What's in a name

For a change, this post comes from Canada. I am writing from Antigonish, a town 180 km north of Halifax, Nova Scotia. The air is a bit cold here for mid-summer but the environment is warm. I’m standing in the corner of a beautiful room that is full of people dressed in vibrantly colourful outfits and lively conversation. We’re having our coffee break and I’m standing like a wallflower taking some time away to share this experience.
I’m celebrating the 50th anniversary of the Coady Institute. Coady Institute is part of the St. Francis Xavier University. It’s an internationally renowned development institute.
I am privileged to be here on behalf of Engineers Without Borders. Due to a generous grant I am eating, sleeping and travelling to this prestigious event. Because of this privilege I feel compelled to share what is happening so that the benefits can be shared.
This event is quite unique. I expected the typical workshop, a gathering of the minds where people have the opportunity to network and listen to speeches. However, the event is much more ambitious and creative, we as participants are expected to create something. We are expected to create ideas around a concept called Asset Based Citizen-Led Development, or ABCD.
Coming into this workshop I have very little idea about ABCD, and I still do. However after only 4 hours of sessions I am beginning to understand that ABCD is not an exclusive concept that has been branded by the development community and sold as the latest thing to learn in a workshop or in a book. It is a concept which we are able to explore, debate and attach numerous terminologies and language to. For those of you who are newer to the development industry, branding concepts and training people on them is an incredibly common activity. For those of you who are not new to the development industry, in a group of intelligent people you can understand how words are chosen very carefully.
These first 4 hours have brought up the question: How much value can be placed on a name?
A story related to this, I have met numerous people at this conference and had to explain over and over why engineers are not doing engineering work in development. Our name doesn’t actually explain much. However, it allows engineers within Canada to engage in EWB. It allows us to stimulate a community of engineers who are more globally conscious. It also misleads people as to what we are doing overseas. Below is a video which speaks more accurately about the work EWB is doing overseas!


As part of the creation of ideas, below is a poem written by Mam Adisa who works for the Africa 2000 Network, an NGO which EWB has worked with.

A dream come true Moses Coady
Yes that dream you dreamt
You dreamt when walking almost
Not noticing little details of
A normal walk
Because you were always deep
In thoughts for ‘how’ of
Better life for all
A life of the individual
In their own hands.

Yes a dream come true
Others after you with like minds
Are on your dream of ‘how’ for all
Communities over all parts of
The world are dreaming your dream
The dream you started.

Yes a dream come true.
Governments are changing all
Over the world for the
Dream of ‘how’ by all
‘How by all’ the dream of Moses Coady
A dream come true Moses Coady

We are here for the 50th year
Of your dream baby
Baby of ideas of ‘how’
The how school of development
By all
Moses Coady, Moses Coady, I saw Moses Coady your dream come true.

**Video** Accountability and Staying Longer in Ghana

Check out the video above. It's a small story of some vegetable farmers I started working with a year ago. Their attitude towards farming and hard work continues to impress me!

The video was put together for a gala that the EWB chapters in Saskatoon are putting on tonight.

Enjoy!

Observation in the dry season

The dry season brings with it spectacular views.

Look closely and you will understand what these people are all about. Observation is key.

It’s the dry season right now. The break between the last two rains was about 100 days. This is not unusual. Just the seasonality of the weather. And with the changing of the seasons comes a change in what people in Ghana do. The rainy season was an intense period where people worked long hours often sleeping on their farmland. It seemed there was nothing else on people’s minds except ploughing – planting – weeding – harvesting (a lucky few who have the resources and good access also thought of fertilizing and applying pesticides). During the dry season everything changes. People resort to other sources of income.

Making thatch is a popular past time for men.

What do they do? Answer: Anything they can. Some are more remote so their options are limited. The most common activity is collecting wood and making charcoal. This is evident from the dozens of bags that are stacked along the roadsides waiting to be purchased. The women in my household are a bit luckier – they live next to an urban centre so their options are more varied.

Preparing massive pots of food for one of the many celebrations which are had during the dry season. This takes advantage of the surge of income people have post-harvest and a bit more time.

The celebration: The head of my household becomes the 'chief of the young men' for Kanvilli community.
Memunatu and I pose during the chieftancy celebration.

This is why every week I’m surprised by what the women in my household are up to! There doesn’t seem to be an end to the small businesses they run. First it was selling boiled sweet potato at the school near my house, then it was processing a local seed into a paste that women use for soup (dawadawa), next processing peanuts to separate the oil. Both the oil and the by product are sold. Last week I joined in on processing shea nuts into butter. The process is long and complicated. I’m privileged to join in as the trade is mostly passed on from mother to daughter. I stepped in and joined the other young apprentices at the most enjoyable part – when water and air are added to the butter and it is stirred vigorously until a white creamy butter seemingly emerges from the brown fudge like substance I’d been stirring for the past half hour. My master took her job seriously and made sure I learned the proper stirring technique, even it meant embarrassingly highlighting my poor technique in front of the group.

The shea butter packaging centre located near my house.

Profile of another women during the dry season. Her name is Victoria Anamo. She is a widowed mother of 7. Four of the children are not hers but are from her late husband’s first wife. Victoria spends the dry season building her home. This season she is adding a wall – total cost $300 or one month’s salary. As the head of the household and single income earner the responsibilities to provide for the children all rest on her. Yet Vic doesn’t give up. She’s a strong and intelligent women who has even become a leader and role model in her community. Other women come to her for advice and help in times of need. And Vic’s generous nature provides.

Vic prepares a meal for myself and Shea Loewen, the volunteer who stays with Vic.

I got to know Vic because she is a MoFA field staff. Although she’s not trained in agriculture technologies, her natural ability to guide people and facilitate discussions makes her a talented field staff. She, like the women of my household are hosting a Canadian. It is because of this that I am able to understand Vic as a human being.

Vic and Shea hanging out at Vic's palace.

Spreading the message well

Exciting news! Eating local is in. Especially when it comes to Ghana Rice. EWB and the Ghana Ministry of Food and Agriculture are running a marketing campaign that promotes Ghana rice.
It’s taken just over a year but the message has spread! Just over a year ago I made a pledge, to only eat rice grown in Ghana. I’ve kept to this pledge out of commitment to the farmers I work with and to make a humble statement about the injustice of the situation of rice in Ghana – highly subsidized rice is imported and has been marketed to an extent that Ghanaians have shifted their preferences towards the whiter and less nutritious imported grains. This has been tough – rice is good! And at restaurants it’s rare to find local rice on the menu.
Some rice farmers enjoying Ghana Rice during a meeting! This was the first time EVER that the Ministry served Ghana rice at a meeting. Before then, it was always imported rice.
I am working on a marketing campaign that will help spread these messages. It’s an exciting initiative that tries to even the score for rice farmers in Ghana. They want everyone to know that their rice is more nutritious (it’s processed in a way that keeps the outer skin on which contains most of the nutrients). They want people to recall that it’s fresh (imported rice often sits in warehouses before being shipped overseas to be sold). Too bad we aren’t marketing to Western consumers. Nutritious and fresh food is what we Canadians are demanding these days!
But we are marketing to urban Ghanaians. The ones who eat rice more often are from middle-upper class families. So this is our target audience. Ghanaians do care about nutritious food, they value strength and in turn food that will make them strong. So that’s our pitch – nutritious rice.

Meymuna and Hawabu proudly marketing their quality rice.

The people who buy rice are often cooking it because they don’t have time to cook traditional meals. So rice that’s easy to cook is good. Unfortunately a lot of Ghana rice has a lot of stones in it. The stones come from when the rice is threshed and dried on unclean surfaces. The stones need to be removed manually before cooking which takes a lot of time thus defeating the purpose of cooking rice! Not all rice is dirty! The rice we’re marketing is so clean! That’s our second pitch – clean rice.

Drying rice on a clean surface.

Check out the jingle to hear for yourself! This jingle is being broadcasted across Northern Ghana. Listen to it three times and you’ll catch yourself singing this catchy tune about quality Ghana rice! Some of my friends love it so much they’ve put it as their ringtone!

Click here to go to the Ghana Rice jingle!

The campaign has been delayed by about 5 months due to the need to keep so many people informed. This has been frustrating but it’s ensured that any assumptions I make are questioned! The main one came when I was deciding what advertising medium to use.
Initially when I was designing the campaign strategy I hardly considered the radio. I figured the power of advertising would come from a really big signboard on the main road. But as the campaign went on I received some critical input that the message will be more strongly spread through the radio than visually. I made a classic mistake. I, and you, come from a world where visuals are important – who doesn’t own a TV? Who doesn’t know how to read? In Ghana, the radio is an essential element in most households. What’s spoken on the radio is taken as ‘the word’. I wonder how many outsiders make the same mistake as me, design their program making assumptions about the context and misunderstand the way people learn and what they need.

The visual - a big signboard will still be posted along the main road in Tamale.
My guess is too many! I tons of development projects that chart their course for failure from the beginning when they fail to understand ground realities. A crucial yet often underestimated element when a project is being designed from the ivory towers of Rome/Washington/Accra. This is where EWB comes in. We move from the ground to the towers using our credibility and mobility to communicate realities. We don’t normally design and implement development projects – that’s left to Ghanaians, this case is an exception that I’ve indulged in! We’ve found a niche in communicating ground realities to help ensure development decisions are well-informed. This is my mission for the next couple of years. It’s a new sort of job for me but one that I look forward to! A new medium for messages!

The Two Myths of Africa

I was initially inspired to write this year’s theme for ‘Blog Action Day’ is poverty. I’m a day late in posting (Blog Action Day was October 15th). The purpose of the blog action day is to create a discussion. I thought it would be interesting to discuss the two big myths of Africa. Read on…

Check out the picture below, what words come to mind?

A journalist friend of mine from Ghana recently asked me why the media in Canada only talks of the bad things in Africa? My response: “Bad news sells.” But it’s unfortunate that it also paints an inaccurate picture. I hope this post puts a splash of colour over the black streak that “Africa” has been smothered with.

To start with, the photo above is of Suli. Myth #1: Africans are poor. This myth could easily be propagated by the photo of Suli – a starving child in Africa that for only $1/day can be saved. But Suli’s just a boy who lives near my house and comes to visit his grandmother. He doesn’t like to wear pants and has those large imploring eyes that melt your heart. Suli certainly has enough to eat, bathes twice a day and is surrounded by mothers, sisters and a grandmother who loves him dearly. He will attend school when he’s old enough as his elder siblings have.

Contrary to the first myth, I look around me in Ghana and see wealth. It’s a wealth that is not commonly talked about in Canada. It’s the wealth of entrepreneurial spirit exemplified when Suli drags around a toy truck he’s made from used tin cans. It’s the richness of social support that exists between my family and in communities.

Years of the media marketing Africans as poor has created this perception in our mind (and inevitably in many Africans minds as well!)

Tofik - he lives at my house and is too young to think that 'Africans are poor'. He's just interested in wearing some cool shades.

Aside from living in a very cozy house, I’ve been working in Ghana with the Ministry of Food and Agriculture on a program called “Agriculture as Business”. The name is often interpreted to mean that we’re getting farmers to take agriculture as a business. But what does this really mean? Farmers, by default are operating a business. There’s no way you can farm and use some of your harvest to buy things like soap, cloth or school fees. Farmers are interested in turning a profit just like any other business-man. I asked my host father what he wants to do with his profits, he said he first wants to afford to feed his family, then send his kids to school and ideally put some money into home renovations and maybe get a motorcycle to help him get to his farm. He may not keep business records the way a Western business-man would but he’s certainly adapt at managing his business in this highly uncertain environment.

So that leads us to Myth #2: Poor people aren’t rational. This myth isn’t spread as explicitly as the first. It’s spread by development organizations though as they communicate their work to donors and the public at large. The message spread, especially with agriculture is that a certain technology or idea is needed to be imparted to people so that they can improve their lives. I didn’t understand why farmers didn’t plant their rice in rows, MoFA had been telling me that row planting is ‘the right thing to do’. They said they have problems getting farmers to ‘do the right thing’. In June I spent a day doing planting rice in rows with a farmer that MoFA had asked to arrange to demonstrate this technology to other farmers. I got a speckle bit of appreciation for the ‘right thing to do’ when at the end of the day we had 1 acre of rice planted in rows with precisely 20 cm by 20 cm spacing. It had taken us over 6 hours and roughly 20 people.

'Dibbling' or making holes in which to put the rice seeds.

The Crew

So was it worth it? Honestly, I can’t find the numbers to tell you. But farmers certainly experiment with these types of activities on their own and given the information they have at hand, their ability to take risk, social pressure and countless other factors they settle on what makes the most sense based on this complex reality.

So, just because farmers don’t adopt the technologies that are promoted by organisations doesn’t mean that they aren’t rational. Poverty certainly affects people’s priorities, their decisions and ultimately is reflected in their behaviours.

"Traditionally, farmers have either been too poor or too afraid to take a chance on these new varieties, even though they can triple their yields," – Expert in agronomics in East Africa

I think that this statement, are still too general to really understand the determinants of decision making and so the myth is propagated.

Check out the table below that analyzes the returns from fertilizer use from an experiment conducted in Kenya. Using the fertilizer amount recommended by the Ministry of Agriculture can increase yields by 90%, however, rate at a loss of 40%. While using smaller amounts of fertilizer (Panel B ½ tsp.) is more optimal for profitability! Yield and profitability are only two factors although they are the most scientific.

I have tried to understand the other less tangible factors. I have tried to place myself in the shoes of a farmer, removing the biases that the farmer is poor and irrational has been helpful but I still don’t understand the entire spectrum of factors influencing farmer’s decisions on their farm. It seems that neither does MoFA or the countless donors that fund development projects that try to influence farmer’s behaviours in certain directions.

What our Agriculture as a Business Program is actually about, is getting MoFA field staff and farmers to discuss these factors. To start by analyzing the profitability of crops, of using fertilizer of whatever agriculture activity the farmers are engaged in. To look at market opportunities. To talk about the risks. And ultimately see if this increase in analysis and thoughtful planning can help farmers make more from their business.

Sitting with farmers

Today is World Food Day (October 16th). Some people are fasting to remember the millions who lack access to proper nutrition. Some are discussing the political and economic situation around food. Some are discussing the challenges of climate change and bioenergy. For me I choose to think about farmers and remind myself to respect their business that brings us all food.

Tarsi - The grandmother of my house and a farmer I greatly respect.

In 12 Months what have I accomplished?

It’s September, a time of changes. The leaves turn colour, the Saskatchewan winds turn cold as the sun more reluctantly hides emerges in the mornings. School starts. This September I’m undergoing some changes. Perhaps because of the school years September is ingrained in my mind as the month of transition.

Saying goodbye to some friends and being honored with traditional hand-woven cloth.

I’ve finished my year as a volunteer with EWB in Northern Ghana. Have decided to stick around for another 2 years though and am honoured to now receive a small salary and a bunch of responsibilities that go with it.
I’ve been remiss with blogging in part because all this transition has had me really focused on me. I haven’t taken the time to ask myself – what’s going on in Canada? What are people doing right now? It seems I blink and there’s an election happening in Canada. And no time for political hoopla either. I don’t even know if I’ll have enough time to vote.
It’s quite the opposite in Ghana where almost every day there is some sort of political rally. The streets are coloured red-black-and green for the New Democratic Party and red-blue-and-white for the New People’s Party. Tough to say which party will win. I won’t speculate much due to the public nature of this blog.

So in a year, what have I accomplished?
I a liken my placement to that of a geologist. For 12 months I was an explorer. It was an appropriate was to approach the 12 months. At the beginning of my placement EWB decided to develop a program that would guide our work with MoFA over the long-term. Previously, volunteers had come, figured out what to do, done it and left. This cycle of 12 month placements was decent but wasn’t really accomplishing the significant impact EWB knew we were capable of.
So with MoFA EWB decided to really commit to something. We began this process by evaluating our past work. I was tasked to evaluate our past work. I checked out what we had done, what significant change we had had on MoFA and came to some conclusions:

1. EWB has created a culture of organizational growth within MoFA. The Region, which was previously a bit ignorant of its shortcomings and not too critical of its ability to meet its mandate had developed into a group of people who were passionate about discussing organisational problems such as: "Why aren’t farmers adopting the technologies we promote?" and "Why don’t farmers repay the loans we facilitated for them?"
2. EWB has a unique approach working with MoFA. Most organisations develop blue-prints for projects, give MoFA money and monitor MoFA’s implementation. At times, when they realize MoFA lacks the ability to effectively implement, funding is provided for training workshops.
   

After this evaluation mission was complete I started working with field staff and farmer groups. I moved from the city (Tamale) to a rural town (Damongo). I spent 9 months searching for the nuggets that EWB could do with MoFA that would get more money into farmer’s pockets.

So did I strike gold?
I’m looking at my workbook. On one page is the budget for my maize and pepper farm. The whole thing costs just over $200 for a little under one acre. Hopefully we’ll make a decent profit from the farm. I’ve calculated expected profit to be $200 but that’s based on a couple of generous assumptions. My business partner (host mother) has no idea how much money we’ll make and wasn’t too excited when I shared my profit estimates with her. Didn’t strike gold there.

Relationships are worth more than money. Shaking hands with Mr. Osman, a MOFA field staff that I worked with. With 2 other EWB volunteers we organized a conference to recognize the contributions of these field staff which in a very hierarchical organisation often go unnoticed.

On the second page are notes from a meeting with a farmer groups. The Kanye group (translation Kanye = patience) decided to plant a group farm of an acre of beans intercropped with cashew. They had previously been a non-functional group. Waiting for a loan that never came. We convinced them to try something together and they chose this. The notes from this meeting show that I tried to calculate the group’s return on investment for their farm. The group was very excited about the profitability of their farm both in the short-term from the beans and the long-term from the cashew. If all goes well with the rains and they sell at a good time year 1 would bring them roughly $85. Year 5 will bring them roughly $220. This may not seem like much to a Canadian consumer and frankly it’s not really astounding to a Ghanaian farmer. However, the worth is more than the dollar. It represents to the group a small start. Something that they have started together. I believe that the group has a wealth of potential buried under their history of waiting. This experience may just help them start to realize this themselves.

Kanye group with MoFA Field staff Mr. Gedo (back left)

In total, I worked with 4 MoFA field staff and 11 farmer groups trying to get MoFA to have farmer groups operate more like businesses so that in the end farmers could make more money and their families would be better off. From the experiences with farmers and MoFA I extracted a curriculum that future EWB volunteers will try to use. The curriculum is actually a collaborative effort with other EWB volunteers. We were each exploring with farmer groups and field staff. In the end we’ve come out with something that is shiny and of high value to MoFA. Hopefully it’s not just Fool’s Gold!

Proof - the group's record book that show their expenses. Note the list of group members who are 'serious on the farm'. It's tough to get everyone convinced that this is a good idea. Some members will just watch and see how it turns out.

The curriculum promises to get farmers making profitable investments in their farm through conducting business analysis, market studies and getting their group more organized and active.

A sample from the 'curriculum'. This photo shows the card that farmers look at. It has a story and accompanying photos of a group that successfully markets their watermelon.

So what am I starting this September?
I have the honour of supervising future volunteers who will get field staff and farmers using and benefiting from the curriculum. We’ll be mining results for at least the next 3 years as we reach 5000 farmers and 250 field staff and get this tool adopted by the national level of the Ghanaian government.

This sample from the curriculum is the part that field staff use to accompany the photo and story on group marketing. This part of the curriculum tries to get groups acting together in the market in a way that'll get them more money than if they were marketing individually.

Even though September is a time for change, I hope to keep with me the connections that I have with you, my friends and family in Canada. Thank you to everyone who has followed along with this blog and supported me, emotionally, financially and challenged my thinking. Reading over my blogs I can see that this year has been one of tremendous personal growth. I hope that this new chapter will allow me to continue sharing my learning and growth with you.

Posing in front of my old office with a friend and colleague. See how much I've grown!

Elusive Results

A friend mentioned that when I first arrived in Ghana I was adamant about dressing locally and that lately I’ve developed the habit of wearing jeans matched with a Ghanaian top. My behaviour had changed but I hadn’t noticed it. When I first arrived in Ghana and hopped in a car I instinctively reached for the seat belt. Last week I went on a trip and someone else reminded me to buckle my seat-belt. It sure felt strange to buckle-up!

I spend a lot of time trying to notice and promote behaviour changes in farmers and my colleagues at the Ministry of Food and Agriculture (MoFA). I want to see farmers use more fertilizer on their fields because my calculations show that this most likely bring them more money. I want to see Ghanaians eating only local rice instead of imported rice. I want to see MoFA staff developing the behaviour of assessing the profitability of certain agriculture practices before promoting them to farmers.

Behaviour change is a difficult thing to work on. It’s not exactly an easily understandable activity for me to work on or communicate with friends and family let alone my colleagues at MoFA. Last year, when I worked for a wind energy consulting company the work was much more tangible. We knew we’d succeeded once the wind turbines were up and running, or perhaps once our clients started to reap a profit from their wind farm. This year my work is not easily packaged up and presented as a ‘project’. Because of this results can seem elusive.

Four years ago, I finished my engineering degree and headed to the Philippines to work on a computer literacy project for underprivileged youth. I didn’t really know how good I had it! Below is an email I received this week from a beneficiary of the projects.

Hello EWB! I'm Antonio Barlaan, a SCALA gradute in the Philippines last May 2006 at Misamis Occidental Information and Communication Technology Training Center. Thank you very much to your project because it leads me to school in college. Now I'm a 2nd year student of Misamis University taking Bachelor of Science in Information Technology. Supposedly I'm a 3rd year student but being a working student in the university, I cannot comply with the required units because it has a limitation for the working student. Give my special regard to Sarah Grant and Neha Bangar....thank you very much EWB!

M..A..B..U..H..A..Y!!!!!!!

Aside from the challenges behaviour change brings because of it’s intangibleness, it’s a really tough thing to work on! I’ve learned that it’s not simply a matter of ignorance that is preventing people from changing their behaviours (although this is the easiest problem to work on). For example, the government has been warning Ghanaians of Guinea worm, a de-habilitating worm that comes from drinking contaminated water. The government has pulled out all the stops – posters, radio, and TV broadcast the issues of Guinea worm and the simple thing you need to do to prevent it: strain your water through a muslin cloth. Workshops and the provision of muslin cloths from the government have done all but strain the water for families. However, it’s not enough – Guinea worm still persists even as people are aware of the dangers and required change in their behaviour.

A couple Sundays ago I went to the farm with some women from the community. We were after shea nuts, a valuable commodity that grows wild in Northern Ghana. We had walked for nearly an hour. The weight of our harvested shea nuts only seemed to increase as the sun continued to beat on our backs. Finally we stopped by a water hole. The aches and pains we all felt didn't prevent me and my friends from pausing to enjoy the moment.

My friends pause and enjoy some shea fruit. Can you see the sweat on their brows!

After I snapped the picture I realized my friend Mary was missing. I found her down this well fetching some water for drinking. I snapped her but not before silently noting the lucidity of the water. Too bad my friends didn’t speak English or else I could have engaged in a conversation with them about this behaviour. At the same time, I understand why they did it. These women are thirsty, we still had 2 hours of walking ahead of us and 5 hours of work already felt in our bodies.

Mary holds some very cloudy looking water she fetched from this well.

Education is one aspect of promoting behaviour change. It’s not enough to simply understand the costs and benefits of behaviours. It’s a complex web of incentives and disincentives. My work with farmers and MoFA is just one force among this web. For example, do you recycle? If so, what prompted you to start recycling? If not, why did you stop? I’m sure everyone reading this can recite the three R’s and can recognize the recycling symbol. What incentives exist to promote reducing, reusing and recycling? Is there a recycling depot near to your house? Does someone come and collect a box of recycling? Is this a paid service by the city? Are there rumours about the recycling all just going to a land-fill if even one piece is incorrectly placed?

Over the past 10 months I’ve only just started to understand the incentives and disincentives that surround the behaviour changes I’m trying to promote. I’ve started implementing work whose results are still a long way off and are difficult to measure and communicate. I know I certainly won’t ever receive a feel-good email such as I have from Antonio! Even still, I’ve decided to stay with EWB for another 2 years in order to put some of my understanding to use and to stick with the work I’ve started. After all it’s exciting stuff! In the meantime I’ll see if I can’t just help Mary develop the behaviour of bringing a bottle of water before she heads to the farm next time.

My and my motorcycle. I've developed the positive habit of wearing a helmet.