‘Hoe kijkt coördinator Stephen Abarika terug op het project?
De partner vertelt... van 24 januari 2025 door Stephen Abarika
Elk jaar vragen we onze partner hoe het project is gegaan en welke lessen de partner heeft geleerd.
Context and summary
Describe the original plan/idea for the project. Has the project been executed as planned?
The Tongo District Directorate of Health in collaboration with the Talensi District Assembly in 2017 requested from AG Care-Ghana and World Servants apartments for staff of Tongo District Hospital. AG Care and its donor, World Servants Netherlands, processed and eventually approved the request. As part of the approval, a 3-semi-detached apartment block was to be constructed with the full participation of the Dutch volunteers from World Servants. The request for staff accommodation for the Tongo District hospital was to help reduce the immediate challenge of inadequate staff accommodation and improve the hospital management's ability to identify, attract, recruit, and retain health professionals to provide access to and sustain good quality health care. The original plan was to implement the project in 2021. The global incidence of COVID-19 made it impossible for volunteers from the Netherlands to come to Ghana for the project. Some other factors included lockdown and restrictions concerning meeting and working in groups as a result of COVID-19. It was not until 2023 that the project was realised. Thanks be to God.
Give a (short) general description of the implementation of the project.
The project was implemented without a team from World Servants. Members of the beneficiary project community were not happy that volunteers from Holland through WSN were no longer coming due to COVID-19. AG Care was equally not too happy that the volunteers could not make it to the project. The new mode of implementation – implementing the project without a team from Holland, deprived both the project community and the Dutch participants of the opportunity to learn from each other’s culture. Because the unique nature of implementing a project with a team from Holland was missing this time around, challenging as it was, AG Care worked with other key stakeholders such as the Tongo District Directorate of Health in collaboration with the Talensi District Assembly (local government), community chiefs, opinion leaders, and members of the community to execute the project, which was eventually completed in 2023.
Actual construction works were carried out mainly by AG Care’s local artisan and his local team together with community members. Women played a very crucial role during the construction by providing water regularly while their male counterparts assisted in collecting blocks and helping to mix concrete. The provision of unskilled labour by local community members contributed in no small way to the completion of the project.
How do you look back on the following topics? How was it arranged, what went well, what could be done better?
Construction
Buildings worked on
During the period under review, a 3-semi-detached apartment block was constructed. The project objective in terms of realising the building was achieved though not in record time.
Tasks to be done
The 3-semi-detached apartment block in Tongo was completed by the 15th of July 2023. The newly constructed 3-semi-detached apartment block is now fully used by health professionals. The tasks were generally shared among the technical team of AG Care and community members. Having to wait for some years to complete the project at a point demoralised some community members.
Programs
Children program
There was no children’s programme. This was mainly due to the fact that the project did not receive volunteers from WSN due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The activities of the children’s programme are normally organised by participants from WS for children in the project community.
Cultural and touristic outings
Not applicable
Life Skills program and Football for Water (also include the amount of tranings given and the number of people from the community actively involved in training).
Not applicable
Cooperation and involvement
Leadership team World Servants
There was no team.
Local leaders / key persons
Local community leaders cooperated to resolve challenges in respect of the land on which the project was to be built. It rather took a very long time for stakeholders to resolve the problem. The process to resolve the land issue was facilitated by AG Care in partnership with the Local Government. The cooperation of local leaders can be rated on a scale of 6 out of 10.
Community
The community and its members’ level of cooperation and involvement in the project was good. There was a great understanding between AG Care’s technical team and the local unskilled workforce. Community cooperation can be rated on a scale of 6.5 out of 10.
Beneficiaries
The management and staff of the beneficiary hospital cooperated meaningfully with other agencies including AG Care and World Servants. They provided storage facilities for building materials and ensured they were duly protected over a long period of time.
(Local) authorities
On the part of the local authorities, they provided additional roofing sheets to help complete the project. The engineering department of the Talensi Local Government worked very hard to ensure that the building met the quality standard that was expected by stakeholders.
Facilitation of the team
Accommodation
Not applicable
Food
Not applicable
Transportation
Not applicable
Safety
Not applicable
Lessons learned
One lesson learned during the period is that it is good to build trust, grow it, and sustain it among project community members and other stakeholders. This helps to keep the trust ongoing even if a project is delayed for some reason such as COVID-19.
WS should continue to stay in close contact with the implementing partner for periodic review and assessment of the project if it encounters the above-mentioned challenges. These reviews would help to provide relevant information to interested groups such as participants.
