birthing ceremonies, school performances, funerals, and at church and religious ceremonies.

Please go to the following address for a more visual interpretation of this company profile:

http://vimeo.com/3515667

Holy Mole

2009-06-17T09:21:00.006Z

It's tourist time.

The EWB Ghana team is scattered in the upper west, upper east and northern regions and are working in 2 sectors: Agriculture as well as Governance. The long term overseas staff (LTOVs) get together every month in Tamale to regroup, stratagize, give updates, share best practices/stories and have a few beers. Now that us Junior Fellows have been in country for a month, it was time for us to head to our first in country.

Before hand, we spent a couple days to ourselves to reflect on our own experiences. We also were given the chance to check out Mole national park and play tourist.

Mole (like guacaMOLE) was designated as a national park in 1971 and is the largest and best known of Ghana’s national parks. It comprises an area of 4840 square km of open savannah woodland, boval, riverine forest, floodplain grassland and swamp that supports a rich diversity of flora and fauna.

What Ghana is missing is that big tourist attraction. The country isn't known for it's game viewing in the same way that East Africa is, that's for sure. The pro is that there are few people at the park in any given time and allows for exploring by foot. The con is that the infrastructure to the park is in pretty rough shape and things are ludicrously overpriced.

- Taking a Trotro from Domongo, West Gonja to Mole Park.

-James, our guide for the day.

Baboons came to greet us at the gates. They are pretty much trained to know that non-Africans are easy targets for food snatching. The trick to scare them away when you're trying to enjoy your lovely, imported, 7 dollar plate of french fries by the Mole park poolside is to assume the slingshot position with your hands.

-Bush Buck prints!

-Baboons and warthogs have it rough.

Introducing Loxodonta africana!

'Twas an amazing trip!
I'll be honest.
I got a little misty eyed seeing the elephants.
They're such a powerful animal and yet they move so softly and are such playful beings.

James expressed his concerns for the amount of poaching that still occurs in the park, as well as the use of bush burning by local communities that damages a considerable amount of habitat. This is something I've heard a lot about during my time working with MoFA. The practice is done for a variety of reasons: for aesthetics, to clear grass so that fire wood is easier to spot, to get rid of rats/spiders/mice/snakes, preparing the land for planting amongst others.

In farming communities, bush burning is a much easier way of dealing with organic matter as composting making is especially labour intensive and takes time. MoFA tells farmers to recycle their organic matter, but there isn't much incentive or support for composting, especially when there is an easier route of using chemical fertilizer, which farmers get at a subsidized rate with MoFA coupons. Farmer behavior is difficult to challenge, so is MoFA approach to extension. Often, this practice is just another reason why farmers are deemed as lazy, illiterate and don't adopt technologies. The first step to bringing more appropriate extension services to farmers is understanding to get MoFA AEAs to understand and value why farmers behave the way they do. This is where getting AEAs to see farmers in a new light and to value what farmers are doing how the innovation project fits in. We had an innovation workshop, and invited AEAs and MoFA staff from 3 districts to share the innovations they've found and to talk about the next steps. I'll leave that update for the next time!

I'm back in Wa for the day and heading up to Lawra after a week and a half of being out of the community. The country meeting has got me recharged to try a few new things at work. I'm especially excited to see how my field is doing!

Love from the upper west (and best) side!

One Ghanaian Birthday and a Funeral

2009-06-10T18:02:00.004Z

I tried to be sneaky about my birthday with my host family and village but the second my brother found out he brought out a list for things to get at market to prepare for a party. I had reservations about throwing a celebration as I don’t want to seem like Mr. Moneybags to my community but I’ve learned the colour of my skin already does that well enough. In any case, I usually take my friends out for a meal and drinks when its my birthday.

So we prepared a feast: Guinea fowl, pounded yam for fufu, a delicious groundnut stew and plenty of pito, a beer of fermented maize juice. Sam made the arrangements for the bird and drinks, and I pedaled to market to the ingredients for the stew, as well as mangoes and Ghanaian chocolate for dessert.

-The most sought after and expensive part of the guinea fowl... the ovaries!

The meal was amazing, but the party itself… like any good party, was awkward. I wanted to be involved in the preparations of the meal as much as possible, but alas I was told to “sit back and enjoy the Africanism”, in other words, let the women do it. In Ghana, you eat when food is ready and when you are hungry, you don’t necessarily wait for everyone to have a plate of food and join you. So, many of the members of the village who helped prepare the meal ate after the friends that I invited and I was finished. I’m not sure if there was enough food for the many people who turned up but Sam assured me there was.

After dinner, things got shaking. By this time I already had close to half a gallon of pito and was feeling pretty fine. The next thing I knew I was having water poured on me for good luck and dancing to the upper west xylophone sounds. Of course my attempt to dance Ghanaian only sparked laughter amongst the guest but hey it’s not everyday you see a tall, hairy white guy dance. There is a drinking spot right out front of my compound, where farmers tend to congregate at the end of the day for a glass of warm apeteshi, local gin. Anywho, the party moved there and young and old, man and women all joined in.

-Being soaked in good luck by Gladys and Clement.

Overall, it was an incredible birthday. I started the morning out by planting my groundnuts on the plot of land I’ve been given to cultivate and have developed some wicked blisters. By the night time, I was dancing by the moonlight with the locals.

-My plot of land before weeding and planting of groundnuts.

On a much more realistic note, too much pito leads to too much fun… and too much time spent in the bushes trying to recover.

Forgive me for being unable to tie these two subjects together seamlessly but on a more somber note, Funerals are a community event that usually last 3 days. Day 1 is for serious mourning, day 2 is for celebration and day 3 is the departure and burial depending on the state of the corpse. In Canada, my understanding of funerals is that they’re very private. People here are more connected, and family and friends are extremely important so it becomes a chance for mourning, and social and sorrowful celebration.

On a lazy, hot Friday afternoon (the morning after my pito-guinea fowl binge) I went home early from work to nurse my African hangover. A few minutes into my nap, my host father knocks on my door and was extremely keen and excited to bring to me the funeral of a friend of his, also a xylophone maker. He’s been very interested in teaching me more about the community, the language and how to play the instrument. There have been several funerals in town since I’ve been here but I obviously felt uncomfortable just showing up uninvited.

- My host father leads the way to the funeral.

When we arrived we paid tribute to the corpse, quite literally. Mourners gather around what I can only describe as a mini boxed-in stage and toss coins in front of it to contribute to the event; more specifically pay the grave-diggers wage. In the box is the corpse, sitting in a chair, dressed to the nine, and in this case a cigarette in mouth and between fingers. Coins are then tossed to the xylophone players, who are playing around the clock in rotation.

The funeral is announced by a gunman, who shoots off a round every few hours. Hundreds of people attend to pay their respects, many which stay and sit in the shade of the mango trees and enjoy drinks and snacks. Every so often, when the music changes, women run up around the corpse and dance, this is often led by the widow.

In traditional Upper west beliefs, it is believed that a man and women are meant to die together. If they couple are very close, and if a widow doesn’t want to be haunted, she smears white clay over her body for 1-2 months so that the ghost of her husband doesn’t recognize her.

I’ve never attended a funeral.
I’ve never seen a corpse and to be honest, the entire event was mystical and eerie.
My life in Canada is so connected from death and illness. That may be a good thing to some but we find it so unacceptable that we try so hard to deny it as a human activity.

Obviously not everyone in the community has the support to have such a well orchestrated funeral when they pass. Sometimes people get ill and are abandoned by their family and communities and are literally left to die. My EWB Coach, Suzanne, who has been here for a year, has been helping a man back to health after his leg became severely infected after a fall into a sewer/gutter. He has been discharged from the hospital and is now living in a small room with no one willing to care for him. He’s better off on his own because visiting hours are very limited, as are the health services themselves. She has been paying neighbours to help the man go the bathroom, eat and bath but she often finds him forgotten about and laying in his own excrement, unable to move because he is so thin. The most vulnerable are left out by the community for a variety of reasons. How can they be included? How do we put the last first? Where does this responsibility lie?

The rains are coming...

2009-06-09T10:25:00.002Z

I'm sitting on the floor of my room of my compound. I'm writing this at dusk, by the crack of light of my tarp-covered window. Outside it is storming and I mean the works, gail wind, hail and fat rain. The noise is incredible.

I've never been so afraid to be inside than now. The tin roof is held down by rocks and I basically feel as if I'm waiting to be electrocuted. I refuse to turn on my flashlight, camera or anything for fear of attracting unwanted electrical attention from the sky. No wonder Ghanaian are so afraid of rain and storms.

Any second now the roof could fly away. Dorothy in Kansas comes to mind. Fortunately, I have a dry shelter and rice in my belly.

Everytime there's a flash I stop and check to see I'm alive.

The rains bring some relief to such a blistering hot day of 38degrees. Tomorrow, I'll wake up and the farms will be filled with people, eager to take advantage of the cool weather and moist soil.

Life in Lawra

2009-05-30T11:39:00.005Z

It has been 2 weeks and I’m quite settled in with my host family, the Baarus. I’m living with a family of farmers, spread out between 3 compounds about a 15 minute bike ride outside of town. The father and head of the family has 12 sons and 3 daughters. Plenty of help means plenty of land to cultivate crops, especially maize for pito (local beer) or any of other forms you can consume it (my favourite happens to be Kenke, a fermented gooey maize ball wrapped in husks and served with a soup of tomato, groundnut, meat and chili).

Our compound and backyard.

I’m sharing a compound with two of the sons, Samuel and Ahmeh. Sam is 28, a bachelor and has his fingers in many pies. He did not attend Secondary school, but has taken some agriculture courses at the local training institute. He will be going to college in Kumasi for an agric-business diploma in September but currently runs the family xylophone making business and is working very hard to get it set up as a learning centre (in which I’ll obviously be a student!). I’m hoping to help him out with some computer training to get it on the net. Sam also teaches Dagaare, the local language, to illiterate women at night as well as acting as an assistant to the social welfare program that provides a pension to vulnerable elderly farmers. Additionally, he is always helping out neighbours with their farms, especially now that dry season is coming to an end and the rains are on their way. There are always people stopping by for his advice, and he also happens to be trained as a marriage counselor. Sam is extremely warm, generous, open and sincere. He refuses to let me pay rent, but I manage to make sure we have enough food by picking up a few things everyday from town. The man is a serious inspiration. He’s planning to go back to school to study Horticulture, so we have plenty of conversation about plants and get along fantastically. I’m learning so much from him… including the traditional upper west sounds.

As the main man for the family xylophone business, he’s frequently travelling. Sam has been away for over a week and so his younger brother, Ahmeh, and I have been making it on our own. Here in Ghana, there is a lot of emphasis on family and showing respect for your elders and those who provide for you. Since I’m now the man of the compound, as well as a guest, Ahmeh goes to great lengths to make sure I’m comfortable. He constantly lets me know what he is doing, where he is going and is often trying to make my life easier by fetching the bath water from the well, doing the washing or cooking. If I was spotted doing my laundry, cooking or even farming, Ahmeh would feel embarrassed because it would seem to the rest of the community that he is not being a good host. This conflicts with my eagerness to learn to live without electricity in a rural northern Ghanaian community!

(cooking hut and garage... home to many a Hemidachylus mabovia.... common house gecko).

There is a well just outside our compound which is too tempting to drink from on a hot, dry northern Ghanaian day. Ahmeh just recently informed me that a previous guest from Argentina was hospitalized due to this well, so I have taken up biking the distance to the more reliable borehole. Once the rains come more frequently, rather than the current sporadic wind, buckets of rain and life-threatening lightening storms, there will be more bugs, more risk of contamination and maybe I’ll start taking the malaria thing more seriously. As it stands, I have not seen 1 mosquito in my area…. Although bites have started to appear in very odd areas.

Settlement in Lawra was done in such a way that farmers’ compounds are in the middle of their farms. This isn’t always the case in our district. As a result, the area surrounding the town is very crowded and animals (goats, pigs, cattle, dogs and a variety of reptiles) roam free. This means that they’re always chomping on garbage, or sprouts. Most farmers don’t tie up their animals and so there is often tension between farmers with accusations of selfishness as they let their animals feast off a neighbouring crop. In other areas, farms and compounds are separated, which means animals stay at home and aren’t so free range. Speaking of free range, there is no latrine.

Due to the overcrowded nature of settlement in the district, there are too many farmers and not enough land, presenting a monumental technology transfer problem. There is a need to develop an acceptable and appropriate technologies, infrastructure and teaching programs to transfer this technology to where it is needed. As its stands, MoFA’s biggest challenge is low adoption of technologies. In other words, Agriculture Extension Agents (AEAs) have been promoting many of the same technologies to farmers for 30 years; however the policies coming out of Accra don’t often reflect the realities of farmers so farmers don’t adopt them. Sometimes the technology doesn’t fit in with the culture of the community, and often the technology requires an investment that most farmers can’t afford to make. This means working along side farmers, getting feedback and recognizing that the current top down transfer system of extension of MoFA needs to be shifted.

What EWB has been working up here in the Upper best/West is just that. We’ve been challenging the way AEAs approach their extension services by working with them to develop new technologies that are more affordable and appropriate for farmers. Farmers need to be seen as innovative, adaptable and able to problem solve. Their indigenous technologies should be revalued, honoured and learned from to understand the benefits. AEAs are used to the transfer of technology in a lecture and demonstration style, the way that it was taught in training. They aren’t used to learning from mistakes. The innovation project is somewhat unclear by AEAs and can be helped by a pyramid of understanding through action in order to dismantle the myth that farmers are “stuck in their ways, lazy, illiterate and have given up in life”. The innovation challenge then is about finding new knowledge in the field, new adaptations to MoFA technologies that are inexpensive, appropriate and can be shared with other farmers. Examples include mixing salt and water to combat the striga parasite (a plant that literally attaches and sucks the food from another plant), mixing pepe (chilis) with cowpea to prevent destruction by weezle pests during storage.

The second part of the innovation challenge has to do with MoFA staff. From an innovation fund, 3 districts in the Upper West have submitted change projects to receive funding. These projects are ideas that MoFA staff members have submitted that they think could change the way that MoFA more efficiently and responsibly. Examples of these change projects include instead of having the monthly district meetings in the office, have them take place in field to include farmer groups. Another example involves a suggest box for AEAs to submit concerns, and establishing a committee to meet to go through the comments and work on implementing them.

As for me, I’m responsible for keeping these projects moving, and getting AEAs excited about farmer innovations and coaching them to find other ways to find solutions to farmer problems. Work is pretty rough sometimes, trying to get to the field is difficult as AEAs don’t get a fuel allowance and as planting season has just begun, they are very busy. Building trust takes time so I’ve been playing it cool, perhaps a little too cool, as I get the sense that some of them think of me as an imposition rather than an asset to the district office. Getting to know staff outside of work is a pretty good way to go when you want to build trust and if you want to get to the field.
(cooking hut)

In other news, sorry to keep this post long and wordy but you have to understand that I’m using the only computer that has internet in the district, so it’s rather slow and that makes picture uploading impossible. Bare with me in my future attempts to make things seem more visual than the dense script above! I’ve finally been able to get on to twitter. That is, I can send text messages to update my facebook status and twitter accounts simultaneously. Gary, you better get cracking on this new ICT!

Today is market day in Lawra so I’m off to get a few things for the week with my host brother. He has offered to give me a small plot of land to farm from scratch so I need to find some seed. I’ll be growing groundnut (peanut) and maize, with his help and guidance of course. My green thumbs are quivering in anticipation!
(Front door... welcome to my home!)

Love from the upper west (side).

Spencer.

"Nansala, how are you? We are fine! Thank you!"

2009-05-12T20:12:00.004Z

I thought I would start with the little ditty that I've become very accustom to hearing. Kid's chant this saying when you walk past. It's an upper west thing. From my understanding, kids in other parts of Ghana generally just yell hello, again and again. I usually make the smaller kids/babies cry. How would you feel if you saw a tall, bearded, white hairy beast of a man come towards you?

I'm currently in Wa, the regional capital of the Upper West(/Best). I'm here with another JF and Suzanne, a long term overseas volunteer and the leader of the project we are working on up here in the UW. She's been spreading herself thin over three district and now that there are two people to join her for the next few months things are really going to get moving.

Let me tell you a little about the journey here.

We hopped on the TTC to the Toronto airport, checked in 3 hours early with Alitalia and before any of the 13 of us heading to Ghana new it we were on our way to Accra, with a layover in Rome.

Adam, Gajan, Evan and myself were determined to get into the city. Not to rub it in the faces of the other JF's who decided to stay at the airport, but we had a blast. We managed to have a little over 2 hours to play tourist. We got off the train, got on the metro, and BAM there was the Colosseum. Also managed to visit the pope in the Vatican.

Arrived in Accra without any problems, and had our first fried egg and bread which will likely be breakfast for the remainder of my stay. I miss cheese already.

The next morning we got on the bus to Tamale, the economic and administrative capital of the Northern Region of Ghana. The bus broke down halfway through the 12 hour trip and we ended up chilling at the side of the road for 4 hours before another bus showed up. Plenty of writing, card playing, reading, chatting and fear about being bitten by mosquitoes.

The first day in Tamale was spent orienting ourselves. We went on a hunt to collect a few things at the Market (malaria treatment, cloth, etc). It was an overwhelming experience so I'll likely write an entire blog on the markets alone because there is so much to share. The following day was dedicated to our sector group. We spent the day getting up to speed with our goals as a group. Most the other junior fellows that are working in the Agriculture sector will be working on the Agriculture as a Business Curriculum, helping agriculture extension agents (AEAs) to facilitate and strengthen business practices for farmer groups so as to increase their income/opportunities. I, on the other hand, and working to address the reasons one of the biggest problems AEAs are having (low adoption of technologies by engaging AEAs to think more critically about the ways they work with farmers. We want AEA's to see farmers as hardworking, innovative groups who are making wise business practices, but cannot, for a variety of reasons, adopt the technologies the ministry of food and agriculture (MoFA) via AEA's are demonstrating.

I don't want to overload you with too much information. Stay tuned for to learn more about the farmer innovation challenge that I'm working on in Lawra district.

Happy, healthy and still in honeymoon phase of my placement.
Forgive me for the lack of visuals and the scatteredness of this blog ... it's proving to be extremely difficult to get pictures/videos uploaded without some sort of malfunction. Once I get into the groove of things at work and home I'll be able to share and focus my experience better.

I'm heading up to Lawra tonight via Tro-tro... which is a sort of minibus that is crammed with people. I know very little about my community but am excited to finally root myself.

Finally Ghana way!

2009-05-05T14:27:00.004Z

I'm currently sitting in the Engineers without Borders house in downtown Toronto with a day to go before heading overseas.

There are 14 of us in the Ghana-bound batch of EWB Junior Fellows (a selected role for an undergraduate Canadian that will be working for 4 months abroad in a placement with a partner Government agency or NGO). In the case of the Ghana bound group (there are roughly 16 others that will be heading to Burkina Faso, Zambia and Malawi a week after us). About 9 of us Ghana bound folks will be working in partnership with the Ministry of Food and Agriculture (MoFA) and the other bunch will focus on Governance and Rural Infrastructure, both at the district level in rural northern communities.

I’ll be working with MoFA in the upper west district of Lawra. EWB is working on something new. The two main projects are Innovation challenges at the Farmer level and at the level of MoFA. At the farmer level, we are looking to address the issue of low adoption of technology and poor farmer group sustainability and viability. Farmers are largely aware of technologies but chose not to adopt because of resource constraints or because they did not fit with the farmer’s priorities, needs and culture. With MoFA, we are working to enable district staff to identify and solve problems they face in the district.
Stay tuned for more in future weeks as I learn more about these innovation challenges and my placement!

Back in the EWB house, we are sharing a living space and an experience. Training started off a little slow and was in many ways an introduction or recap to some of the issues involved in international development. Using a variety of learning styles, many of which were very practical/hands on, we've explored rural livelihoods, power, participatory approaches/field methods, hierarchy, gender and you know, a few tips for living in rural Ghanaian communities (see picture below!). In the last couple of days, the group has really taken a shift from just scratching the surface on these issues to really challenging and engaging in a deeper way. You really learn a lot about how you work when you’re bunched together with a group of motivated, open and different people.

Our flight to Accra got bumped to tomorrow with a layover in Rome which works out great considering I didn’t bring half the stuff I needed from Halifax. I’ve got the day to tie up loose ends, pick up a few things and see a couple people (including the “co-star”, as EWB defines it).

Feeling nervous, anxious, excited, pumped and very grateful to everyone who has helped me along the way (shoutouts to the Dalhousie- EWB !

See you in Ghana!

Heading to the Upper West/Best

2009-04-05T18:47:00.007Z

Afternoon!

I'll be heading to the Upper West region of Ghana! More specifically, the Lawra district is where I'll call home this summer.

The Upper west region has about half a million people, with 85,000 people in the Lawra district alone.

Ghana with its 10 official regions, is one of the best performing economies in Africa. Overall poverty has declined from 52 percent in 1992 to 28% in 2006, and Ghana is on course to exceed the 2015 MDG of halving her poverty.
However, despite the recent economic expansion, the structure of the economy has not changed substantially. The economy continues to be largely dependent on agriculture. Agriculture is constrained by low productivity farming practices, poor infrastructure, land tenure uncertainties, gender inequities and uncertain access to traditional exports (cocoa, gold and other natural resources, still account for almost half of the exports).

Additionally, the overall poverty levels are declining, socio-economic and regional disparities are increasing and are linked to the lack of structural change in the economy. There is a strong urban rural difference in poverty indicators, with deprivation level substantially higher in some rural areas. Poverty is highest in in three northern regions (Northern, upper West and Upper East) and in rural coastal zones.

In terms of people engaged in agricultural production, the majority are small farmers involved in subsistence agriculture, or semi subsistence. About 80% of agricultural production is from smallholder family operated farms, mainly below one hectare. Larger holdings produce mainly cash crops such as oil palm, rubber and pineapples. For food production the small scale farming predominates. The majority of the small scale farmers are women, illiterate and aged, and they produce the largest proportion of food crops.

Some of the objectives of the placement:

•Support agricultural extension agents as they develop methods and techniques for facilitating farmer solutions to farmer problems.
•Introduce the Agriculture as a Business curriculum as one method of facilitating farmer problem solving.
•Support ministry staff who have taken on a change project within the district to implement their change project, monitor, document and share results.
•Strategize about future EWB activities in the Upper West Region

Basically, as my EWB Coach/team leader Suzanne described, the program tries to put the power to innovate and guide development in the hands of farmers and district staff themselves. It aims to enable farmers and district staff to find their own solutions to the problems that they face, instead of being forced to accept solutions from outside NGOs or government offices. This is a bit different from what the rest of the EWB crew is doing in agriculture and the program is still very new, so plenty of steering and use of imagination to be used over the next while.

Three of us will be working in the district: Stacey from U of O, myself and Suzanne as our long term overseas staff/coach who has been in the area for 8 months now. Here I was thinking I would be dropped off in the middle of one of the most remote parts of Ghana.

An open letter to the Dalhousie community

2009-03-26T23:30:00.004Z

Here's a little ditty I wrote after National Conference in Toronto.

Jan 28 2009

Dear Friends, Family, Students, Faculty and the Greater Dalhousie Community,

What started off as an invitation to friends to attend a Dal-EWB day conference evolved into a reflection piece about my experiences thus far in my university community and academic programs. As chapter Junior Fellow for Dalhousie 2009, this reflection is a great organic start to sharing my experience with others as I prepare for my overseas placement in Northern Ghana this summer.

I attended my first Engineers without Borders national conference this past January where 700 student delegates from every major university across Canada got together because they are motivated and are actively engaging in change. Change in the way Canadians view development issues, how our society, government, universities, work places, engages in change both here and abroad. I approached EWB with very little knowledge of the work they do, where I fit, what the organizations goals and aims are especially when it came to their overseas plans and work. After attending this 4 day conference, I’m seeing the Dalhousie community in a way never seen before. Let me explain my situation.

I came to Dal to fulfill my obligation to create change. I've felt this obligation I signed up for IDS, and added Environmental Science to the mix 2 years later. I feel anyone who takes any IDS class wants to be a part of changing some of those structures we constantly learn about and get frustrated by and we can only do so because our situation of priveledge. We learn development theories, global structures, NGO work and the root causes of poverty. We do this without getting a real sense of how International development plays out in the regions we are most concerned about. There is very little motivation to engage, and truth be told my overall critical mind was fed up. Truth is I abandoned IDS issues. I wasn’t sure in what way I could engage and be involved. I didn’t see the point. The world was, as I saw it, screwed. I switched into environmental science, because I was frustrated with only talking about development. It wasn’t until I got involved with SustainDal, the sustainability society on campus, that I found a better way of learning and being involved and creating change with others. Sure, sustainability is just as broad and complex as IDS issues and almost equally as frustrating. However, I can proudly say I’ve been a part of an ever growing movement and culture of environmental sustainability and awareness building in my community. There is a serious lack of care for development issues and human livelihoods in this community.
A friend of mine, doing a MA in IDS, told me about the fine line between being critical and being cynical. I often find it extremely difficult to sit through any speech or panel or lecture without picking a part what is being said and casting it off as biased or neo-colonial or environmental unsustainable or what have you. I think a lot of students get pushed over the line and come to the point where they throw their hands up in the air and give up, myself included.

Anywho, attending this conference gave me the hope and inspiration and drive and determination and belief in change that I had lost and didn’t think really existed to begin with. Dear Cynics, just wait a second and hear me out. I dare you to share a conference centre with 700 actively engaging youth and professional who are standing up and demanding change, and have plenty to show for it and not feel anything. As for the critics, EWB is flexible. Ever heard of organizational flexibility? How about learning from your mistakes? It is an organization that recognizes its limitations as working within a system, and creates relationships, dialogue and opportunities for change. The pressure the group has put on the Canadian government, specifically the Canadian International Development Agency, through its voice from Pacific to Atlantic and its relationships with the engineering world finally saw the total unraveling of tied-development assistance abroad last year. This is to say that aid receiving nations are not required to use it on Canadian goods and services thus increasing the efficiency of this assistance.
More importantly, seeking to learn from mistakes is an extremely important mechanism for growth of an individual, NGO or university department. During the conference, the founders of EWB burned the outdated mission statement which aimed “to promote human development through access to technology”. It’s a relief to not be bogged down by a mission that may have started the seed of this movement and to recognize that it is time to take a step back to figure out who we are and were we are going. It isn’t really about the technology, or the engineering, or international development. It’s about the people. It’s about creating relationships and understanding. It’s about being humble and compassionate. These are qualities each and every human possesses but is often too deafened by the noise of everyday western capitalistic life and the pressures and vulnerabilities they create everywhere. It’s not really about the technology, it’s about the people. I may not be an Engineer, but I’m doing my part to build a movement towards a more socially and environmentally just world.

As anyone who's attended can surely attest, the EWB National Conference is an out of this world event. It combines inspiration and energy; with deep learning and insights on international development and social change; with questioning and planning around specific programs and EWB's culture and approach; with showcasing EWB to the broader development, engineering and corporate community; with sharing program/chapter ideas across the organization and building a broad community and movement. I began to see I had a part of this big EWB family, a fellow in the broad sense of the word. As the new Junior Fellow for Dalhousie, and a new member of EWB thinking I was going to a conference full of engineers it wasn’t hard to fit in and realize its not about what you’re doing in University because we’re all coming together to be part of the change. We all have a place and a part to play.
Every year, each University chapter across Canada selects a Junior Fellow to work in a placement with a partner NGO of EWB in 1 of the 4 countries the organization concentrates its efforts. This person is someone who not only has passion for building a better world, is flexible, open minded, has a sense of self awareness and a thorough, yet critical, understanding of “good” development. While EWB JF’s have some impact in the community in which they work, their greatest impact will be in their home community and at their university upon their return. Through talking about what they learned and experienced with people here in Canada, they will play an integral role in raising awareness about the urgent need for development overseas.

I applied for the placement after a couple of years of literally ignoring everything I learned from my other major, IDS, not to mention not having the slightest clue how to use any of it. I was ready to engage. I’ve finally accepted some of the ways in which the world works in the sense that they many of these structures and processes are completely unacceptable. This is my chance to define development in my own way and to see who and what is being developed. I knew, from taking 3 core IDS theory classes I didn’t really have a definition of what development is. After 3 theory classes comes a simulation course that teaches you how NGO’s work by creating a project proposal. My group members and I felt planning a simulated development project for a community that didn’t exist wasn’t very useful. Even if they did exist, this type of planning without actual understanding of the issues and concerns and needs of people on the ground are ludicrous. That’s the lesson of the class itself; the mainstream way development is being done is a messy, mostly bureaucratic process that doesn’t always address the actual needs of people. However, no alternative to this kind of development is talked about in my IDS program.

There needs to be more a practical components to our learning, in whatever field of study. We all need to actually engage in IDS issues and see that we should stand up for what is right. We need to stay hopeful and motivated for change. This is why I applied to become a junior fellow. This is why I’m excited to share the knowledge and lessons with my academic IDS community that doesn’t know what to do with itself. I’m excited to share with engineers who don’t know what opportunities they can create for others and for everyone else who wants to be involved in this shift. Ultimately, this organization isn’t about International development and Engineering or whoever; it’s about coming together for what is right, coming together for people, in solidarity for Dorothy. She is no single person, she’s the archetype which EWB does all its work. She is the person living in poverty facing numerous challenges and vulnerabilities to improving her livelihood. She is the individual that every EWB overseas volunteer is responsible to, our boss, our decision maker. After being critical and analyzing development work, you lose the purpose and motivation by getting caught up in all the global structures no longer able to see what exactly you’re studying all this for. I’ve realized that by combining my International development studies with involvement in an organization that is building a movement, gave me the understanding I need to work for Dorothy in an appropriate way.

What’s next? Well, I’m heading to Northern Ghana in a month to work with farmers via the Ministry of Food and Agriculture. EWB and MoFA’s Agriculture as a Business program creates opportunities for farmers groups to increase their livelihoods with increased access to markets. That means increased access to health services and education. I'll find out more details about my placement come April 1st so stay tuned.

Prologue

2009-03-26T22:23:00.003Z

Hi Friends,

Let me bring you up to speed! I'm heading to Northern Ghana, Western Africa, this summer as the Junior Fellow of the Dalhousie Chapter of Engineers without Borders. EWB is an organization that assists people in developing communities gain access to technologies that will improve their lives. EWB believes that technology, when appropriately incorporated into each community's social, cultural, economic and political context, can drive extraordinary change. It goes beyond this pretty formal definition.... I'm hoping this blog will shed some light as to how development work plays out on the ground, in the community and from person to person.

I've been involved with EWB since first year to the extent that I was on the mailing list. This year, I applied for a short term overseas position through my chapter. This has put me in a unique position to share my overseas experience with my friends, family, chapter members and university community and do really understand some of the structures and processes that I've learned from my studies.

Feel free to comment and ask questions.

Word!