dinsdag 15 september 2009
woensdag 9 september 2009
Solar Chargers for Farming Cooperatives in Ghana
Davy, from SEND foundation, would pick me up on Saturday morning 1st August at 06.00 and he was there on the dot. In clean white he thought that we would only go to Salaga to visit 
the field office. You could see the flooding along the road. In Salaga we picked up Wumpini, the senior officer of SEND at Salaga, to visit three farmer communities who tested a solar charger for mobile phones in the ECAMIC project. In February A-Solar, a Dutch company, donated 5 solar chargers to test in Ghana in 5 farmer groups.
ECAMIC is a project where farmers have access to market information through a mixture of channels: notice boards, field staff and mobile phone. All these communities have no access to electricity, although in one community the electricity cable was passing the village! The first community was a very big community with 700
families. 25 of them participated in the SEND farm cooperative. The ECAMIC project provided them with 2 subsidized phones, but now already 20 of them have phones. Mobile phones are booming in the Kalende community, but there is no electricity. No one else has solar power and there are no phone shops where they can buy credits. They are 6 km from Salaga, where everything is available, but that consumes a lot of time and commercial charging is expensive. The solar charger was a huge success. But it was not enough to even charge the phones in the group. With sunny weather the charger could charge 3 phones a day, with clouds only 2.
They would like to charge 30 a day. Now they have seen the advantages of phones all of them would like to have one. They not only use it for
accessing market information, but all their crops (yams, maize, ground nuts, vegetables, etc) are in the system. If market traders visit the village they have a better negotiating position. They also have contact with market traders in Accra and Kumasi by phone.
The phone is also used to contact people in Salaga to bring goods if they will come to the village or to contact relatives in case of a funeral. The other two communities were smaller. Sogon 1 and Bondando had groups of 20 farm families. In both groups there were 8 phones. They both would like to be able to charge 6 phones a day and more phones for the group for a subsidized rate. All three groups would like to set up a small shop to charge mobiles. They would also charge other phones in the community for a small fee for the benefit of the cooperative, though the small chargers more are meant for personal use than for commercial use. But all have seen the benefits of the mobile phone and the impact it can make on their lives.
the field office. You could see the flooding along the road. In Salaga we picked up Wumpini, the senior officer of SEND at Salaga, to visit three farmer communities who tested a solar charger for mobile phones in the ECAMIC project. In February A-Solar, a Dutch company, donated 5 solar chargers to test in Ghana in 5 farmer groups.ECAMIC is a project where farmers have access to market information through a mixture of channels: notice boards, field staff and mobile phone. All these communities have no access to electricity, although in one community the electricity cable was passing the village! The first community was a very big community with 700
families. 25 of them participated in the SEND farm cooperative. The ECAMIC project provided them with 2 subsidized phones, but now already 20 of them have phones. Mobile phones are booming in the Kalende community, but there is no electricity. No one else has solar power and there are no phone shops where they can buy credits. They are 6 km from Salaga, where everything is available, but that consumes a lot of time and commercial charging is expensive. The solar charger was a huge success. But it was not enough to even charge the phones in the group. With sunny weather the charger could charge 3 phones a day, with clouds only 2.They would like to charge 30 a day. Now they have seen the advantages of phones all of them would like to have one. They not only use it for
accessing market information, but all their crops (yams, maize, ground nuts, vegetables, etc) are in the system. If market traders visit the village they have a better negotiating position. They also have contact with market traders in Accra and Kumasi by phone.The phone is also used to contact people in Salaga to bring goods if they will come to the village or to contact relatives in case of a funeral. The other two communities were smaller. Sogon 1 and Bondando had groups of 20 farm families. In both groups there were 8 phones. They both would like to be able to charge 6 phones a day and more phones for the group for a subsidized rate. All three groups would like to set up a small shop to charge mobiles. They would also charge other phones in the community for a small fee for the benefit of the cooperative, though the small chargers more are meant for personal use than for commercial use. But all have seen the benefits of the mobile phone and the impact it can make on their lives.
donderdag 6 augustus 2009
How even a little ICT can improve health care
First stop: Langbinsi
On Thursday 31st July I was the guest of Norbert from ACDEP, a faith based ACDEP Longbinsidevelopment organisation in Northern Ghana. IICD supports, together with
Cordaid, a project within ACDEP to set up 6 information centres at 3 livelihood members, two health members and at their headquarters in Tamale. I visited today the two health centres in Langbinsi and Nalerigu. The road was bad after the turnoff at Walewale. It had rained a lot in the morning, so the roads were muddy.In Langbinsi I was welcomed by David, a nurse and the local ICT champion. He was responsible for the small ICT centre at the clinic. At the clinic were too many patients for the old building and un undermanned staff. The catchment area is 28,000 people from communities as far as 40 kilometres away. The clinic is training community workers for the 15 different villages, but so far this has happened for only three villages. The archive is still
paperwork. ACDEP Longbinsi archiveAn according to David this was not even a busy day, I should have been here at a market day! The clinic was set up in 1974, but the current buildings were from the early nineties. They have small examination rooms and a lab, but no space to admit people. They have to stay with family or friends in Langbinsi. The closest hospital is an hour away, by ambulance.
On Thursday 31st July I was the guest of Norbert from ACDEP, a faith based ACDEP Longbinsidevelopment organisation in Northern Ghana. IICD supports, together with
Cordaid, a project within ACDEP to set up 6 information centres at 3 livelihood members, two health members and at their headquarters in Tamale. I visited today the two health centres in Langbinsi and Nalerigu. The road was bad after the turnoff at Walewale. It had rained a lot in the morning, so the roads were muddy.In Langbinsi I was welcomed by David, a nurse and the local ICT champion. He was responsible for the small ICT centre at the clinic. At the clinic were too many patients for the old building and un undermanned staff. The catchment area is 28,000 people from communities as far as 40 kilometres away. The clinic is training community workers for the 15 different villages, but so far this has happened for only three villages. The archive is still
paperwork. ACDEP Longbinsi archiveAn according to David this was not even a busy day, I should have been here at a market day! The clinic was set up in 1974, but the current buildings were from the early nineties. They have small examination rooms and a lab, but no space to admit people. They have to stay with family or friends in Langbinsi. The closest hospital is an hour away, by ambulance. /
The ICT centre is used in different ways. David, the nurse, has ACDEP Longbinsi 2diagnosed several skin and STD’s using a small digital camera and google health. He documents everything in dossiers, that he discusses with the doctor. The clinic tried to set up a link with other hospitals in the neighbourhood for the diagnosis via e-mail, but most are understaffed and are not willing to take on extra responsibilities without a big fee. So David has used the internet as best as possible. It is also used to store updated medical information for the staff. 10 of 
the 25 staff members are trained so far and are able to make reports, browse the net or sent emails. Community workersThe community workers are also trained in basic ICT and also with the help of the computer in basic community health working. One of the community health workers is also a pastor. He uses the computer at the centre now also to contact to churches in the US, who have now donated for the improvement of his church in the community. David has been very innovative using the internet in providing extra health care, but he is full of plans what he further wants to improve.
Nalerigu
After the stop at Lanbinsi the weather cleared and we continued further east to Nalerigu. At the public health clinic of the mission hospital we were welcomed by Dr. Flores Baba. Acdep NolerigaShe said that there was a programme in Nagboo, one of the communities not too far from Nalerigu. When we arrived at the square next to the small health clinic was full of youths. This was the community Youth programme. These youth were trained at the clinic in ICT, but were now performing a play for the community using different forms of ICT: mobile phones, computers were mentioned, downloaded material about HIV/AIDS laminated. Although I did not understand the
local language it was interesting to watch the crowd how they reacted to this Acdep Nolerigainfotainment. Because it was clear that a lot of information was distributed through this drama. Afterwards we discussed at the public health clinic the way forward. At the moment the internet was not working, because the modem was defect and it takes long before it is repaired. They had lot’s of plans to promote the use of ICT to many more youth and to the hospital staff. They were hoping for modules of continuous training for health workers, so that they were able to do that here without travelling too far.
maandag 30 maart 2009
Advocacy & Policy Influencing
Last week (23-27 March 2009) I followed a very inspiring course at the International NGO Training & Reserach Centre (INTRAC) in Oxford in Advocacy & Policy Influencing.
It was inspiring both for the diversity of the participants as for the content of the course.
Participants
The participants were all very experienced in the field and came from a variety of countries: Niger, Benin, Kenya, Uganda, South Africa, a Zambian stationed in Fiji, Moldava and Slovenia. But also from different types of organisations: Unicef, UNDP, a Farmer Organisation, a health NGO, an umbrella NGO in citizen's participation and two consumer NGO's.
Key concepts
Although it is difficult to share the practical experiences of the different participants, I am able to share the key concepts of the course:
* Advocacy is more than only public campaigning. It contains research to produce evidence, lobbying, media coverage, working with allies in combination with public campaigns. But for a successful policy change you don't need all strategies always for all issues.
* The opposition matrix: Analise the arguments of your opponent thoroughly and use this in your campaign. If you only use your own arguments, you only convince people who are already convinced.
* Use unexpected allies: Do not look only for like minded NGO's in your coalition, it is more convincing if you have for example local government, companies and international organisations on your sight if you want to change government policy
* Use parliamentarians to put pressure on ministers. If you can persuade people in parliament to ask questions in parliament, this could accelerate the decision making process, because the minister has to react on questions in parliament
* Planning for success: advocacy does not stop when the desired change becomes policy. Plan for that time! You have to monitor the implementation phase and keep the pressure on the government, because sometimes policy is never implemented. Governments are not always sure how to implement and you might be able to assist.
* An effective campaign should pass the TEA test: it it should Touch people. It needs to make a connection with its target to prompt a response, but that is not enough. It convinces its target that there is a solution for the problem that touched the people, so it should Enthuse them. But the third part is the most important: the target should Act based on your message.
* For a good campaign you need to have a clear message, a simple solution, clear outrage, use of the media, political support, have good allainces and get people to act. You should be able to summarize your key message in 15 seconds for your elevator pitch.
* Rich picture: Use Rich picture as a tool: it illustrate the key factors of your issue, it could show the situation in all its complexity in the form of a cartoon type representation.
* The importance of M&E: measure the success of your activities in terms of output, outcome and impact. Impact assessment is the most important and this should be participative to include the end users. But that is something what we at IICD already clearly understood and have incorporated.
* The fun to design a campaign: With a small group we had to present a campaign against illegal dumping in the rivers of Anylandia that causes health problems for our children
Links for further reading
* www.apc.org
* BOND (British Overseas NGOs for development)
* Communication Initiative
* The advocacy toolkit from Tearfund
* CEDPA
* Campaign Effectiveness Programme
* Advocacy Source Book Wateraid 2007
Last week (23-27 March 2009) I followed a very inspiring course at the International NGO Training & Reserach Centre (INTRAC) in Oxford in Advocacy & Policy Influencing.
It was inspiring both for the diversity of the participants as for the content of the course.
Participants
The participants were all very experienced in the field and came from a variety of countries: Niger, Benin, Kenya, Uganda, South Africa, a Zambian stationed in Fiji, Moldava and Slovenia. But also from different types of organisations: Unicef, UNDP, a Farmer Organisation, a health NGO, an umbrella NGO in citizen's participation and two consumer NGO's.
Key concepts
Although it is difficult to share the practical experiences of the different participants, I am able to share the key concepts of the course:
* Advocacy is more than only public campaigning. It contains research to produce evidence, lobbying, media coverage, working with allies in combination with public campaigns. But for a successful policy change you don't need all strategies always for all issues.
* The opposition matrix: Analise the arguments of your opponent thoroughly and use this in your campaign. If you only use your own arguments, you only convince people who are already convinced.
* Use unexpected allies: Do not look only for like minded NGO's in your coalition, it is more convincing if you have for example local government, companies and international organisations on your sight if you want to change government policy
* Use parliamentarians to put pressure on ministers. If you can persuade people in parliament to ask questions in parliament, this could accelerate the decision making process, because the minister has to react on questions in parliament
* Planning for success: advocacy does not stop when the desired change becomes policy. Plan for that time! You have to monitor the implementation phase and keep the pressure on the government, because sometimes policy is never implemented. Governments are not always sure how to implement and you might be able to assist.
* An effective campaign should pass the TEA test: it it should Touch people. It needs to make a connection with its target to prompt a response, but that is not enough. It convinces its target that there is a solution for the problem that touched the people, so it should Enthuse them. But the third part is the most important: the target should Act based on your message.
* For a good campaign you need to have a clear message, a simple solution, clear outrage, use of the media, political support, have good allainces and get people to act. You should be able to summarize your key message in 15 seconds for your elevator pitch.
* Rich picture: Use Rich picture as a tool: it illustrate the key factors of your issue, it could show the situation in all its complexity in the form of a cartoon type representation.
* The importance of M&E: measure the success of your activities in terms of output, outcome and impact. Impact assessment is the most important and this should be participative to include the end users. But that is something what we at IICD already clearly understood and have incorporated.
* The fun to design a campaign: With a small group we had to present a campaign against illegal dumping in the rivers of Anylandia that causes health problems for our children
Links for further reading
* www.apc.org
* BOND (British Overseas NGOs for development)
* Communication Initiative
* The advocacy toolkit from Tearfund
* CEDPA
* Campaign Effectiveness Programme
* Advocacy Source Book Wateraid 2007
woensdag 18 maart 2009
Educator an Zambia HIV/AIDS prevention game
Who could support the conversion of the Educator HIV/AIDS prevention game into an online game?
During my last trip to Zambia in February 2009 I had a meeting with Mr Benson Mwembeshi, an enthusiastic advocate for HIV/AIDS prevention. He has developed a game that will help people to discuss taboo issues around HIV/AIDS during the game in their local language. Mr Mwembeshi is looking for support to reach a larger audience. His game is endorsed by the Ministry of Education in Zambia and the National AIDS Counsil. He would like to reach out to 30,000 students, he has an agreement with the minister of Education, but they don't have the funding. He also would like to convert it into an online game. The prototype looks fine and is well tested. Any ideas where he could look for funding?
During my last trip to Zambia in February 2009 I had a meeting with Mr Benson Mwembeshi, an enthusiastic advocate for HIV/AIDS prevention. He has developed a game that will help people to discuss taboo issues around HIV/AIDS during the game in their local language. Mr Mwembeshi is looking for support to reach a larger audience. His game is endorsed by the Ministry of Education in Zambia and the National AIDS Counsil. He would like to reach out to 30,000 students, he has an agreement with the minister of Education, but they don't have the funding. He also would like to convert it into an online game. The prototype looks fine and is well tested. Any ideas where he could look for funding?
See the video he produced about the "Educator"
vrijdag 13 maart 2009
GINKS Focus Grouop
Key results analysis questionnaires
Margaret Kyiu gave a presentation of the key results:
Group discussions
The participants were divided into 4 groups, with each group given a focus to deliberate upon and come up with recommendation which will form bases for the action plan.
impressions of the Focus Group meeting
Group 1 Lobby, Advocacy & Policy Influencing
- In what areas should GINKS be able to advocate for or to influence policy?
- How
members could be more involved in Lobbying, Advocacy and Policy influence? - In which ways could we engage policy makers the more?
On the first issue, the group said that GINKS must prepare and present paper (inputs) to parliament when passing a bill
On HOW MEMBERS CAN GET INVOLVED, the group came up with the following:
- Build capacity of members in lobbying and advocacy
- Constitute committee on lobbying and advocacy for the network
- Team up with organisers with ICT skills
- Use of educational institutions
- Collate views from members in the communities in the rural areas
On WAYS TO ENGAGE POLICY MAKERS, the group said that GINKS should involve
them in GINKS activities
for their sponsorship (for GINKS)
Group 2 Low female participation in the network
- Why is Female participation is still low in the network and How can we improve it; and
- Why members feel that the viewpoint of men and women are not well integrated in activities and how it can we improve
On
why female participation is low on the network, the members of group 2 gave the
following reasons:
- Non conscious efforts to involve women in ICT
- Time of network activities
- Socio-cultural factors
- Techno
centric nature of ICT
They thus recommended the following as ways through which this can improve:
- Conscious efforts to involve more women in activities of the network
- Good
timing of network activities - Education / awareness creation
- Practical
orientation on ICT tools - Activities / issues more beneficial to women
On why members feel that the viewpoint of men and women are not well integrated in activities, they said that it is due to Lack of effective participation in the network by women. They thus
recommended that
- issues that concern and interest women should be raised; and
- women
participation should be encouraged
Group 3 High educational level of members
- Why there is a skew in GINKS towards tertiary education and how we can reach out to
people outside tertiary education (Secondary, primary,) in terms of membership
and services; and - How we should reach out to people who cannot read and write
On the first issue, the group held the view that there is actually no tilt but a decline in the tertiary level, but that the secondary and primary level is a national problem. They thus
recommended that:
- Govt should build more conducive learning environments for secondary and primary schools
- GINKS and other private stakeholders should advocate for ICT policies friendly to
primary to secondary schools, so that people that end up stopping at those levels will still have adequate e-literacy - Infrastructural issues should be dealt with also
- GINKS
should advocate that the school authorities in primary and sec school to give the students more access to computer labs and for trainers to be provided for the schools - Contact
with organisations that work with SMEs (especially membership organisations) in order to set up trainings in the use of ICTs - Awareness is also necessary
On reaching out to the people who cannot read and write, the group recommended the repackaging of information through mediums and languages they can understand – e.g, pictures, video, radio
Group 4 Non achievement of goals
- What kind of goals do members expect to achieve within GINKS?
- Why do members don’t achieve their goals? How can we improve on it?
- Why do so many people from rural areas not achieve their goals? How do we improve it?
In answering these questions, the group 4
members in analysing the fact that 37% of GINKS members are not aware of the objectives of the organisation, held that familiarity with GINKS objectives is a necessary foundation to whether or not the members achieve their goals. They based their assessment on the following thematic areas:
- Information and knowledge sharing
- Networking (through the networking, one can also meet his aspirations)
- Knowledge and skills acquisition for local content development
- Conferences and workshops
Mismatch objectives
- Unrealistic expectations (people’s intention to attend many conferences, programmes etc.)
- Awareness creation – Raising the level of awareness and objectives of GINKS
- Practicing on the skills we have acquired and sharing those skills with others
Easy / regular access to ICT tools (infrastructure)
- Low education level
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