Egg and Bread

It is 4:45 am. I am in a cab to the Calgary Airport to catch my weekly 6am flight to Fort McMurray. I am craving Egg and Bread. There is something about travelling at hours when I know I should still be sleeping that makes me crave Egg and Bread.

But yes, I am grateful I am going to an airport and getting on a plane for a 58 minute flight, rather than the 10 hours it would take via bus.

The MoFA Innovation Challenge: Last Thoughts

As much as I enjoy writing about the “life” parts of my placement, I guess I should share with you a bit of a conclusion about the “work” I did.

And so I present a few closing thoughts on the MoFA Innovation Challenge. (Thanks to the fellow MIC/MoFA EWBers who helped shape these observations).

We recognized that MoFA innovations really fell into 3 categories:

1. Idea Generating

Idea generating innovations are defined as innovations that are designed to generate feedback or new ideas from the field level. This indicates that there is a desire in MoFA to provide more feedback and information upwards. These innovations include:

• Suggestion Box – The innovation was to establish a suggestions box in the district office where staff can anonymously offer feedback or new ideas. The suggestions are read at each district meeting and a committee of staff are created to follow-up on actions that arise.
• Farmer’s Day Survey – The innovation was to conduct a survey to uncover what elements of National Farmer’s Day are motivating for farmers and what kinds of prizes they would find encouraging. Currently, the same prizes are offered to farmers every year.
• Workshop evaluations – The innovation was to create and use a general evaluation form to be filled out by field staff after attending a workshop. The evaluation form is used to inspire reflection on what works and what doesn’t at workshops.

These innovations were proposed by the District Directors, showing that there is room within the organization for upwards influence. However, there must be continual encouragement for staff members to use these tools. The emphasis on identifying and incorporating internal ideas into operations suggests that MoFA wants to be a learning organization and is open to improvement. Therefore, the challenge may come in having the resources available to implement proposed ideas.

2. Technical Projects

The second category of innovations are those which are technical in nature or agricultural field projects. These projects include:

• Mango Nursery – develop a privately owned and operated mango nursery to offer farmers the opportunity to purchase mango seedlings should they wish to plant mango trees
• No Tillage Demonstration – a demonstration of the benefits of applying no tillage technology compared with traditional land preparation techniques
• Bee-Keeping Demonstration – a demonstration of the benefits and risks of bee-keeping as a business

These projects were driven by AEAs who saw a need or opportunity for additional extension services. Approved projects were typically not new to MoFA; field staff determined the projects were relevant to farmers, but the projects didn’t currently have a source of funding. This implies that field staff are in a position to develop and promote field level interventions that are relevant for farmers.

3. Administrative Improvements

The third classification of innovations is administrative or managerial improvements. These projects include:

• Supervision Scheme – This innovation addressed the challenge that that district management rarely visits the field to supervise. The innovation was to provide prizes for staff that visit the field most often and regular tracking of improvements to supervision over time through anonymous surveys.
• Job Description Review – This innovation addressed the challenge that there are imbalances in the distribution of work. The innovation was to organize a discussion on how workload is distributed between officers in a district.
• Internet Connection Study – This innovation addressed the challenge that district directors spend a disproportionate amount of time driving to the regional capital to submit reports. The innovation was to compare the prices of various methods that can be used for connecting district offices to the internet and to measure the amount that each district can save by connecting to the internet, thus saving on expenditures for gas/phone calls.

The presence of this category of innovations implies that MoFA is identifying ways to improve operations. It can be argued that these are not innovative, but rather tasks that should be completed normally. Regardless, they have been identified as important tasks to complete, which should be taken as a positive indication of MoFA’s interest in improving the effectiveness of its operations.

The types of innovations highlighted that field staff are in the best position to evaluate and replicate successful technical projects.

Many of the innovations that came from the MoFA Innovation Challenge were not new or unique, but were activities that were being conducted elsewhere in the district or region (either funded through MoFA or other non-governmental partners). The MoFA Innovation Challenge was used as a source of funding to further extend these programs. In particular, mango nursery and bee-keeping projects are currently being funded in Lawra district as part a program implemented by the Japan Development Agency (JICA). Two field staff, who were not in the participating operational areas, identified these projects as something that would be of interest and beneficial to one of their farmer groups. Through the application of funds from the MoFA Innovation Challenge, these projects are now underway. Similarly, Wa West used MoFA Innovation Challenge funding to conduct a no-tillage demonstration, which was also conducted in other districts in the Upper West Region through various programs.

Despite the fact that the field staff projects were not novel, the willingness of the field staff to propose and take on additional projects highlights the fact that they are people who are dedicated to working for the betterment of their farmers. The use of funds for project-based extension efforts, to provide the appropriate inputs and learning-through-doing, highlights the importance of this approach. Field staff did not propose seminars or learning modules for their farmers, but tangible projects. They have worked alongside farmers to help ensure the appropriate training and actions are taking place.

What we learned from the MIC

1. High cost effectiveness can be achieved when resources are directly available to district staff.

The following two projects cost less than $15/farmer. When targeted at the field level and used properly, minimal resources can open up large opportunities for beneficiaries.

• Bee-keeping – The costs included hives which are $45 (for local basket) or $192 (for more durable version), two pairs of bee-keeping protective clothing and a four weeks training program. This allowed 16 beneficiaries the opportunity to access a new source of income.
• Mango nursery – The cost was $120 which placed an emphasis on using local methods and materials for the nursery. This allowed 30 farmers the opportunity to acquire the skills and resources required to run mango nurseries.

2. Competition for most innovative district was not an incentive. What motivated people to develop innovations was the opportunity and resources provided to execute on projects.

Based on the monitoring and evaluation conducted, the promise of awards or recognition for the most innovative projects and/or district did not seem to be a driving factor behind the conception or execution of the innovators’ work. The projects implemented using the innovation fund were driven by opportunity and resources, which came in the form of both funds and encouragement to take action. This demonstrated that staff are motivated to address these problems because they care about their farmers and want to see MoFA become a more effective and efficient organisation. The ownership to realize success comes more strongly when the program design is done largely in the district.

3. Regular checkpoints throughout the project lifecycle help to ensure maximum results are obtained from the MoFA Innovation Challenge.

Many of the innovators were very independent in implementing their projects. They needed little to no coaching and proactively kept appropriate records for their project implementation. However, this was not the case for all innovators and innovations. It is recommended that, in the future, the innovator set a timeline for the implementation of the project. From that original timeline, checkpoints can be scheduled at regular intervals. This allows the innovator to retain control over his or her schedule, but gives additional accountability to an external party. Unfortunately, the ability to play this management role is not widespread within MoFA. Therefore, until MoFA improves its management capacity, it is necessary for an outside party such as EWB to play this role.

4. Management needs to oversee the Innovation Fund to ensure that application and selection processes continue efficiently.

In addition to the individual guiding and coaching, EWB oversaw the overall process of announcing the innovation fund, accepting applications, and coordinating a selection committee. In the absence of this role it is expected that the implementation of the innovation fund would not have occurred efficiently.

Overseeing of the innovation fund is also essential to keep track of common challenges across innovators and share problem solving processes to continue to develop field staff capacity to innovate..

Conclusions

The MoFA Innovation Challenge expected three outcomes to emerge. The results in each of these outcome areas are summarized below.

1. A selection of innovative ideas, best practices and projects which can be scaled up.

Currently these innovations are still being implemented. Some innovations have not, to date, been implemented to completion because the innovators faced unforeseen challenges e.g. not enough time to implement demonstration plots due to other extension duties that need to be completed.

MoFA Management and EWB are still supporting the districts to implement innovations to completion. Once the implemented innovations reach completion and a period of time passes (6 – 12 months), the results of these innovations will be evaluated by MoFA and shared with other districts and the regional level. Ideally, those innovations which are visibly successful will be adopted in other districts.

For the field level innovations, such as bee-keeping demonstrations, it is expected that MoFA will share the results with donors when they are conducting feasibility studies.

2. Increased capacities of district level staff to problem solve and innovate, built through experiential learning.

This experience provided 14 district staff with the opportunity to problem solve, create an idea and implement their innovation. The learning for each staff varied, depending on their abilities to problem solve, innovate and implement. For all, the learning was valuable. However, for the field staff the learning was much greater as this was among the first time this experience was provided to them. The issue of lower capacity of field staff was managed through coaching and guidance from EWB.

3. Demonstration of a model that provides more resources, incentives and opportunities to districts to innovate and drive change.

The model successfully demonstrated that districts are able and well placed to innovate and drive change. Based on the four main learnings about the model, the following conclusions can be drawn about the model.

1. A small amount of funding needs to be made available directly to the district to ensure cost efficient interventions.

2. The funding should be unrestricted to ensure the districts have ownership over the successful use of the funding.

3. Management needs to guide and motivate field staff through the process of analyzing problems, developing ideas and learning from their experiments.

4. Management needs to oversee the Innovation Fund to ensure that application and selection processes are efficient and that learning can be shared across innovators.

In the end, I’m not really sure what’s next for the MoFA Innovation Challenge. I would love to see it take shape, grow and be redeployed in a better format. That would be entirely awesome.

Wow!

A little behind on posting details of the last month. There was a lot to be done in the last couple of weeks in Lawra that there hasn't been time to sit down and write.

In the meantime, photos from my short vacation (with the other girls) in Cape Coast.

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=177957&id=641571969&l=c64b95a263

I'm in Accra now, leaving the country in 3 days … WOW!

Goodbye, Part I: Leaving the Upper West

The Last Saturday: Friends

Ugh, Saturday morning I woke up definitely sick.

Mishellen came over to do my laundry, as she does every Saturday (I will miss her, but then again, in Canada, I will have a washing machine), and I just slept. A little while later Mabel (Mishellen’s sister) and Mark (their neighbor) showed up. I let them in, but still slept. And then my friend Zion arrived to visit (from Wa) for the day.

Four visitors, but I did not feel anywhere near alive.

I continued to lie on my bed coughing and half sleeping while M3 (Mabel, Mishellen and Mark) played with my computer, camera and iphone and Zion read. I realized that they were all intent on spending the day with me, so I dragged myself out of bed, showered and resolved to make it through the day.

We headed into town on a mission: to take pictures of Lawra and to buy a few things I needed to gather for my family. The pictures morphed into a video, with continual narration by M3. The commentary was hysterical. We stopped in a couple of the shops I frequent, and the shop owners humored them by doing what they requested and let them run through their stores videoing and conducting interviews. I couldn’t stop laughing.

I successfully completed my shopping, and we ended our trip by picking up food for lunch. (Side note: There were pineapples in Lawra on Saturday!).

The kids eventually went home.

For dinner I went to the Lawra Chief’s palace, where Ruth (Zion’s aunt) prepared TZ for us. I don’t have the same strong feelings against TZ as some of my fellow volunteers do (not naming any names, you know who you are), but I can’t say that I’ll miss it. Ruth was happy that she was the one to prepare my last TZ (for now), and was very adamant that she will have the opportunity to do so again in the future. I’ve enjoyed being a welcome and fairly regular guest in the palace (meaning, I think I’ve been there twice), and will miss the friends I’ve made there.

After dinner the plan was to go for one last round of minerals, but for some unknown reason, all the bars in Lawra were closed. Lawra is known as one of the “night spots” of the region, so this was strange for 8pm on a Saturday night. Alas!

Feeling tired and sick, but very happy, I crawled into bed. As Mabel said: “This was the best day ever”.

The Last Sunday: Packing and Gifting

My last Sunday was a lazy day. I pretty much just gave everything I had away to Mabel and Mishellen. They were soooooo excited to have a basket full of new clothes. What girl wouldn’t be?

Alison (the VSO volunteer from Toronto) came over as well. I love her and am sad there wasn’t more overlap in our placement. She is absolutely amazing and I wish her all the best in the remainder of her time in Lawra.

The Last Monday: Cough, Cough & Goodbye MoFA

I woke up still feeling super sick. Did I even sleep? I’m not sure. I looked at the clock and decided to not bother getting up. Eventually I mustered the strength to go to town and buy antibiotics. Must kill the bugs! I then went to work, so I could officially say goodbye.

I had a good discussion with the Director to transition out EWB from the Lawra District, and then at the end of the day, received my official goodbyes and thank you gift from MoFA. By this point I had no voice, which I was fortunate because if I had to say some something I probably would have cried.

On the way home from work I ran into a group of girls from Lawra Secondary School. They decided they wanted to taunt me with the ‘Nasa Po’ (white lady song). I agreed, on the condition that I could film them. Teenage girls in front of a video camera are no different in Ghana than they are in Canada. Full of cheese and hysterics.

My girls (Mabel and Mishellen) came over one last time and walked around my apartment and picked up everything that I hadn’t yet packed and asked if they could have it. In the end, they went home with yet another bag of goodies.

The Last Tuesday: A GOOD day in Wa

Monday evening Anna, a VSO Volunteer, called me to say she was driving to Wa Tuesday morning, would I want a ride? Um, yeah! Private lorry. Most definitely. So after a few more teary goodbyes in Lawra, I had a dust-free, AC-ed trip into Wa, direct to Kunateh Lodge. Because I was arrived in the morning, before everyone checked out, there was only one room left for me. I don’t normally spend the extra GHC5 to get a self-contained room (toilet in room, instead of communal washrooms), but I had no option, and hey, it’s my last night in Wa, let's have a little bit of luxury. (It turned out to be a good thing as I spent most of the night, quite literally, coughing my insides out).

After I deposited my many things in the room I headed out for one last stroll around Wa.

Beans and plantains for breakfast? Why not?

Next on the agenda was Trends Internet Cafe to visit Hamida. Hamida has to be one of happiest people I have ever known. When I arrived at the cafe she informed me there was no internet service. I said it didn’t matter, I was coming to see her. She was more than delighted, and we just hung out. I then gifted one of my USB keys to her, my nicest one too. She loved it. While I was there a new VSO volunteer came in. He was doing a very short placement at the Regional MoFA office, but had no background knowledge about MoFA. I was able to spend an hour with him and shared all I knew, and many of our basic EWB resources with him. It was nice to be able to sit and share the little that I had learned about how to effectively (?) operate as an outsider in MoFA. I felt that this was a nice way to (unofficially) end my placement.

Feeling a little sleepy and in need of some rest, I started to head back to the Lodge. Jody called to let me know about my bus logistics for the day. As I was talking to Jody I sat on a bench in some shade. I group of little girls, probably kindergarten age, passed by. They stopped and watched me for a little bit, then spontaneously started climbing on me and giving me hugs. Actually, they couldn’t stop giving me hugs. I let them. I acknowledged the fact that I didn’t really have anywhere to go, and in Canada, I’m pretty sure I won’t have four little kindergarten girls showering love on my. I decided to enjoy this moment. We took pictures and laughed together. As I eventually tried to leave, they wouldn’t let me. The all wanted more hugs. I gave them. I picked them up and gave them hugs. Then one girl started to climb me like a tree; I nicknamed her Monkey Girl. Then the girls started arguing about which one of them should really be the Monkey Girl. I should note that I was totally amazed by their English, it was far better than most adults I had met in Wa. As I started heading down the street, they came with me, holding my hands and legs. Apparently their homes were in the same direction I was headed … we got to one side street and I was told I was coming with them to see their houses and meet their mothers. Why not? I went. We got to the one house, and I was hesitant to come into the compound. A neighbor saw my hesitation and came over to greet me and told me to go on in and meet their mother. And so in I went. The girl got her mother and they all started talking to her at once. I was slightly bewildered, but smiling. I greeted their mother, and then a younger sister came and also wanted a snap (her photo taken). Her mother told me it was ok. I said goodbye again to the girls, and as they started to follow me, their mother thankfully told them to stay.

I went back to the hotel, had a shower and a nap. I realized it was starting to get dark out, and remember the last time I was in Wa after dark (and got terribly lost!) and decided to head out for some dinner. By the time I reached the vendor I wanted to go to, it was pretty much dark. I successfully made it back to my hotel, and settled down in front of the tv with my dinner. While I’ve stayed in this place before, I never really bothered to watch TV / had a room with decent reception. It was really strange to see Christmas commercials on TV. TIGO’s Santa wore a blue suit (TIGO’s color).

The next morning I headed to the bus station with all my luggage; too much luggage. Jody had pre-booked the ticket for me from Bole, and so there was a little confusion about why I didn’t have a physical ticket. Eventually, they figured everything out and the white lady’s luggage was accepted on the bus. And so I left Wa.

For additional photos of my last days in the Upper West see: Upper West Photos!

Photos: Last Days in the Upper West

Again, I haven't gotten to the writing, but to tide you over, here are some photos.

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=176791&id=641571969&l=cb9a3ddcaf

Farmer’s Day Photos

Introduced by the Ministry of Food and Agriculture, National Farmers' Day was organized as a day’s activity for the nation to honor its hard working farmers who excelled in their contribution to improve the agricultural sector with certificates and prizes. In 1988, the first Friday of every December was set aside by the government as Farmers' Day and is celebrated as a statutory Public Holiday. (Source: our favorite friend, Wikipedia)

Again, apologizies for just posting a link to photos, but it's the easiest way to keep the masses happy for now.

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=176131&id=641571969&l=7e04d6afd3

25th Annual Farmers’ Day

What is Farmer’s Day?

Farmers’ Day was instituted in 1984, after a particularly bad period of drought and hunger the previous year, when it hardly rained, there was a very bad harvest, widespread bush fires, and many Ghanaians starved. to compound the problem, Nigeria deported a great number of Ghanaians who were working in that country, who arrived to swell the population …

… In 1984 … it rained. The harvest was much better, and so Farmer’s Day was instituted to thank the hardworking and often un-rewarded farmers for their efforts. It was not initially a holiday, though. Indeed, I believe it was not until 1995 that it was declared a national holiday.   - Bradt Guide to Ghana

Lawra District Farmers Day

Each year there is a theme for the National Farmers Day Celebration. This year it was “Accelerated Agricultural Modernization for Food Security and Economic Transformation”. In meetings preparing for the event, MoFA staff was enthusiastic about the theme. Based on my observations of the Upper West, however, I struggle to see how this theme is entirely relevant when people are struggling with even the motivation to get out and put a sincere effort into their farms, let alone a modernized approach. Maybe I’m thinking about this with too much of my Western hat on. When I think modernization I tend to think of the British Agricultural Revolution, Jethro Tull and Andrew Meikle, and the Green Agricultural Revolution of the 20th Century. To many of the farmer’s here though, I guess modernization is using long handled hoes as opposed to bending over for hours laboring in their fields with short handles, crop rotation … anyway …

As a woman on the MoFA staff, the Director was adamant that I participate with the women in preparing all the food for the event. The people of the host town were responsible for preparing and providing food and drink for all the farmers and visitors for the day. MoFA was responsible for providing food and drink for all the dignitaries and officials for the day.

All week I’d been feeling slightly under the weather, but not yet entirely sick. Tired, but resolved to participate in Farmer’s Day I joined Mariko, Felicia, Asana, Mercy, and  Elizabeth to shop for the ingredients. I think about the times my mom and I worked together to prepare large volumes of food for weddings, parties, etc, in Canada. One trip to Costco, another trip to Sobey’s and maybe a Wal-mart trip and we were good to go. The ladies had gone to Wa the day before to buy the food containers, napkins, utensils, and some of the vegetables; the men were headed out to slaughter the animals; we were headed out through Lawra to get more vegetables.

Walking around Lawra, I realized I was starting to not feel very well at all, but again, determined to participate fully in the preparations, just kept it to myself. While we were waiting for, well, I don’t remember now what exactly we were waiting for, probably the truck, I managed to sneak a nap on a bench at Elizabeth’s house. We eventually got the truck loaded up and headed out to Toupare.

When we arrived there was no water immediately available for us at the site. Someone managed to find us a giant poly tank, and then we solicited the help of the local school girls to fill it for us. 

  

We then started our labors …

While were supposed to be focusing on preparing food for the Farmer’s Day events, we were also required to make lunch and dinner for the staff who were starting to get things set up. To be honest, at this point I realized that I was getting tired of Africa. Just how much cooking do we have to do? How come everything takes so long? And I was hungry. Really really hungry. I will fully admit to sneaking / stealing extra fried plantains before we ate them, and after my share was finished as well.

I spent part of the afternoon chopping okre and tomatoes, and then, well … it was nap time again for me.

The women were sleeping over at the school so they could be up in the early hours of the morning to start preparing the food. However, all the agric staff agreed that I needed to go back to Lawra and sleep in my own bed for the night. I was at the point where I wasn’t going to disagree.

After coughing and struggling to breathe through most of the night I managed to get myself out of bed. Deciding I needed breakfast, I biked into town. I still remember how cold I felt. I’m sure it was about 18 C, but had my hoodie sleeves pulled down over my hands and wishing for mittens and a scarf. Everyone I passed laughed at how cold the white girl looked. I still don’t understand the idea that just because I’m white and from Canada I should be able to tolerate the cold. I don’t do well with Canadian winters, and I don’t do well with the cool season in Africa.

The bike ride there and back was more than exhausting. I knew for sure I was sick. Sigh …

I arrived at the MoFA office on-time, only of course, we weren’t going to leave for many more hours. I sat on the front steps watching everyone attempt to load the truck. Director asked me why I was enjoying myself so much, and I replied that I felt like I was watching a sitcom. He sat down beside me for a few minutes and then started to laugh. He agreed with me. He’d never really taken a step back and just look at how ridiculous everything must look to an outsider. After a good shared laugh, he asked me to take pictures and film some of it. I appreciate the fact that he had a great sense of humor.

Nap time again.

Director came and found me sleeping in the conference room on a bench (I must note that I am quite proud of the fact that I have learned how to successfully nap on benches. I see this as a very valuable and very authentic African skill). I guess naps at 8:30 am mean you are sick. I had to beg and plead to be allowed to continue to participate in Farmer’s Day. Fortunately, my argument that this would be my first and last Farmer’s Day was substantial enough and I was allowed to continue on with my quasi-participation.

Time passes …

The truck has not yet returned.

More time passes.

The truck has died somewhere along the way.

We rounded up some motos and got the rest of the officers out to the site, and Director found a truck from the District Assembly that had not yet left. They came to pick us up, and then we went to pick up the minerals (pop). It is now 10 am. (Note the sign above, wasn’t this event supposed to start at 8am prompt?).

As soon as we arrived, the event got started. I mean, you can’t start the Farmer’s Day celebrations with out the Director of Agric, can you?

My role as official photographer and videographer commenced. And of course, there wasn’t a cloud in the sky. I was really focused on capturing the images of the day, I didn’t may much attention to the speeches that were going on. However, one thing stood out to me. Instead of simply focusing on continued support for the farmers, the Director expressed his disappointment of the efforts of the farmer’s this year. They had received plentiful support, but did not act to the fullest of their capabilities in tending to their crops, etc. He made a very passionate plea to the people about responsibility and accountability for the future of their families and of the area. I appreciated this.

The inspection of crops and livestock reminded me of the Calgary Stampede. The Agric officers and District Assembly staff walked around to see the exhibits people had put together. There were no prizes offered for the exhibits, but you could see the pride people had as they brought forward their biggest gourds and finest beans.

After the festivities had finished, I ate with the officials. I actually felt really awkward about this, since the other MoFA volunteer was serving, but I guess the plan was to get me fed and home to bed as soon as possible. Director put me in the first District Assembly truck that was leaving.

I showered and crawled into bed.

And so ended my one and only Farmer’s Day, again, entirely grateful that I am not a farmer.

For more photos from the Lawra District Farmer’ Day, held in Toupare, please see: Farmer's Day Photos