School Supplies and Some Guinea Fowl

"Over the last two weeks I have been travelling throughout the country, visiting credit unions, visiting schools, and spreading CUA’s message of youth savings. I took advantage of our travels and stopped in to two schools in order to drop off school supplies as a donation from the Steel Centre Credit Union. The members of Steel Centre were generous enough to raise $800, which was given to me to buy school supplies, which I bought in Accra before we left on our trip.

 

I told my colleague, Ernest, about the credit union’s donation and he gladly offered to help me. Ernest contacted two schools for me that he thought could use some help with purchasing supplies. Ernest then took me to a part of Accra that I had never been before. This part of the city was the busiest that I had ever seen and there were no vehicles on the streets. Honestly, they would not have been able to get through the crowds. There were thousands of people on the streets selling everything you could imagine and then stores in which even more was being sold. We went to a school supplies store and talked with the store operator for a few minutes before deciding to buy exercise books, pens, pencils, erasers, and sharpeners. After we purchased all of the school supplies I still had some money left and I decided that we should also give the students something fun so we purchased a few soccer balls.

 

School Supplies purchased through SCCU donations and booksale

 

The first day that we were on the road to the north to visit schools in February we visited Ekimfi Otuam T.I. Ahamadiya Primary and Junior High School in the Central Region. The students were gathered out in front of the school when we arrived. I introduced myself to the teachers and the school staff who were present. The headmaster introduced me to the students and gave Ernest and myself a few minutes to explain who this donation was from. We then distributed the exercise books and the pens and pencils to the students individually to make sure that they all received enough to do their work. After the presentation, I spoke to one of the teachers who had mentioned that he particularly appreciated the soccer balls as he is an avid soccer fan and is trying to teach the sport to the kids. The students were also quite appreciative and excited.

 

Joel with students and teachers from the first school the supplies went to

About one week later we arrived in the Upper West Region and made a stop at Yalugu T.I. Ahammadiya Primary School. The Upper West is a beautiful region and starkly different from the southern area in that it’s much more dry and desert-like. The school was a beautiful little group of buildings miles away from the middle of nowhere. Several of the school staff were gathered when we arrived. We greeted them and explained to them personally who the donation was from and how the supplies should be distributed. We then made a stop in to one of the classrooms to tell them a bit about the credit union donation and to encourage them to do their best. One of the school staff members mentioned to me that the region is relatively poor and that often students come to school with no school supplies because their parents simply cannot afford them and that this will be a big help for those students.

 

Joel with teachers and students at the second school

Students again

 

Before we left the school the headmaster wanted to thank us one more time and presented us with two live guinea fowls (chicken-like birds) to take with us. He told me that the custom in his region is that if a stranger visits you should present him or her with a gift. Ernest told me that he would take the guinea fowls to his house. Already at his house are approximately twelve chickens and maybe eight cats. I’m sure the guinea fowls will be a welcome addition."

 

Teacher packing up the guinea fowls for their ride home

-Joel

CUA Youth Savings Conference

February 14, 2013

"This weekend was the annual CUA Youth Savings Conference in Ghana. Students from all over the country were invited to the conference. Around twenty-five students attended with ten teachers. The students were some of the most motivated students that I have encountered so far in Ghana. They were incredibly bright and ambitious young men and women who are coming of age in a Ghana that is growing economically as well as developing socially. When speaking with these students, I came to understand that many of them are interested in attending college or university or developing their own small and medium-sized businesses. The opportunities for this generation are endless and the students that attended the conference are the ones who will benefit the most as they’re the ones who will seize these opportunities.


Ernest and Students conference students

The conference started on Friday evening with students starting to arrive at around 4PM and continuing to arrive in small groups for the next few hours. The conference took place in a small Christian retreat centre in the town of Takoradi in the Western Region. We showed the students to their rooms and let them get settled before having supper and a brief assembly. For the assembly we simply welcomed the students and then ran a few icebreaker exercises and played a few games so everybody would have a chance to get to know one another. I was fortunate to have my Canadian co-worker, Lucy (gender programming intern), along with me at the conference. She has lots of experience in theatre and camp programming and was therefore a wealth of knowledge and experience for ice-breakers. The students were quite excited to participate and meet new friends.

After the students were comfortable and energized from the games and ice-breakers, we all sat down together and democratically decided on the rules of the conference. Some of the rules that the students suggested were exactly what I would expect from intelligent compassionate young men and women anywhere in the world. These were things like “respect each other’s opinions,” “don’t use harsh words,” and “listen when others are speaking.” But there were some other rules that the students agreed upon that would not have come up in a Canadian context. Two that stand out in my mind are “bath twice each day” and “say your daily prayers.” These two rules surprised me because I come from a culture in which people don’t question each other’s’ hygiene openly and the issue of religion is consistently off-the-table. These are touchy subjects that most Canadians will not touch but within the Ghanaian culture these are basic ground rules that came about quite naturally.

The next morning, the participants were awoken for breakfast bright and early and then led back to the conference hall for a full day of activities. The gender department started the day’s presentations with an information session teaching the students about subjects like sex vs. gender and gender based stereotyping. Traditional gender roles are a large part of Ghanaian society and this has, historically, had a negative impact on the ability of women and men to gain equal footing within the workforce. The goal of the gender department is to create a credit union movement that is gender equitable and one way that we can do this is by teaching the young credit union members before these gender stereotypes are too engrained. 

Carla from CUA of Ghana and Lucy, a CCA Intern

The next presentation at the conference was moderated Clara, by a staff-member of the Credit Union Association of Ghana. Her presentation was on leadership roles and effective management styles. The students participated in some leadership exercises and games before we broke for lunch. After returning from lunch I presented a piece on business plan development for small businesses. The goal of the exercise was to teach the students to think about running a small business from multiple perspectives. We went over things like marketing planning, sourcing funding and developing a corporate vision. After my brief lesson I set the students up with an exercise in which they broke out into groups and developed a fictional company and created a small business plan around that company. The students briefly presented their business plans in front of the group. I was quite impressed by the level of thought that the students put into their business plans. The students thought about things like non-financial investment, job creation, emerging markets and product enhancement and presented the pros and cons of their proposed businesses eloquently.

After my business plan session the group broke for a couple of hours for dinner break. After dinner we met back up for a quiz contest which quickly turned into a dance contest. After the quiz and dancing the whole group was starting to get understandably tired so we all went back to our rooms and rested up for the last day of the conference.

Mam Cate as she presents to the students

On the last day of the conference we were visited by the general manager of CUA, Mr. Emmanuel Darko, the health officer, Mama Cate and Mrs. Abba Smith, the woman who started the youth savings clubs in Ghana. Mama Cate spoke to the students about sexually transmitted infections and the practice of safe sex. I’ve seen Mama Cate present probably a half dozen times and every time she presents she manages to make the presentation even more funny and shocking than the last time. She’s an older woman who spent her youth as a nurse working with the national health department, working during the AIDS crises. She has seen it all and knows, I’m sure, more than she would care to share, but she always manages to make her presentations light-hearted and informative. Mr. Darko spoke about the potential that this generation has and about how good decision making can lead this young Ghanaians to a bright and prosperous future. Lastly, Mrs. Abba Smith talked to the students about the history of the youth savings clubs in Ghana and what the future looks like for the program and for the students involved. Mrs. Smith is very passionate about the program and is seen as a mother figure to the students and staff involved.

Mr. Darko

After the presentations from the dignitaries, the group broke one last time for lunch. The students, who had become close friends over the last few days, mingled and played around while myself and the other staff started to pack up our gear into the truck and get ready to head back to Accra. As they started to head off back to their own towns, the students mentioned that they appreciated the program and wished that they could stick around for even longer."

-Joel

Working Alongside Canadian Credit Union Managers

"During the month of January I spent a few weeks with a group of Canadian credit union managers who were in Ghana on a mission with the Canadian Co-operative Association, working to further development of the Ghanaian credit union movement. Every year, CCA sends teams of credit union practitioners from all across Canada to Ghana and Uganda to help provide guidance for the budding credit unions in Africa. Because the Ghanaian credit union movement is much younger than the Canadian credit union movement, the Canadian credit unions are looked upon with significant respect and admiration. I was fortunate to be able to accompany several of the visiting practitioners with their visits to credit unions in Ghana.

Before we set out to the credit unions for the visits, all of the visiting credit union practitioners met with some of the staff of the Credit Union Association of Ghana for a day of in-country training and discussion. The visiting Canadians were all very excited to get to meet with the CUA staff who are absolutely essential in bolstering the credit unions in Ghana. Some of the visiting Canadians had visited Ghana before on another coaching mission through CCA before and were certainly aware of what to expect with their visits while others seemed excited and nervous about their first experience in West Africa.

The training day consisted of things like addressing conflict of interest, recommendations for loan policy development, and good governance. The Canadians and the Ghanaians discussed what sorts of policies worked and what didn’t work in the context and how they could adjust these policies from the Canadian examples to properly address local issues. For example, in Canada, it’s quite easy to assess a member for a loan by accessing their credit history, where as in Ghana, credit reporting doesn’t exist and therefore loans managers are much more dependent upon personal references and guarantors.

I spent the next week traveling from Accra to the Central Region, then on to the Volta Region and finally back to Accra. I met with three credit union managers and six of the visiting coaches in the field. The stories that the coaches shared with me were quite incredible. The credit unions that the coaches visited ranged from a hundred members and two staff members to thousands of members and a team of thirty employees. The issues that the credit unions face are even more varying. Some credit unions have delinquency rates that are absolutely crippling where others have significant problems with conflict of interest. The coaches spent days sitting down with the credit union managers and board members, hearing their successes and their challenges and then returned the next day to provide them with a written report, detailing their challenges and recommendations to address their challenges. Some coaches left behind draft policies and documentation to help get their staffing issues in line or to properly address new loans.

All of the coaches spent their last day in Ghana at the Credit Union Association office in Accra discussing their work with each other as well as with the CUA staff. Getting to hear about all their experiences and how they advised the Ghanaian credit unions to build and develop on their strengths and address their weaknesses in a positive manner was a really interesting experience. The goal of the CCA coaching program is to help the Ghanaian credit union movement move towards independence. Hopefully someday soon Ghana will be sending their credit union practitioners to other countries to share what they have learned from their own experiences in developing a sustainable successful credit union sector."

 

-Joel

Photo's of Ghana

 

"I had the chance to meet up with Joel during his Christmas break. Here are some candid photos he'd like to share from his past few months in Ghana.

 

Ernest (Joel's Credit Union Coworker in Accra) and Joel

Joel at a Credit Union AGM in Brong Ahafo

Joel meeting with some teachers who oversee the program throughout local schools.

Joel again with the teachers

  The Following photos are of Joel presenting in a number of schools across Ghana.

Joel teaching at a school an Entrepreneurship & Business Training Session in Northern Ghana

 





 

 

 

 

 





 This section of photos are from a Women's Leadership Conference. Most attendees are female credit union employees, managers, or board members.

Joel and Ernest presenting at the conference.

Joel and Ernest answering questions at the conference.



Some conference participants.



 

Pictured here (centre) is one of Joel's Canadian counter parts (who works with womens rights) amoung the ladies at the conference

The first two pictures are views of Ghana from the top of the building that the Women's Leadership Conference was held in. This building is owned by the Credit Union Association of Ghana. The rest of the photos are other photos of Ghana and Joel.

 

 

 



Co-op Cargo Station!

 

 

 

 

 

Future Credit Union Leader? Maybe :)
 



Joel relaxing while waiting for lunch at a resort in Ghana.

I've talked to Joel since his arrival back in Africa and he is happy to be back. Keep checking back for new posts from Joel as he nears his final month in Ghana!"

-Bailey, Marketing Coordinatior at Steel Centre Credit Union.

Cookies and Youth Savings Club, Mim

November 29^th

On Thursday night, Ernest (my local colleague) and I attended a year-end event for the Youth Savings Club in Mim, Brong Ahafo Region. The event was attended by more kids than the organizers expected, and MANY more than I expected. There must have been approximately five hundred kids in attendance from five to thirteen years old. There were very few adults in the audience. I saw this and immediately thought that there was going to be absolute chaos and confusion.

Students of the Youth Savings Club in Mim

During the speeches and presentations the kids were very well behaved. Although some of them ran around, talked with each other, and played games, many of the kids were interested in paying attention, participating in the event and learning.

It came time for me to speak to the children about what it means to start your own business and about how their savings can be used to become an entrepreneur, carving their own path in Ghana’s exciting future. Ernest, my colleague from the Credit Union Association of Ghana, took one microphone and I took the other. He offered to translate what I was saying as I spoke in front of the massive audience of impatient children.

After all the speeches were done prizes were awarded to a handful of the members. I was asked to give the prizes to the students and take a picture with them.

At the end of the ceremonies the children were given pop and cookies. The staff from the local credit union, Ernest and me helped distribute the snacks to the kids. I didn’t realize how much of a task this was going to be until I was halfway through the crowd, surrounded by about forty kids all screaming with their hands out trying to get the cookies I was handing out.

Joel presenting awards at a Credit Union AGM in Brong Ahafo

I returned to the front of the room after distributing cookies for about twenty minutes to Ernest laughing at how much I was attacked by the kids.

After leaving the event, we returned to our hotel for a well-needed rest.

The next day we got in the truck early in the morning and traveled to the upper most part of the country, Upper West Region. This was the first time that I had experienced the Northern part of Ghana. I had been warned many times that the North is significantly hotter than the south. So, of course, my entire experience in the North was sweltering heat and trying to find shade.

Ernest and I met with several credit unions and teachers in the high schools in and around the city of Wa. The next day we made a presentation to a group of students from the nearby region on entrepreneurship development.

Joel & High School Students after Entrepreneurship & Business Training Session

Finally, after about ten days traveling around the Northern half of Ghana, we made the 14-hour trek back down to Accra, finally arriving back at my apartment by midnight.

-Joel

International Credit Union Day in Ghana

The United Nations has officially proclaimed 2012 as The Year of the Co-operative. They claim, and I tend to agree, that co-operatives offer people a unique opportunity for economic and social development in a time of economic uncertainty. Co-operatives and credit unions represent their members economically and offer the opportunity for people to develop their own economic environment. Last week, I was lucky enough to get to experience the celebrations of International Credit Union Day in the city of Ho in the Volta Region of Ghana. The celebration of International Credit Union Day in the International Year of Co-operatives is most definitely something to experience, no matter where in the world I could be. But I was lucky enough to be in Ghana, a country that is discovering it’s economic place in the world and the role that co-operatives play in that system. The credit union movement in Ghana is a bustling and growing movement with a lot of excitement in the air.

On Friday afternoon a tour bus pulled up outside of the Credit Union of Association head office where I work. We were all given matching shirts and hats before approximately fifty of my coworkers and I boarded the bus. There was a buzz of excitement on the bus for the ride from Accra to Ho. The bus ride took us about five hours and we arrived at about 8:00 pm in the darkness of the Volta region. We checked into our hotel rooms after grabbing a quick bite to eat.

The next morning I walked to the Polytechnic, where the celebrations were being held, with a group of colleagues. Ho is a relatively small city and the Volta region is known for being very lush and green. The walk to the Polytechnic made this apparent.

The Credit Union Day celebrations started off with a dance crew entertaining the crowd as they trickled in. The crowd of three or four hundred was made up of members of the credit union movement of Ghana, representing every kind of credit union movement member from every region of the country. There were board members, employees, management, and everything else involved with credit unions. The celebrations started off with an opening prayer. The MC asked the audience if anybody felt moved by the spirit and wanted to give a blessing for the festivities. Several audience members offered to speak. The MC chose one of the volunteers and he stood up and gave thanks and spoke his piece on the gathering. After the prayer several special dignitaries were introduced and asked to give a brief word. People spoke about the UN declaration of the International Year of Co-operatives and the value of the co-op model to places like Ghana. It was really interesting to hear leaders in the developing world speak about the value of co-ops in development.

As the day rolled on, representatives from the Credit Union Association of Ghana spoke about current issues in the credit union movement. There were discussions on the problems with high delinquency rates and new exciting software that CUA has made available to credit unions. After every few speakers there would be a short break from the ceremonies for more music and more dancing.

 

 

As I rode back to Accra on the bus I thought to myself “these are the people who make the co-operative movement in Ghana possible.” The credit union movement in Ghana, and in Africa in general, is growing and only now finding its feet. The International Year of Co-operatives has been celebrating the role of credit unions and is helping the people of the developing world discover economic freedom. I strongly feel that the Credit Union Association of Ghana is helping people find their own economic freedom.

-Joel

 

Experiencing Ghana

October 14th, 2012

I’ve officially been in Ghana for one month.

I spent the last week traveling the Central Region and the Western Region of Ghana by pickup truck, visiting senior high schools and credit unions. Travelling the back roads of Ghana by pick-up is nothing like traveling back roads in Nova Scotia. The back roads in Ghana are more like the test track that they show 4x4 trucks running on advertisements for Ford. It’s something of a “Man vs. Nature” endurance test.

Ernest and I arrived in Takoradi (Western Region) with our driver Sammy after our vigorous drive through the breathtakingly beautiful countryside. We spent the night in a nice little motel outside of the town core.

The next morning we travelled into town to talk to the management at the local credit union about joining us for a Youth Savings Club recruitment session at one of the local high schools. Standing in front of thousands of students, in a speakers’ panel consisting of the credit union manager and the head mistress of the school was more than a little intimidating. I told the students about my own personal savings and how I worked through high school in order to pay for my university tuition. During university, I also worked in order to supplement the tuition as much as possible. I left the auditorium with a sense of pride that I could possibly impact a handful of students to think about the possibility of saving for post-secondary education or for possibly starting their own business.

During the afternoon, Ernest and I travelled from Takoradi to the neighboring town of Adiembra. In Adiembra, Ernest and I ran an intensive entrepreneurship training session. The session involved teaching the kids about the principles of marketing, explaining the differences between the business structures that companies use (Sole-Proprietorship, Partnership, Corporation and Co-operative), and a few other things that I hope will inspire them to start thinking about owning their own business after they’ve finished school. After the session was over, the students demanded that there be a photo session. All the students gathered around and encouraged me to stand in the center of the group for the photo. After the group shot was taken about fifteen of the students lined up to each take an individual picture with me. During this process I was proposed to by approximately three teenage girls. The girls would come up to me, pose for a picture and then say, “White man, I will marry you,” and then laugh and walk away joking with their friends.

After a solid week of traveling from town to town (Bompeh, Komenda, Etc.) over roads that were designed for adventurous off-roaders, we finally arrived back in Accra. After four days of going to schools, telling the kids about the value of owning their own business and the pride you can find in entrepreneurship, I arrived back at my apartment.

-Joel