‘Hoe kijkt coördinator Stephen Abarika terug op het project?
De partner vertelt... van 2 oktober 2019 door Stephen Abarika
Elk jaar vragen we onze partner hoe het project is gegaan en welke lessen de partner heeft geleerd.
Context and summary
Describe the original plan/idea for the project. Has the project been executed as planned?
Asenema is rural and predominantely a farming community located in the eastern region of southern Ghana. The community has a Kindergaten, Primary- and Junior Secondary School. One of the two classroom blocks serving the kindergarten and primary levels, falls below the quality of a standard of a good classroom. Water collects into the classrooms during the raining season making teaching and learning difficult. A replacement of this sub-standard classroom block became a top priority for the community and school managers.
Some two years ago, there was a discusion on the posibility of doing a project in Ghana involving World Servants Netherlands, Compansion Netherlands, AG Care Ghana and Compansion Ghana. After a long time of consultations among these organisations, a project identification exercise was commisioned to identify a community in eastern region where a classroom block can be constructed. Asenema primary school was the school was selected after the identification team visited four community schools in the Odukrom district. The outcome of the identification exercise was communicated to World Servants and a building project with Dutch volunteers was organised and sent to Ghana for the construction of a 3 classroom block with office and store.
School infrastructure such as a high quality standard classroom is crucial for improved school enrolment, good quality teaching and learning and learner performance.
Give a (short) general description of the implementation of the project.
Planning, organizing, implementation, scheduling etc. during the project was to a large extent well managed, given the context of the local project community. The only community communication center was used by the youth chief of the Asenema community to disseminate information and mobilise community for the project. Community participation on the project improved with time. The WS team exhibited high level of flexibility during the project period which paved way for easy integration and good flow of work on site. Building materials were in full supply on site. Local government and Ghana Education Service staff supported the project. The Mayor of Odukrom visited the site and interacted with participants. Coordination among key stakeholders was very good. The outcome was the sound team work during the project implementation that played a major role in delivering the desire project output within an agreed time frame.
How do you look back on the following topics? How was it arranged, what went well, what could be done better?
Construction
Buildings worked on
A 3-classroom block with office and store was the project for GH519 project plan. Construction works on the 3-classroom block with office and store was executed according to approved building design/plan. All necessary building materials were positioned in good time for the commencement and completion of the project. AG Care technical team and the Dutch technical leader (a lady) planned, worked and monitored together and succeeded in leading participants and local community members to execute the project. The lady Dutch technical leader was highly commended by Asenema community for her outstanding performance on the project. By the time the Dutch team left the project community, roofing was done and windows and doors fixed. Sand and blocks for the project laid far from the building project site and had to be conveyed to the site by community members. This made the work a bit heavy for community members. The tipper truck which was used to collect sand for the project could not drive close to the site due to heavy rains.
Tasks to be done
As at the time the team was leaving Asenema community, works that were left to be carried out included the flooring, plastering, painting and fixing of locks. Together with some community members, the local artisan recruited by AG Care and his team of professionals managed to complete the project within a period of 2 weeks. Pictures of same project has since been forwarded to WS. At this point the objective to construct 3-classroom block with office and store in Asenema was achieved.
Programs
Children program
The programme offered children the opportunity to partake in variety of activities that enhance their skills in singing, drawing and colouring, tracing, storytelling, playing etc. One could see the enthusiasm with which the children participated in these activities directed by World Servants Volunteers. Above all, the children’s programme created a lot of awareness among the children in the community who God is and how He loves them. Organizing children in groups for specific activities was one strategy adopted for the children’s programme. This approach helped in managing children during the programme and also promoted concentration among the children and promoted learning among the children.
Cultural and touristic outings
A mix of cultural exchange activities were carried out during the period participants stayed in the community. Participants visited local homes, local market, clinic, waterfalls, church and farm.
Home visits:
The participants divided themselves into groups and with translators, visited the local homes and families. The home visits afforded participants the opportunity to interact with local people in the comfort of their homes. During the visit, participants discovered more clearly, the socio-economic way of life of the local people. The engagement also marked a period of exchange of cultures between Dutch participants and Asenema people. It was an exciting moment.
Visit to Market:
Participants visited a local market. The visit afforded participants the opportunity to witness how trading in goods and services is carried out in the village setting. The team visited Asenema local market. Participants bought things of their choice. It was great fun.
Visit to clinic:
The participants had the privilege of visiting and interacting with staff of clinic. The officer in-charge at the clinic conducted participants around the facility and gave a talk on how the facility was serving the community. Participants appreciated the vast difference between a health facility in Ghana and in The Netherlands.
Visit to church :
Participants participated in church service during the project. For the first Sunday, the team fellowshipped with Odukrom Assemblies of God Church. The Assemblies of God church in Odukrom is a beneficiary church for Compassion Ghana project. Rev. Abraham is the pastor of the church. The construction of the classroom block also marked the planting of an Assemblies of God church in Asenema. One of the classrooms will be used for church service on Sundays and during the week. As a result, participants attended the second Sunday service in Asenema in the newly constructed classroom block. The service was conducted by Rev. Abraham.
Visit with sponsored children:
One unique activity that the team carried out was a meeting with sponsored children un the Compassion Ghana child sponsorship programme. Some participants of the GH519 project group had children in Ghana that they personally sponsor. As that of the project activities, it was arranged for these sponsors to physically meet with their sponsored children while they were on the project in Asenema. Children who were sponsored by participants on the project were transported from parts of Ghana to Odukrom where they met face to face with their sponsors. It was indeed a special moment and delight to watch.
This component for AG Care made the Asenema project unique and also added value to participant expectation, feeling. More of such project that has Compassion principle attached will help create a better orientation and understanding in the minds of volunteers from the north on the importance of what Compassion is doing in transforming lives of vulnerable children in developing countries such as Ghana.
Singing and drumming:
Participants were treated to local music using local bamboo sticks as instruments. With different lengths and sizes, the sticks made different sounds. It was a delight to watch. It was very entertaining for participants. This activity was organised in the evenings allowing participation to release stress from work on the project during the day.
Touristic outings:
The GH 519 team paid a visit to the Asenema Waterfalls. It was an exciting experience for the team. They had fun in the falls. The team also visited Aburi Gardens. Participants paid a day’s visit to Koforidua, the reginal capital of eastern region.
Life Skills program and Football for Water
Life skills was also organised for Junior High School students in Asenema. The engagement JHS students to discuss issues that affect teens and the youth. Some of the topics discussed focused on self-awareness, coping with peer pressure, basic hygiene issues, and dealing with people with problems. The program was based on biblical principles with Christian values and standards that is expected to change the world view, their actions and inactions in their daily lives. At the end of the programme, few of the teenagers who participated in the programme were sampled and interviewed about the programme. Responses received did indicate that the youth enjoyed and liked what was discusses during each session. According to them, there were a lot of learning poles from the programme which they hope to build on.
Cooperation and involvement
Leadership team World Servants
The leadership team for project GH 519 was cooperative, flexible, supportive and accepted advises on local context related issues. This level of understanding paved way for an all-inclusive project. They executed their assigned roles and activities effectively during the project. They were by themselves fully involved in all other project activities. The leadership performance with respect of managing participants was tremendous making team members achieve most of their individual project objectives.
Local leaders / key persons
Local leaders put in their best as long as this project is concerned. Key persons in the community were very instrumental in mobilizing the local community for the project. The community youth chief, Assembly man, Rev. Abraham (Assemblies of God Pastor), head teacher, classroom teachers worked tirelessly, together with WS leadership to make the project a big success.
Community
Community members of Asenema participated actively in the project before, during and after the participants left the project community. The community supported the project with unskilled labour. The objective to have active participation of members of the community during the project was achieved.
Beneficiaries
The project enjoyed good cooperation and involvement from school children, teachers and parents. This high level of involvement in the project by the beneficiaries listed demonstrated how they value project. School children and their teachers helped on the project after school hours and during weekends. The project objective to improve good quality teaching and learning through infrastructure in the form of classroom construction was achieved.
(Local) authorities
The local government officials and the district education directorate unfortunately, were not very much involve in project. A number of reasons can be assigned to this situation. Some of the reasons are as follows:
The district has just been created and did not as at the time of the project have some of the government departments at the district level. For example, the education district office of Akrompong supervised schools in the Odukrom district.
This made it difficult to contact and to discuss issues in relation with the GH519 project with local authorities long before the project. Going forward, AG Care will continue to engage with local authorities on the development of communities in the Odukrom district should there be approved WS and partner projects in the future.
Facilitation of the team
Accommodation
Accommodation was well arranged under the prevailing condition in the project community. Participants were accommodated in classrooms. There were no problems of overcrowding in rooms. The environment was conducive and safe for participants.
Food
Food served during the project was good. The cooks did their best to provide some variety of foods. Food was served with meat, vegetables and fruits. Participants of this project could hide their appreciation for the kind of food they were served by the cooks.
Transportation
Transportation doing the project period was good. With a fifty-seater bus, there was enough space/room for participants on the bus throughout the trip. AG Care provided a jeep which was used to facilitate the project.
Safety
Pre-project safety analyses was carried out by AG Care with key community leaders and the head chief of Odukrom. This move was necessary to identify and map out strategies to handle associated risks before and during the project. The indicators of the safety analyses showed that the community and project site were safe for the project implementation. All key stakeholders played vital role in promoting safety during the project.
Lessons learned
Being a virgin community in relation to AG Care and World Servants community development approach, more time should have been spent with various community interest groups to explain in details our approach. Whereas as our approach is mainly demand driven (full community involvement), most community members in Asenema, we later discovered were supply driven (someone should do it for me) when it comes to community development interventions. This came to light when an influential man was said to have sent information round that it is not a best practice that an NGO will ask community members to assist on a project like what was carried out. The man in the center of the issue was contacted but denied ever saying such a thing. Going forward, education on the approach as adopted by AG care and Partners over the years was emphasized through a community information center. By the time the project was completed, people in the community appreciated more the approach of AG Care to community development. The approach empowers the community to lead the process of their own development agenda.
