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.