This has been probably the most difficult post for me to write so far. I’ve thought about it everyday for the past week, but just haven’t been able to write. I debated whether or not to even bother; it would be so easy to go on and write about some of the cool experiences and stories I have in mind. But I put my foot down on myself, and said “no, this is important.”

In Canada, many of you know I’ve been involved with EWB’s developing advocacy campaign over the past year (now called the ACT campaign). The premise of this political advocacy has been to push the Canadian government to deliver better foreign aid. Not only more, but better. This means foreign aid that serves poverty reduction, not foreign policy interests. It means foreign aid that is accountable to the poor as well as to the Canadian people, and open to trying new things to see what works. It means foreign aid implementing agencies (ie. CIDA) that reflect and understand the realities on the ground, don’t shy away from complexity, and don’t constantly change their focus.

Well, since I advocate for all these things and more importantly, I value them, it would only be right for me to adhere to them myself. I consider all of you my “donors.” You have supported me or EWB financially, or you’ve invested your time in me, or even just engaged with my blog. You are chapter members who’ve raised funds, friends who’ve helped me work through my thoughts, family who’ve kept me grounded. I need to be accountable to you, and I need you to hold me accountable to the people here in Ghana. So I want to give you an honest, REAL idea of what I’m doing here in Saboba. If it’s right or wrong, good or bad, that all depends on your personal opinion.

When I start thinking about all the stakeholders, the nuances, the detail of the complexity around me, things get really murky; the situation on the ground is a mess, and it makes my head hurt to even think about the interconnectedness of everything I’ve learned. So I stonewall when I try and put it into words. But here is my best go at it.

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Check out my original post outlining my placement: Nuts and Bolts

The Premise:

The six short-term volunteers, including me, are embedded in six districts in the Northern region of Ghana. EWB is partnered with a big Danish development initiative called the Local Service Delivery and Governance Program (LSDGP) that aims to put development in the hands of the district-level of government, rather than the NGOs. They’ve been active for quite a few years now. The core of LSDGP’s strategy is two-pronged: a) to strengthen districts’ leadership, accountability, and ability to provide services (ie. capacity building) and b) to consolidate donor money into a district discretionary fund (DDF), where money (a total of ~60 million USD and rising) is distributed to districts based on their performance (which is evaluated every two years). The criteria used to evaluate districts’ performance right now centers on processes: financial auditing, planning and execution, monitoring and evaluation, leadership and organization. This will slowly evolve, once the districts improve, to measure actual development indicators: medical and water coverage, income levels, etc.

This way, the districts can decide what is best for them, and the key developmental issues can be addressed by the Ghanaian government themselves rather than the hundreds of NGOs operating independently who don’t necessarily understand the problems.

If anything is unclear, feel free to ask me many many questions by commenting. I’ll use my next post to answer them all.

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The Premise II

EWB has been working in governance in Ghana for over 5 years. Our strategy developed from supporting water and sanitation teams, to supporting planning processes at district level governments.

Why? People in rural communities, especially the ones further from the cities, are extremely vulnerable. Low sanitation & little access to clean water –> causes disease –> incomes and livelihoods suffer. Low or inadequate access to education –> less opportunities for work –> livelihoods suffer. There are many such issues, you get the idea.

Our working theory has been that if districts’ government can use evidence and see the importance of tracking information about what’s happening in their communities, they can a) plan projects and activities that tackle the key issues and b) can provide NGOs with information on which communities need what, and direct their services to where they’re most needed.

Even I find it difficult to see the connection sometimes. It’s so difficult to work when you know you will never see how and whose lives you’ve impacted, if at all.

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Let me just lay out some of the challenges

I’m supposed to be working with the District Planning Officer. Saboba doesn’t have one, and hasn’t since the end of last year. The budget officer, also involved with planning, does not exist here in Saboba. Half the office is empty on Fridays and Mondays, as people travel to Tamale to visit their families. In addition, the government & NGOs call officers over to Tamale for workshops and trainings all the time, so you’ll almost always spend 3-4 days trying to get a hold of any one person. People make a lot of commitments: “let’s go to the area council offices tomorrow” “yes lets meet at 3″ “I’ll call you when we’re ready to go.” But people either forget, plans change, or they get called away to Tamale. I plan my time based on people, but get shot down 80% of the time. The frustration is fiery, but now I’m just used to it; doesn’t mean I’ll stop trying.

There are some pretty big ones I’m not listing, because it’s just better if I describe some of the pretty ridiculous situations I’ve been in. Watch out for that in upcoming posts.

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The different government departments (Health, Education, Agriculture) are located in separate buildings up to 1.5 km from the main district office I’m in. Because really no one was engaging with me at the district assembly, I started spending a lot of time with the decentralized departments. Let me tell you, this is where things are HAPPENING. The staff at the departments are working hard, even on Saturdays, to deliver services to the communities. They are under-resourced and stretched thin, but man they care about their job. I’ve been spending time going to different communities with them, to really understand how they work and what the problems are at the grassroots.

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What I’m doing:

  • Building a Centralized Databank: This is my big deliverable for LSDGP and EWB. How can we have a effective planning system when information is… everywhere? There is no place (and no one) who has information on the district! Using my relationships with the departments, I’m gaining an understanding of the key issues faced by the district. I’m building the databank with participation of people in the separate departments as well as the other volunteers over email. I am adopting each section to the data the departments already have and collect. That way, it’ll be easier to use it. The volunteers in the other districts  give feedback as well, and are adopting the databank to their districts.
  • Engaging the district leadership: This is critical to the success of anything. The top-down nature of government in Ghana means that if the District Chief and District Director see the importance and value of the work, the chances of success go up. I’m trying my best to build a relationship with them, and give them weekly updates on my work. Also, I really want someone at the assembly whose sole responsibility is data, and who will come with me to all the departments (and continue after I leave) to keep the databank updated. Patience, the person I’m hoping for, is already working with me sporadically but this is not her job. She wants it to be, and the leadership wants her to be working in the planning office; getting it done is another story.

Some of the other volunteers have developed a project monitoring database, that I’ll be implementing with the engineering department in Saboba.

All the trainings, the databases, the work that the six of us are doing, LSDGP will (hopefully) eventually roll out to all 20 Northern Region districts. In time.

What’s next?:

  • I want to organize two workshops, co-run by Patience and I, in July and August once the databank is complete. I want to use my relationships with the departments to get officers (and hopefully directors) of each department to attend, and learn how to use the database. To learn how to find the information they need. And MOST IMPORTANTLY, to learn how to make the data visual and easy to understand. How to use data.
  • I want to spend July and August visiting the departments constantly, helping them use the database, refining it to their needs, and building up their computer skills.

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Now you see, even if I’m completely successful, all I’ll have done is put another piece in place needed to strengthen district processes. Will it be used? Will it serve the people in the communities? I came here to work against “poverty,” didn’t I? Who am I helping? I don’t know.

This is the nature of the beast. I go home to the village I’m living in, and I continue to see their challenges. I certainly won’t see anyone’s livelihood improve before I leave, and I probably won’t see it at all. It’s not an easy thought. It’s sad, it’s demotivating, and it’s real. I knew that is what I was getting into, but it doesn’t stop me from shedding a tear before bed once in a while. But I’m a small small small part of a process. 20 years from now, I believe that people in Saboba will have better health care and education. 20 years from now, I believe that the district government will function better and the people will be less vulnerable. Will that be attributed to me? HELL NO. Will it be attributed to EWB? Maybe a little bit. But ultimately, it’ll come from within. Change, will come from within Ghana.

But do I still believe in what we’re doing. Yes. Saboba is not an ideal placement, the other volunteers are having more success engaging district officers, but ultimately we’re all just putting those small pieces into place. What’s next?

EWB’s strategy, our next step for Governance in Ghana, it hasn’t been developed yet. The other volunteers and myself will be part of developing that. When things are not going well, I spend a lot of time with different people in Saboba. The more I can really understand the issues, the more I can flesh out the system, the better equipped I’ll be to contribute to the larger strategy. We have many problems, even in our approach; but we have been and are moving in the right direction.

So this placement. This web of craziness. It’s not the end for me. I’m beginning to see more and more, as hard as it is to justify and accept, that this placement is an investment in me. It’s an investment in my future impact. It’s an opportunity for me to sink deep and understand the entire massively fucked up system of NGOs, committed workers, corruption, money, cultural limitations, and the impoverished people who’re left without support. I can already see that my career in development is just beginning. Yes, career. Whether it is in Canada or overseas, I don’t see me turning away from this. Not anymore.

But I think this is enough writing for now.

ASK ME QUESTIONS. BE CRITICAL. DON’T HOLD BACK.

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