Some of the Challenges of Development Work in Ghana

One of the topics I want to rigorously explore during my time in Ghana and when I return to Canada is: what are the challenges of development in Ghana. What is preventing all the development projects and aid money from being effective? What are the forces, internally and externally, that are keeping people impoverished? Alternatively, what is working well and why?

Now having one month experience working in an office that is both an NGO (non-governmental organization) and GO (government organization) I am experiencing some of these challenges. I will begin by explaining a bit more about what I have learned about the Rural Enterprises Project (REP) to give context on further discussions.

REP is funded by IFAD, the Government of Ghana, and the African Development Bank. It is divided into three levels, the Head Office in Kumasi, Zonal Offices, and Business Advisory Centres (BAC) in each of the participating district capitals. I am working in the BAC of Damongo for West Gonja in the Northern Zone.

The BAC works in a few areas, including business counseling and training, leadership and group dynamics, community based skill training (soap making, batik tye and dye, beekeeping, etc), and credit and financial services. The main role of the BAC is to act as a facilitator to enable the communities’ to access these services. For example, when a number of people come and request that they would like to learn how to make soap, then the BAC lets the zonal office know who then sets them up with a service provider, and the BAC helps the service provider get set up, and collecting fees from clients, arranges for a location for the session and so on. The BAC in Damongo has been operating for about 2 years now, as REP has expanded into its second phase of implementation, working off its initial success and expanding the project to more districts.

The aim of REP is to integrate the BACs into the local district government, the District Assemblies, to support good governance in the country, and reduce dependence on donor organizations for the project’s continued success. Overall I think that REP is a great project that has been well planned and executed. But, as I am trying to understand, one great project still doesn’t alleviate the many impoverished, but why not? What is missing and what can be done better to assist more people in a more effective way?

In my office, I work with four others. There is the BAC Head, the Business Development Officer (BDO), the Admin Assistant, and the driver. Everyone is really friendly, answers my millions of questions, and involves me in the work. I can tell that they are doing this work because they want to help people, even if the passion I was expecting is not immediately obvious. They have been very understanding of my poor health and have been very accommodating. There is a team mentality, though a clear hierarchy exists. So far I have found myself to be useful in making some insightful observations in reports, helping with computer training and professionalism in report writing.

My BAC is finishing up its 2nd quarter of activities for this year. Since I have been there, the work has been quite slow. One of the major reasons being they are waiting on funding to continue their activities. Its frustrating though because planning doesn’t require funding. Getting out into the community in which you live for the sake of letting people know what you do and giving informal support doesn’t require funding. Working to set internal goals in the office and having critical discussions doesn’t require funding. So when hours are spent not working in the office because of lack of funding, it’s frustrating. Furthermore, there is a culture of this mentality in offices, so its not just a matter of stepping in and suggesting a change in attitude, its quite a bit more complicated in execution, but I am trying understand the cause and to lead by example.

Over this past month we have been working on preparing four business plans of clients to be sent to the European Union for credit application. I have spent my time in the office assisting with these plans, learning about the BAC and where will be an appropriate and effective area for me to work in to help improve the organizations capacity to serve the rural poor. Having come up with some of my ideas on what areas I can focus in from the office perspective, I am now going to take to the field to get Dorothy’s perspective. This week I am going to be making preparations (physically, logistically and mentally) to go and stay in a village next week that the BAC has worked with to better understand the challenges that the rural poor, the people the BAC is aiming to assist, face in their daily lives. What do they need for the service to be more beneficial to them and achieve its purpose? Hopefully after this, I will be able to make a more informed decision on which area will be most beneficial to focus my time and energy over the remainder of the summer.

I think I will leave it at there for now, just some context on my work, and then I will get into some deeper thinking in the posts to come. As always, your questions and comments are always very welcome!