Challenges In Development

Let me set the record straight from the beginning by saying that I love my work. I’m well aware that it’s entirely likely that I will look back on this experience for the rest of my life and think of this as the best job I ever had. 

I also love working with NRGP and its staff are amongst the most talented, hardworking, intelligent people I have ever met.

Okay, with that disclaimer out of the way, now I can feel okay about what I’m about to write.

Just another day at the office: I’m getting schooled at the game of Warre Warre with a few women from the village of Azowera (the game board is dug into the ground between us). 

 

The thing is that development is fundamentally flawed. Excuse my huge generalization and simplification of the issues but basically, I see money being spent on ineffective activities that serve the needs of the donors not the beneficiaries. And it almost feels like projects spend money as if it didn’t belong to anyone (and, in a way, that’s how it is). Inefficiencies persist, decision making staff have very little understanding of the field-implications of their project during both design and implementation, and collaboration and learning for improvement is virtually impossible.

I bring this up only to commend the folks in Canada working hard to advocate our government for better development aid. Yes, there are challenges but there are a bunch of people messaging these challenges to CIDA, MPs, donors, and projects. And from what I gather, some of them are starting to listen to us! 

For more on how EWB is trying to make Canadian international development aid more Accountable, Creative and Transparent check out these links: 

http://www.thestar.com/opinion/editorialopinion/article/820885--goar-how-to-move-ahead-on-foreign-aid#article

http://www.ewb.ca/en/whatsnew/features/100610_torontostar.html

And for more field-level insights from EWBers working with the Ministry of Food and Agriculture in Ghana you can read out team blog:

http://innovationswithfarmers.wordpress.com/

Photo of the Week #10 – My Bathroom

The Ghanaian 5 pesewa coin (less than 4 cents) has a special role in my daily life: 5p is what it costs me to use the public toilet across the street from my house. So, in Canada, I don’t think I EVER talked about toilets, or anything even remotely related to the bodily functions that require their use. In Ghana, that all changed; these subjects frequently come up as normal dinner conversation. And I’ll warn you now, it’s not pretty.

The public toilet building is known as a “10 seater” (even though there are no seats) and was built by the Christian Children’s Fund of Canada (illustrating how omnipresent development agencies are in Tamale). There are 10 holes in the ground on both the men’s and women’s sides separated by concrete walls on three sides (like a line of bathroom stalls with no doors).

 

With no exaggeration, the first time I went inside I nearly threw up. There was shit everywhere. Everywhere. 8 out of the 10 holes were full and the centimeter long maggots that characterize every latrine on earth were having a freaking field day. I’m sure you can imagine the smell. When I went to use one of the not-full holes, maggots crawled up and swam about in my pee.

There were flies landing on me and all I could think about was what those flies had landed on before they got to me. Oh, it was horrible. I made a mental note to scout the nearby fields for potential “free-range” locations telling myself it would be like camping.

About a week later (after using my free range spot under cover of darkness), a man started sitting out side of the toilet and charging 5 pesewa for its use. In the light of day I had no other choice so I went to see him, paid my 5p and was OVERJOYED at what I saw: A (relatively) clean toilet. The shit was gone. The smell was better. The flies were barely noticeable. And only 5 of 10 were full. And I’m thinking “Wow, buddy, I will happily pay you whatever you want as long as you keep these toilets looking like this!” And this is why 5p will always hold a special place in my heart and my intestines.

As a dénouement to this tale, I see this guy on a (hopefully) regular basis. He always smiles and tries to get a conversation going (“Ah, I didn’t see you yesterday, are you constipated?” or “Second time this morning. You are running.”). It’s a bit strange, I mean, considering the circumstances, and often I’m in a bit of a rush but I think it shows how not self-conscious Ghanaian culture is about bodily functions that Canadian culture is really uptight about.

Another way to illustrate this is through how many breasts I have seen since arriving (sorry guys, no photos for this one).

Breast-feeding women have no shyness about suckling their baby in front of you and even absent-mindedly leaving their breast hanging out of their dress after the baby is done. To me this is an un-self-conscious acceptance of the reproductive role that women play and I see it as a real freedom to publically display this maternal ability. 

Any chance of this becoming more accepted in Canada any time soon? <<Sigh>> Probably not, eh?

Ghanaian Cuisine!

It’s really hard to describe the food here so I figured I’d let the photos speak for themselves!  Below you will find a little taster of what’s been filling my belly these past 9 months.

T.Z. and okru stew (maize and cassava flour boiled and beaten and formed into a soft dough dipped into soup made from bean leaves and okra).

In the photo I’m trying to pretend I know how to beat the boiling T.Z.

As is true for most of the tasks women perform, it’s harder than it looks!

T.Z. is a favourite of the Dagombas (the main tribe in Tamale) and many families here will eat this for breakfast, lunch and dinner. To be honest, it’s not that great. The T.Z. dough is gooey and virtually tasteless but I guess the stew is pretty good once you get used to it.

Fufu with light soup (boiled and pounded yam formed into a dough ball sitting in soup made from tomato, egg plant and hot peppers - served here with goat meat): I like this one as the soup is really healthy but even after 8 months my digestive track still just doesn’t agree with the Fufu dough. It’s a shame really.

Red Red (fried yams and plantains with hot pepper sauce and beans): I eat this for lunch nearly every day. It was the first Ghanaian dish I was able to eat and digest comfortably and I haven’t messed with success since!

 

Banku stew (fermented maize flour formed into dough balls dipped into a tomato and fish stew): My favourite! The banku dough is a bit sour – kind of like how sour dough bread is sour. And the stew is rich, spicy and full of flavour. It might be the only food I will actually miss when I go home.

Koko (breakfast porridge made from cassava): This is one of the first dishes I tried when I arrived and I swore I’d never have it again; it was so awful. Yet somehow I’ve grown to really like it. I often have this one when I’m running late for work and can’t be bothered to prepare breakfast. It’s a bit sour but with a heap of sugar and some peanuts thrown in it’s actually pretty good.

And, just for a laugh, here’s a picture of some typical table decor… Hungry yet?

Choices In Development

Ahmed is an executive member of the National Association of Shea Nut Farmers, Processors, and Buyers of Ghana and after meeting with him and his Association a few weeks back I was faced with a serious question of values. Let me explain.

Ahmed and the rest of the Association’s executive nearly demanded the meeting with me and it became clear quite early on that this Association was expecting NRGP (the project I am working with) to support them and had no qualms about being pushy.

Considering Shea is a women’s crop I thought it curious that, of the 10 or so attendees of the meeting, 8 were men. And the two women present were the same ones that I’d met at another meeting for the Shea sector.

As I’ve found with many groups in Tamale, the Association seemed quite practiced at seeking out NGO projects and ensuring they are among the beneficiaries. I don’t blame them for this at all. The fact that they actively seek out meetings, can claim a membership of over 2000 men and women, and do everything from nursing seedlings to large-scale trading makes them attractive to just about every NGO interested in Shea.

However, it occurred to me that they are unlikely to be the neediest and, whatever project support was delivered was unlikely to be controlled by the women pickers and butter processors but rather would end up in the hands of the male executive members and traders that attended the meeting.

Ahmed, a Shea nut trader, dominated the meeting at one point and said that traders need to be more directly linked to the buyers and NRGP should foster the relationship building between their members and nut exporting companies. He gave me his business card and told me he already submitted a business plan to NRGP and spent a good deal of time pushing me to get his plan approved.

As a side note NRPG project documentation sets an objective of reaching 372 000 households.

To put this figure in perspective, I did a quick calculation to see how long it would take EWB’s Agriculture As A Business Program to reach that many households. It would take almost 25 years and that’s only if ALL the extension agents in the north worked NON-STOP for all 25 years.

(Don’t worry, this story will get to a point soon.)

So, having an association with 2000 members is good for reporting to donors that you are reaching the number of households they are expecting (and requires a heck of a lot less work than organizing 100 groups of 20 women to reach the same number). Also, the group is self organized, experienced and (if you can judge from one meeting) seems to do good work. BUT the fact that Ahmed even HAS a business card tells me he is not who the project should be targeting. He also prefaces his name with Alhaji, meaning he has been to Mecca – a highly revered but incredibly expensive religious pilgrimage.

So, and here comes my big question of values, should development take the easier route and work with the capable, pushy, seekers of aid who are less needy but often higher skilled or should we continue to target the poorest of the poor even if the project doesn’t reach as many people, change is much more difficult, and the resources required are that much greater?

Writing this I realize this question is far too complex to try to put concisely. For example, by helping Ahmed maybe he could improve the livelihoods of the women Shea pickers he buys from more sustainably than an NGO project could. And while the only real success I’ve seen has been from small-scale projects, working at that level rarely creates the systematic change the development sector is seeking.

So I’ll leave you with a bunch of unanswered questions.