Pong Tamale – Accra – Toronto – Going Home At Last

As I sit in a booth at a fast food joint eating fried chicken and spicy potato wedges located in Osu, Accra I realize how quickly this year working in Ghana has come full circle. Last July I was packing my bags full of pharmaceuticals and now I am packing them with custom made Ghanaian clothing to be sent home and shown off.

Chatting with both foreign and local friends from across the country it finally hits me that tomorrow I will be home, thus concluding my years work in agricultural development in Ghana with EWB.

Village Party and Salimisi friends

My colleague David and best friend Jamal

As I pour more ketchup onto the chips, friends and I discuss the changing government system in Ghana from the National level down to the districts and the deep rooted problems lying underneath such an important step towards development – decentralization. What role donors could or should play and how to reinvent or scrap failing projects – and we further question their existence all together. We acknowledge how difficult it is to successfully give money to institutions because of complex power dynamics and difficulty in proving indicators of success.

The Director at the Office I worked in – Ministry of Food and Agriculture district level

We inspire with interesting realizations around how constituent demands for more transparent aid might actually contradict best practice of providing assistance directly to governments because it is difficult to attribute direct indicators of development success. Think of it like this: it is much easier to take photos of irrigation pipes you bought and provided to farmers than it is to the data process meant to manage pipe distribution and repair for the whole country. So you end up funding pipes and provide them directly to a few villages with no system in place for their management. You do this because the people holding you accountable pressure you to demonstrate the direct benefits – even if those benefits are only immediate and not necessarily contributing to development.

My favourite extension agent at the office. I learnt so much from him!

We discuss what necessary investment in government institutions are required and conclude that it is more than just resources and capacity, but also empowerment. Chanting in my head “Workshops in Tamale, all day, everyday” and I nearly weep at the thought of one more workshop the Director at the Ministry of Food and Agriculture district office I worked at is forced to attend.

But all of us at the table holding our raisin croissants and cappuccinos throw up our hands in bewilderment as we attempt to come up with ideas of how to build trust. Or how to convince donors to take a risk.

Staff member and I after my final presentation to the office

These are the types of detailed, deep and challenging discussions about development I have had over the past year. Not just about the public sector or agricultural development, but also the private sector, water and sanitation, education, health and how gender fits around it all in a very messy complex way. Like the secret sauce on a McDonald’s Big Mac Burger, you know it is what holds everything together – the secret ingredient – but you cannot for the life of you figure out how to put the right components together to seal the deal on what makes the hamburger so damn tasty.

My favourite little girl and I

The Captains of the Football Team, making sure I am not crying during my Goodbye Party – thanks guys!

I look out the window and see the classic UNDP white land cruiser, topped with the longest radio signaler, skyrocketing over any car that is near it. I realize that the constant flow and representation of development – UN trucks, informal lunches with World Bank officials, policy directors, grassroots organizations and living everyday with’Dorthy’- will no longer be immediate in my life. The random man I eat breakfast probably will not be the Director at the UN for child rights in Ghana or a new company CEO looking to provide affordable water pumps to as many villages possible.

Me dancing to traditional Dagomba drumming with a traditional prayer scarf. See the change being put on my forehead. Love tradition when it is this much fun!

It has been a privilege to work in Ghana. I am nothing but grateful for the professional and personal growth that has accompanied it. It has not been easy-o but it has been beyond worthwhile.

I am grateful for the long conversations I have had with worthy friends, where I play coach and assist them in making tough decisions for the future. I am more than excited for them and cannot wait to maintain our relationship. I am grateful for the tough work days at the office that forced me to get out to the field, challenge myself to learn and ask. I am grateful for the lights out that pushed me to talk to people as opposed to hiding in my room with my computer. I am grateful for every single person who asked how I am feeling and brought me juice when I was not physically well. For every person who lent me their phone, pushed my motorcycle for me, stayed up late to make sure I arrived safely somewhere or have been waiting on the end of a phone call in Canada counting the days until I am back. I am even grateful of those people who have really hurt me in the past few months – I have learnt to persevere and you made my skin a bit thicker, a bit harder.

See that new smock I am wearing? A gift from my favourite boys football team

This little boy loves rice so much that it turned his fear of me into love. What a cutie

I wonder whether I have sufficiently taken advantage of the experience. Whether I could have done more – gone to more meetings, had more conversations – but I guess you can always do more. That coulda, woulda, shoulda attitude hits me hard like a weight on my chest. I wonder whether I built sufficient relationships beyond shallow conversations and turned them into something more meaningful that will outlast communication difficulties to the African continent.

My neighbors and I in a traditional dress

What is next?

The next two months I will spend at home in Toronto with my family and friends. Also running several errands, such as getting through more doctors appointments than I usually attend in a year. I also intend to come up with a few organizational solutions at EWB National Office in Toronto, but that is a whole other can of worms that I do not know whether I have the enthusiasm to do.

Speech at the goodbye party I hosted

I will then venture off to England to do a full time one year Masters degree at the Institute of Development Studies at Sussex University. There I will be pushed to solidify my opinions about development, reunited with a few friends, a new culture and environment and the most important man in my life. Who knows, hopefully I will come out with the dream job or a meaningful direction and next step in my life. It won’t come easy though and I anticipate some tough decisions every step a long the way.

The head table at the Party. I was forced to sit with the Big Men in the community. Of course I am the only woman

I might also pursue a consultancy position for a different type of agricultural project, hopefully bringing me back to the African continent in a different capacity.

Now, I am in Accra, next stop Toronto!

Video of my Final Goodbye Party in the Village. I am learning how to dance

Field Level Knowledge and Realities

The following document is a conclusion of Siera Vercillo’s research conducted over a three month Immersion Experience in Northern Region, Ghana. The statistics provided are originating from formal research conducted by EWB. The statements made are based on her analysis of qualitative research conducted in the field. Her findings are based on the limits of her experience and are by no means the exact truth on the ground.

Ministry of Food and Agriculture (MoFA) Ghana Policy

The main objective of MoFA is to alleviate poverty and increase food security through the agricultural sector by reaching the majority of people who are subsistence and smallholder farmers. The rationale for this is so government is better able to cater service provision to a larger proportion of those living in poverty and suffering from food scarcity in Ghana.

MoFA is a major player in both internally owned and foreign donor projects as an implementer at the district level. Projects choose to work with MoFA because it has a reputation as being the institution with the longest history working with local communities and its respective farmers, while providing a cheaper service relative to other implementers. A criticism that is often made regarding being a major implementer at the district level is that MoFA staff are often over burdened with too many contrasting roles and objectives, effecting their overall schedule and output. Despite this MoFA districts continue to take on the responsibility of project work because it provides them with additional funds and resources required of beneficial extension provision.

Staff at the MoFA Office I work at. Including the Director, AEAs, Supervisors, Typists, Drivers, Information etc.

As an EWB Team working in Ghana, we need to acknowledge the constraints our partners, such as MoFA are confined by and work within that system to accomplish our goals of technology adoption for more appropriate and improved extension services to farmers. Working within the system, however is different than working against it. We will have to decide as a team what our focus will be – to progress extension (in any system) or work towards a more enabling environment for MoFA’s extension service provision (or additional partner organizations). Depending on the resources available it would be possible to work towards both, however I anticipate a strategic difficulty in moving forward. Developing one off innovations that adapt extension so it encourages greater behavior change is not necessarily contributing to direct systemic change, especially if those innovations are unrelated to government services.

Specific policies MoFA National has set targets for and MoFA districts are working towards:

• Provide agricultural service delivery
• Public-private facilitation
• Facilitate capacity of human resources
• Facilitation of research and technology development
• Facilitation of linking agriculture and industry
• Facilitate integration of cross cutting issues like gender equity
• Facilitate international trade and domestic marketing of commodities
• Coordinate and enforce regulations & partnership activities and policies

Throughout the research conducted during the immersion experience, discussion around coordination and harmonization of donor projects and implementers have continually been raised as an area of concern and needed improvement. Having a better idea of the major players in the field would allow our EWB Team AgEX to better influence for coordinated efforts. This would contribute greatly to systemic change.

Extension Services at MoFA District Level

Agriculture Extension Agent (AEA) Snapshot:

An AEA is appointed to his position for life by MoFA National. Once hired, the AEA can be posted anywhere. The diversity across the country implies that sometimes an AEA lacks knowledge of the local language and customs, making integration required of an AEA in a community more difficult. It is possible to be recruited by a specific office through recommendations, but the letter of offer requires the signature of a chief executive member. To be hired by MoFA as an AEA a minimum certificate from an Agricultural College is required. Having a university level degree proves possibility to move directly into working above the AEA position to a supervisory position, such as a DAO. Despite this possibility and supervisory role, many supervisors or ‘DAOs’ work directly to provide extension because of resource constraints.

Farmer Group Meeting – learning about district level realities

An AEA’s work plan and schedule is normally based on national level programs, in addition to community demands. This requires knowledge and records of what farmers are doing in collaboration of sharing that knowledge to other staff. AEAs work around national level programs and adapt their schedule and extension methods to be more suitable for the farmers they cater towards. This is needed to demonstrate results for reporting back to MoFA National and other NGO based projects. For example, in the Block Farm program or Youth in Agriculture (YIA), an AEA might choose to work with individual farmers as opposed to farming based organizations (FBOs).

On average an AEA,
• Works 5.8 hours per day, travels 47.6 km and interacts with 15 people;
• 30% of AEAs average day was delivering technical advice on planting distances or applying fertilizer as well as monitoring application for good agriculture practices;
• 17-21% of the time AEAs had help or were helping beneficiary farmers;
• Majority of time spent was interacting in the field while measuring and demarcating plots 35-68% of the time;
• Interacting with farmer groups doing administrative, supervision, inputs 31%-26% of time;
o Farmer groups has average 15 members and 65% were male;
• 29% of the AEAs’ time interacted with individual farmers and 80% of which were male to measure and demarcate plots for YIA (Block Farm);
• Majority 70-75% of the average day spent administrating, facilitating and implementation of national incentives or development partner projects;
• 45-71% spent on enabling farmer access to development partners;
• Majority of time was spent on National level projects leaving less than 1% of time dedicated to responding to local farmer needs.

Constraints to Extension at MoFA:

Averages that projects base their design on, such as when to test soil or plant seeds can vary from local customary good agricultural practices because of diversity across the country and various regions. The experiments are usually conducted based on project level work. Project level work implemented by MoFA dictates when activities occur and is based on national and sometimes regional averages. Projects can be mismanaged or lack coordination affecting the timing of when experiments and activities occur. Timing in agriculture is absolutely critical and planting even two weeks late will have a tremendous affect on the results of yields.

Possible Solution: release funding on time and have triggers in place to cancel activities and provide back up in case funding is not released. This will hope to ensure that the time and trust of farmers with extension agents and MoFA is not compromised. This lack of coordination and poor timing actually works against technology adoption.

The expectation from farmers that things will come for free is a serious concern for any internally implemented activity. Many donor projects provide monetary incentives or other items for free in order to reward farmers for participation, being refreshments at meetings or tractor services. This is problematic as it does not sustain activities advised after project completion and changes the expectations of farmers for when AEAs provide any other type of service outside of donor projects. The reality is that MoFA does not have the resources to provide these types of incentives nor should they. The advisory services and prospect for improving farming productivity provided by extension services should be incentive enough. It is not sustainable to be providing things for free (keeping in mind credit is often perceived as something for free) as an incentive to adopt new practices.

Presenting the Agriculture As a Business Programme Certificate to Women’s Group

AEAs can lack communication and participatory approaches in their work as formal education and employer resource constraints confine their knowledge and ability. For example, in Ghana the process for how certain people are chosen for decision making and communication in villages is not taught during the training or education of an AEA. Also, coming at the right time for when farmers need, not when projects or AEAs dictate, tend to be constrained in practice due to the way resources and incentives are allocated at the MoFA district level.

Limited access to services by female operators is a serious concern to advisory services provided as cultural and social constraints define women, AEAs and the work they do. Male AEAs (the majority) complain about what they cannot provide to women farmers and community members as their social context will not allow them. Social constraints on women often disallow them to participate the way their male counterparts do with an AEA.

Employee frustration due to lack of support from MoFA (fuel and motorcycles),
o the fuel allowances that are not provided on time (at the moment 8 months late)
o no motorcycle updates or other materials provided,
o no appropriate accommodations available in operational areas,
o low salaries,
o insufficient education development offered – many AEA claim there is not enough service training and learning materials,
o mis-communication and contradictions in what should be training farmers on

Directors decide which activities and projects to focus extension service provision. The process for this is fairly time consuming, complicated and seems to take up the majority of a Directors time. For example, to focus on crop diversification to develop the agricultural sector at the district level, a Director will write a proposal for an activity (demonstration plot) that a donor will have to pay for since MoFA National might not have allocated money for this. The Director believes based on his staff’s knowledge that this activity is greatly needed for the development of his district. Since the money provided for these activities is insufficient (or not at all) he has to lobby outside for more. There are projects or activities that are paid for by a MoFA district office, but the money is often tied by MoFA National, effecting the implementation of activities. In addition, this proposal and report writing and accountability meetings to attract and maintain donor project activities and expectations seems to take up the majority time of management staff. Perhaps, a reallocation of responsibilities within the District would be an intervention to test.

Agriculture As a Business Women’s Farmer Group

Intervention Idea: Coordinate extension services by MoFA staff within and across districts to efficiently maximize resources. Specifically, coordinate the extension provided by other districts that overlap. How is extension coordinated or best practices shared if general extension (even outside project work) is not necessarily a main priority?

My favourite neighbor and I sporting our MoFA Union Shirts behind our houses.

Intervention Idea: Peer-peer learning:: those farmers who completed a project will demonstrate to other farmers success of technologies and good agricultural practices. Fostering Peer – Peer learning and sharing of knowledge and resources is what EWB can develop as an innovation. Farmers who wish to try and share resources will work together to try different things. The farmers share the knowledge and have an impact on the community. An AEA will simply play a facilitator and match makers role (matching farmers with peers).

Intervention Idea: Farmer Selection – using Farmer Field Forums (FFFs) FFFs is a seasonal long set of activities with particular topics for impact points. An intervention can use FFFs to convince farmers to participate and use technologies. Using FFFs particular farmers can be picked who arere interested in learning new techniques. The FFFs have been critical to success before asking farmers to adopt new technologies, however there needs to be different knowledge sessions on all sorts of topics, outside of simple technologies application. Topics around attitudes and mindset development for instance.

Intervention Idea: Sensitization meetings at the officeto allow for farmers to be aware of details in a program and build their confidence. These tend to only be successful if farmers trust and have rapport. An exchange of ideas with researchers and other stakeholders (more participatory) leaving it open so farmers can share with each other and make suggestions would also be useful.

Common Barriers Farmers Struggle With

• Low use of improved seeds and fertilizers (limited access, high cost)
• Poor soil health (low application of technologies)
• Lack of land access
• Poor crop management practices and timely field preparation
• Reliance on rain fed production (limited irrigation and water management knowledge)
• Insufficient agricultural marketing system (lack of outlets, harvest losses: storage facilities, limited processing skills and facilities)
• High transaction costs (inadequate road and transport infrastructure, small volumes varied in quality, poor bargaining power, lack of institutional infrastructure and inability to aggregate produce)
• Limited access to credit (high interest, collateral requirements and low investments in agriculture by creditors)

Dagomba Chiefs and Elders

Technology Adoption Constraints

Technology adoption is seen as one poverty alleviation strategy in a broader sense. Most agriculture projects in Ghana and across Africa are about poverty alleviation and nutritional improvements. Better yields implies increased income of farmers. EWB’s value add in this approach is that we are working on the ground in the field developing a better understanding of what farmer realities and implementation failures are. And to this reality we bring critical thinking and quick interventions to inform other programs.

Currently, technology adoption is coming from an economic based perspective, which assumes that farmers are rational all the time. The truth is that this is not always the case. Social constraints, level of education and other components that shape and affect farmer behaviours that might be different from non-farmer behaviours. It is farmer behavior, attitudes and on the ground realities that upper level decision makers (donors and central government) do not necessarily account for when making decisions that affect services meant to assist farmers. This is due to not only a lack of understanding of farmer beahviour and on the ground realities, but also a lack of incentive to account for them – political and other competitive incentives are more influential. A farmer first approach is defined as looking to improve farmer’s extension services as opposed to the extension services provided by MoFA.

Supporting the boys football at the match

Agricultural best practices cannot just be carbon copied from other places in the world where it once worked since a specific situation and context contribute significantly to the success of the best practice. This supports EWB’s team strategy in our rapid-prototyping and searching approach to new interventions, testing and using what works.

Pong Tamale United FC – My Favourite Football Team, they have been a big part of my community here. This is at one of their matches

Connecting to ‘Dorothy’: Insights into EWB Culture in Ghana

This post is meant to highlight, remind and role model certain behaviour, attitudes and reflection I would encourage my fellow colleagues to continue to act upon to shape the culture of our work in Ghana. It is also meant to foster a better understanding to the new volunteers who will be arriving and working with us in less than one month. I would also like to personally remind that the issue of comfort speaks to both mental satisfaction and physical health and safety.

This weekend my colleagues and I at Engineers Without Borders convened for the West Africa Retreat, otherwise known as the WAR. The WAR is considered a time to reconnect with colleagues and use them to help push ourselves out of our comfort zone and develop intentional skills and attitudes. Activities are not at all related to war like events, but instead include formal sessions related to our work or personal growth, feedback, reflection and even poetry slamming.

One of the most interesting sessions hosted was around the EWB culture of connecting to ‘Dorothy’. I have mentioned the term Dorothy at other times in this blog and as a reminder as to who Dorothy is:
she is our most important stakeholder, our informant, our evaluator and we are accountable to her when we do our work. We regularly consult her to make strategic decisions and we share her stories with others. She simplifies the complexity of our work and reminds us that development is about people. Dorothy is not a specific individual, but a representation of a complex category of people. Dorothy is a lot of different people and means something different to everyone working within EWB. Despite this subjectivity, Dorothy is meant to represent a person working each day and struggling against the odds to get out of poverty.

Farmer Group I am working alongside

EWB has a reputation for understanding Dorothy and using that knowledge to shape our actions, decisions and influence strategy for higher quality development work. Traditionally, EWB understands Dorothy because we spend time with her – maybe we live with a Dorothy, or visit her every week and ask her opinion about matters when decisions need to be made. Differently than many other development organizations, we are excited, interested and involved in her life and do not see her as simply someone who lives in poverty and deserves simple charitable donations to lift her out of poverty. EWB is an organization that I am proud of because of this innovative lens to developing a broken system. We are not saddened by Dorothy, but empowered by her to provide higher quality results.

The majority, if not all of the African Programs Staff at EWB have lived in the village alongside a community of ‘Dorothys’ and worked with partner organizations who are striving to directly improve the lives or system that affects her. For instance, since December I have been living in a village where my neighbours and community would be classified as a type of Dorothy. The Ministry of Food and Agriculture office where I work directly engages with the community to provide important services to Dorothy.

Friends from where I live

Before I moved to the village, I had the opportunity to travel and conduct research around Dorothy’s opinion and perspective on the problems she faces and solutions she thinks would be appropriate. I then took that knowledge to my Team and we are now using the research to shape our future strategy and influence other decision makers.

Many of the African Program Staff currently working in Ghana acknowledge that there has been a shift in the way we do work in Ghana. Just two years ago the majority of staffs were out in remote rural areas working and living with local families, but today 80% of the staffs are in big cities and or regional capitols living independently. Even those staffs, including myself, who live in a village are still close to a regional capitol and not in a more remote area. There are several factors as to why this has become the case – the type of work and influence we are doing, the experiences already had by staff etc.– and the way it is shaping the culture in the organizations is evident.

Chief of Tongo Hills - he has 18 wives

The session held at the WAR successfully flushed out thoughts and feelings about specific cultural changes and the benefits and consequences resulting from them. This is useful knowledge needed to decide how we want to shape the future culture of our work overseas in Ghana for when new volunteers arrive in the next month. Our actions, attitudes, words, living context, working situation etc., will impact the way the new volunteers continue to connect to Dorothy and remain living healthy and productive lives overseas.

A major question asked during the session was: How can we balance our own comfort with our experiential learning about poverty? The objective to answering this question was to begin brainstorming a reflection and sharing to each other of what we are proud of and want to push forward and how this relates to what we are uncomfortable about intended for ideas spurring normative change. Common themes or answers include:

Despite intentions and values of having a bottom line being Dorothy, African Programs staffs feel guilty and consider it a strong driver in lifestyle decisions. We need to push people to feel outside of that emotion, accept decisions people make and push them to make decisions that are correct for them. One way to do this would be to begin explicitly discussing what works and iterate on them.

That it is important to highlight important and positive experiences throughout someone’s placement overseas and the intention of why certain decisions are made. For instance, why someone may choose to live in a village versus the city. One important way to share that information in an interesting and meaningful way is through story telling.

Sacrificial Alter - learning about traditional religions in Ghana

Although we work for a charitable organization it is still important that we invest in ourselves. Because we spend a lot of time with Dorothy and work for her, feelings of guilt and service often come up. We are trying to push people to personally develop their own skills and ambitions and truly acknowledge that doing this will ultimately help better serve Dorothy, as opposed to debilitating and de-motivating feelings of judgement etc.

Since we live and work in a complex sector sometimes understanding Dorothy does not seem relevant for our job, however what needs to be acknowledged is that we all have different definitions of Dorothy.

Getting out of my comfort zone - climbed into a cave at the top of a cliff

Lastly, things are not polarised – Comfort versus struggle. There is a time where living in the village becomes very comfortable. Living in the village is not necessarily less comfortable and more of a struggle then living in a city. Remembering that and remembering why doing both is very important (sometimes one is more important than the other) depending on your current learning and working situation. What needs to happen and not be forgotten is to continue to get outside of your comfort zone for learning. That could imply visiting old family, friends, doing something completely alone. Finding new experiences to help you continue to learn is critical.

Ghana and Remaining Present

It is extremely important to remain present, as a living, aware, conscious entity, fully alert in the existing moment, remaining inwardly still. Otherwise we might get caught up in changing times on the outside and forget our true nature on the inside. – Random quote I cannot remember where I read it.

One challenge foreigners have while working and living overseas is remaining present in our daily experiences. To me, remaining present requires a realization – mental, physical, spiritual – of the situation you are currently in. Not the one you were once in, or the one you are moving towards, but the current situation. The state of presence to me is initiated by simple things such as, a smile, handshake or statement and is dependent on a personal frame of mind. Fellow development workers claim that because of stress, frustration, distractions or the drudge of ordinary life, remaining present is a difficult task. It seems the longer I live in Ghana the less I reflect about my life here because what seemed so strange and foreign is now part of my life. Without reflection and realization, appreciation is difficult for me. I think the significance of remaining present is less about realizing what is in front of you and more about appreciating it. Reflection has been of utmost importance for me here because of rapid personal and professional growth. Remaining present fosters realization and appreciation for how I have grown – the ultimate goal for why I have come to Ghana.

What started my thinking about this was a conversation I recently had with work colleagues. Usually our conversations begin with statements such as, “you people…” meaning us white people or foreigners, followed by sweeping generalizations about cultural assumptions and actions. We spend most of the conversation breaking down stereotypes and falsities. Differently, this conversation was about me and my actions, not anyone else’s. A few people mentioned that they were impressed with my adaptation to Ghana. Not just to the heat, the language barriers or even malaria, but they were impressed that I could stay positive and pleasant, while remaining so far away from family and my home. I explained that they were right, I am happy, but I do miss home every day. I miss my mother and father who I appreciate for their worry, strength and sincerity about my health and lifestyle here. I miss my brother, who just turned 21, an important age in my culture and who I was not able to celebrate with. I miss my grandmother and her loving pleasantness that always brightens my day. My friends, aunties, uncles, cousins, I wonder how they are moving forward and I am unable to take part in the ways that I want to.

I explained to my colleagues that despite these thoughts, it is because of “you people” or Ghanaians and the community here that has welcomed me so I can remain positive and pleasant. I did not think it was possible for a culture to be so open, free and generous and explained how different things are in Canada. I am happy here,

Because strangers are interested in having conversations with me about anything and everything; Because I am greeted by all the children every time I walk by, every time; Because I am called by 10 different people over the phone to make sure I am ok when they have not heard from me; Because they are genuinely sympathetic and take action when I am physically struggling; Because I am accepted at my office and encouraged; Because I can play soccer with a serious boys team, despite me being nowhere near fast or skilled enough; Because when I cannot get my motorcycle up the hill or started, someone will do it for me and wait to make sure I am ok; Because I am ALWAYS invited to eat, even from the same bowl sometimes; Because I am brought random vegetables from the farm by colleagues just to try; Because I am given gifts for working with farmers, instead of the other way around; Because I am always shocked when given a bag full of eggs as a gift from the village; Because of the smiles and hearty giggles that are matched by my equally large smile; Because of the hand gestures and shakes with a snap followed by a movement to your heart and head; Because I can join anyone and sit with them at anytime; Because of the small random surprises and gestures of kindness for free – greetings, knocks at my door, fixing my water meter etc.

Although this happens every day of my life I am reminded that it was once never part of my life. Calling a friend back home for her birthday, she reminds me of how much I will need to again adjust when I return to my own culture. She explains how conversing, while walking her dog in the neighbourhood she grew up in has become difficult. Here, if I do not converse, even from my motorcycle or on my way to the latrine, people will assume something is wrong, as it is an expectation to ask about someone`s sleep, how their body feels, how their children and husband are, even if you have never met them.

I am also reminded of appreciation and presence by the new EWB volunteers who have arrived. From their inquiries and their challenges, I remember to ask myself “what would a Ghanaian do?” before acting. This will probably be a statement I will carry with me for a long time.

On top of reminders from others, I find that travel on buses and trains provides a space for reflection that I often try and take advantage of and pushes me to acknowledge or remain present.

I feel lucky to have spent 8 months in Ghana and even luckier to have another 3.5 months left.

Water Shortages, Food Scarcity, Funerals, Lights Off – Reflections About Discouraging Experiences

I woke up this morning sweating because the power went out in the village (as did my fan) and to Moses, my roommate attempting to negotiate a bucket of water from a neighbour. Our water tank has been approaching empty for five days and we have been unsuccessful in finding a suitable way to fill it. If the lack of access to clean water is a problem for me, you can imagine the difficulty it would be for others in the village. There are three main sources of water accessible in the village,

New building that pumps water to the town. The door is so high because in the rainy season the water floods that high

Water pipes connected to people’s homes months ago have just had water flowing from them for the past two weeks. I am not sure what the delay was, but water meter installation for tracking usage did not happen until a month or so ago. Even with this, the water was not flowing until two weeks ago. Despite the infrastructure in place, the pipes are only turned on once a week, for an hour to fill your tank. The water meter costs 40 Ghana cedis to install, I am not sure how much it costs to install the piping system and a tank costs minimum 80-100 Ghana cedis. The cost of the pipe water is about 10 Ghana peswas for every 5-6 buckets of water and people outside of town have been protesting. When I ask questions about why there was a delay, my neighbours who are staff at the Agricultural College cannot give me an answer or provide a contact or resource.

Broken down water pumping building built just after colonialism

The Ghana Water Company Limited is apparently to be blamed and they often use the excuse that when there is no electricity they cannot pump the water. But there are still so many questions left unanswered. I also know that in the district capitol only half the village has running water, despite a piping system in place to everyone’s home. How is it that half a district capitol bordering the capitol of the region has running water that is only available to public taps and not those in compounds, despite infrastructure in place?

River where the building pumps water to the town

There is a reservoir with pipe water just across the road from my house. The reservoir is filled, however it has been left empty for a week or two periodically since I have been living here. Women used to come to the reservoir, carrying big metal bins on their head to carry water back to their compounds. One of those bins probably weighs as much as I do. There is a tractor that transports water directly to offices or people’s personal water tanks for a fee of 6 Ghana cedis. However, I have not seen the water flowing from that reservoir or tractor operating in a month or since the pipe water was flowing. This is the water I usually fetch, but the operator of the tractor has been difficult to locate with the excuse that the tractor is broken. However, I also see at least two other tractors being used. No one else can use the tractor except the individual people responsible for them. Apparently, each office building or department is supposed to have a tractor, but I have only seen three different tractors in the area. The District office at the Ministry of Food and Agriculture (MOFA) where I work does not have a tractor. Why does a MOFA office not manage its own tractor? Why do other departments like a laboratory have a tractor and why is only one person responsible for it when they are in high demand?

Women carrying water from the river

The tractors I have seen that are available and working are assigned to go to the dam nearby, which is not clean enough water to drink or cook with. Apparently ‘villagers’ use that water because the transport or tractor services are cheaper. People use that water to make building materials, like cement or bricks from mud. I have been recommended that this water is not clean enough for me to use, so I keep quiet and continue to wonder why I can’t hire one of those tractors to go to the reservoir for me to collect pipe water.

There are open wells in the area that are located in the middle of people’s compounds. In the rainy season (May-October) the well water is plentiful, and people have decently clean water in their own compounds to use.

Well dug for water that community uses

In the dry season however, starting in November, most of the wells dry up and people (women) resort to carrying huge loads on their head from a not so close dam because they cannot afford to buy a water tank or the cost of transport services available. Why is it that something so basic like water required of good sanitation needed of a healthy lifestyle has not been addressed as a priority in a place that is only 34km away from the region`s capitol?

Water has also been a common conversation amongst farmers and their advisors. Dry Season gardening and farming is a real issue in Northern Ghana. As people continue to burn the landscape (if the sun has not already done so) and cut down trees, the climate becomes desert like with dry strong winds, no moisture and poor soil fertility. As one Agricultural Extension Agent announced to me “I have to go save some trees, the farmers do not understand that the Sahel desert is upon us if we continue to cut trees down.”

Holes recently dug for water

People burn the landscape for various reasons. One popular reason is to find bush meat like grass cutta and burning the forest is the local way of hunting it, while bush fires spread like wild fire – literally – because of the dry, desert like climate. Even when I discuss the zucchini garden I want to start in my backyard, the main question asked to me is where will you get water? Something I never thought about, as the Canadian gardens always have water flowing from a hose connected to a tap.

Dry Season in Northern Ghana

Food shortage is a huge issue in the dry season in Northern Ghana and this year many families will suffer from hunger. Some ‘role model’ farmers (the innovators, the risk takers, the business negotiators) are using hybrid seed and the irrigation dams available in the area to farm ‘seriously’ even if they have been advised not to for various reasons. I had one farmer barge into my office yesterday complaining that no one thinks he can grow now as it is too late. He refuses to take anymore advice from MOFA or farm only three months of the year when people in other parts of the world farm all year round. He tells me he is fortunate as he does not need to pay for land or dig a dam for water. He has decided to farm two hectors of hybrid maize (he bought the seed in Accra) and intercrop with water melon because one is deep rooted and the other is shallow. The watermelon vines cover the land maintaining moisture and coolness.

A river that runs off of the White Volta

He floods the land during the night as the sun will burn the earth in the daytime. Something other farmers and MOFA staff have mocked him for. This is a farmer who has lived abroad and seen other, more upgraded technologies that even MOFA staff have not been educated upon. If farmers are not being advised on certain technologies in the dry season because they are not as accessible, than how will they know there are alternative ways to farming only three months of the year?

Agriculture as a Business First Meeting with a Women's Group

The water and food shortages have been causing disputes in the village I live in. The river running along the Secondary School in the area is their only source of water for the school. Since there is a food shortage, the Chief and the owner of the land gave permission for people in the area to collect fish from that river knowing it would pollute the only water source available. Instead of raising concerns to the Chief, the local people barged into fish when the students were distracted with a festival, naturally arousing a reaction from the students. There was a small violent action from the local people against the students and the students retaliated in a somewhat violent manner. Now that there are additional costs attached to the dispute, consensus on what should be done and whether fishing should take place in a limited water source has not been reached. As a landowner, how do you make a choice to use the land for food when people are going hungry or for water when it is the only available water source?

Food scarcity is a serious issue in Northern Ghana and particularly urgent across the region of West Africa. Listening to BBCs Africa Today News Podcast, Mike Wooldridge a broadcaster at BBC reports that there is an urgent and closing window of opportunity to address the drought and food scarcity issue in the West African region. The UNDP claims that the money needed to address the issue is 725 million dollars to scale up existing efforts.

This camel came from Niger where the drought and food scarcity is a major issue. This man fled

The EU who is one of the largest donors in this is collaborating with the World Food Programme (WFP) for providing food assistance to eight million people. The efforts are targeted at feeding programmes for children and pregnant women as a way of limiting the impact of the crisis. The cause of the crisis is a history of poor harvests due to erratic rains and crop pests, which leads to high prices in the market. The drought this year is more intense and historically frequent it is drastically altering yields. As a result, when people face a crisis like this they have to sell off their livestock and all of their family`s resources, which put them deeper into poverty.

Cattle eating off the dry land

In 2005 a quarter of a million people died because of the severity of the drought, 2010 was also a difficult year, but this year is proving to be one of the worst yet. The claim that there has not been enough attention in-between crises and a favourable political climate required to mitigate the consequences resulting from the drought is what causes it. What is a favourable political climate conducive to mitigating a food crisis in the long term? What does it mean to address the issues in-between crises?

That is the pump that takes the water from the dam to the town

Combined with the water and food shortages it is also funeral season for the Dagomba people living in the region – they are one of the biggest ethnic or tribal groups and make up the majority of people in the village I stay in. Funerals usually have hundreds to thousands of people attending with horses and gun shooting in celebration, depending on who is being honoured. It is almost every day that I hear gun shots in salute. The real difficulty is the time and resources these funerals require as all the guests need to be fed. Staff in the office are pulled in all directions, having to attend their own family’s funerals as well as the communities they serve to maintain trust and relationships.

Agricultural Extension Agent

Also, I am not sure if it because of this scarcity or complete coincidence, but more people seem to be dying or growing sick. Five staff in the office this week alone have called to tell me they have to delay the work as a family member has died or they wounded up in the hospital. When cultural practices put farming on hold during a critical point of food scarcity and hunger sensitive to timing and pull government staff and others out of their offices is it appropriate to excuse this?

Moreover, as we speak the lights are still out, reaching more than 24 hours of no electricity. In the mean time my phone and computer battery are dying, and 2pm when it is 40 degrees outside is approaching.

Agricultural Extension Services Team

I wanted to share a video recently filmed for the upcoming 11th Annual EWB National Conference coming up from January 11-14, 2012. The team I am working with has recently shifted strategy from working generally in the public sector in Ghana to a focus on improved agriculture extension service provision.

The reason for the shift is that it has historically been a focus and that the recent attention from the private sector in our innovations demonstrates that the agricultural advisory services system in Ghana is a complex one. We need to work with all stakeholders who are involved in these services to truly address the root causes of poverty and food insecurity.

We believe that since extension is the primary way that farmers can gain information about how to farm better that it is an important strategic focus. This includes growing a higher quality and quantity of food, as well as environmental preservation and expanding livelihoods. In a region where over 80% of the population is involved in agriculture, extension is a very important service.

Extension is as much about the how as the what. It’s one thing to have a cache of good agricultural info, but selling it to farmers is another challenge. For educated people or those who make rational decisions, simply providing information is enough: they will make the most profitable choice, or the one that maximizes their benefit. But for all the real human beings out there, extension is as much about marketing strategy as providing good information.

This does not mean that we will no longer work in the public sector, it just means strategically we will not be confined to it. I am currently partnering with the Ministry of Food and Agriculture (MOFA) in the Northern Region of Ghana because I believe in a strong public sector in supporting agricultural development in Ghana. For instance, one of the things I am working at the Savelugu-Nanton district level in the Northern Region of Ghana to upgrade the Agriculture As A Business (AAB) program so it is better prepared and marketable to those in the public or private sector interested in implementing the program.

We bring a farmer-focus or centered approach to extension services and conduct rapid-prototyping of solutions for providing better advice to farmers so they adopt new technologies. The main goal is to have farmers in Ghana have a more active role in their livelihoods, in making a decision of what to grow and how to grow it, while choosing the options or opportunities available to them.

If you are interested in learning about the tools and innovations tried and tested by our team, please contact me at +233-105-0954 or sieravercillo@ewb.ca

A Day in the Life of a District Dweller

I wake up 6 AM, shake my vivid dreams away and recognize the now common sight of my mosquito net and remember that somehow, someway I have ended up in West Africa. I unlock my room and even in the hall feel the seemingly cold breeze from the Harmattan weather – cool, dusty winds in the mornings with a temperature of around 15 degrees Celsius.

My Backyard

I immediately put on my exercise clothes and sweater for fear of catching the cataah (spelling uncertain) or common cold, which everyone seems to get around this time of year – not too unlike December in Canada. 15-20 degrees is actually too cold for me so I have to make sure I cover myself. I open all the windows, unlock the doors and head outside to greet my neighbours goods morning:

“Desba” – Good morning or how is the morning?
“naaaa” – response or fine
“Agbirre” – how was your sleep?
“Gombienne” – fine
“To” – ok

They have already begun sweeping the animal droppings, dust and other debris away that has wound itself around their house during the night. I walk down the path to the public latrines across from the Primary and Junior High School and unlock the one that belongs to me – yes, I get my own latrine.

There is a goat pen behind my backyard. The people take very good care of the animals and let them roam free in the day

I then run around the football pitch located behind the school until I am satisfied and greet all the school children staring at the white girl with the Manchester United shorts who is exercising like a footballer before they begin class. Walking back to my house I continue to greet people good morning and discuss their children and work. When I arrive I finish sweeping up and prepare breakfast. By this time my roommate Moses has waken. I know because he is either chatting loudly on the phone or listening to the morning news via his mobile – some new political pitch or scandal. Moses is a National Service Volunteer who works at the Agriculture Vetnary College laboratory down the road from the building I work at. He is interested in pharmaceutical biotechnology and hopes to attend a graduate program in ‘my part of the world’ someday.

I wash my clothes by hand at least once a week

For breakfast I use my gas cooker to fry two eggs with onions and some bread with raspberry jelly that I bought from the ‘white people’ store in the ‘city’ of Tamale. Sometimes I will settle for extremely, special pasteurised yogurt and cream cheese not found in the village. If I had not made lunch the night before (leftovers from dinner) I will prepare a tuna or egg sandwich with some type of vegetable (tomato, carrot, green pepe, garden eggs or apple). I do not have a fridge so all the goods I buy have to survive in the heat of the kitchen, although the mornings are cool now so life is good.

My kitchen

I also have a French press coffee maker and coffee grinds from Cost Rica, courtesy of Father Dom who donated it to me before leaving for Canada a week ago (miss you!). I get to have actual coffee with some sugar most mornings until I run out of coffee as they do not sell it here or in the city.

Where I bathe every morning, my bucket, cup and soap

I then go back inside to the hall where my desk is, turn on my computer and begin to follow the News stories of the day. What I feel like is my only real connection to anything outside the Northern Region of Ghana. Finishing up breakfast, I take two biggish bowls, fill them up with water from the Polytank in my backyard and wash the dishes. I then fill my bucket with some small water, bathe and brush my teeth in an empty concrete room outside in the backyard. What I wear to work is dependent on what I have to do that day, be it go to the field or fulfill administrative duties behind the desk. I can also choose to walk 10 minutes to work or take the motorcycle sitting in my living room that my roommate so graciously puts back in the house every night since I cannot lift it up the two steps.

View from the front door of the hallway

I am first to arrive at the office at 9:30AM, and I spend time chatting with the Watchmen and cleaners who have begun their day much earlier than mine. They unlock my office, which happens to be the ‘Extension office’ where I share a room with the Deputy – Supervisor of Extension of crops and also the Director’s right hand man. I begin to fulfill the plan of the day, which could be to prepare to go into the field, prepare for a workshop I will host, write reports and other administrative duties or visit a few farmers. As I do this, it is necessary to greet the staff who arrive and ask about their evening away from the office. How was your sleep? How is the family? How is your body? Are you feeling healthy? Is the 40 degree Celsius heat in the middle of the afternoon paining you? Then we complain about the dryness of our skin and scratchy throats from the extreme range in temperatures of the Harmattan weather. One of the staff will usually follow me or I follow them to a room to chit chat and I also try and spend time speaking to the Director, who I get along with well.

One of the Watchmen holding my favourite type of meat - Guinea Fowel

There are a few things I am pursuing at the Ministry of Food and Agriculture District office in Savelugu-Nanton district.

1.Implement the Agriculture as a Business (AAB) Program jointly created by the Ministry of Food and Agriculture (MOFA) and EWB. AAB is a farmer group strengthening tool that encourages rural groups to take on small projects in agribusiness. It also builds the advisory capacity of Agriculture Extension Agents (AEA) to progress their skills in teaching and providing information to farmers. Working towards developing the knowledge, skills, attitudes and approaches to help staff perform better in the field whether on time management, innovation, facilitation, or market-oriented approaches is what I more generally work on. I am adjusting the tool so we can market and prepare it for private based extension services who have expressed interest in it. The program is heavily reliant on farmer meetings, which means I am in the field significantly more to do one-on-one coaching with the AEAs and evaluation of program effectiveness with farmers.

Rice piled up at the office

2.This one-on-one interaction with staff and farmers also provides me with a unique opportunity to pursue the favourite part of my job – testing innovations. I am working with AEAs, their Supervisors and the Director to identify existing technologies that could be further or newly invested in. More importantly, how we can prototype one or many of the identified ideas related to increasing the technology adoption rates of farmers. Some of those ideas include, peer-peer learning for farmer behaviour change, coordination, radio program on extension and a few others.

This is the time for harvesting - they are shelling maize

3.Lastly, and what I think most importantly, I am working towards utilizing district level knowledge (farmer perspectives), challenges, and needs to develop policy reports for advocacy to national level government. District level realities are often missed out in the design of projects and procedures and because decision making is extremely top-down, lobbying those district realties to regional and national level MOFA, other NGOs and projects is important influence work.

Fadila the typist and I

My work day normally ends between 4:00pm and 6:00pm where I either decide to walk to the taxi round where there are women selling small items: phone credit, bread, tomatoes, sugar or drive to the district capitol, Savelugu (about 15 minute drive on a paved road) to buy more complicated things.

Back home Moses is preparing food and I am greeted by all the neighbourhood children who take pride in helping with my bags and telling me about their day. I prepare for dinner that evening, either pasta or rice with vegetables to ensure a balanced diet. Multi vitamins, probiotics and anti-malarial drugs have saved me a bit. By 6:00pm the world is dark and Moses and I will share some tea and chat about the day: Canada-Ghana relations, the news or whatever else happens to be bothering us. Sometimes friends from work like Felicity or other people from different communities like Jaamal and Ganiwu will drop by and visit.

At 8:30PM I am exhausted from the day and decide to clean the kitchen, and prepare my bathwater. Fill the bucket half with water and heat small water in the kettle. It is just too cold for cold bucket bathes in the evening these days. Settle in my bed, under the net again to have a phone conversation with a fellow EWBer, family member in Canada or the boyfriend.

My bedroom

That is an average day in my life here in Ghana and I am so pleased that it is mine!