Watoto: April - The Big Issue
Thursday 15th April 2010
Sourcing Accountable Projects
Whilst the VTC in Sawla offers hope for a positive partnership with the Wugulu Project this is not always the case. At COCO we implement a rigorous criteria before supporting a project but first and foremost we must ensure that partners are accountable and the project can incorporate community participation and capacity building.
Some of the issues are highlighted in the visit to RAM preparatory school in Darkuman.
Lucy's Blog:
22nd March 2010
"The school is located in a busy residential and shopping area in between various informal shops and businesses. It is made up of several buildings all of which are rented from a private landlord and has a major walkway for the public running staight through it. I can see from first glance that this school is not up to scratch and I am a little worried about the set up but I smile politely as I walk into what seems to be a staff room to introduce myself to the headmaster.
Mr Mante and his Assitant Head Moses greet me and ask why I failed to tell them I was coming (I did, they obviously got the dates mixed up and I have caught them off guard - which is no bad thing) not a great start! The children are beautiful and very friendly; I am met by a chorus of "good morning madam" and have my hand shaken by at least 2 dozen little grubby hands. I explain to the teachers that I am Lucy from COCO in England and I am a friend of Cat's (the student who volunteered there in 2006). I remind them of the emails I sent back in January to ask if I could visit adn remind them of our numerous phone calls in 2009 when we were trying to establish a budget. It seems that has sparked off some memories at last! I ask if I can take a look at the school, photograph the buildings and children and speak to some of the teachers. I am given permission and the tour begins.
As in every African school visit, I have to see every class room and meet each teacher, be greeted by the students and speak to them in English, their protocol, not mine. The school is diabolical, it is completely run down, and under resourced. In fact, without the children in uniform, it would look nothing like a school. There are no partitions between the classes so each class interupts the next, the roof has holes in it, the walls are eroding, the blackboards are illegible and there are no books, papers or pencils and no learning resources at all. What's worse is that this is a school that receives volunteers from all over the "developed world" and no one has thought to bring in posters or books.
The teachers look disinterested and to be honest I can't really blame them, from what I understand, most of the pupils can't afford to pay their school fees so the teachers often go without pay. Unfortunately no one is keeping an accurate record of any of the finances so there is no evidence to prove that this is the case. I am told the only support they receive is some money for fees from the parents and some donations occasionally. The government give them books sometimes but not enough and not often.
I ask the teachers what it is they need the most and they tell me it is land. They want to buy their own land so they can build a school that belongs to them so they will have no rent costs each month. The problems lie in the fact that they can't afford to buy the land because the school has no money and they have no evidence to suggest that they could make the school sustainable if they did get the land. COCO only go into a project if we can genuinely see a way to incorporate community participation and capacity building. I honestly feel that if we gave money to this school we would be doing the donors of that funding a disservice.
There are 2 kinds of schools in Ghana, government and private. It would seem that anyone can set up a private school and this is what happened here, a group of teachers have got together and decided to set up a private school. Whilst that is incredibly noble of them, it presents a few issues with accountability. The fact that the school buildings are rented from a private landlord means there is no way that COCO can refurbish them. That is why buying their own land is probably the only feasible option for this school, but this is expensive, it's a long term investment and we have to be sure it can be sustainable for the children and teachers and that's before you go into the issue that it should be the government's responsibility to build schools with their budgets.
I have learnt from past experience not to invest in these "private schools" unless you can hold someone accountable for the delivery of progress and without an attachment to an NGO or CBO this is an issue for RAM. I asked where they would go if they could buy the land, they say they can take me there, they have already found land. I ask how much it costs and after the three of them have a conversation in Chi, they ask me if I want to know in old cedis or new cedis, I ask for the cost in new cedis seeing as that is the currency now. He tells me 80,000 Cedis, I look shocked and he changes his mind, no it is actually 8,000 Cedis, then he scratches his head and suggests 800,000 Cedis. With costs ranging from £4,000 to £400,000 I decide to ask them to do some research, put a budget together and I will come back on Friday.
When I return, i tell them the issues we have with the project and ask that they have a think about my comments and we will see if we can supply the school with some resources such as books, pens etc. We manage to agree on that and at least communications are ongoing adn we'll let you know what happens."
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