Update to the Global Board

 

Epicenter strategy: Scale up

During this third quarter 2006; The Global Hunger Project has received from the Robertson Foundation, the first portion of one million dollars committed by the Foundation to support our program of scaling up the epicenter strategy in Ghana.

The scaling up program will start during the coming fourth quarter 2006 and will continue next year in the Eastern Region of Ghana, particularly in the eight districts of East Akim, Fanteakwa, Atiwa, Kwaebibirem, West Akim, Birim North, Birim South and Suhum Kraboa-Coaltar. This unique experience of THP in Ghana will be the showcase for our intended scaling up program in the other seven countries in Africa.

In addition to scaling up in the Eastern Region, this third quarter 2006, The Hunger Project-Ghana is working in 23 epicenters that are in various stages of evolution within the four phases:

• Nine epicenters are in phase one;
• Ten epicenters are in phase two;
• Two epicenters are in phase three; and
• Two epicenters are in phase four, which is the stage where the people are poised to achieve self-reliance.

In the 23 epicenters, THP-Ghana is covering a population estimated to be a quarter of a million.

Vision, Commitment and Action Workshop: Animator Training

THP-Ghana continues to organize VCA workshops and Women Empowerment Programs in all the epicenters to train men and women animators who in turn will mobilize, support and work with the rural populations. The animators periodically meet to review the results of their work, compare experiences on the ground, agree on their next priorities and renew their commitment to achieve their vision.  

The animator-initiated projects are achieving very good results and specifically are focusing on empowering women to know their legal and constitutional rights, building sanitation facilities and developing income-generating activities in partnership with their respective communities.  They have built in various epicenters several modern Kumasi Ventilated Improved Pit (KVIP) latrines, primary schools, and teachers’ housing facilities, food-processing facilities (grinding mills) that are particularly helping to reduce the drudgery of women. 

In general, thanks to the VCA workshops, our partners are abandoning their sense of dependency and replacing it with a spirit of self-reliance and collective work for the end of hunger in their communities. The VCA workshops remain the centerpiece of enhancing the people’s mobilization, motivation and commitment to the objectives of the end of hunger and poverty.

Women Empowerment Program

This program, which was created in Ghana, is designed to enhance women’s participation in their communities.  It provides 15 days of intensive training – three sessions spread over roughly three months – for selected women leaders in legal rights, leadership skills and reproductive health. Villages choose women to participate, and these women become resource people to the village. The women of the village often refer to them as their “lawyers.” The training was created in partnership with Women in Law and Development in Africa (WILDAF), and is taught by teams of women lawyers and Hunger Project staff. Issues dealt with include domestic violence, child rights and inheritance.

Food security – Increased Food Production

Farmers trained by animators and extension workers in partnership with THP are engaged in producing both a greater yield and diversified crops on their communal lands so that they can store the excess food in their community food banks as security for the lean season.  This effort has resulted in farmers building additional household granaries for storing their maize in addition to the community food bank in the epicenter.  

THP-Ghana reports that farmers have increased the acreage of land they are cultivating and they are significantly increasing the yield every year. These encouraging results are being achieved largely because of the benefits from the Crop Improvement Project, Crop Diversification, Market Support and the Micro Credit/Inputs Schemes put in place by THP-Ghana for men as well as for women. The program established by THP-Ghana for women focuses on food processing facilities in many communities with a view to reduce the drudgery of women and minimize post harvest losses.  Food processing also adds value to farm produce, such as processing cassava root into gari which is used as a staple food.

The biodiversity improvement project includes snail farming – to date more than 70 farmers have been trained in snail farming – and the establishment of woodlot cultivation lands. More than 40 acres of land have been planted with trees that can be harvested within 3-5 years, providing fuel wood which, along with charcoal, is an income-generating project.

Micro-finance and Rural Banks

During this third quarter 2006, no additional rural banks were recognized by the government in Ghana. However, the AWFFI micro-credit program continues to progress, with registered rural banks in two epicenters, Atuo-Bikrom and Nsuta Awaregya. These banks are designed to provide to our communities, especially women farmers, the opportunity to have access to affordable and appropriately-structured credit for increased food production with the result of increased savings and wealth in the villages. They also allow the diversification and expansion of income-generating activities to enable farmers to increase their farm sizes by acquiring additional land for cultivation.

Education and Adult Literacy

To ensure the expansion and the success of the Adult Literacy program, THP-Ghana works closely with the Non-Formal Education Division (NFED) of the local government to have literacy instructors assigned to conduct training in each area where our epicenters are located. The literacy program aims to remedy gaps in women’s training, not just provide a standardized literacy program. THP recommends people to NFED to be trained to lead literacy classes. Once people become literate, their self-confidence is enhanced, women are more inclined to participate in household decisions and both women and men participate in community affairs. The challenges with a literacy program include scheduling classes when farmers are available; a limited number of facilitators, poor eyesight, and husband who oppose their wives participating in activities in the evening.

Health and Hygiene

All our epicenters contain their own health centers to ensure that our partners have access to health and hygiene. The heath centers are run by the community in close partnership with the local health officers provided by the government through the Community Based Health Planning and Services (CHIPS) program with a view to improving the health and nutritional conditions in all our partner villages. In addition, Traditional Birth Attendants (TBAs) are also trained to ensure health care for pregnant and lactating women in the villages that are too far away from the epicenter health clinics. Vaccination programs for children are also provided by the health centers. The local governments in partnership with our rural partners are providing funding for the digging of wells for safe drinking water.

HIV/AIDS Program

The HIV/AIDS program has become an effective vehicle for preventing the spread of HIV/AIDS.  Specially-trained animators conduct workshops which include dramatic skits and plays designed to have the villagers understand the cause of HIV and how it can be stopped. Many of the animators are women, and are motivated to go beyond historical taboos of not talking about sex or using condoms to a recognition that they must speak out and insist on male behavior change if the disease is to be stopped. Reported results from the workshop include a reduction in teen pregnancy, better marital relationships, increased emphasis on keeping girls in school, and an increased sale of condoms.