Some things Can Wait...

Some things can wait….

Others cannot.

Today I received a taste of the process that determines what things can and cannot wait in a community by conducting a community needs assessments in a village of about 500 Ghanaians (Including children) While doing this needs assessment, I also realized that I have an interest to do more of them upon graduation, but that is a different story, on with this one.

At about 9 am on July 12^th, we entered in to () a village that is about an hour and a half tro-tro ride from Cape Coast, the city that I've been living in for almost two months now. When we arrived to the village, I could feel a strong sense of thanksgiving as everyone continued to express how thankful they were to have us there as our coming had been long anticipated. (All of this and the rest of the days communications were expressed through a translator as no one in the group could speak Tri a language spoken by many locals in addition to Fante’.) In response to the groups warm welcoming, we all stated how happy we too were to be there and then stood in a line that wrapped around forming a circle so that we could greet a chosen sample of the community members. The members whom we meet were mainly men with the exception of some elderly women. We greeted each of them by shaking their hand, with our right hand of course. Forgive me if I have not stated before, that the right hand is used for EVERYTHING in Ghana as a sign of respect, especially when greeting someone, or when doing an exchange. If a person uses their left hand when communicating, it is said that the person believes themselves to be of a higher status then the one whom they are communicating with. This is a big Daubi Daubi, (NO-NO).After the shaking of the hand of about 20 of the community members, we then sat down, while they stood up in a circle formation to greet us, by shaking our hands once more. This is how meet and greets are always done in their culture they informed us.

Once the greeting had come to an end, one of the villagers opened up with a prayer. In Ghana, a prayer is always used to signify the beginning of an event. Throughout the prayer, everyone chanted “Amen” multiple times in between phrases to express how much they agreed with what the prayer giver was saying. Although I could not understand what was being said in the prayer, I too chimed in with everyone else saying, thank you as I could feel a sense of understanding in the air. After Prayer had ended, Sarah a ProWorld coordinator gave an overview as to what we were all there to do. She explained that we were going to conduct a Community Needs Assessment as a way to discuss with those in the community, some of their most crucial needs. In addition to finding those needs, she stated that we would also brainstorm ways that ProWorld could assist in relieving the community of those needs.

After stating the purpose for our visit, we broke into 6 focus groups to conduct our study. Each focus group consisted of two ProWorld Participants, a chosen community leader to help represent the views of the community members and a translator. In addition to this, there were around 10 members in each group. My group consisted of Emily or Eikowa (meaning Wednesday born, who is also my coworker at The Department) Isaac our community leader, and Kojo meaning Monday born for a male.

The Community Assessment we conducted was based off of “The Ten Seed Technique” Developed by Dr. Ravi Jayakaran and includes four activities

Activity one: Introductions

I received the pleasure of leading my group in introductions. During the introduction ceremony, we all stood up in a circle and stated our Fante’ or Tri name and did our favorite Ghanaian Dance since most Ghanaians LOVE to dance and can do so very well. When it was my turn, the group peer pressured me into teaching them how to do a local dance called the “AL Qaeda” as I have become a master of it over the past couple of weeks. After doing a short Demonstration, everyone laughed and decided to join in with me. It is always times like this when I thank God for the small things like smiles and laughter as they are always the same in every culture. At the end of our dance party, the translator explained that we were all family now and that everyone should feel comfortable with voicing their opinions. Once this was spoken, I began the assessment with stating our purpose for being there.

“Today, we will be conducting a needs assessment. What this means is we all will have a share in discussing some of the things you wish you had in order to make your lives better or easier. Once you have given your suggestions, Eikowa will draw a picture of them and place them on the ground.” The translator must have done a phenomenal job translating this as everyone seemed to understand what was about to take place.

Activity 2 Open Discussion about Community Need:

The purpose of activity two was to give the participants a chance to openly express the needs and desires of the community as a whole. The process of discussing what needs the community had, took about an hour and a half. At the end of this time frame, the list of community needs was as follows:

Palm Oil Machine,

School,

Road,

Electricity,

Bore-Hole (Water)

Community Center

Micro financing

Toilets

Some of the issues we faced during this portion of the activity, was the lack of input from the women in the group as the seemed to just feed off of the suggestions of the men as it is a part of their culture to do so.  Because I was interested in hearing their opinion though, I asked them what is something they wish their children will have, that they do not have. I explained that it was very important for them to thank hard, as they are the voice for their children whom cannot speak for themselves. The men seemed to get very frustrated as one of the women sat their thinking for quite some time. After a few more moments, one of the ladies with a small child tied to her back mentioned micro financing.

The next part of activity two consisted of voting. Below is a clip of Emily explaining how the voting process would take place:

Here are some of the highlights of the video

1.)    Ten seeds were given

2.)    Seeds could be distributed on the picture in any formation. For example, if you really wished to see a school is built, you have the option of placing all ten seeds on the picture of a school. However, if you really wish to see that a school and a hospital be built, you may put six seeds on the school and four seeds on the hospital in order to express this desire.

3.)    Voting is done in private

4.)    Seeds are removed from the picture after one person has voted so that the next voter does not see where most of the votes are going towards.

Side Note: In the Video, Emily states that voters would be turned around and tapped on the shoulder when it was their turn to vote. However, we decided that the best way to conduct the voting was to have each person stand outside the hut until it was their turn to vote.

At the end of the voting session, we tallied all of the votes and then took a break for lunch. Here is a picture of our score board.

Once lunch was over, we all meet back up with our groups to begin activity 3

Activity 3 Discussing the Underlying Causes to Problems

During this activity, the needs for the top three choices as shown in the voting results were discussed. Along with a discussion of why the needs were chosen, we also asked two key questions

1.)    What has the community done on its own to solve the issues

2.)    How does the community think the issue can be resolved

To answer the questions, the community explained to Emily and me that the need for a Palm oil machine is because the process is very tedious and requires much strength to produce a small amount. Many of the young people who have this strength have migrated to the city to attend school. Once they have gone to the city, they often do not return to the village. Palm oil is also the only good that generates revenue within the community. If the community is able to produce larger quantities, then they may be able to generate more revenue to solve the other issues such as the building of community center, and the fixing of the boar-hole

The next highest need on the list was the Community Centre. I found this to be interesting at first as it is not a need that would produce revenue nor enhances the health of the people in the community but what it does provide for them, is a form of “togetherness” as this is something that is important in Ghanaian culture. The community members expressed that they wished to have a community center in order to host meals, community meetings, visitors and to provide a space for the small children to play and learn. When we questioned if any steps had been taken in order to obtain a community centre, one of the elders in the group explained that the lack of material to build the centre is where the issue lies. He stated that some of the men in the group had gone to the government for assistance but they did not help. He also explained that the forest belongs to outsiders and therefore a fee must be paid before they are allowed to cut down any trees. Because of the lack of funds, they cannot afford to pay for all of the materials needed.

Last, we discussed the need for a Boar-Hole. As of now, the community has had a bore hole for almost four years now that was donated by a NGO in Germany. Unfortunately, for the last three months, the bore-hole has been pumping up muddy water. They have contacted the government for assistance in fixing the bore hole however; they have not received a response. Because of this, the members in the community have resulted back to drinking water out of the river.

Activity 4 Voting on a Solution

As a way to resolve the most immediate needs in the community, the members in my focus group voted that the most effective way to solve all of the issues was with the help of a NGO. As a way to also contribute, they expressed that they would be more than willing to save up all of their earnings from the sailing of Palm Oil.

Moving forward:

At the end of the Assessment we thanked the Community members for having us  and made sure to tell them that we would be back in the next three weeks with an action plan as to how we could all work together to resolve some of the most crucial need in the community. This process will be an ongoing one, as ProWorld Ghana has decided to make it a long term project with the hopes that it may fulfill all of the needs stated by the villagers in due time. I am grateful to have received a chance to be a part of the initial start up of this project. God willing, I receive another chance to be involved in future things to come concerning this project.

-ARABA