Narrative Report

This was a successful project for the community and volunteers. Through their high level of participation, the community demonstrated their understanding and appreciation for the project. Also the community leaders exhibited commitment throughout the whole project period. The project also experienced good integration of the Dutch team and local community members, promoting understanding and team work during construction. The food offered to the participants was good. Other project activities such as children program, Life skills program, home visitation went well. Participants were accommodated in a private house of the son of one of the community’s leaders.

The road to the project community became bad as it rained during a few days prior to the end of the project, leading to the evacuation of participants one day earlier out of Dimia to Langbinsi. The level of participation of teachers during the project was low. This due to the fact that the teachers live in communities far from Dimia.

The project was completed two weeks after Dutch participants left Ghana and is currently in use by teachers. As a result, the government of Ghana, through Ghana Education Office, has sent two newly trained teachers to Dimia to help improve teaching and learning. Currently three teachers are occupying the building. Thanks to the World Servants project.

Over 100 school children can now wash their hands during school hours after playing and after visiting the urinal and toilets. This is possible because of the construction of a water tank.

Schools in Ghana, most especially the deprived communities in northern Ghana, face the challenge of a low numbers of qualified teachers. When qualified teachers are posted in rural schools, they usually don’t except their posting. The lack of conducive accommodation for teachers in rural communities is often cited as one of the main reasons why qualified teacher feel reluctant to stay and teach in rural community schools. This unfortunate situation impedes the quality of teaching and learning which leads to poor performance of pupils. The holistic development of children of these communities is thereby hampered. As a response to improve the undesirable situation the community, local government and district education office requested funding from World Servants through AG Care to build two apartments of teacher houses. This to help attract, recruit and retain qualified teachers for the Dimia primary school.

The key stakeholders that were involved in this project were the community, local government and the Ghana Education Service (District Education Office), World Servants (participants) and AG Care.

The teacher accommodation project is viewed by the community as a project that makes the Dimia Primary school more complete and positiones it to offer access and quality of teaching and learning. Through World Servants the same school has benefited from a rain water harvesting tank. These projects make the school more child centered.

Planning, organizing, scheduling etc. during the project was to a large extent well managed, given the context of the local project community. The community was well mobilized and empowered with effective information about the project. This led to effective project delivery. The World Servants team exhibited a high level of flexibility during the project period, which paved the way for easy integration. The outcome was sound team work that delivered the desire project outputs within an agreed time frame.

Construction work was done in line with the approved design. Materials of different kinds were positioned on site in time, but with a lot of difficulties due to bad road network in the project district. AG Care technical team and the Dutch technical leader worked together and succeeded in leading other members of the Dutch team and local community members to execute the project. By the time the Dutch team left, the project community had roofed the teacher house with which 70% of the work had been done. Since then, the project has been completed with a water tank.

Facilitation of the team went well. The accommodation was well arranged, under the prevailing condition in the project community. Participants were accommodated in a private house which was not all that comfortable, but participants managed to the admiration of the locals. During the entire project period good meals were served to the participants.

The children’s program created a lot of awareness among the children in the community about who God is and how He loved them. The sessions with the kids covered many other activities making the program an exciting engagement which will be remembered by the children for a very long time to come. One challenged faced during the children’s program was the fact that there was no spacious room in the community to house the children for a well-controlled engagement with the facilitators.

Life skills program targeted the Junior High School students in the community. They had memorable engagement with the Dutch volunteers.

Cultural exchange activities were carried out during the period participants stayed in the community. As part of the activities, homes of locals were visited with the main aim of interacting and to understand each other’s (participants & local people) culture. The team also undertook touristic outings which went well.

Transportation was well arranged. The bus by which the team traveled encountered some mechanical problems, increasing traveling hours on a trip that already required many hours of travelling from Dimia bck to Accra. AG Care provided a vehicle for coordination.

The cooperation with the World Servants leadership team during the project period was highly cordial and productive. The high level and good cooperation was the main reason why building project and other activities were successfully executed.  

3.7.1 Applicant

Was encouraging. The applicant (Education Office) provided the needed support (physical and moral) i.e. visiting project community before, during and after the Dutch team left the country. They also helped in community mobilization.

3.7.2 Staff

The cooks did a good job. They provided tasty meals for participants.

3.7.3 Beneficiaries

The direct beneficiaries of the project, who are the teachers, unfortunately did not actively participate in the project. The Reason being that they lived far from the school community. 

3.7.4 The local authorities

the local authorities helped in mobilizing the local community for the project and were represented during the interim handing over.

3.7.5 Community - Community support for the project came in the form of providing land for the project, water for construction and contributing unskilled labor.

Work on the two teacher houses continued by AG Care technical team and members of Dimia community. The enthusiasm among members of the community towards the provision of unskilled labor and other form of project support was sustained after the Dutch team left, signifying community gradual build-up of a sense of project acceptance and ownership. The presence of the World Servants team in the project community contributed immensely to promoting the self-help spirit that was noticed in community members before, during and after the World Servants team left the project community.

More and quality time and resources spent on community mobilization is very necessary to empower community structures for quick, quality and active participation in development initiatives in their community which will normally lead to sustainability of interventions.