Participatory Assessment of Development http://www.padev.nl
DABOYA WORKSHOP REPORT Ton Dietz
PAD Working Paper No. W.2013.3
Participatory Assessment of Development http://www.padev.nl
DABOYA WORKSHOP REPORT Ton Dietz
PADev Working Paper No. W.2013.3
February 2013
This working paper reports on a participatory, holistic evaluation of development initiatives during a three-day workshop in Daboya (Northern Region, Ghana). The workshop took place from 23-25 January 2010, and was organised in the framework of the ‘Participatory Assessment of Development’ project. In this project the University of Amsterdam (UvA, Netherlands), the University for Development Studies (UDS, Ghana), Expertise pour le Développement du Sahel (EDS, Burkina Faso), ICCO, Woord en Daad and Prisma, together with the Royal Tropical Institute in Amsterdam and the African Studies Centre Leiden (all in The Netherlands) carry out a participatory and holistic evaluation of development interventions in Northern Ghana and Southern Burkina Faso. For more information about the objectives and methodology of this project, see http://www.padev.nl .
Daboya workshop team leaders: Dr. Francis Obeng (UDS): [email protected] Prof. Dr Ton Dietz (UvA): [email protected]
Other team members: Mamudu Akudugu, Anika Altaf, Genevieve Audit-Bélanger, Frederick Bebelleh, Samuel Bonye, Roger Bymolt, Kees van der Geest, Dieneke de Groot, Christy Kansangbata, Agnieszka Kazimierczuk, David Millar, Nicky Pouw, Conrad Weobong, and Richard Yeboah.
Reference:
Dietz T. (2013). Participatory Assessment of Development: Daboya Workshop Report, PADev Working Paper No. W.2013.3 . Amsterdam: AISSR.
Author’s contact: [email protected] ; [email protected]
Cover photograph by Fred Zaal
University of Amsterdam University for Development Studies Expertise pour le Développement c/o Prof. Dr. Ton Dietz c/o Dr. Francis Obeng du Sahel Nieuwe Prinsengracht 130 P.O. Box 1350 Tamale c/o Adama Belemvire 1018VZ Amsterdam Ghana BP 5385 Ouagadougou The Netherlands [email protected] Burkina Faso [email protected] [email protected]
ICCO Woord & Daad Prisma c/o Dieneke de Groot c/o Wouter Rijneveld c/o Henk Jochemsen Postbus 8190 Postbus 560 Randhoeve 227 A 3503 RD Utrecht 4200 AN Gorinchem 3995 GA Houten The Netherlands The Netherlands The Netherlands [email protected] [email protected] [email protected]
Royal Tropical Institute African Studies Centre c/o Fred Zaal c/o Prof. Dr. Ton Dietz Mauritskade 63 PO Box 9555 1092 AD Amsterdam 2300 RB Leiden The Netherlands The Netherlands [email protected] [email protected]
2 Table of contents
Summary 5 1. Introduction: the workshop in Daboya 7 2. Timeline: perceptions about local history and important events 11 3. Trends in capabilities: perceptions of change 18 4. A history of development interventions 34 5. Analysis of interventions by agency, sector and impact 41 6. Attribution of change to interventions 55 7. Best and worst projects 63 8. Perceptions of wealth and poverty 80 9. The impact of initiatives on wealth and poverty 90 10. Assessment of good and bad agencies 100 Appendix 1: Daboya workshop, 23-25 January 2010, List of participants 104 Appendix 2: Chronological list of interventions in the Daboya area 107
List of figures, tables and graphs
Figure 1.1 Map of Ghana showing the research area 8 Figure 1.2 Map of Northern Region, showing Tamale and Daboya 9 Figure 1.3 Detailed map of the Daboya area 10 Table 3.1 Perceptions about positive and negative changes in natural capabilities 18 Table 3.2 Perceptions about positive and negative changes in physical capabilities 20 Table 3.3 Perceptions about positive and negative changes in human capabilities 22 Table 3.4 Perceptions about positive and negative changes in economic capital 24 Table 3.5 Perceptions about changes in social and political capabilities 26 Table 3.6 Perceptions about positive and negative changes in cultural capabilities 28 Table 3.7 Opinions about positive and negative change per domain by workshop groups 32 Table 4.1 Workshop Groups and projects mentioned, with overlap 34 Table 4.2 Agencies active in Daboya’s development history, 1930- 2010 35 Table 4.3 Number of interventions by agency and decade 38 Table 4.4 Number of interventions by sector and decade 39 Table 4.5 Proportion of interventions by sector and decade 40 Table 5.1 Number of interventions per agency type (solo and in partnership) 41 Table 5.2 Number of projects per sector 42 Table 5.3 Project impact judgments 43 Table 5.4 Project impact on domains 43 Table 5.5 Impact judgment per agency type 44 Table 5.6 Judgements per sector 45 Table 5.7 Number of intervening agencies per sector 50 Table 5.8 Proportion of sector involvement per agency 50
3 Table 5.9 Proportion of intervening agencies per sector 51 Table 5.10 Impact on domains, scores per sector (frequencies) 52 Table 5.11 Proportion of impact on domains, scores per sector (%) 53 Table 6.1 Summary of changes by domain 55 Table 6.2 Attribution of positive changes to agencies’ interventions 57 Table 6.3 Linking negative changes to agencies’ interventions and ideas about mitigation by agencies 59 Table 7.1 Best projects 63 Table 7.2 Worst projects 71 Table 7.3 Best projects, according to five PADev groups in Daboya 76 Table 7.4 Worst projects, according to five PADev groups in Daboya 77 Table 7.5 Best, worst and other projects, by type of agency 78 Table 8.1 Local perceptions of the characteristics of five wealth categories 81 Table 8.2 Summary of findings on wealth and poverty criteria 87 Table 8.3 Perception of wealth group distribution in the participants’ communities 89 Table 9.1 Impact of ‘best initiatives’ on five wealth categories, percentages 90 Graph 9.1 Perceived distribution of best development initiatives between wealth groups, compared with their perceived distribution in the population of Daboya 91 Graph 9.2 Perceived impact of best initiatives between wealth groups according to five different workshop groups in Daboya 92 Graph 9.3 Different assessment of ‘best projects in farming support’ 94 Table 9.2 Stinking toilets, percentages for wealth groups ‘hit most’ 95 Table 9.3 Bad roads, bad culverts, damaged bridge, percentages for wealth groups ‘hit most’ 96 Table 9.4 Failed or unwanted livestock innovations 97 Table 9.5 Badly functioning local governance agencies 97 Table 9.6 Failed commercial projects 98 Graph 9.4 Negative impacts of development interventions in Daboya 99 Table 10.1 Opinions about the behaviour of the people involved in the government clinic projects 100 Table 10.2 Opinion of the women about the behaviour of the agencies involved in education in Daboya 101 Table 10.3 Opinions about the behaviour of the government with regard to maintenance of the road infrastructure 102 Table 10.4 Opinions of the peasants around Daboya about the cassava project of the Ministry of Agriculture 103
4 ~0~ Summary
With the method developed for participatory assessment of development (PADev; see www.padev.nl ) local people in developing countries can write the development histories of their own local areas. For the development of this method of self- evaluation the PADev team included areas that were regarded as relatively neglected; areas where, as far as our informants knew, also hardly any Dutch development assistance has ever taken place. Daboya was one of three of these ‘neglected’ areas. In January 2010 a team of PADev facilitators came to Daboya to work with about fifty local people during a three-day workshop. The raw information that was collected can be found on www.padev.nl . This report gives a detailed interpretation of these data.
Daboya is located in Northern Region in Ghana. In the distant past it used to be an important trading centre, a.o. for salt. Also it was and is known for its artisans, making smocks, traditional clothing in Northern Ghana. In the 1960s the area used to be connected to Tamale in the East via a bridge across the White Volta river, but that bridge collapsed in the early 1970s and was never repaired. Most people cross the river by canoe nowadays. Those who want to visit the area by car have to make a wide and difficult detour. People in Daboya generally feel neglected indeed. However, it is not at all true that ‘nothing ever happens’ in the Daboya area, as Tamale-based people seem to think. In Chapter 2 a long list of events could be presented, as remembered by the workshop participants, while in Chapter 3 many changes were reported during the last thirty years in their natural and physical environment, in the human resources available in the area, and in the economic, social-political and cultural realms. In Daboya among the many different changes reported slightly more than half were seen as beneficial; and slightly less than half as negative changes. People were particularly worried about the many negative changes in the natural environment, mostly related to the farming impacts of population growth.
As reported in Chapter 4 five workshop groups (which we called ‘local leaders’, ‘artisans’, ‘women’, ‘officials’ and ‘villagers/peasants’) together remembered 181 different ‘development initiatives’ which were meant to improve the lives of the people in Daboya and surroundings. Half of these initiatives (the participants often speak in terms of ‘projects’) were initiated by a variety of government agencies funded by the Government of Ghana. People added specific ‘projects’ supported by multilateral and bilateral development agencies from Europe and North America. A quarter of all initiatives were supported by Christian organisations (churches of various denominations and their NGOs and often foreign sponsors). Most of these were focused on a few Christian enclaves (like a small centre called Lingbinsi) but not exclusively. From the 1990s onwards also Muslim organisations started to give development and cultural assistance (the population of Daboya Centre and most villages around mostly adheres to various forms of Islam). Also non-faith based NGOs came to the area, particularly in the wake of flood disasters. And very recently a few telecom companies came to Daboya, which changed life considerably. During the last few years workshop participants saw a ‘hybridisation’ taking place, intermingling of various types of development agencies working together
5 (‘partnerships’), and they also mentioned a larger number of people’s own development-oriented efforts.
Before 1990 initiatives seem to have been restricted to education and road infrastructure (and the last one not so successfully); later also crop development, water development and health care became important areas for external involvement. Chapter 5 shows the assessment of workshop participants of all 181 different initiatives. Two-thirds were very much appreciated (judged as ‘very positive’) and only a few were seen as having had a negative or even very negative impact. Almost all those were initiatives under the responsibility of the government. The impact of initiatives was perceived to have been most pronounced in the realms of human, economic, and socio-political capabilities and less so in the realms of the natural environment and cultural behaviour. Most of the positive changes that had earlier been mentioned in the domain of the natural and physical environment were attributed (chapter 6) to specific ‘projects’ by mostly government agencies (although a lot more could have been done; and here was also quite some criticism and negative judgement). For the changes in the economic domain people mentioned a variety of initiators, but often also from among them. Changes in the human capabilities were result of government and Christian as well as other NGOs, while changes in the cultural domain were very much attributed to the churches and mosques in the area and their foreign supporters. For the changes in the political and social domains more diffuse influences were mentioned.
In chapter 7 the assessment was presented of the initiatives/projects that the five groups of workshop participants had liked and disliked most. Often they used a rather generic grouping of initiatives, whereby the health clinic stood out as often mentioned to be the most important ‘best initiative’ (despite many critical notes), and also water projects (boreholes mostly) were often regarded as positive initiatives. The bad conditions of the roads, of some buildings, and of the toilet facilities in Daboya Centre were often mentioned as among the worst initiatives, while the peasants around Daboya were very critical about some of the crop development initiatives.
In chapter 8 a detailed story was told about the people’s assessment of wealth and poverty in the area, and in chapter 9 the distribution of the benefits of projects/initiatives was given across wealth categories. In chapter 10 people were asked to judge some agencies on a number of process characteristics, and in fact it is a judgement about the behaviour of the agencies’ functionaries active in the Daboya area. An important finding of the study is the fact that the general perception of the workshop participants was that the (very) rich had benefited disproportionally and the (very) poor much less so. But there were remarkable differences between the ‘common people’ (the groups of artisans, women and peasants) and the area’s elites (the local leaders and the salaried officials). The last ones had a more rosy assessment of the importance and the impact of development initiatives on the (very) poor.
6
~1~ Introduction: the workshop in Daboya
Daboya is a semi-urban locality in the Gonja area of Northern Region of Ghana (see figure 1.1), between the regional capital Tamale in the East and the district centre Damongo in the West. The distance to Damongo is about 80 kilometres, via a small place called Busunu, and using a road that is very difficult during the rainy season. The distance to Tamale is seventy kilometres, but travellers then have to cross the White Volta river, immediately East of Daboya, by canoe. Trucks and cars going to Daboya by road have to make a detour, via Yapei and Busunu, a distance of 130 km (see figure 1.2). Daboya Centre is about two kilometres west of the river and another seven kilometres in west-north-west direction an important village (Lingbinsi) was established in the 1950s, settling people from the western and southern parts of Northern Region, who had lived in the north-eastern part of Northern Region, in a place called Langbensi for some time, but who no longer felt welcome there, after they had expressed their wish to get their own Chief.
In scientific circles the Daboya area received some attention during the late 1970 and 1980s, when a team of archaeologists from the University of Calgary, in Canada, did fieldwork and published some work about the iron-age history of the area (see Kense 1981, Gavua 1985 and Shinnie & Kense 1989) 1. There was also some scientific attention for Daboya because of its old tradition of artisanal weaving, that still is important today. In 1982 Goody published a chapter about the Daboya weavers in a book about the ethnography of proto-industrial cloth production 2. Daboya also received some attention because of its ancient position as a trade hub for salt, as described in a book by Dickson (1966) 3. In1981 Sutton described the competition of this age-old local semi-industrial activity with coastal salt, transported by using the Volta River upstream 4. In 1996 a Ghanaian scholar, S. Yakubu, published an analysis of the electoral behaviour in the Damongo-Daboya electoral constituency 5
However, otherwise the marginalized position of Daboya in Ghana’s economy was also reflected in the attention for this part of Ghana among foreign and Ghanaian scientists. In fact we selected Daboya as an example of a ‘forgotten area’. In Tamale it was regarded as an area ‘without development activities’. That was partly also related to the fact that Daboya itself had a very dominant muslim culture, although the nearby village of Lingbinsi was dominated by a Catholic church. That village (and six others
1 See F.J. Kense, 1981, Daboya, a Gonja frontier. University of Calgary: PhD thesis; K.K.B. Gavua, 1985, Daboya and the Kintampo culture of Ghana. University of Calgary: M.A. thesis.and Shinnie P.L. & F. Kense, 1989, Archaeology of Gonja, Ghana, excavations in Daboya. Calgary: University of Calgary Press. 2 See Goody, E.N., 1982, Daboya weavers: relations of production, dependence and reciprocity. In: Goody, E.N., (ed.) From craft to industry. The ethnography of proto-industrial cloth production. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. 3 K.B. Dickson, 1966, Trade patterns in Ghana at the beginning of the eighteenth Century. Geographical Review, Vol. 56, no 3, pp 417-431. 4 Sutton, I.B., The Volta river salt trade: the survival of an indigenous industry. The Journal of African History, Vol. 22, pp. 43-61. 5 See Yakubu, S., 1996, The 1996 general elections in Ghana analysis. Electoral survey of the Bole- Bamboi and Damongo-Daboya constituencies of Northern Ghana.
7 in the Daboya sub-district) was mentioned once in a scientific publication: in 1996- 1999 it had participated in a study done by the World Health Organization (and an international NGO, with their headquarters in Germany, called Christoffel Blindenmission) about the use of community volunteers for the prevention of trachoma blindness (the volunteers earlier participated in guinea worm disease control in the area) 6. According to this WHO publication the Daboya subdistrict had 54 villages in 1996, that “were estimated to accommodate some 28 714 people (..). Most live in traditional family compounds, surviving primarily by subsistence farming. The subdistrict is serviced by a single health clinic staffed by two medical assistants, a disease control officer, and a midwife. There are two ophthalmic nurses based in Damongo Hospital, the main health care facility for the West Gonja district”
Figure 1.1: Map of Ghana showing the research area
6 Solomon, A.W., 2001, Pilot study of the use of community volunteers to distribute azithromycin for trachoma control in Ghana. Bulletin for the World Health Organization, Vol. 79, pp. 8-14. A baseline report was: Akudibillah J, Abugri P, McCurry J., 1996, A ‘‘quick and dirty’’ survey of trachoma prevalence in the Daboya sub-district of West Gonja district, Northern Region, Ghana. Bawku, Ghana, Christoffel Blindenmission, (unpublished document).
8 Figure 1.2 Map of Northern Region, showing Tamale and Daboya
Source: part of KLM-Shell A Guide map of Accra and road map of Ghana, Survey of Ghana, Accra, 1: 1,000,000 map, 1994 edition.
9 Figure 1.3 Detailed map of the Daboya area
Source: Survey of Ghana, Accra, 1: 500,000; 1994 (8th edition),part of Northwest Sheet.
Daboya Workshop Programme, 23-25 January, 2010
Day 1: (participants divided by gender and age; plus ‘officials’) • Timeline exercise • Changes in domains • Wealth groups Day 2: (participants divided in five groups: officials (O), male local leaders (L; chiefs, shopkeepers, farmers), male artisans (A), women (W) and people from villages around Daboya centre, including Lingbinsi; V) • List of projects • Selection of five best and worst projects • Historical analysis of these best and worst projects Day 3: (participants divided in five groups, see above) • Impact of projects on wealth classes • Attribution of changes to interventions • Evaluation criteria
10 ~2~ Timeline: perceptions about local history and important events
On the first day of the workshop, we asked the participants to construct a timeline of important events in the Daboya area. Important events would be events that have become part of the collective memory of the people in the area and/or that have had a lasting impact on the area. The aim of this exercise was to get a quick impression of the local history of the area, seen through the eyes of the workshop participants. It also helped the participants to mentally prepare for the following exercises that were more complicated and that often involved comparing the present and the past. In our analysis, the timeline helps to embed our findings on the impact of development interventions in a historical context, as perceived by the people themselves.
The workshop participants were divided in five groups. In group discussions like these, women often speak less than men, young people speak less than elders, and ‘common people’ speak less than officials. By dividing the workshop participants in these five groups we could hear the voices of all and also note differences in the kind of events they mentioned. In the list of events below, the abbreviations indicate which group mentioned each event.
Groups: Officials (O), Elderly men (EM), Young men (YM), Elderly women (EW), Young women (YW).
Note: The list of events, as mentioned in the timeline, has been organised by year. However, in some cases, the participants estimated the year in which the event had occurred. For some of the events mentioned in the timeline, different groups came up with different years (see below). The exact timing of the events is of minor importance, however.
1910s - A leader called Kankrafu organised a gun-powder plot to stop the Asantes from taking slaves from Daboya. He killed himself in the process with his sub-chiefs and all the Asantes; people in the community had their independence from (no longer were harassed by) the Asante; a chief warrior was taken away by Asantes, but people were happy the Asantes could not kill their chief warrior (EM). There is a cave between Yezuri and Tachali with doves that one can kill and eat in that cave but they cannot (should not) be carried out; there is a legend that there were also guns there that could not be taken out (EM; year unknown).
1920s - A woman was taken away by a crocodile; people thought that was nature’s revenge for refusing to contribute for the pacification of the river; she was a queen mother and used to sell at the market; people became alarmed and
11 became careful in making utterances against the river. This attitude lives on until today; in the past crocodiles played a major spiritual role; a white crocodile used to warn the community on impending disasters that might occur through the river but this has stopped long ago (EM). Also the YW recalled the story of a crocodile coming near the village; it was seen as a bad sign for the village; women couldn’t use the river; one woman disappeared mysteriously.
1930s - Military camp built on the other side of the river; young men visited the town, stayed two months in the camp and returned home; they helped the people on the other side of the river (in Daboya centre) (EW).
1945-50 - Poor harvests; people were hungry (EW).
1948 - Start of access to education, improvements in life and reduced illiteracy (O) - Chief Asafi starts office (O).
(late) colonial times - Post Office was established as well as a Court, to enable Chiefs to communicate with ‘the colonial masters’ and to arbitrate legal cases locally (YM).
Around 1955 - Warriors from various places in Northern Region (including Daboya) had been sent (when is unknown) to protect the Mamprusi chief at Langbinsi in the north of what is now Northern Region; they settled and became farmers there; when they wanted to appoint a chief of their own, they were called strangers; they decided to go back and came to the chief in Dumampro, who sent them to settle in Daboya, particularly in a place that became known as Lingbinsi village; this helped to boost agricultural production, particularly farming, in the area because people of Daboya were until then predominantly fishermen and weavers (EM).
1955 - Tsetse control project in which all trees along the riverbank were felled; wild animals also disappeared; fear among people in the community reduced because wild animals no longer disturbed their residence (EM).
1957 - Ghana independence (not mentioned by any group)
1958 - Soon after independence the new government under Kwame Nkrumah built a health centre in Daboya, but that was never opened (EM).
1960
12 - Bridge construction under the regime of President Nkrumah; it was meant for traders, visitors and lorries, but it broke down in 1972 (EW; YM also mentioned it but as if the bridge was only constructed in 1972).
1960/61 - Holes dug in search for cement materials by geological survey department (Russians) (EM).
1962 - Arrival of health centre (YM).
1966 - A road was constructed from the Centre to the river with some tarmac parts; it facilitated transportation (EW).
1967 - Measles outbreak in Daboya; many children died (EW).
1969 - Construction of a primary school in Lingbinsi village; children could go to school now (EW). - Construction of Baptist Church in Lingbinsi village (EW).
1970s - The Local Court was stopped; now cases had to be heard in Tamale (YM).
1970 - Health Centre commissioned by the new Busia regime; more effective health care delivery since people did no longer have to travel to Tamale or Damongo. A canoe capsized with ministers that came to inspect the commissioned health centre (EM). YM and O: the health centre started in 1972. - Tractors came to the area; this improved farming (EW).
1970/71 - Road to Damongo; more easy communication with outside world; lorries started coming to the area (O).
1971 - Pipe-borne water commissioned; helped to eradicate water-borne diseases in the community (EM). YM: started in 1972, but the water came from the river and people were still affected by water-borne diseases. - Trenches dug for hydro-power project (EM)
1972 - Building of health centre (clinic); improvement of health situation of Daboya and the catchment area of the new health centre (O and YM). - Flood. The existing bridge broke down; traders and other people had to go back to use the boats, like they used to do in the past, trade went down (EW). [According to the officials the bridge collapsed in 1974, but that
13 must have been a mistake; YM even talk about the bridge collapsing in 1979]. - Building of bridge started; more easy passage for vehicles (O). The Busia government started building a new bridge across the river; however that bridge was never finished; soldiers beat up the contactor of the bridge across the river and that made the construction to stall (EM: 1972). - Arrival of police station (YM).
1973 - New food crop helps to better feed the community (O).
1974/75 - Immunization programme started in the health clinic; women could deliver in the clinic with assistance of the midwife and as part of ante-natal and maternal care (EW).
1979 - Attempt to open a quarry at Tachiali (EM).
1980s - School Feeding Programme started; more children could go to school (YW).
1980 - First set of water pipes to get water from the river; it improved access to water, but in the dry season the water was not always clean (EW).
1982/1983 - Serious drought; famine in the community, people were able to sustain, but the drought had a devastating impact (O). Some NGOs helped by distributing seeds and oil (YW). - Out break of sleeping sickness ( trypanosomiasis ) caused by tsetse flies (YM).
1984 - Outbreak of bilharzia-epidemic (YM).
1986 - Road connection to Fumbisi, for more easy communication (YM).
1987 - Outbreak of apollo eye infection and diarrhoea; affected eyesight and resulted in death among children (YM).
1988 - Floods (EM).
1988/89 - Chief Tikuri starts office (O).
14 1989 - Famine with many deaths; unknown disease came to the area (EW). - Culvert broke; no road connection anymore to Fumbisi (YM).
1990 - People’s houses and crops destroyed by floods; food relief after the flood by the International Red Cross; this helped to bring peace (YW).
Early 1990s - Depletion of salt mining; now people have to buy salt (EW).
1992/93 - First police station closed, because chiefs solved issues amongst themselves, so they thought there was no need for a police station anymore; however: increased crime in the area (O). According to YM this was already done in 1989 and also according to them this has increased the occurrence of crime in the area.
1993 - Chief Tikuri promoted, Chief Biagiba followed (O).
1994 - Chieftaincy conflict; fighting over power; people died (O); chieftaincy dispute; two brothers were killed in July 1994 (YM). Because of the conflict out-migration; nobody wanted to stay in the village; insecurity (YW). - Weed problem; nuisance for farmers; reduced harvest (O).
1996 - New market was built in Daboya; more easy trading of local produce and other products (EW).
2001 - People’s houses and crops destroyed by floods; food relief after the flood by International Red Cross (YW).
2002 - New boreholes were built to get underground water; this improved access to clean drinking water (instead of having to buy water or get water from unclean sources) (EW). YM: already in 1999 and it gave a relief of water- borne diseases. - Credit union bank came to a nearby town, which meant that existing traditional savings groups could now bring their money to a bank (EW). - Establishment of vocational school by Wulungu Project to train the community in hair dressing, computer knowledge etc.(YM). According to YW this only happened in 2006/2007.
2003 - Electricity came to town; business improved; source of employment; migration from rural areas to Daboya centre; better communication
15 possible and material changes such as cooling etc. (O). EW: this started already in 2002; impacts: lights in the house; more security; electric apparatuses and (later) possibilities of charging mobile phones; YM: already in 2001 and it boosted business activities.
2004 - Chief Anyami started office (O). New chief elected (Sapewura) with some positive effects on the community, more peace in the community (YW).
2005 - A new post office was built; now it became possible to send and receive post and send and receive money via the post office (EW).
2006 - Heavy rainfall; four people were killed by a falling tree (YW).
2007 - Flood; homes lost, farms destroyed (O). Loss of life and property; livestock and foodstuffs destroyed; the community was cut-off from other communities; 2007 was the worst flood in living memory (EM). The floods destroyed crops and buildings, obstructed farm work; and blocked roads to farms; heavy wind destroyed houses and roofing sheets (YM).
2008 - Telecommunication network arrived; increased communication possibilities (O). YM: started in 2007. - New mosque was built; this increased the number of praying areas and with electricity the mosque could be heard in villages as well, which made people happy (EW). - Floods (again) destroyed crops and farmlands and washed away farm inputs (YM). - Health Minister came to Daboya; pickup given to the community, two motorbikes and ten bicycles (YM). - UN Military came to the community; community received engine boats (YM). - Health centre upgraded to Polyclinic (YM). - Shooting accident during the Fire Festival; two people were shot (YW).
2009 - Police station commissioned; (expected) reduction of crime (O). - Another flood (EM). - Earthquake occurred in Menpeasem; deformed/depressed land (YM). - Construction of an eco-tourism centre by a Mr Larry (YW). - An NGO distributed some money to the community (YW).
2010 (just before the workshop took place) - Accidental death of a small girl: a baby girl drunk a washing powder, thinking that it was a drink, and died (YW).
16 CONCLUSIONS ON THE TIMELINE EXERCISE Several observations can be made from the timeline exercise. The lists of the five groups differ a lot, and only a limited number of (very important) events were listed by more than one group. This shows the group-specific memory and the importance of combining the disparate information of groups with different function/age/gender profiles. As could be expected, elderly men and women go back a long time, the elderly men even to the 1910s; the memory of young men and women starts a lot later. The list of events mentioned by the ‘officials’ from Daboya only starts in 1948 and is surprisingly thin (unlike what we have experienced in other case study areas). However, quite a number of the ‘events’ mentioned by the officials deal with the appointment/election of chiefs, and with some of the conflicts that were a result of chieftainship competition. Young men reported a lot about the police station and the local court (or their disappearance), while the elderly men were the only ones reporting about the important fact of the establishment of a settlement village, north of Daboya (Lingbinsi) and its history.
There are three major additional types of events, with only few mentioned by more than one group. Natural disasters in the earlier years seem to have been mainly droughts and related famines; recently most natural disasters were a result of the opposite: floods, where particularly the recent flood of 2007 was listed by most groups as one of the major events in the history of Daboya. Health aspects were listed a lot as well, both in the sense of the outbreak of major disease epidemics, and in the sense of particular health care campaigns or the arrival of health care clinics. Finally the arrival of new infrastructure also received a lot of attention, with often unclear memory about the exact periods involved. Of course, for an isolated place like Daboya, next to a major river, the fate of the roads and bridges (and the fact that there is no bridge since a long time) attracts a lot of attention, but also the building of water infrastructure, the arrival of electricity (only recently) and telecom facilities (a few years ago) get an important place in the lists.
As elsewhere, national-level events that could have had an impact locally were hardly mentioned (e.g. Ghana’s Independence in 1957; several military coups in the 1970s and early 1980s; the first democratic elections in 1992), while also the activities of religious organizations received little attention in these lists, while mosques are an important part of the social organization in Daboya, and Christian churches in Lingbinsi village.
The timeline exercise yielded a first, fragmented glance of the recent history of Daboya. The next chapter about changes in the area over the past two to three decades shows a more in-depth picture of developments in different domains (natural, physical, human, economic, socio-political and cultural). The subsequent chapters provide a more in-depth view of the history of development interventions in the Daboya area.
17
~3~ Trends in capabilities: perceptions of change
A second activity during the first day of the workshop was to assess the perceptions about changes in six domains (or capitals/capabilities): the natural, physical, economic, human, social-political and cultural domain. People were asked to use a time perspective of 25-30 years. We asked the participants to “compare the situation now, with the time when your father/mother was your current age”.
The purpose of this exercise was to assess how the people in the area have perceived the positive and negative changes in their surroundings. This is the context in which development interventions have taken place. In subsequent exercises we try to find out to what extent these interventions can be linked to the changes that have occurred in the different domains.
We used a checklist of six domains and forty-five items within these domains to assess the changes. However, we started the session on change without using the checklist. In the tables below, the changes that participants mentioned spontaneously (i.e. before using the checklist) are written in italics .
The findings about change are presented in six tables (3.1 to 3.6), one for each domain. A summary of the findings from this exercise can be found in chapter six in which changes are linked to interventions. The abbreviations (see below) indicate which group mentioned each change.
EW = Elderly Women; YW = Young Women; EM = Elderly Men; YM = Young Men; O = Officials
Table 3.1: Perceptions about positive and negative changes in natural capabilities Positive change Negative change Land More difficult to cultivate the land because of fertility loss (EW) Changes in land tenure system: more priority to individual ownerships (EM); Women stopped mining salt deposits at Daboya and this is caused by the invasion of Fulani herdsmen whose animals go to lick the salt thereby making the place untidy (EM) It is no longer easy to get the land; more difficult as now you have to pay for it (YW) Degradation due to increase in bush fires (YM)
18 Positive change Negative change Soil Degradation of soil, overgrazing by Fulani cattle, overuse of same piece of land, overuse of fertilizers (O ) Decline in land fertility (EW) Reduced soil fertility due to mechanised farming and chemical use as well as burning (EM) Infertile land (YW) Reduced soil fertility. We now have to use fertiliser and still don't get the same yields as in the olden days (YM) Water Now we have a lot of pipe-borne River and streams drying up (O) ground water sources (from Reduction of salt (debate about it) (O) boreholes) for drinking. Before Floods more frequent (O) there was already a pipe system, Rainfall pattern changed: rain falls in but with river water (YM) months when not expected, this affects cultivation (O) Harmatan pattern changed, affects cultivation (O) Change in rainfall pattern with longer dry season than before (O) Floods disconnect Daboya from the rest of the district (EM) Dry water bodies e.g. ponds and stream (YM) Animals Extinction of wild life (lions) Reduction of fresh fish, due to use of [people are no longer afraid of chemicals (O) going outside](YW) Herders have to go far away to feed More [domesticated] animals the cattle because of declining land these days, but it is increasingly fertility (EW) difficult to rear them because Hippos; crocodiles (through illegal there is less pasture (YM) hunting); Kingfisher birds; and vultures disappear at Daboya and Sanchewu (EM) Bad fishing practices by Wangara's has led to low fish harvest (EM) Fish stock reduced due to the tsetse project that led to cutting down of trees along river banks (EM) Less fish in rivers; less animals (cattle); less wildlife available (YW) Animals eat shea nuts, hence, we do not get them to harvest; no pig currently reared in the community because of Islam, hence population of pigs reduced (YM) Less fish stock in the river as a result of use of chemicals in fishing (YM)
19 Positive change Negative change Forest Less fear of animals from forest Chainsaw operators; charcoal and (EW) wood for burning (O) Deforestation (now they can Reduction of forestry, also because of more easily move around and expansion of buildings (O) perform some activities which Loss of forest because of cutting down was not possible before) (YW) of wood to sell timber and use for firewood (EW) Trees along river banks cut down to control tsetse flies led to reduction in fish stock (no shade to foster the fish eggs and hiding place for the fish; deforestation due to chainsaw operators (from Mali) (EM) Forest depleted and buildings constructed (note: the expansion of Daboya Town was seen as a positive thing, but negative for forest)(YM) Plants Improved maize variety and Seeds infested by insects; has gotten and soybean introduced (EM) worse; germinated less (EW) Crops Introduction of soybeans and Low crop productivity (EM) cashew nut trees (YW) Poor soil fertility hence low yields Rice cultivation increased (new (EM) variety) now more rice than Reduction in cotton plantation before; increased groundnut resulting in less raw material for cultivation (YM) weaving smocks (EM) Conversion to new maize variety (YM) Guinea corn and millet decreased (YM) Less intercropping now than before (YM) New beans variety introduced is not as good as older variety (YM)
Table 3.2: Perceptions about positive and negative changes in physical capabilities Positive Negative Roads and Improvement in roads (EW) No new roads (YW) bridges More roads being constructed to open Road infrastructure has up community and connect them to deteriorated in the past few markets (EM) decades (YM) Bridge was built, but broke down (YM)
20 Positive Negative Building Tourist centre: employment, revenue Costs of services are high (O) Structures for district, broadens the marketing Faeces from toilet facilities (O) are not being collected when Health centre: (policlinic): it has an toilets came and this is still ambulance, and offers employment the same now (EW) (O) There is absence of town Buildings are made of concrete now, planning; everybody builds less risks (O) houses everywhere (EM) Better houses, more permanent construction material being used (EW) More permanent housing structure (use of cement and stones instead of mud and wattle) (EW) More block buildings being built than before; better resistance to the floods than the mud houses (EM) Improved houses (now use cement and zinc) (YW) From bush to towns; Now people have block houses with zinc roofs (YM) Dams No dam in community (EM) No dams (YW) Wells and Mechanized borehole; guinea worm High maintenance costs and Boreholes totally reduced (and other water costs for usage (O) borne diseases), reduction of distance One community lacks water to fetch water (O) (Kagbal); water is fetched 4 More boreholes and water pipes => miles away (EM) improvement in people’s health (EW) Mechanised boreholes being dug (EM) Use of pipes and boreholes (YW) Before we used river water; now more boreholes are available (YM) Grinding Now there are grinding mills, hence, mills reduced drudgery (YM) Farm Tools With coming of tractor farming work Changes in the fertiliser of men and women became easier market. Now require chits (EW) (coupons) to buy fertilizers Farmers now use tractors for from the government ploughing and chemicals for weed sector/office where they are control (EM) sold (YM) Using tractors to plough (but expensive) (YW) Availability of farm inputs e.g. fertilizer, ‘ weediceds’; tractors etc (YM)
21 Positive Negative Telecom E.g. no need to go somewhere to do E.g. when someone dies, you business;, can be done by phone (O) do not go to pay your Reduces risk in terms of travelling (if condolences, but just make a there is an accident, people can be call (O) informed faster) (O) More theft, phones are being More wide-spread use of mobile stolen (O) phones, speakers of mosques and Rumours spread more easily radio improved community (O) communication; no need to send children for errands (EW) There is now telecommunication including Tigo and MTN and the others are yet to come. Loudspeakers in mosques used for disseminating information (EM) Mobile phones, post office (YW) Now communication facilitated through mobile phones. Before we depended on postal services that could take up to a month to reach Accra (YM) Electricity Created business, communication is Town became noisy, pressure easier after the introduction of on social facilities (O) electricity, increased migration (O) More widespread use of electricity; increased safety in the area (EW) There is now electricity (EM) Introduction of electricity (YW) Connection to electricity grid (YM)
Table 3.3: Perceptions about positive and negative changes in human capabilities Positive Negative Population Population has increased now higher than before and this puts pressure on social amenities hence making live difficult (YM) Knowledge More interest in politics, therefore more knowledge on how to access certain things or rights (O) Enhanced knowledge because of schools, area has developed in general. (EW) More technical know-how in weaving including the designs (EM) More educated people around (YW) Explosion of knowledge in the community as a result of technology (YM)
22 Positive Negative Education More schools: reduced crowded class Crowded class rooms, Levels room;, improved access to education (O) due to some school, School buildings also used for other which provide meals, so purposes (O) children move to these Creation of SMC's and PTA's (O) schools (O) School feeding programmes: increased Mismanagement of funds number of enrolment (O) of the capitation -> Introduction of capitation: parents free of teachers fighting over the paying school fees and increased enrolment funds (O) (O) Secondary school out of Vocational school: reduced ‘streetizm’, town so that children promoted non-formal education (easy may not come back after access to education) (O) completion (EW) More schools in villages; more children go Reduction in quality of to school (EW) education; no senior More people now see profit in education school in the community than before; they thought educating their (YM) children would make them leave their faith (Islam). More children now sent to school because of the attachment of Arabic instructors to schools and the building of English-Arabic schools (EM) Improved schools and more schools (3 primary schools and JSS) (YW) Vocational training in town; more children are sent to schools (YW) Use to ‘foot’ to Kpembe for education; now we have a lot of educational facilities/schools; enrolments have also increased; education was a punishment to children now a choice of children; less alcoholism of parents: they now use money to educate their children (YM) Health Improved access to health services due to Less body exercise as a the introduction of NHIS (EM) result of a lot of grinding The health centre was upgraded into a mills (YM) health clinic (EM) Improved children's health (measles, polio no longer there); Health Centre has arrived; more health workers in the area (Daboya and Lingbinsi) (YW) Reduction of diseases; more immunization programmes (for free) e.g. measles, polio etc (YM)
23 Positive Negative Sanitation Hygiene has improved because of toilets After toilets were built, and because people keep it clean around the faeces were not houses (EW) collected.(EW) Improved hygiene (YW) Poor hygiene due to the absence of sanitary inspectors; No public toilets. Dirty environment (EM)
Table 3.4: Perceptions about positive and negative changes in economic capital Positive Negative Women in More women farming in groups (pepper, Less women are farming farming/ beans, okra) to sell and earn more (YW) trading income (EW) More women involved in farming than before. (esp. in ground nut farming , and new crops like tomatoes, peppers, onions) (EM) More women in small business; more women trained in trades like dressmaking and hairdressing (YW) Women now can do any job that a man can do; it is common now for women to have their own farms to grow any crop and even more than the men (note: some participants also thought that this was a negative change (YM) Access to Increased women's income; more spent Less money since 2005 money on children and support husband (EW) (political reason) (O) More people now have access to money Some men do not like than before (also young men, who are women earning income now doing paid work) (EM) (EW) Easier access to money by increased Increased need for trade (YW) finances makes life difficult sometimes (EW)
24 Positive Negative Access to SUSU groups (Saving groups) (YW) Farmers have no access credit to credit from banks. They rely on money lenders at high interest rates (EM) More difficult to borrow, as there is less sympathy for each other (YW) No change: we still rely on private loans (friends, lenders). Payment with interest. There is no bank, susu or credit scheme for us (YM) Market Weaving industry, increase in production Not enough buyers and structures and the market is taking it up (O) sellers are attracted to New market was built and this stimulated the market (EW) trade (EW) Kagbal market collapsed A smog festival has been created; which due to lack of water in crates economic opportunities since also community (EM) people from other areas (e.g. Accra) No market (YW) would come an see the quality and Daboya does not have a diversity in the weaving (EM) real market; only a small 'evening' market for ‘ soup ingredients’ (YM) Shops and Increased shops and kiosks in town (EM) Limited access to other Kiosks More shops (YW) markets (EW) More sewing and hairdressing centres Prices of goods have (YW) gone up (YM) Less female porters (thanks to more women openings kiosks in town) (YW) More women now controlling/owning shops than their male counterparts in the community (YM) Buses/ Increase of motor bikes and other means Motorbikes came but transport of transport, which has increased the only used by men not by number of filling stations (O) women (EW) More motorbikes and bicycles now being High transport cost for used (EM) people and agricultural More means of transport (YW) produce (EM) More motor bikes and bicycles now than District assembly before (YM) stopped providing canoes to community (EM)
25 Positive Negative Income from More people involved in weaving now Livelihoods through salt business than before. Weavers were given a business now reduced in computer to help them design their the community (YM) clothing (EM). Profit margin for weaving has reduced yet cost of living is high (YM) Paid Jobs Increase of jobs, e.g. construction Increase of paid jobs, but projects, health centre (O) people do not get their Increased paid jobs including presence salaries (O) of police personnel in community and ecotourism (EM) More paid jobs when you are not a farmer: sawing, market, etc (YW) Opportunities for making money has now increased (YM) Remittances Increased remittances in the form of money and building/materials (EM) More remittances and it is helping a lot (YW)
Table 3.5: Perceptions about changes in social and political capabilities
26 Positive Negative Family Breakdown of family -> Break down of family, because of relationships makes family more economic hardships (migration) (O) manageable in terms of size Individualism now setting into the (O) traditional family system (through the Population has increased in introduction of the monetary system) the area; more children to (EM) help on the farm and for Families are no longer building herding (EW) together; less support for each other; Less forced marriages (EW) less respect for the parents (YW) Children can now belong to the mother and father, which was not the case in the old days (EW) Improved family relations (EM) Family problems still solved in the traditional way: the chiefs will come together and decide (EM) In the case of a funeral all family members will come together and share the costs of the funeral (EM) Less forced marriages (YW) Social People no longer fear the interaction white man; “now we can interact and discuss about development” (YM) Political Conflict with former chief is Campaigning sometimes corrupted parties dying (EW) (YW) Increased number of political parties, so there is more choice than before (EM) More tolerance between the supporters of different parties (YW) NGOs No NGO's (O) Decreased presence of NGOs (YW)
27 Positive Negative Associations Increase in associations (O) Some groups have been formed but More women's savings these are not very sustainable groups to put money in (especially if it was about the groups bank (EW) formed on purpose of a project Increased number of introduced by an NGO, but the project women's associations that failed in an early stage) (YW) bring about unity and give them skills (EM) More associations in general (YW) Leadership More leadership structures Since last leader died no more such as unit committees production of salt (EW) introduced (EM) Less respect for the chiefs and the At the same time no change elders (YW) in the fact that the chiefs Respect for the chieftaincy institution still come together and take has reduced (YM) the decisions (EM) Young men now in leadership positions as a result of education; women now involved more in leadership positions (YM) Land Individual land ownerships now more ownership/ prevalent (EM) tenure No longer easy to get the land, more difficult as now you have to pay for it (YW) (In)security Armed robbery increased (loss of property and life) (O)
Table 3.6: Perceptions about positive and negative changes in cultural capabilities
28 Positive Negative Christianity Coming of Christianity and Some tensions between groups and Islam Islam; religious freedom (O) themselves (so within Christians and Church and mosque came. within Muslims) (O) More places to say prayers; Muslims and Christians living peacefully together (EW) Churches now built in Daboya, which include Word Miracle Church, Catholic Church, and Pentecostal Church. More religious tolerance now than before (EM) Increased presence of Christianity (YW) No longer fear of death for building a block house for fear that witches would eat you up as a result of religion (YM) Ethnicity Increase of different Fulani causing problems (EM) ethnicity groups-> Fulani are disturbing the rest and knowledge exchange and there are more of them, they are increased trade (O) destroying the crops and have lots of Visitors can come and settle money when they would sell an and we accept them as animal (YW) community members (EW) Increased number of ethnic groups in community (EM) Languages Increased number of languages (EM) More different languages/dialects (Ewe, others), but it is good, as in town we are all one (YW) Music and Modern dance, globalisation Loss of traditional dance (O) dance (O) Traditional music and dance neglected for the foreign ones (EM) Stop of "Salt Festival" and "Chump" Festival (YW) Vanishing of many traditional dances (YW) Bigger influence of modern music at the expense of traditional songs (YW)
29 Positive Negative Clothes Exhibition show for Modern dressing (men and women traditionally woven clothes showing underwear) (O) (EM) Loss of value in the use of traditional More freedom for women in wear (smocks) because of how do they dress (YW) introduction of cheap second-hand More cloths available (YW) clothing (obroni wawu = the white Really olden days: people man has died) (YM) used to wear leaves as Women now wear trousers (YM) clothes. Now we have clothes (YM) Food diet/ Last few years more harvest Less tasty food (YW) food types (O) Changes in food eaten in community (EM) Majority of people now eat two times a day (but mostly no breakfast) (EM) More frequent use of maggi, polished rice (YW) ‘Proper’ Because of police station Behaviour of some youth is not behaviour inappropriate behaviour by appropriate, including young men young men can now be marrying for themselves without their punished.(EW) parents’ consent. Youth engaged in Now the number of wives immoral activities and stealing; bad has reduced hence leading to dressing, skipping school lessons reduction in the number of (going out in the bush), not children and improved well performing school duties and being being (YM) attracted to western dances until early in the morning (02.30 a.m). Chiefs say they cannot do anything against those bad habits (EM) Less respect for people (YW) Before a child was a labour force to the parent now a cost (YM) Chiefs who have been enskinned no longer are transferred to the seat of the paramountcy; they stay in their local homes (YM)
30 Positive Negative Migration Increase in migration (O) Young ladies migrate to other places behaviour More work for girls here so which sometimes leads to broken less need to migrate for work marriages (EM) to Accra.(EW) Increased migration among women People have gone to Accra (Kayayee); they come home with and send money back home sicknesses (HIV/AIDS); they desert (EM) their husbands when they migrate and More people migrate, but it come home married to another is good, as they are coming husband (YM) back as often as they can (YW) Women who migrate also learn new things (YM) Ritual Decrease of rituals, because Decrease of festivals (culture is dying performances of [new] religion (O) out) (O) Still performing ritual Rituals now being seen as devilish performances; no changes due to Islam and Christianity (EM) (YW) Less traditional greetings (squatting) performed, more the casual 'hello' is said by youngsters (EM) Ceremonies are more costly (YW). CONCLUSIONS ON CHANGE
The descriptive tables of perceptions of changes in six domains and forty-five sub- domains contain a wealth of data. Sometimes the answers were quite factual, but in many cases, the participants added insightful information that revealed their way of thinking about the changes that have taken place in their area over the past few decades. Also, the participants often connected changes in one domain to changes in another domain, which sheds light on the local ways in which the causality of change is attributed. It is also interesting to see which group gives which type of information, and with what type of judgement (positive or negative). In total the five different groups gave 251 different ‘statements on change’, and out of those 135 were seen as positive change (54%), and 116 as negative change (46%). However, the balance of the positive and negative statements is very different if we look at the six different ‘domains’. People are very negative about changes in the natural domain (83% of the 47 statements reported a ‘negative change’, and that negative balance is visible in all six sub-domains). The workshop participants particularly lamented the negative changes in the availability of land and the quality of the soil for agricultural production. On the other five major domains the balance was much more positive. Particularly on the changes in human capabilities people were generally positive (73% of 30 statements), with the exception of the sub-domain [number of] people and the sub-domain of sanitation. On the domain of physical changes most statements were positive as well (67% of 46), with the exception of the quality of the roads and the breakdown of the bridge; while some groups were also complaining about the lack of water dams in their communities. On the domain of social and political change and the domain of economic change the balance is positive, but less so (59% of respectively 32 and 46 statements). There were quite some critical remarks about the lack of leadership, the lack of (or disappearance of) non-governmental agencies active
31 in their area, and the increased insecurity. And economically workshop participants agreed that there was a lot to be desired about access to credit, proper market structures, and access to income from doing business. However, the position of women has improved a lot, economically, socially and politically. People often related that to the profound changes in the cultural domain, although many participants were quite ambivalent about some of the cultural consequences of rapid change in the other domains (with only 56% of 50 statements being positive for ‘cultural change’). Not only the elderly participants lamented the loss of traditions, and ritual performances, dances and music; while there were also critical remarks about the increasing ‘improper behaviour’, which was seen as a negative consequence of exposure to an outside world that has many good things to offer, but also threatens some of the deep- rooted cultural attitudes and beliefs of the people living in Daboya.
The different assessment of positive and negative change per domain does give an idea about different perceptions among ‘officials’ and ‘common people’, and between age and gender groups; see table 3.7. First we have to say something about the differences between the five groups in the coverage of changes, which were reported during the group discussions: the workshop groups of the elderly men and the young women were mentioning many types of changes, followed by the officials. The workshop groups of the young men and the elderly women were less specific (or less talkative, or the group’s secretaries did not make extensive notes on everything discussed). In their relative assessment of change the women (and particularly the elderly women) were more positive than the men or the officials (who were mostly men as well). Among the officials and the young men the statements about negative change were even (slightly) more numerous than the statements about positive change.
If we look at the six major domains, we have already seen that the statements about the changes in the natural domain were far more negative than positive. All groups shared that negative attitude, with the exception of the young women, who had a 50/50 assessment. Particularly the officials (only negative changes mentioned) and the elderly men were extremely negative. About the changes in the physical domain all groups were more positive than negative, with very positive assessments by the elderly women and young men. The changes in the domain of human capabilities were seen as most positive of all changes. However, here the young men do not share that enthusiasm (they give a 50/50 score), unlike their female age-mates, who only see positive change. In the economic domain most groups are slightly more positive than negative, with the exception of the elderly women. In the domain of social and political change there are big differences: among the two groups with elderly people these changes were mostly seen as positive, while the officials and particularly the young women were not so positive. Finally, the changes in the cultural domain were fully appreciated by the elderly women, but much less so by the younger generation, where the young men even saw more negative than positive changes in that domain.
Table 3.7: Opinions about positive and negative change per domain by workshop groups (in percentages of perceived positive change)
Domain Officials Elderly Elderly Young Young Total women men women men Natural 0 17 8 50 23 17
32 Physical 54 90 67 56 86 67 Human 78 60 80 100 50 73 Economic 60 38 67 64 57 59 Soc-Polit. 40 83 78 33 67 59 Cultural 60 100 54 50 44 56 All 48 62 55 56 49 54 n 52 37 60 57 45 251
33
~4~ A history of development interventions
During the second day of the workshop the participants created a list of all interventions they could remember that had taken place in the Daboya area. For this exercise the workshop participants were divided in different groups, compared to the first day, with the exception of the officials. The Daboya weavers and other artisans (all male) formed a second group; the Chiefs, shopkeepers, traders and ‘big’ farmers in and immediately around Daboya Centre formed a third group (we call them ‘local leaders’); the women living in and immediately around Daboya formed a fourth group and people coming from villages around (and particularly from Lingbinsi Village) formed a fifth group. In the second part of this exercise, reported in chapter five, the group members were asked to judge the impact of the projects (‘negative impact’, ‘project only existed on paper’, ‘no lasting impact’, ‘project on-going, not clear yet what the impact will be’, ‘positive impact’) and to indicate on which domains the interventions had an impact (natural, physical, human, economic, socio-political and cultural).
This chapter is based on a descriptive table (in appendix 2 to this report) containing a chronological list of interventions that have taken place in the area since the early 1930s. At the end of the chapter, a more quantitative analysis of agency involvement and sector focus over the years (1930s – 2009) is presented. The chronological list of interventions is based on the input from the five different workshop groups. The original data were condensed and edited to provide a more comprehensible overview of the history of development interventions in the Daboya Area. Interventions that were mentioned by several groups are listed only once. Each of the five groups mentioned around 49 different initiatives (the women, and the people from the villages a bit more, the officials, the local leaders and the artisans a bit less. However: in Daboya many interventions were only mentioned by one of the five groups. There were no projects mentioned by all five groups, only seven by four groups, twelve by three groups and sixteen by two groups. This means that out of 181 initiatives or ‘projects’ 147 were mentioned by only one of the five groups. This can be regarded as remarkably high.
Table 4.1 Workshop Groups and projects mentioned, with overlap
Groups Total As only Together Together Together initiatives one with one with two with three mentioned other other other group groups groups Officials 41 22 L:2 L+A:4 L+A+W:7 W:1 L+W:1 A+W:3 A+V:1 Local 46 23 O:2 O+A:4 O+A+W:7 leaders L:1 O+W:1 W: 6 A+W:1 A+V:1
34 Artisans 43 19 L:1 O+L:4 O+L+W:7 W:4 O+W:3 V:1 O+V:1 L+W:1 L+V:1 W+V:1 Women 59 34 O:1 O+L:1 O+L+A:7 L: 6 O+A:3 A:4 L+A:1 V:1 A+V:1 Villages 54 49 A:1 O+A:1 W:1 L+A:1 A+W:1 Total 243 147 16 12 7
The condensed list of interventions reads as ‘a short history of development in the Daboya area’. It reflects several wider trends in development practice worldwide as well as local idiosyncrasies.
The chronological list of interventions in appendix 2 gives a descriptive impression of the history of development in the Daboya area. The main players changed over time and so did the sectors in which most interventions took place. Table 4.2 gives a summary of all agencies that played a role in the development history of Daboya, according to the workshop participants.
Table 4.2 Agencies active in Daboya’s development history, 1930-2010
Government
Government of Ghana/GoG; before 1957: Colonial Government (UK dependent) District Assembly (DA; in Damongo; West Gonja District; unit committee Daboya); also given as ‘ Local Authority (LA). In July 2008 a blogspot started at the level of the Damongo/Daboya area (or West Gonja District, also with some information about Daboya; see: http://www.damongodistrict.blogspot.nl/ ) MOFA/Min of Agriculture/Agric (currently there is one extension officer in Daboya; vacant in Lingbinsi; e.g. Participatory Community Planning = MOFA + ONCHO, spraying against disease) MASLOC, a Ghanaian government-based development unit, in the Office of the President: the Microfinance and Small Loans Centre (see: http://www.masloc.gov.gh/ ) National Board for Small-scale Industries; support to spinners Ministry of Health (MoH)/Ghana Health Service (GHS), (currently a polyclinic with medical assistant i/c in Daboya and in Lingbinsi); Ministry of Education (MoE)/Ghana Education Services (GES), Currently in Daboya: 2 Arabic-English schools and one English Primary School (PS); 2 Junior Secondary School (JSS), one DA Junior High School (JHS) and Asafo JHS); plus schools in the communities (e.g. Lingbinsi 3 PS and 2 JHS); in total the Daboya area currently has 50 schools)
35 Department. of Wildlife Military MP fund (Member of Parliament) NDC Party; National Democratic Council ( http://www.ndcghanaonline.com/ ), currently the governing party of Ghana; and also the party that won the 2008 parliamentary elections in West Gonja, with Hon. Wusah (see: http://www.ghanamps.gov.gh/mps/details.php?id=238 ). As you could see on this website, Hon. Sammy Wusah comes from Lingbinsi-Daboya; is an Assemblies of God Christian; and has a BEd in Agriculture; before being elected he was working as a budget officer in Damongo. For the Parliamentary elections in December 2012bthe West Gonja (or Damongo-Daboya) electoral area was split and became Damongo and Daboya-Mankarigu. The elections in Damongo were won by Adam Mutawakilu (NDC) and in Daboya-Mankarigu by Baani Abudu Nelson (NDC, 8,275 votes; 54%) followed by Tika Samuel Yeyu (NPP, with 6,672 votes (44%). See: http://www.ghanamps.gov.gh/mps/details.php?id=2685 . NPP Party, New Patriotic Party ( http://www.thenewpatrioticparty.org/ ); was governing Ghana during the 2000-2008 period.
Multilateral and Bilateral donors, except from Islamic states
European Union EU DfID (from the UK) DANIDA (from Denmark) USAID (from the USA) CIDA (from Canada) American military team/ US Marines UNDP: United Nations Development Programme IFAD (Global-2000) Sasakawa project
Muslim organisations/donor agencies
Saudi Arabian embassy Embassy of Iran Egyptian Amadiya (?) Amadiya Islamic Mission from Kuwait Islamic Council for Development and Humanitarian Service ICODEHS, Ghana office Accra; see http://www.icodehs.org/ Treeplanting NGO = Agricultural Support for Rural Development from Iran
Christian NGOs
Catholic Church/mission (German and Italian support) Catholic Relief Services (CRS) Presbyterain (Presby) church, with support from the New Ireland Christian Friends SDA church Assemblies of God Gilbert (Christian organisation from the USA) Pentecostal Church Baptist Mission (USA backing) Christ Command Evangelical Church (from Nigeria)
36 Word Miracle Church, a Pentecostal church group, with the Ghanaian hq in Accra, see http://www.wordmiracle.com ;
Other NGOs
ADRA Wulugu project (supported by a British organisation; established by Mr Karim Nachina from the area) a.o. funded the Vocational School, Salfiat PS and Tarbiat PS, and schools at Lingbinsi and Bawena) DUAF (?) Danish NGO Water NGO = CIDA Credit NGO = Wulugu Peacecorps (from the USA) SNV (Netherlands) Kofi Annan ICT GATE 2 from USA Equal from USA Red Cross International Agric NGO? 31 st December Movement Women Well producing NGO (Kopote, Tichali) = Community Water and Sanitation NGO under CIDA
Private firms and local communities
Tigo MTN Vodafone Mr Lary (ex Peacecorps volunteer) Danish couple Private supporters of the vocational school from Britain; lady was enskinned in Daboya after many years of support, she is now called Pogbasinaba Communities Private farmers/traders
Tables 4.3 – 4.5 provide a more quantitative analysis of the changes in players (agency types) and sectors.
Table 4.3 shows very clearly that according to the memories of the workshop participants the government was the most important development agency in the area (44% of all initiatives), followed by Christian (donor) agencies (21%), related to a variety of Christian denominations, and by non-faith-based NGOs (13%). Local initiatives followed with 10% (often together with other initiators), while there were also initiatives by supranational donor agencies, muslim agencies and (although only during the last five years) private companies: three competing telecom concerns. Before the 1970s very few initiatives were mentioned. Of course, this can partly be a result of fainted memories: the more recent the period is, the more detailed the memories become. However, it also tells something about the relative position of Northern Ghana. The colonial rulers largely neglected the North in the first decades of
37 colonial rule. Their policy was geared towards administration, not towards development. In the last pre-independence decade (1950s), the colonial rulers changed their policy in the North and tried to contribute more to development in the area, but Daboya was largely bypassed. After independence, the neglect of the North by the rulers in the South of Ghana continued. Christian agencies became more active, partly supported by well-wishers in Europe or North America, related to one or another church group. In the late 1960s and 1970s Ghana was poorly governed and it took until the 1990s before the government became more active in promoting development, after a relative dominance of Christian agencies and local initiatives in the 1980s. These broad trends are clearly visible in the data (see table 4.4). Muslim agencies became active in the 1990s (although in our workshops people had difficulty relating mosque-based activities to ‘development’ initiatives, or to see them as a specific type of NGO). During the 1990s also non-faith-based NGOs started to support initiatives in the Daboya area, and these became relatively important during the last five years. In Daboya many agencies supported ‘stand-alone’ initiatives. Only in 18 out of 181 ‘projects’ two (or in a few cases three) types of agencies worked together: in most cases local initiatives succeeded to connect to external donors, either a government agency, or a Christian or Muslim NGO. During the last five years Daboya experienced a trend that was already visible elsewhere for a longer period: foreign donors demanding the central government to involve the local people as direct stakeholders, ort bypassing the central government and working with an NGO together with a local organization. However, in Daboya the examples are few.
Table 4.3: Number of interventions by agency and decade (N =181) Government Supra- Christian Muslim Non- Private Local Total national agencies agencies faith- donors based NGOs 1930s 1 1 1 1940s 1 1 1950s 1 1 1960s 7 4 11 1970s 5 1 1 7 1980s 5 1 8 4 17 1990s 12 1 9 2 1 4 25 2000s 22 3 8 1 6 0 2 37 I+II 37 9 12 5 19 3 11 81 Total 91 15 43 8 26 3 21 181 * Note: the total N for this table is more than the total number of interventions (181) because in some interventions more than one agency was involved.
Not only the players in the field of development changed, also the sectors on which they focus. Table 4.4 shows the number of interventions per sector and decade; table 4.5 the percentages. A few observations can be made from these two tables. Firstly, the number of initiatives recalled by the workshop participants grows steadily over time, with a very strong increase in the 2000s. It is hard to tell to what extent this is due to a real increase in development interventions. Obviously, more recent projects are easier to recall than interventions of several decades ago. Secondly, the earliest interventions were mostly in the field of education and infrastructure. The first
38 projects in water, health and religion (the building of mosques and churches) were mentioned to have started first in the 1960s (much later than elsewhere in the region). Projects in social care and livestock development started during the 1970s and in credit provision and business development, but also in crop development and environmental care only in the 1980s. Electricity only came to the area in the early 2000s, and mobile phone technology (part of infrastructure in this list) only very recently. In relative terms educational projects were mentioned most (and with a lot of details), followed by projects in infrastructure (roads, bridge, buildings), water development (piped water and boreholes mainly) and crop development. During the various decades people mentioned different ‘major focus areas’: education was leading in the early decades, in the 1980s and after 2000, and infrastructure in the 1950s and 1960s. The building of religious structures was most prominent in the 1990s, while the 1970s showed a more balanced composition of (the few) development initiatives, with health, water and livestock projects all getting attention among the leading initiatives.
Table 4.4: Number of interventions by sector and decade (N=181) Sector 1930s 1940s 1950s 1960s 1970s 1980s 1990s 2000s 2000s Total I II Crops 3 4 7 9 23 Livestock 2 1 6 9 Nature 1 1 2 2 6 Water 1 2 4 4 2 9 22 Energy 4 2 6 Infrastructure 1 4 1 4 7 5 22 Credit/Business 2 1 2 8 13 Education 1 1 2 1 5 3 12 23 48 Health 2 2 1 2 13 20 Social 1 4 5 Religion 1 1 5 3 6 16 Other 1 1 Total 1 1 1 11 9 17 25 39 87 191 (7) (37) (81) (181) * Note: the total N for this table is higher than the total number of interventions (181) because some interventions were related to more than one sector (e.g., crops and livestock, or social and business).
Table 4.5: Proportion of interventions by sector and decade (% of N=191)
39 Sector 1930s 1940s 1950s 1960s 1970s 1980s 1990s 2000s 2000s Total I II Crops 18 16 18 11 12 Livestock 22 4 7 5 Nature 6 4 5 2 3 Water 9 22 24 16 5 10 12 Energy 10 2 3 Infrastructure 100 36 6 16 18 6 12 Credit/Business 12 4 5 9 7 Education 100 100 18 11 29 12 31 26 25 Health 18 22 6 8 15 10 Social 11 5 3 Religion 9 11 20 8 7 8 Other 9 1 Total 100 100 100 100 100 100 100 100 100 100
CONCLUSIONS ON THE HISTORY OF DEVELOPMENT INTERVENTIONS
In this chapter (and appendix 2), a chronological list of development interventions and a more quantitative analysis of changes in development actors and sectors over time was presented. The chronological list is based on the input of the workshop participants (in five different groups, with little overlap), but condensed and edited by the author of this workshop report. The list gives a good impression of the kinds of development interventions that have taken place in the research area and changes herein over time. These changes become even clearer in the quantitative analysis at the end of the chapter. There are two main findings in this chapter. Firstly, the government has been the most important development agent in the area, but compared to other areas where we did PADev exercises, the total number of development initiatives is rather meagre, also the ones by the government. Relatively few initiatives in the Daboya area were initiated or supported by foreign state-derived and multilateral donor agencies. Christian agencies were among the first ones active in development activities, particularly in a few Christian enclaves (like Lingbinsi), while in Daboya itself Muslim agencies started to become important in the 1990s. Non- governmental agencies with a non-faith based background only became important during the last decade and that is also true for private agencies. One can see a growing importance of local initiatives, either by local communities or by private individuals in some of the communities. A second finding is that the sectors in which development interventions have taken place have become more diverse over time. Initially, the focus was mainly on education and infrastructure. Later, other sectors such as health, farming and livestock support, water, credit and business support, environment and energy became increasingly important. In relative terms development initiatives in education were mentioned most.
40
~5~ Analysis of interventions by agency, sector and impact
In this chapter, the interventions mentioned by the participants on the second day of the workshop are analysed in a more quantitative way (see chapter four for a more descriptive analysis). We look at the implementing agencies, sector involvement, impact judgments and impact domains (and combinations of these variables).
The lists of projects/interventions mentioned by the workshop participants contained a total of 181 interventions. Table 5.1 shows the number of interventions per type of agency, either as a solo intervention or as a partnership. Of the seven types of actors distinguished, the government had initiated the largest number of interventions, followed by the Christian Churches, non-faith-based NGOs, local initiators, supra- national organizations, Muslim organizations and private companies respectively. Most of the local initiatives were done together with other agencies; of the other agencies Muslim and supra-national organization had the largest proportion of interventions as partnerships. Only 12% of all interventions that were listed by the participant groups involved partnerships, which is low compared to all other PADev research areas.
Table 5.1: Number of interventions per agency type (solo and in partnership) Govern Supra- Christian Muslim Non- Private Local Total ment national Faith NGO Solo 75 9 41 4 22 3 6 159 Partnership 16 6 2 4 4 0 15 22 % Partner 18 40 5 50 15 0 71 12 Total 91 15 43 8 26 3 21 181
Table 5.2 repeats the total number of interventions per sector. A quarter of all interventions mentioned concerned educational projects. The other most important sectors in terms of number of interventions are water, infrastructure and crop cultivation.
Table 5.2: Number of projects per sector (N=191)
41 Sector Frequency % Crops 23 12 Livestock 9 5 Environment 6 3 Water 22 12 Energy 6 3 Infrastructure 22 12 Credit/Business 13 7 Education 48 25 Health 20 10 Social 5 3 Religion 16 8 Other 1 1 Total 191 100 (181)
For each of the projects in the list, the workshop participants were asked to judge their impact. There were seven possibilities: the project had a very negative impact (--); the project had a negative impact (-); the impact of the project was not lasting; it only had a temporary impact (0); for some there was a positive impact, but for others (or for other aspects) the impact was negative (+/-) the impact of the project cannot be judged yet because it is ongoing (x); the project had a positive impact, but only for some in the community or for some among the intended beneficiaries. The project had a very positive impact, and for many in the community, or for the majority among the intended beneficiaries
Table 5.3 shows the frequency of project impact judgments. In case of projects/initiatives that were mentioned by more than one workshop group, most judgements were identical. However, in some cases groups had different judgements, and these will be treated separately, as ‘mixed judgements’. In general, people were quite happy about the impact of the interventions in the list. In 67 percent of the interventions they judged the impact as ‘very positive for many in the community’.
The participants were also asked to judge on which domain(s) or capabilities the interventions in their list had had an impact. Each intervention could have an impact on more than one domain and no distinction between positive and negative impact was made. Most impact was experienced in the human, economic and socio-political domain and least on the natural and cultural domain (see table 5.4).
Table 5.3: Project impact judgments Table 5.4: Project impact on domains Impact Frequency % Impact domain Frequency % Very Negative 1 0 Natural 19 5 impact Physical 51 12 Negative Impact 7 4 Human 121 29
42 No lasting impact 7 4 Economic 108 26 Positive and 2 1 Socio-political 86 21 negative Cultural 32 8 Ongoing 5 3 Total 417 100 Positive impact 26 14 Very positive impact 121 67 Mixed impact 12 7 judgement Total 181 100
Table 5.5 gives the workshop judgements on impact per agency and agency combinations, and also distinguishes between solo interventions of different agency types and partnerships. Partnerships generally score better impact judgements, and for the solo initiatives, the government initiatives are, on average, judged more critically than the initiatives by other agency types. However, the overall judgement is very favourable. In workshops of this kind in Africa one can expect some ‘positive bias’ (it is sometimes difficult for people to openly criticise ‘authorities’, or agencies that came ‘to help’), so it is important to specifically look at judgements that are less than ‘very positive’. Out of 176 initiatives that were not judged to be ‘ongoing’, in a way that no (preliminary) judgement could be given, there were 55 initiatives, where one or more workshop groups were less than ‘very positive’: 31% of all initiatives/projects. In the analysis we will particularly look at these initiatives.
Table 5.5: Impact judgment per agency type (N=181)
43 Very Neg. Not Pos On- Positive Very Mixed Total Score* Negative (-) lasting and going (+) pos. (--) (0) Neg (x) (++) (+/-) SOLO 1 7 7 2 4 23 104 11 159 2.5 Governm 1 6 5 1 1 12 40 7 73 2.2 Supranat. 0 0 1 0 0 1 7 0 9 2.7 Christian 0 1 0 0 1 6 35 0 43 2.8 Muslim 0 0 0 0 0 0 3 1 4 3.0 NGO 0 0 1 0 0 4 14 2 21 2.7 Private 0 0 0 0 1 0 1 1 3 3.0 Local 0 0 0 1 1 0 4 0 6 2.4 PARTNERS 0 0 0 0 1 3 17 1 22 2.9 G+S 3 3 3.0 G+S+L 1 1 3.0 G+S+N 1 1 2.0 G+C 1 1 3.0 G+N 2 1 3.0 G+L 1 6 7 3.0 S+N+L 1 1 3.0 C+L 1 1 3.0 M+L 4 4 3.0 Total 1 7 7 2 5 26 121 12 181 2.5 * very negative impact = -2, negative impact = -1; ongoing/not yet possible to judge: not part of the total score assessment; both positive and negative impact = 0; non-lasting impact = 1; positive impact = 2; very positive impact = 3; mixed impact: not judged; but also not part of total score judgement. Score is the average, e.g. for Total: [(1*-2)+(7*-1)+(2*0)+(7*1)+(26*2) + 1021x3)/[181-5-12] = 2.5
Table 5.6 Judgements per sector (n=181)
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Sector total ++ + 0 +/- - -- x Mixed * ** C 21 11 3 1 0 5 0 0 1 L 8 2 3 2 1 0 0 0 0 N 6 3 1 0 0 0 0 2 0 W 22 19 2 0 0 0 0 0 1 I 21 11 1 1 2 1 0 1 4 P 5 2 1 0 0 1 0 0 1 B 7 5 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 E 45 41 1 1 0 0 0 0 2 H 20 12 4 0 0 0 1 2 1 S 3 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 R 15 10 4 0 0 0 0 0 1 B+S 1 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 B+I 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 B+E 2 0 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 B+C 1 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 C+L 1 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 E+S 1 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 P+W 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Total 181 119 26 7 3 7 1 6 13 * C= Crop development, L=Livestock development, N=Natural resources, W=Water, I = Infrastructure, P=Power (electricity), B=credit and business, E=Education, H=Health, S=Social, R=Religion.
** Mixed judgments: for C: 1 = ++, +, -; W: 1 = ++,0; I: 4 = a) 1 +/- and 3 times 0; b) 2 times ++, 1+/-, 1x; c) 3++, 1+; d) 2++, 2+; P:1= 2++, 1x; E: 2 = a) ++, 2+; b) ++, 2x; H:1 = --, +/-; S:1 = 2++, 1+; R:1 = 2++, 1+; B+I:1 = 2++, 0. In total these 13 project judgments combined the judgments of 41 workshop group assessments of which 19 were ++, 8 were +, 5 were 0, three were +/-; one was – and one --. In four cases a group decided that the project could not be judged yet.
In the following section we will give an overview of the various judgments per sector, and we will particularly highlight judgments that were not ‘very positive’.
Crop development : Out of 21 initiatives slightly more than half were judged as very positive, but a relatively high percentage less so. Six projects were even judged negatively (one as part of a mixed judgment). Criticisms were shared about the following initiatives. In 2002 the Ministry of Agriculture introduced soybeans. The women were happy about the income it provided, but critical about some of the management aspects. They judged another agricultural project, to introduce cotton and particular maize varieties in a village called Tidrope by an NGO, ADRA, as a waste of effort, due to the low prices they received after the harvests. Villagers were negative about a government project in 2004 to introduce cashew trees in Yazori and Kogbal villages, as the ‘promises’ to provide a market failed to materialise. The same was said about the introduction of a new variety of cassava during the same season. In 2005 the Ministry introduced a new rice variety. However, the local leaders were negative: seeds came too late, there were no tractors available for ploughing the land, and the yields were very poor. The artisans workshop group was not so positive about the agricultural training that the Ministry of Agriculture people were supposed to give from 2007 onwards: too little, too few. In 2007 another attempt was made to introduce
45 cashew planting, this time with a bit more positive impact, according to the artisan group, but not very positive yet. When it was again done in 2009 in three villages the villagers were negative about the impact: there is no ready market, according to them. In 2009 Kogbal farmers became involved in a new soybeans campaign, judged favourably by the villagers, but more critically by the artisan group, and with a negative judgement by the local leaders. According to them the seeds were (again) given too late in the season, and only a few individuals profited. Villagers were also negative about the 2009 cassava campaign by MOFA.
Livestock development : Out of eight initiatives in livestock development only two were judged to be ‘very positive’, but none purely negative. Some critical notes were shared though. In 1974 the Ministry of Agriculture started a sheep ranch in Lingbinsi. This soon was abandoned and the officials mentioned it as one of the abandoned projects without a lasting impact. Somewhat later the government introduced improved pigs, sheep, cows, goats and poultry, and also constructed a building for that project. With the exception of the pigs, all other animals died, and the project did not have any lasting impact (according to the women who mentioned this project), although the building is still there (and used for other purposes). In 1992 the government started with a vaccination campaign for livestock and with some veterinary support. Local leaders said they appreciated that, but only few people (some of the ones with cattle) benefited. The same was also true when a US military team came to the area after the floods (2007) for a vaccination campaign. When in 2007 some Fulani herders in the area started to make use of a new, bigger variety of cows, local leaders also looked at that with mixed feelings: positive for them, but who else benefits? When in 2009 sheep were vaccinated in a ‘dedicated campaign’, local leaders appreciated that, but were not very positive, as only few people seem to have benefited.
Environment : Out of six environmental projects three were judged ‘very positively’, one positively and two could not yet be assessed. In 1985 a local farmer started a teak plantation in Yazori, one of the villages around Daboya. The villagers could not judge the impact yet, as no teak was harvested so far. The idea was (and still is) to produce poles for electricity. In 2001 a political party (NDC) and a related NGO, used funds coming from IFAD as part of its ‘Global 2000’ project to support farmers with teak planting. This was seen as a positive development, but not ‘very positive’, as it was said that ‘only party members benefited’. For a project by the Ministry of Agriculture to do the same in 2006 the villagers said that it was too early to judge its impact.
Water : Almost all 22 water projects were regarded as having had a very positive impact. In two cases it was only seen as ‘positive’ and in one case there was a mixed judgement, with one group stating that the impact had disappeared. In the early 1970s the government created a piped water supply, pumping water from the river to the centre of Daboya. In 1991 it collapsed, but was replaced by other water supplies. Two groups judged this project as very positive (as long as it lasted; officials and local leaders). According to them the quality of the drinking water had improved and it saved people (women mainly) time. It was also seen as beneficial because it attracted people to come and settle in the area. However, the artisans group regarded this project as no longer having any impact. During the late 1970s also Lingbinsi got a piped water supply. This still functions quite well (it was expanded in the 1990s), but
46 the women regarded the price they have to pay for water as too high, and hence judged this project not as very positive but only as ‘positive’.
Energy : Many workshop participants saw the arrival of electricity in the area during the 2000s as a very important development. In Daboya all groups were very positive; in the villages people are eagerly waiting to be connected, so they see this project as ‘ongoing’. But the women (particularly the ones from Lingbinsi) were negative that it took and takes far too long. Poles have been delivered (and can be seen along the road since a few years now), but nothing happened afterwards. After the mobile phone companies came to Daboya, from 2007 onwards there was suddenly a lot of demand for phone chargers. When a foreign Christian NGO started to distribute solar ones it was appreciated but also criticised as only few people benefited.
Infrastructure : Among the 21 infrastructure initiatives, eleven were judged to have been ‘very positive’, but others received some criticism. Soon after independence in 1957 the Ghanaian central state built a District Magistrate court in Daboya, which functioned for some time. Later that function was removed from Daboya and went to Damongo, the district headquarters of West Gonja District. Now the building is no longer used for that purpose; and the initiative was judged (by the women) as ‘not with a lasting impact’. In the early 1960s the central government built feeder roads in the area. These provided some employment and are still being used. However their condition is very bad, as nobody maintains these roads (local leaders: +/-). In 1963 the local government constructed a ‘rest home’ in Daboya, as a place to accommodate visitors to the area. The local leaders judged it as a project with a negative impact, as there was a lot of ‘mismanagement’ from the start and it soon became a ruin. Between 1969 and 1972 the central government built a so-called culvert bridge to enable river crossings by cars and trucks (and others). From 1984 it was no longer maintained and it collapsed in 1991. As a result people have to make use of canoes (that’s also how the workshop facilitators travelled) and trucks and cars have to make a long and expensive detour to reach Daboya, making it a very isolated place. Officials, artisans and women workshop groups judged this major infrastructure project as ‘no longer having an impact’, but the local leaders judged it more negatively: the fact that the bridge collapsed and nothing was done to repair it was seen as proof of a government that was not really interested in the area. In 1990 the Ministry of Agriculture built a residence for the few officers they have in Daboya. The officials group in the workshop said that the building was useful, but it was never used for its original intentions, and there was a lot of criticism about the roles played by the MOFA officials: they only served few people in the area. At the same time the local area council built a structure as well, both in Daboya (in 1990) and in Lingbinsi (in 1998). The one in Daboya is only marginally used, sometimes for lodging. The women regarded it as positive, but not very positive. They were more positive about the building in Lingbinsi. The improvements to the area council buildings in the years after 1998 were criticised by the local leaders (‘not yet ready’) and the officials (‘takes too long’). In 2004 a post office was started in Daboya, more than a century after the introduction of postal services in Ghana. According to most groups this was ‘better late than never’, but the officials could not see this as ‘very positive’, as it came at a time, when written letters started to loose their usefulness. In 2007 the first mobile telephone company came to the area, followed by a second and a third one. The last ones’ impact could not yet be judged, but the second one was seen by two of
47 the four groups as positive, but not very positive, as it appeared to be more expensive than the first one.
Credit and business development : Out of twelve projects in this sector (often together with another sector) five were judged to be ‘very positive’. In the other cases there were some critical remarks. In 1980 a political party (NPP) used its influence to encourage the government to build market structures in Daboya. That functioned quite well for a long time, but was destroyed during the floods in 2007, and it was not yet repaired, so the women judged it as ‘no longer with an impact’. In 2003 it became possible to get credit for business improvements. The local leaders regarded this as a positive development, but criticised the fact that only few people could benefit. In 2005 and 2006 the District Assembly built a few kiosks for the Daboya market, supported by the local Member of Parliament. The artisans judged it as a very positive project, but the women were more sceptical, after the floods had done their damage, and nothing was repaired. In 2005 credit was given to the disabled by an NGO. Local leaders regarded this as a useful project, but not very positive, as not many people could benefit. The same was true for a credit project managed by the Ministry of Agriculture, and one managed by a government-related agency called MASLOC.
Education : Thos was by far the most important sector, in terms of number of initiatives/projects. Almost all were judged to have been ‘very positive’. In a few cases people were a bit less positive. In 1978 USAID started a school feeding programme in the Daboya area, which functioned for a brief period, but, according to the women, did not have a lasting impact. In Diasali village the District assembly constructed a pavilion for a school in 2003, but that was destroyed by strong winds in 2006, and not yet repaired. In Daboya some projects supported the building and expansion of a vocational school. It was seen as positive, but not by all as very positive, and that was a result of the fact that some groups saw it as ‘only useful for school dropouts’, or ‘only useful for a few’. A project to give parents credit (or food or school uniforms) to encourage them to send their children (or only their girls) to school was seen as benefiting only a few. These were initiatives by NGOs like Wulugu and Equall. A micro-credit project for women, to attract their children to come to school, started by the Ghanaian government in 2008, received the same criticism. In 2009 the District Assembly, with additional funds from the so-called DUAF fund, started to build an examination centre. According to two of three groups judging that project it was too early to see any impact, but it was seen as a useful project when it would be ready.
Health: Out of twenty health initiatives in the Daboya area twelve were seen as ‘very positive’, and the others less so. During the 1960s the first public toilet was constructed in Daboya. Because nobody cleaned it, the Daboya women still judged the project as ‘very negative’; the only project with such a purely negative judgement! Much later (from 2006 onwards) some public and private toilet projects were supported, but not seen as ‘very positive’, or even as negative, or partly negative. As long as nobody seems to care about cleaning, and hence the smell can be awful around toilets, it will remain a problem. In 2005 the government started an ante-natal clinic in Daboya. Local leaders were positive, but not yet very positive, as ‘not all people benefited’. The same can be said about the provision of specific drugs in 2006, or a campaign to check eyesight (by the US Peacecorps) in 2009. Here it is not always clear if the criticism comes from the idea that health care should be provided to all at
48 all times (and not for specific diseases only, during ‘campaign time’), or that only few of the intended beneficiaries were actually reached. The Ghana-wide initiative to provide health insurance to all people was launched in Daboya in 2007, but still has to be implemented, and hence cannot be judged yet, according to the villagers. A Lingbinsi Health post, funded by a Christian foreign agency could not be judged yet as it was not yet ready.
Social : In 2007 the area was confronted with a flood calamity, and various organisations came to Daboya to help. Most of it was appreciated a lot, but according to the artisan group the Red Cross should have provided support to all people in the area, and not only to the displaced people.
Religion: In the area there are quite some church and mosque buildings. We counted fifteen separate ones. Most of those were judged to be ‘very positive’ initiatives. Some were seen as benefiting only few people (‘positive but not very positive’), like the Baptist church in Lingbinsi, the Assemblies of God church in Baulina, the Catholic church in the same place, the Kalibito mosque (at least according to the artisans), or the Pentecostal church in a village called Tachi.
Table 5.7 to 5.9 go more into detail about the sector involvement of the different agency types. Table 5.7 shows the number of interventions of each agency type by sector (see the details per project in chapter 4). Table 5.8 shows the proportional sector involvement per agency (e.g. x % of the government interventions involve education). Table 5.9 shows the percentage of agency interventions per sector (e.g. y % of all interventions in education involve government interventions).
These three tables contain a lot of information. Just a few observations are highlighted here. We already saw that the government has been the most active initiator of development activities, mostly alone, and sometimes together with other agencies. If we look at the distribution of government activities among the various sectors crop development was most important, immediately followed by infrastructure projects and education. Supra-national agencies, Christian NGOs (or church-related agencies) and Non-faith-based organisations gave most of their attention to education (by far the most important sector in terms of numbers of initiatives that the workshop participants mentioned as separate ‘projects’). Private companies were only active in the telecom industry (and only recently), while Muslim agencies, and initiatives in which local people were (co-)responsible were mostly visible in the religious activities in Daboya (and local ones also in water development).
Although the government dominated the ‘development activities’ in Daboya (in terms of numbers of initiatives or projects mentioned by the workshop participants), that was not so in all sectors, and where the government dominated there were big differences in the measure of dominance. In education Christian churches and NGOs were mentioned more than the government, in the social sector (particularly around the dramatic floods that hit the area in 2007) non-governmental agencies dominated (e.g. the Red Cross), while in religious projects the government was almost absent, and Christian and Muslim agencies dominated, often together with local initiators. In sectors where the government was the most-mentioned actor it was a majority dominance in ‘other’ (military), followed by crop development, infrastructure development, health and the provision of electricity.
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Table 5.7: Number of intervening agencies per sector Sector Gov Supra Christ Muslim NGO Priv Local Total Crop 17 2 1 0 3 0 0 23.0 Livestock 4.5 1 0 0 1 0 2 8.5 Nature 4 1 0 1 0 0 3 9.0 Water 12 2 5.5 0 1 0 7 27.5 Power 3 0 2.5 0 0 0 0 5.5 Infrastructure 16.5 0 2 0 0 3 1 22.5 Business 4.5 2 2 0 2 0 1 11.5 Education 15.5 4.5 17 1 12.5 0 0 50.5 Health 12 1 5 0 2 0 0 20.0 Social 1 1.5 0 0 2 0 0 4.5 Religious 1 0 8 6 1.5 0 7 23.5 Other 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 1.0 Total 92 15 43 8 25 3 21 207.0 * Note: N = 181 interventions, but total > 181 because of 23 partnerships of more than one agency type; in some cases initiatives combined two sectors; in those cases each of the two sectors received 0.5. Table 5.8: Proportion of sector involvement per agency (%) Sector Gov Supra Christ Muslim NGO Priv Local Total Crop 18 13 2 0 12 0 0 11 Livestock 5 7 0 0 4 0 10 4 Nature 4 7 0 13 0 0 14 4 Water 13 13 13 0 4 0 33 13 Power 3 0 6 0 0 0 0 3 Infrastr 18 0 5 0 0 100 5 11 Business 5 13 5 0 8 0 5 6 Education 17 30 40 13 50 0 0 24 Health 13 7 12 0 8 0 0 10 Social 1 10 0 0 8 0 0 2 Religious 1 0 19 75 6 0 33 11 Other 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Total 100 100 100 100 100 100 100 100
Table 5.9: Proportion of intervening agencies per sector (%)
50 Sector Gov Supra Christ Muslim NGO Priv Local Total Crop 74 9 4 0 13 0 0 100 Livestock 53 12 0 0 12 0 24 100 Nature 44 11 0 11 0 0 33 100 Water 44 7 20 0 4 0 25 100 Power 55 0 45 0 0 0 0 100 Infrastr 73 0 9 0 0 13 4 100 Business 39 17 17 0 17 0 9 100 Education 31 9 34 2 25 0 0 100 Health 60 5 25 0 10 0 0 100 Social 22 33 0 0 44 0 0 100 Religious 4 0 34 25 6 0 30 100 Other 100 0 0 0 0 0 0 100 Total 44 7 21 4 12 1 10 100
Tables 5.10 and 5.11 show how the interventions in each of the sectors were thought to have had an impact on the six major domains (natural, physical, human, economic, socio-political and cultural); these domains are the ones normally used in ‘livelihood studies’. Each intervention could have an impact on several domains. For the workshop participants this appeared to be a difficult exercise. The artisans decided that they could not do it, while the officials appeared to be very inclusive: most of the initiatives that they mentioned were thought to have had an impact on four, five or even six domains. The other three groups were more selective in their assessment, and often selected ‘the most important impact domain’. We think that the results of this exercise give a tentative idea about the ideas in the study area about impact of various types of interventions, initiatives or projects on different aspects of life in the area. But the results should be treated with caution.
In total the workshop participants mentioned 417 ‘impacts on domains’, for the 181 initiatives (with 191 sector positions), an average of impacts on 2.2 different livelihood domains. Religious and water initiatives had a broad impact, on average, while business, environmental and health initiatives had a more restricted impact. Most impact was mentioned on human capabilities (knowledge, health, skills), followed by impact on the economy (income and wealth levels; market access; productivity levels), and impact on social relations in the area (which includes political relations). Much less impact was mentioned on physical structures, visible in the landscape, on cultural change (expressions of identity; spirituality; ‘habitus’) and particularly on the quality of the environment (soils, forests, water and air quality). Most of the findings are quite self evident; some are a bit surprising. Initiatives in the crop, livestock and environmental sectors had a profound impact on the economy, and on nature. Water investments had most impact on human capabilities (a clear health impact) and on the economy. Investments in electricity had a clear impact on social relations and on the local economy. Infrastructure projects (roads, bridges, buildings) had a profound impact on the economy, but (of course) also on the physical/built environment and on social relations. Business improvement and credit programmes were important for the economy and changed social relations. The many education initiatives improved human capabilities (knowledge, skills), but also had an impact on social relations; less so on the economy. Health projects mainly impacted on human capabilities, as can be expected. The few social projects (mainly emergency support) had an impact on human capabilities and social relations. Religious projects were
51 thought to have had a very broad impact, but most so on social relations, and a bit less (surprisingly) on cultural change. If we judge the impact per domain, changes in nature were mostly caused by crop development projects, changes in the physical environment mostly by infrastructure and education projects, changes in the economy mostly by water and infrastructure projects, changes in people’s ‘human capabilities’ mostly by education and water projects (so not mostly by health projects; health care is relatively underdeveloped in Daboya), changes in social relations and (access to) political power mostly by education, infrastructure and religious initiatives, and finally changes in people’s culture mostly by religious and educational projects.
Table 5.10: Impact on domains, scores per sector (frequencies) n N P E H S C Total Total/n Crops 23 11 1 15 9 0 0 36 1.6 Livestock 9 4 1 6 3 1 0 15 1.7 Environment 6 3 0 3 0 1 0 7 1.2 Water 22 0 6 23 24 10 6 69 3.1 Power 6 0 3 4 3 6 0 16 2.7 Infrastructure 22 1 16 18 8 16 0 59 2.7 Business 13 0 1 8 0 6 0 15 1.2 Education 48 0 13 14 47 22 12 108 2.3 Health 20 0 2 5 15 5 1 28 1.4 Social 5 0 0 2 3 3 0 8 1.6 Religious 16 0 8 8 8 16 13 53 3.3 Other 1 0 0 2 1 0 0 3 3.0 Total 191 19 51 108 121 86 32 417 2.2 (181) N = Natural; P = Physical; H = Human; E = Economic; S = Socio-political; C = Cultural Some initiatives combined two sectors, making the total (191) higher than the number of initiatives (181).
Table 5.11: Proportion of impact on domains, scores per sector (%) n N P E H S C Crops 23 31 3 42 25 0 0 Livestock 9 27 7 40 20 7 0 Environment 6 43 0 43 0 14 0 Water 22 0 9 33 35 14 9 Power 6 0 19 25 19 38 0 Infrastructure 22 2 27 31 14 27 0 Business 13 0 7 53 0 40 0 Education 48 0 12 13 44 20 11 Health 20 0 7 18 54 18 4 Social 5 0 0 25 38 38 0 Religious 16 0 15 15 15 30 25 Other 1 0 0 67 33 0 0 Total 191 5 12 26 29 21 8 (181) N = Natural; P = Physical; H = Human; E = Economic; S = Socio-political; C = Cultural
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CONCLUSIONS BASED ON THE ANALYSIS OF INTERVENTIONS In this chapter, the list of projects that were mentioned by the workshop participants was analysed in terms of agency involvement, sector of implementation, impact judgment and impact domain. The main findings are summarized here. It should be noted that in this chapter we purely looked at the number of interventions per agency type and sector. The weight of interventions can obviously differ (e.g. the construction and subsequent management of a hospital is a much larger project than drilling one borehole).
The joined list of interventions by the different workshop groups contained 181 projects of which 23 involved partnerships of more than one agency. Of the seven types of agencies, the government had initiated the largest number of interventions, followed by Church NGOs, non-church NGOs, (groups of) local people, supra- national organizations, Islamic organizations and private companies respectively. In an area that is dominated by people who regard themselves as Muslims, the number of Christian initiatives is surprising. This may also be a result of people’s ideas that activities related to mosques are not ‘public’ or ‘development activities’, but closer to people’s personal lives. It is also clear that all types of private economic activities (by farmers, transport entrepreneurs, the many weavers, shopkeepers and other economic actors) are seldom mentioned as ‘public’ activities, while of course they also have (or could have) a major impact on people’s lives and livelihoods. Workshops of this kind tend to (over)emphasise public, or ‘developmental’ activities, and people are generally very much used to the ‘language of projects’ (and of ‘outside interventions’), even in a relatively isolated and ‘marginal’ area like Daboya .
The simple frequency tables of sector, impact judgment and impact domain produced the following findings: − Most projects in the list involved interventions in the sector education (one quarter), followed by water, infrastructure and crop cultivation (about twelve percent each). − Two-thirds of all initiatives were judged to have had a ‘very positive’ impact; people were most positive about initiatives in education, and most critical about initiatives in livestock and crop development, nature and energy. − The interventions had most impact on the human, economic and socio- political domain and least on the natural and cultural domain.
The tables dealing with sector involvement per agency revealed that both the government and Church NGOs have focussed many of their activities on education. The government dominated activities in infrastructure and crop development. Muslim agencies mostly restricted their activities to building mosques, while supra-national agencies were important during the flood calamity that hit the area in 2007.
The impact judgment per agency type showed that the interventions of government agencies were (relatively speaking) criticised most; and initiatives by Muslim, Christian and non-faith-based NGOs were appreciated more. But in general the workshop participants were appreciating most of the initiatives, and were hoping for more: compared to other PADev areas the Daboya area is indeed not well endowed
53 with ‘projects’, although it is certainly not true that the area is ‘forgotten’. In fact we were surprised to find so many different agencies in the area, and particularly during the last decade there were many new initiatives, supported by a lot of different agencies. It also seems that the local inhabitants no longer waited passively for ‘things to happen’, and started to initiate activities in the public domain. They also succeeded to attract different types of agencies to participate. The 2007 floods can be seen as a ‘wake-up call’.
54 ~6~ Attribution of change to interventions
After the first workshop day, we summarized the perceptions of changes in the different domains, as perceived by the five groups of workshop participants (see chapter 3). On the last day of the workshop, we presented our synthesis to the participant groups and asked them to what extent each of these – positive and negative – changes could be attributed to interventions that they mentioned on the second day. In the case of negative changes, we also asked whether there had been interventions that had mitigated these adverse trends.
The synthesis of changes, made by the workshop facilitators, but based on the perceptions of change mentioned by the workshop participants, is shown in table 6.1. Overall, positive changes were more dominant than negative changes, especially in the human, economic and physical domains. Table 6.2 and 6.3 show for each of the positive and negative changes in the synthesis which interventions had contributed to these changes, or – in the case of negative changes what mitigation initiatives had been taken by whom.
Note: changes were not always attributed to interventions of particular agencies, but to other phenomena, such as poverty, migration, etc. Tables 6.2 and 6.3 also show that groups only selected some of the listed positive or negative changes, and some of these changes (as summarised by the workshop facilitators) did not get any attention, that is: were not seen as important enough to discuss.
Table 6.1: Summary of changes by domain POSITIVE CHANGE NEGATIVE CHANGE Natural >successful tsetse eradication >reduced soil fertility >less fear for wild animals >reduced grazing >more and better >reduced salt crops/varieties >less fish >reduced forests >burning is still a problem >loss of old crops and varieties Physical >better, less risky houses >bad/no/deteriorated roads and bridge >borehole expansion >ever more noisy and dirty town, >mobile phones without town planning >tractor services >electricity (e.g. loudspeakers in mosques)
55 POSITIVE CHANGE NEGATIVE CHANGE Human >enhanced technical >reduced quality of education since knowledge (a.o. on weaving) capitation fund >more schools >SSS out of town >much higher enrolment >poor hygiene, unhealthy >improved children’s health environment
Economic >expansion of weaving and >salt business collapsed kiosks >no access to banks; reliance on >women much more active as moneylenders with high interest rates farmers, artisans and traders >profit margin decreased (a.o. in >motorbikes increased ‘smog’ weaving) >access to money increased, >problems with transporting goods also for women (expensive)
Socio- >more women’s associations >individualism: less respect for chiefs political >more leadership structures and parents >more political tolerance >no/less NGOs in the community
Cultural >Increased Islam and >Fulani causing problems Christianity, with less fear for >loss of traditional customs/festivals witchcraft >indecent clothing and bad behaviour >more ethnic diversity by youth >increased knowledge and >if ladies migrate they bring back trade problems. >better and more ‘diverse’ food >migration improved exposure
Table 6.2: Attribution of positive changes to agencies’ interventions
56 O = Officials; L=:Local leaders; A=Artisans; W=Women; V=Villagers
(Sub) Domain Interventions contributing to positive trend Natural successful tsetse eradication L: UNDP Oncho project; O: Govt tsetse control unit, felling trees along the river less fear for wild animals Not selected by any group more and better crops/varieties A: Global 2000 W: ADRA, and particularly soybeans, maize and cotton projects V: MOFA; extension service, but also farmers themselves started to use more fertilizers Physical better, less risky houses A: fertilizer depot project influenced people’s perception of durability of ‘sandcrete’ houses W: the floods of 2007, and Red Cross suggestions showed ways to improve houses and make them less risk prone borehole expansion W: the DA borehole projects mainly V: idem but also CRS projects mobile phones O: MTN and Tigo tractor services Not selected by any group electricity (e.g. loudspeakers in mosques) L+A+V: (rural) electrification project by the Government Human enhanced technical knowledge (a.o. on Not selected by any group weaving) more schools L: District Council L+W: Wulugu project much higher enrolment A: Gate and Equal O: Capitation grant from the Government O: the school feeding programme O: The start of English-Arabic schools encouraged Muslim parents to send their children to schools O: There is growing competition among families about how many of their children have gone to school and how successful they are improved children’s health A: the polyclinic, but also the use of pickup trucks and motorbikes to transport sick children and their mothers and/or fathers to the clinic O +V: immunization campaigns by the Government
57 O: education on hygiene in the clinic and in schools V: more nurses in the Government clinic Economic expansion of weaving and kiosks L: Vocational training NVTI L: many private initiatives A: the Visitors Centre O: the Festival O: population growth and fashion V: opening of markets and support by NGOs V: higher profits possible women much more active as farmers, L: Global 2000 artisans and traders A: Masloc credit V: Wulugu and other NGOs V: husbands are now more supportive motorbikes increased Not selected by any group access to money increased, also for W: the agricultural projects women Socio-political more women’s associations A: Masloc credit groups O: Women united themselves more leadership structures V: as a result of the decentralisation of government structures more political tolerance L: experienced elders educated the youth to be tolerant V: political processes are now better understood Cultural Increased Islam and Christianity, with L: more Christian and Muslim leaders, less fear for witchcraft and more external support (Islamic Council, Kuwait) A: all Christian and Muslim projects attract new converts O: (public visibility of) preaching and praying W: building churches and mosques more ethnic diversity A: the visitors centre, the polyclinic and schools (bring people together with different ethnic backgrounds) V: travels, church and mosque preaching, growing intermarriage, and football show that ‘we are all one’. increased knowledge and trade Not selected by any group better and more ‘diverse’ food Not selected by any group migration improved exposure O: Imitating behaviour; ‘bring back (other cultures; practices) to the village’ V: there is more knowledge about fundamental human rights now
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In the domain of natural changes the workshop participants attributed positive changes to particular ‘campaigns’: the tsetse eradication in the 1950s as an activity of the Government with foreign (UNDP) support, the Global 2000 campaign of the government together with UNDP and IFAD, and various interventions initiated by the Ghanaian Ministry of Agriculture, MOFA. One NGO was mentioned specifically, ADRA. In the domain of positive physical changes various District Assembly initiatives were mentioned as catalysts of positive change, next to the electrification project of the Central Government and the example a certain MOFA project (the fertilizer depot) set to demonstrate better building techniques. Next to government agencies also the Red Cross was mentioned as influential as well as two of the three mobile phone companies. In the domain of positive changes in human capabilities both government and NGO agencies were mentioned as catalysts of change: for the government these were the District Council schools, the GoG capitation grants, the polyclinic and the immunization campaigns, while Wulugu, Gate, and Equal were mentioned as influential NGOs with a clear impact on positive change. The initiatives to start English-Arabic schools (government and NGOs working together) were also important. Finally the school feeding programme was mentioned as a contribution to positive change, and this was supported by a foreign donor agency, USAID. Economic changes were partly attributed to government agencies (like the vocational school, the visitors centre, and MASLOC), to foreign donor-supported activities (GLOBAL 2000) and to some NGOs (Wulugu again), but here many small-scale private initiatives were mentioned as well, and also more structural changes in the population and in (world) economy. Positive socio-political changes were hardly attributed to agencies; only government agency MASLOC was mentioned explicitly. The general tendency in government to decentralise was seen as an important and positive development, though. For cultural change mostly the Christian and Muslim agencies were seen as having been influential, and their foreign sponsors, of which the Islamic Council and he Kuwaiti government were explicitly mentioned. Government initiatives like the polyclinic and the visitors centre were seen as having had some positive impact as well.
Table 6.3: Linking negative changes to agencies’ interventions and ideas about mitigation by agencies
O = Officials; L=:Local leaders; A=Artisans; W=Women; V=Villagers
(Sub) Domain Interventions contributing to negative trends and ideas on mitigation Natural reduced soil fertility Not caused by interventions; L: a.o. MOFA’s soybean project tries to mitigate reduced grazing land V: as a result of increased farm sizes (more machines), more farmers, more animals and increased numbers of Fulani herders and their cattle; no mitigation reduced salt Not specified less fish O: by use of chemicals; chief tried to stop it but could not enforce reduced forests V: Because of bush burning and illegal
59 felling of trees (not because of interventions); MOFA and AROCHA assist with afforestation; Game & Wildlife programme tries to minimise burning; Chief tried to stop chainsaw operators but could not enforce it; shea butter dealers encourage burning as yields are thought to be higher and picking more easy; (given their importance for the local economy there is) no willingness to punish them; V: school education should help burning is still a problem Not caused by interventions; O: ‘smokers’ (charcoal burners) and hunters to be blamed L: no active mitigation by anybody A: the Pentecostal church has formed volunteer fire squads and the Mole Wildlife Dept. trains the community to fight fires O: the chief should stop this, but has no power to enforce W: some NGOs do conscientization loss of old crops and varieties Not specified Physical bad/no/deteriorated roads and bridge A: Government sometimes grades a road O: Government neglect; now it is hard and expensive to transport goods and people L: no mitigation ever more noisy and dirty town, without O: mainly ‘bad behaviour’ to blame; and town planning since electricity came radios and loudspeakers make a lot of noise L: children in schools misuse mobile phones; Chiefs now permitted teachers to take phones from children during classes V: dirty conditions are a result of poor health education; some mitigation by public health officers (but these are few). The Ghana Cleaning Service (a government department) has a lack of money and capacity; and pays bad salaries to its workers. Some mitigation by distributing mosquito nets, by school education and by mobilising community volunteers for cleaning the area. (Not very effective). Human reduced quality of education since the O: increased numbers of school children start of the capitation fund caused overcrowding of class rooms, less
60 books per pupil, uneducated teachers and the low pay of teachers does not help to give teaching a higher prestige; however, many of the new pupils do not behave properly. Chiefs have now proposed to put a ban on dancing during week days. Mitigation: some NGOs, e.g. Equal, improving the quality of education for girls SSS out of town Not specified poor hygiene, unhealthy environment L: due to high illiteracy W: and despite the introduction of for instance dust bins (‘people are not yet used to them’) V: the public health department, Ghana Cleaning Service and the mosquito net project try to mitigate Economic salt business collapsed O: the women who used to organise it are dead now; Fulani cattle destroyed the salt harvest places; no mitigation attempts no access to banks; reliance on A: MASLOC and MOFA try to assist moneylenders with high interest rates O: plan to start a local ‘money union’ V: during election campaigns loans become available; there is a credit union now at Lingbinsi; NGOs try to encourage the start of cooperative saving unions profit margin decreased (a.o. in ‘smog’ Not specified weaving) problems with transporting goods Not specified (expensive) Socio-political individualism: less respect for chiefs and O: lack of parental care, use of hard parents drugs; quest for freedom among the youth; no real mitigation happening V: new religious groups preach equality; people do not respect leaders anymore because some leaders have shown ‘unjust’ behaviour; needed: moral education in schools, mosques and churches no/less NGOs in the community W: ‘nobody seems to care about us’ O: the community does not sell itself and is difficult to reach L: chiefs try to take initiatives to attract NGOs (e.g. the visitors centre) and some NGOs have responded positively, e.g. the Pentecostal church Fulani causing problems L: this really is a matter for the chief and the Fulani leaders to solve, but chiefs are
61 in connivance and don’t want to interfere Cultural loss of traditional customs/festivals Not specified indecent clothing and bad behaviour by O: mitigation needed by church, mosque youth and school education if ladies migrate they bring back L: girls should learn a profession; problems. MASLOC helps A+W: the vocational school (also for girls) helps
Very few, if any, of the negative trends were directly attributed to ‘projects’ or to the activities of external agencies. Many of the negative trends are perceived as developments that happen anyhow and mitigation measures are either not part of discussions in the community, or formulated in general terms (education; or churches and mosques should do it). In the realm of natural resources, where many trends were seen as rather negative, the Ministry of Agriculture and some NGOs did and do take initiatives to mitigate some of the undesired trends, but often the legal authority to interfere lacks, and/or chiefs do not implement measures with the authority they have. As one group formulated it, ‘they are in connivance’. In other domains, government agencies, like the clinic, or the cleaning service simply lack the manpower to deal with all the demands, although recently NGOs have become more active, and mosque and church leaders and communities are becoming more active. Some groups blame ‘lack of attention’, and ‘neglect’ by outside agencies, and see this as a continuation of a very long process. Others also blame the very passive attitude of the community itself, and the lack of initiatives by leaders to counter tendencies that many refer to as unwanted.
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~7~ Best and worst projects
On the third day of the workshop, we asked each workshop group to choose and rank five best and five worst projects from the list they had assembled on the previous day. For each of the best and worst projects the groups indicated why they appreciated or disliked these projects so much. For each of the five best and worst projects that the groups had selected, the workshop participants were asked to indicate what their ideas about each of these projects were at the start of the projects and at present . With this exercise we tried to find out more about the processes behind success and failure of the development interventions that have taken place in the area. Not all workshop groups could do these exercises properly, so we work with what we have.
This chapter starts with two descriptive tables listing the best and worst projects as judged by the different groups. At the end of this chapter, an analysis of the best and worst projects by agency, sector and group type is presented.
In most cases, the groups included concrete interventions by clearly identifiable agencies in their list of best and worst project. In some cases, however, more generic interventions were chosen, such as ‘boreholes’, ‘schools’, ‘farming’. To determine the agency involvement in these cases, we checked from the list of projects which agencies had been active in these broader categories of interventions (but specific for that workshop group).
Table 7.1: Best projects
Project Group Rank Reason(s) why project was judged positively Policlinic/Daboya Officials 1 “The clinic is benefiting many people both in Hospital (24 points) Daboya town and surroundings, which is not the case for other [best] projects like electricity and communication”
63 Project Group Rank Reason(s) why project was judged positively Local 1 “Health is life - without health one cannot leaders farm” Historical expectations, when the project was initiated : “Considered very important as it would save our lives. Reduce travelling time and costs, especially when women are to give birth. Was intended to serve the whole community (around Daboya town). Our pregnant women would now go there for check-ups” Current observations: “ Rooms are not sufficient; would need expansion. Extra medical assistance needed. After the introduction of health insurance the poor cannot pay anymore for the medical services. Lack of drugs. Lack of qualified doctor to operate” Artisans 1 “Easy access to healthcare + ambulance services + ethnic diversity” Historical expectations, when the project was initiated : “Thought all their health problems were going to be solved and that some of the indigenes will be employed to work there. They also thought more nurses and medical doctors were to be posted to the clinic” Current observations : “No medical doctor and the number of nurses not adequate and does not solve all health problems because some cases are referred”. Women 1 “Health is important for everybody” Historical expectations, when the project was initiated : “I wont' send my child to far away places since our community has a hospital of its own. Reduce the distance I have to walk for treatment” Current observations : “I do not have to walk long distance any longer; however I have to pay. The hospital provides drugs for treatment of diseases but not any longer for free”. Remark by the facilitators: NHI has helped in reducing the amount of money paid so it is now manageable.
64 Project Group Rank Reason(s) why project was judged positively Villagers 2 “When there is better health you can work; when there is no health you can’t do much” Historical expectations, when the project was initiated : “Everything was for free, everyone would be enjoying”. Current observations: “NHI is good, but excludes certain people from attending the clinic (the poor and very poor). The average wealth group benefits the most from the clinic, as in that group there are also the workers of the clinics who are automatically covered with NHI, thus they do profit the most from it compared to the past”. Boreholes Officials 3 “Boreholes eliminated water-borne diseases, (mechanised) (15 fetching distance reduced. Created points) employment for women who collect water” Local 3 “River water was giving diseases. Good leaders drinking water is life” Historical expectations, when the project was initiated : “Reduced walking distance from community to river. Expected that it would reduce guinea worm and bilharzia infestation”. Current observations: “Taste of the water is salty - not nice. Some complain and still go to the river. Water-borne diseases have reduced. Pray for other places around Daboya also to get boreholes. Now they pay bills to use the boreholes” Artisans 2 “Eradication guinea worm + Bilharzia + other water borne diseases” Historical expectations, when the project was initiated : “Thought the water was to be provided for free and all areas connected”. Current observations : “The provision of water is paid for and it has not covered the whole community”.
65 Project Group Rank Reason(s) why project was judged positively Villagers 1 “Better health, as easier to access drinkable water; easier to farm” (also for dams) Historical expectations, when the project was initiated : “people were happy as the water was closer and better quality; everyone could easily use it”. Current observations : ”It is still important, even if in some communities you need to pay to fetch the water, thus some groups like the poor and the very poor cannot afford it”. Electricity (10 Officials 2 “Without electricity the whole town is down. points) No lights, the mechanized boreholes don't work, no communication possible, policlinic would not function (storing medication etc). Many projects depend on electricity, many people benefit from it (e.g. entertainment, economic activities)” Local 4 “Electricity is needed to get water. Electricity leaders is good for keeping medicines in fridges” Historical expectations, when the project was initiated : “There would be light for all and reduced drudgery for women to grind grains by hand. Good for health to store medicines in a fridge and have light in the hospital to help patients also in the dark. It would provide jobs to people in the community” Current observations: “We became so used to it that when lights are off nothing happens (no cooking). Music and dancing, with noise brought to the community. Electricity can be dangerous and can give a shock to children. High costs of bills, which cannot always be paid by the poor” Artisans 3 “Electrification brought about introduction of mobile communication + Improved trade such as sale of [cooled] sachet water” Historical expectations, when the project was initiated : “Thought it was going to improve standards of living through improved economic activity and provision of other social amenities”. Current observations :”Ideas the same as during introduction”.
66 Project Group Rank Reason(s) why project was judged positively Villagers 5 “Improved communication; better working conditions (fans, a/c); storing drugs in clinics; storage of food; grinding seeds - mills; (even if it is not any of the communities of the participants, they do profit from the proximity of electricity in Daboya)” Historical expectations, when the project was initiated : “Everyone was hoping and expecting to benefit, thus everyone subscribed for electricity without thinking about money- matters”. Current observations: “Today the poor and very poor are missing out because they couldn’t afford to pay for subscription”. Education in general Women 2 “It educated our children” (7 points) Historical expectations, when the project was initiated : “It would bring civilisation; children don't have to walk long to go to school. They become enlightened and learn to read, to write and to count. They can read letters for their parents and understand the bills of the hospital”. Current observations : “Education is expensive. As the child progresses to JSS, the money problems become big. They have to pay for the books, the uniforms and school fee; this was different in earlier times”. Remark by the facilitator: Mostly women pay school fees; men show no responsibility. Villagers 3 “Education, more jobs, [becoming] more social through education; exchange of language improved trade” Historical expectations, when the project was initiated : “Before only the very rich, rich and average wealth groups could have afforded to send children to school in Daboya village”. Current observations: “People are happy about the new schools in their villages, since more children can attend”. Mobile phone Officials 4 “90% [of the local people] are [now] using technology (4 mobile phones. Those who don't come to use points) the phones of those who do. Communication is very important”
67 Project Group Rank Reason(s) why project was judged positively Artisans 4 “Connects community to the rest of the world and improved trades such as customers negotiating prices through the phone + Employment for recharge cards sellers + Unit transfer services” (mentioned Tigo specifically) Historical expectations, when the project was initiated : “Thought it was to cover the whole Wasipe traditional area”. Current observation: “It does not cover all communities in Wasipe”. Global 2000 Loc Lead 2 “Farming is a priority in this area” Farming project Historical expectations, when the project was Sasakowa (4 points) initiated : “Expected better yields and increased food security and sufficient fertilizers for all farmers. People were afraid because it was brought by the Government of Ghana and they thought they would be arrested if they did not pay back the credit” Current observations: “It has increased yields. [Farmers} still use new techniques for sowing and preserving. Credit problems for some; others managed to pay. Helped them to pay a depot for the community. Should be implemented again”. Water projects in Women 3 “Water brings life” general (3 points) Historical expectations, when the project was initiated : “Before boreholes and pipes we used and drank the river water but now we would drink clean water. (Our educated children told us that river water is not pure and not good for drinking)”. Current observations: “River water was / is free of charge; for the bore hole water I have to pay. On the other side we don't have to walk far for it. It also is good and safe drinking water”. Remark by the facilitator : The women do not regret it that they have to pay.
68 Project Group Rank Reason(s) why project was judged positively Feeder roads (3 Villagers 4 “Easier transportation; link with the urban points) centres and the community themselves; easier to sell goods” Historical expectations, when the project was initiated : “People were happy, as they were hoping that the road would improve transportation”. Current observations: “People are still happy, but those with a means of transport benefit the most, some poor and very poor are profiting if they have a bicycle or else they have to walk; development of markets: the very rich benefit the most as they are the traders”. Women 1 “It made transport possible; it links them up to the rest of the world” Historical expectations, when the project was initiated : “We were very happy because we thought that it would link us to far-away places. We expected that the road would be tarred to increase the number of commercial and private vehicles that travel on it” Current observations : “The road is good but transport fares are expensive. The road has linked us to other areas but travelling is still difficult, especially in the rainy season because then there would be many pot holes in the road, and the trucks and lorries wouldn't come”.
69 Project Group Rank Reason(s) why project was judged positively Farming projects in Women 4 “It helps to provide food to the family” general (2 points) Historical expectations, when the project was initiated : “We thought that we would get income from farming because there would be a surplus to sell and that the yield would increase. Than we would have food to eat and to sell”. Current observations: “ We have an income but not as much as we expected we would have. We have to pay for the seeds and the fertilizer. This money we don't have and first have to borrow. We borrow the seeds and pay seeds back from our harvest. And we have to pay for the ploughing and the other inputs. When the yield is not that good we don't have enough money to do so”. Remark by the facilitator: The seeds to be 'paid back' can be a big part of the harvest; the quantity for eating is than reduced. The seeds are normally maize, soybeans. Also cassava is planted. Remark by the author : the women did not include any crop development project in their earlier list of initiatives; so this comes a bit as a surprise. Wulungu education Officials 5 “[Although] only affecting a few” projects (1 point) Gate/Equall Artisans 5 “Enlightenment on the need to educate the education project (1 girl-child + Increased school enrolment + point) Employment for the youth through engagement as pupil teachers” Historical expectations, when the project was initiated : “Thought the NGOs were going to operate in the community forever”. Current observations : “Project ended sometime ago”.
70 Project Group Rank Reason(s) why project was judged positively Tsetse control Local 5 “If not prevented it can make people very activities (1 point) leaders sick, and bring other diseases” Historical expectations, when the project was initiated : “Expected that the incidence of sleeping sickness and blindness would reduce” Current observations: “Project was successful because it has met expectations. Reduction [ of tsetse flies] has also restored the cattle stock”. Remark by the author: The local leaders (or anyone else) did not include tsetse eradication among the list of projects, although it had been mentioned earlier as one of the things that had happened in the general history of the area, although long ago (1950s). It is a bit of a surprise to find it here among the ‘best projects’.
Table 7.2: Worst projects
Project Group Rank Reason why project was judged negatively
Toilets (public Off 1 “Located at the wrong place, swampy, when it and/or private) rains, it cannot be used” (13 points) Art 3+4 Public toilets: “It is very closed to the hospital with bad odour + unused in the rainy season because it is a waterlogged area” Private toilets: “Produces bad odour especially during the rainy season which has serious public health issues” Original expectations: “ They knew it was not going to be useful because it is sited at a waterlogged area”. For the private toilets: “Thought every house was going to get it and that it will not produce bad odour”. Current observations: “Same as when it started”. For the private toilets: “Only 30 houses benefited and bad odour is being produced by the toilets”.
71 Project Group Rank Reason why project was judged negatively
Wom 3 “They are not cleaned; people don't use it” Original expectations: “They don't have to walk outside the village and the number of snakebites would reduce (especially during the rainy season). We would be able to offer our visitors a toilet”. Current observations: “we did not know we would have to pay for cleaning and because of non-payment the toilet has collapsed which has resulted in unsanitary conditions”. Area Council Off 2 “Not being used as such” (building) (10 Loc 2 “Area council should have taken revenue for points) Lead the community to invest in development of the community, which they haven't done. They have not done any work so far. Only promises” Art 5 “It is not being used for the intended purposes” Original expectations: “Thought that workers were going to be employed there + income + development to the community” Current observations: “It is useless because it is not being used”. Wom 5 Building is not used for the original purpose; still it is sometimes used for lodging people” Original expectations “We were happy because we thought that it would boost development, and it would make revenue collection easy since all traders would go there and pay their market tolls”. Current observations: “It is not functioning because there is no market place and hardly any transportation (to get money from). The area council has no income. The revenues, which are collected are sent to Damongo. They profit from it!” Animal Loc 3 “No sustainable impact (implemented in the health/veterinary Lead 1970s). Veterinary officers did not come to services (7 points) stay. No control of meat slaughtering around” Art 2 [ The old veterinary quarters are being] used as toilet because it is uncompleted + poses serious sanitary issues” Original expectations: “Thought veterinary officers were to be posted to the area”. Current observations: “It is useless because it is not being used”.
72 Project Group Rank Reason why project was judged negatively
Roads (5 points) Loc 1 “Roads are in bad condition and are not being Lead maintained and repaired” Culvert on the Art 1 “It is now a death trap and makes road Daboya-Bosonu ‘unmotorable’, especially during the rainy road (5 points) season. Community cut off from other communities during the rainy season due to construction of that uncompleted culvert” Original expectations: “Thought it was going to boost economic activities by linking the community to other communities”. Current observations: “ It has created more problems because before the construction cars could used it even in the rainy season but now no longer!”. Old market (5 Women 1 “Building has collapsed, is not being used” points) Original expectations: “They thought to have a place were they could sell their produce and that the community would make profit and have benefits from the market”. Current observations : “When the market was there, it was good but now it has collapsed because of the floods. They don't benefit any longer from it. Since there was not much selling and buying in the market (due to the bad roads) they didn't earn enough money to pay the revenue officers their fee. This means that there is no money at this moment to rebuild the market”. New cassava Vill 1 “It is not used for food; no market for it” variety (5 points) Original expectations : “Everyone was happy about the new variety when it was introduced; especially the poor who were hoping for a new source of income”. Current observations : “Because there is no market, farmers can’t sell. The most affected are the poor and the very poor, as the very rich, rich and average do not care that much about the difficulty to sell”.
73 Project Group Rank Reason why project was judged negatively
Bridge (4 points) Women 2 “Has collapsed and people can not use it” Original expectations : “The bridge would ease travelling. People would have access to the place; people from Daboya would travel easily for commercial activities”. Current observations: “ The bridge collapsed and as a result we are cut off. We have to travel long distances to nearby villages because the bridges connecting the roads to these villages can't be used during the rainy season”. New variety of Vill 2 “Destroying the farms; spoiling the land; used cows (4 points) to be fed with salt which is not here anymore so difficult to keep it” Original expectations: “Only rich men benefit from cows, as they are the ones who can afford to buy cattle”. Current observations : “Indeed, only rich men benefited from the cows, as they are the ones who could afford to buy cattle”. Cashew projects (3 Vill 3 “No market for it, difficult to weed it; requires points) use of fertilizer” Original expectations : “Everyone was happy when the new variety was introduced; especially the poor who were hoping for a new source of income”. Current observations: “Because there is no market, farmers can’t sell; the most affected are the poor and the very poor, as the very rich and rich and average do not care that much about the difficulty to sell”. Magistrate’s Women 4 “Is not functioning for anything” building (2 points) Original expectations: “We were happy that there would be administration of justice. Nobody would be able to cheat us. It gave a feeling of security”. Current observations: “The magistrate court has collapsed because of the floods. Since now the police station is performing a similar function so we do not see its relevance any longer”.
74 Project Group Rank Reason why project was judged negatively
Beekeeping (2 Vill 4 “It is costly to get a hive and clothing and all points) the necessary equipment; transportation difficult to the nearest market” Original expectations: “Everyone was happy as it was an innovation and new, especially the very poor as they were the ones who were given the hives”. Current observations: “Because of high costs, the very poor and poor cannot afford the keeping of hives any longer; the poor used to use honey to pay for some services in kind”. Soy beans (2 Loc 4 “No sustainable impact. Seeds came too late. points) Lead Bad seeds”
Rest Home (1 Loc 5 “Poor management so that it is now out of use point) Lead (built in 1963)”
Teak forest (1 Vill 5 “Difficult to get seeds and prevent bush fires; point) problems with transportation of the seeds; no forest officials to train people on maintenance” Original expectations : “People were hoping to receive electrics poles, rafters, etc – they thought it would bring lots of profit; the rich could have afforded to keep the plantations in a proper shape”. Current observations : “The poor are now suffering, as they were hoping to get something out of it, but now only the rich people can benefit from and afford the plantations”.
The groups’ choices of best and worst projects, and the motivation of these choices, give a very insightful impression of the criteria the people used to judge the interventions. Like in other PADev research areas best projects seem to be projects that have (1) continuity; (2) a wide impact; and (3) equal access. Worst projects seem to be projects that (1) have a short life-cycle (discontinued before they have had a positive impact); (2) are poorly managed or implemented; (3) have unequal access or benefits; (4) are not geared towards the needs of the people.
If we look at the best and worst projects mentioned, there is some overlap between groups, but not a lot. Also the assessments between the five PADev groups seem to differ. For the ‘officials’ in the area (the people with salaried jobs, many of whom working for a government agency), their ‘urban’ position becomes clear if we look at their choices of best and worst initiatives: they put a lot of emphasis on the impact of the health clinic, the introduction of electricity and the quality of water provisioning, while they dislike the bad state of the sanitation projects in Daboya Town and the
75 malfunctioning of the Area Council and its building. For the local leaders (chiefs, major shopkeepers in town and influential farmers) the health clinic was also most successful, followed by the agricultural activities of ‘Global 2000’ and the improvement of water boreholes. They very much dislike the state of affairs in road maintenance and - like the officials – they are disappointed by the Area Council and its building. Many of them have cattle and they mention the bad state of the animal health services as their third worst type of project. The artisans in Daboya (many of them active in the production of smocks) share the positive assessments with the officials, but they have another combination of initiatives which they dislike: the bad state of the roads features prominently, followed by the bad state of veterinary care and the smell of the public and private toilets. The women’s choice for ‘best projects’ is also health first, but followed by educational projects and better boreholes. They very much disliked the state of the old market building (women are the ones spending a lot of time there), the collapsed bridge and the malfunctioning toilets. The people coming from the villages around Daboya shared the same ideas about ‘best projects’ with the women from Daboya, although in a different order. However, their choice of ‘worst projects’ showed their rural and agricultural orientation: they criticized the government for the way they had introduced new cassava and cashew varieties as well as the teak forest; they criticized an NGO for the way it had introduced a beekeeping activity and they were very critical about Fulani herders, who had introduced a new type of cattle, which had, according to them, created a lot of problems in the area.
Tables 7.3 and 7.4 present a condensed overview for all groups together. As we have looked at the ‘most likely candidates’ for projects under generic headings (‘education’) there are often more projects included under a ‘best’ (and a bit under ‘worst’) project assessment. The number of projects per sector in the table shows the total that we have included, and the number of times groups have mentioned these projects (specifically or as part of a generic ‘type of projects’). We also indicate which type of agency was responsible for these ‘best’ or ‘worst ’scores. We then show the number of different groups mentioning a particular sector among the ‘best’ or ‘worst’ projects. And finally we give a gross and net score per sector, whereby a project mentioned as ‘best number 1’ or ‘worst number 1’ gets five points and ‘best number 5’, or ‘worst number five’ one point. Gross refers to the total times projects have been assessed as among the best or the worst by all groups; net refers to the group scores as such.
Table 7.3: Best projects, according to five PADev groups in Daboya
Sector Nr % Gov G+S/ G+C C/ N P Nr of Nr of Gross Net G+S C+L group different score score +L/ scores group G+L/ assessments S Education 25 56 5 2 1 7 10 - 28 4 87 9 Health 2 10 2 - - - - - 5 5 24 24 Infrastr. 8 38 6 - - - - 2 9 4 21 11 Energy 2 40 2 - - - - - 4 4 10 10 Water 16 73 5 3 - 3 1 - 22 5 78 18 Crops* 1 5 - 1 - - - - 2 2 4 4 Nature* ------1 1 - -
76 Total 54 30 20 5 1 10 11 2 68 22 * The women gave a generic assessment of ‘fourth best project’ to farming projects in general, but in their earlier list of projects no specific farming projects had been included; the same is true for tsetse eradication (under nature), which was not included by the local leaders among the list of projects, but now featured as the fifth best project. Gov = Government (includes District Assembly, and specific government departments); S= supranational agencies; C= Christian NGOs; N = Non-religious NGOs; P=private (corporate) sector; L= local (individual initiators or local groups of people working together).
Table 7.4: Worst projects, according to five PADev groups in Daboya
Sector Nr Gov S+G G+L N L Nr of Gross Net group score score scores
Sanitation 2 2 4 13 13 Infrastr. 3 3 3 14 14 roads Infrastr. 4 4 6 13 13 buildings Livestock 4 2 1 1 4 13 13 Crops 4 3 1 3 13 10 Business 1 1 1 5 5 Forestry 1 1 1 1 1 Total 19 15 1 1 1 1 22* 72 69 *One group (the officials) only scored two projects as ‘worst projects’); hence the total is not 5{5+4+3+2+1}=75 but 6 less. In one case a score was given to a project that appears twice in the list; that explains the difference between gross and net score. Gov = Government (includes District Assembly, and specific government departments); S= supranational agencies; L= local (individual initiators or local groups of people working together).
Summary of the findings
The workshop participants were generally very positive about the (few) health projects and about the various education and water projects. However, the two sanitation projects in Daboya town got a very negative assessment. People were ambivalent, and in fact quite negative about the infrastructural projects: the bad roads, culverts that were never finished, the bridge that collapsed and was never repaired, some government buildings that were never finished, or never used for what they were supposed to do, or that were abandoned and then collapsed. On the other hadn the electricity and mobile phone infrastructure was very much appreciated. It is interesting to see how little appreciation there was for project that were meant to improve agriculture, livestock, forestry or business development.
If we look at the various agencies responsible for the implementation of certain projects, we can see that almost half the projects that were seen as among the best were implemented by NGOs (half by Christian NGOs and half by non-faith based
77 ones) and a bit more than half by government agencies, some of those assisted by supranational donors, or ‘hybrid’ forms of collaboration. If we look at the projects with a negative assessment, the ‘worst projects’, with one exception we only see government projects. As an overall conclusion we may formulate that the workshop participants were relatively critical about government agencies. In the discussions they were particularly critical about the Ministry of Agriculture and the District Assembly.
Earlier we have seen that the workshop participants listed a total of 181 different ‘projects’. The majority of those were initiated by government agencies, either as solitary agencies, or together met supranational/donor agencies (S) or in some kind of hybrid form, often with local communities and/or with the involvement of a non- governmental agency. Together these were 103 out of the 181 initiatives (57%). The various non-governmental agencies (Christian, C, or Muslim M, or Non-faith based, N) initiated a total of 69 projects (38%). The remainder were some initiatives by the private sector (P) or by local individuals or groups (L). We have seen that among the ‘best’ initiatives there were specific projects, but there were also quite some generic interventions, particularly in education. Among the ‘worst projects’ almost all were specific initiatives. Among the ‘best projects’ more were generic, and hence there are more scores for ‘best projects’ in the various tables. If we look at the frequencies and the vertical percentages (tables 7.5 A and B) it is clear that government projects show a relatively high score for ‘worst projects’, but also many appreciated initiatives, while for the non-faith based NGOs and the private sector (but these are few, and only in the telecom sector) the workshop participants saw many of their projects as highly appreciated. If we look at the horizontal percentages (table 7.5.C) this is even more clear: despite the critical attitude of the workshop participants towards the government (among the ‘worst projects’ the majority was initiated by a government agency) the government has an average score for ‘best projects’. Again it is clear that relatively many of the initiatives by non-faith based agencies were highly appreciated. The tables also show that relatively many of the project initiated by the Christian and particularly the ones initiated by the Muslim agencies in the area were judged to be ‘middle of the road’: neither very much appreciated, nor very much criticized.
Table 7.5: Best, worst and other projects, by type of agency
A: frequencies
Gov G+S G+oth C M N P L Total Best 22 3 4 10 - 11 2 - 52 B+W 1 1 ------2 Worst 13 - 1 - - 1 - 1 16 Other 41 11 6 30 8 9 1 5 111 Total 77 15 11 40 8 21 3 6 181
B: vertical percentages
Gov G+S G+oth C M N P L Total Best 29 20 36 25 - 52 67 - 29 B+W 1 7 ------1
78 Worst 17 - 9 - - 5 - 17 9 Other 53 73 55 75 100 43 33 83 61 Total 100 100 100 100 100 100 100 100 100
C: horizontal percentages
Gov G+S G+oth C M N P L Total Best 42 6 8 19 - 21 4 - 100 B+W 50 50 ------100 Worst 81 - 6 - - 6 - 6 100 Other 37 10 5 27 7 8 1 5 100 Total 43 8 6 22 4 12 2 3 100
79
~8~ Perceptions of wealth and poverty
One of the objectives of the Participatory Assessment of Development project is to learn more about local perceptions of the differential impact of development interventions on different wealth groups. Which types of interventions are most capable of reaching the poor and very poor? Before we asked the workshop participants to express their views on project impacts, we first needed to investigate local perceptions on these wealth groups. Are there specific names/labels for these groups in the local language (Dagonja)? How do people in Daboya distinguish the poor from the rich? Which criteria do they use? What kind of people belong to the different wealth groups? Most research dealing with local perceptions of wealth and poverty use three categories (poor, average, rich). To achieve a higher level of nuance, we used five categories (very poor, poor, average, rich, very rich).
We also asked how the wealth groups were distributed in the workshop participants’ communities. To answer this last question, the workshop participants were asked to distribute twenty stones among the wealth categories, each stone representing five percent of the community’s population.
Table 8.1 describes the local perceptions of wealth and poverty in detail; table 8.2 gives a schematic overview of the characteristics of wealth groups; and table 8.3 shows the local perception of the distribution of wealth categories in the participants’ communities.
EM = Elderly Men; EW = Elderly Women; YM = Young Men; YW = Young Women; O = Officials
Table 8.1: Local perceptions of the characteristics of five wealth categories
80 VERY RICH Who : O: businessmen and women; EW: big trader of farm In the local language: produce and animals; EM: trader; has special prayer at mosque; YW: big-time farmers, animals owners and traders O: Asowura/ at the same time; paramount chief and smaller chiefs; YM: Amasherwura big commercial farmer; big businessman. EW: Amasurinwura Characteristics : EM: Dama-wura Livestock YW: Amanshiribi- : O: > 100 cattle; EM: Has at least 1000 cattle; Wura YW: uncountable cows, goats and sheep; YM: have cattle; YM: Damawura Food : EW: enough to eat and provide for others as well; EM: can eat 3 meals a day, and even more (drink tea and prepares snacks); eat at anytime they want; Housing : O: block houses; EW: More than 1 house; EM: Has many houses; YW: on average five nice houses: three in Tamale, two in Daboya; YM: have compound houses for family and renting for others; Transport: O: tractors and other vehicles; EW: tractor(s); car, motorbike, bike; EM: Has cars/tractors; YW: 5 tractors, cars, trucks, many motor bikes; YM: have lorries; Education : EW: children continue in higher education; YM: ability to educate children to tertiary education; highly educated person and shares his knowledge with others; Social support : YW: has sympathy for people; demands respect; shares his food with the community during Ramadan; supports the community with the tractors; for the end of Ramadan, he will kill a cow; Other : O: “he has got everything”, money, children (but not too much dependent on family size), long life, way of dressing (but not always); EM: many children, who also own property, cars and tractors; has physical cash; YW: - has many wives (5 -> 3); plenty of children; visited Mecca twice; uncountable number of dresses; YM: have large family.
81 RICH Who : O: businessmen, (successful) farmers; EW: Chiefs, landlords; YW: traders, river chief ( terra wura ) and land In the local language: chief; YM: have sizeable farmlands; government workers O: Damawura; with high wages; government workers who are also traders. Characteristics : EW: ?; Livestock : O: cattle ca 50; EM: has cattle 200-300; YW: EM: Aso-wura; some cattle (3-5) Farm / land / harvest : EW: big farmland YW: Asuwura Food : EW: plenty of food for family; EM: eat 3 times a YM: Ekogin day, and at anytime they want; YW: can feed around 20 people (all family) throughout the year; YM: has enough food for himself and his family; Housing : EW: completed building as a house; EM: has a number of houses; YM: have a house for himself and the family;
Transport: O: (often) has a car, but is not necessary to be rich; EW: (has own) means of transport; YW: can buy a car; YM: have no lorries; YM: have one or two vehicles
Education : YM: ability to pay his children’s school fees up to the secondary level;
Social support : YW: feel sympathy for people; YM: ability to help others
Other : O: “almost everything like the very rich”; EM: has (many) children but less than the very rich; YW: having money, and is able to borrow; proud; showing off with the way he/she dresses, talks, walks; always the highest class of cloths (Holland, GTP, etc); YM: does not depend on anybody; have a buffer capacity.
82 AVERAGE Who : O: government sector; weavers; young businessmen; In the local language: EW: mostly farmers, small businesses, teacher, small official job; EM: traders and farmers; YW: traders and O: Enu du portor weavers; YM: drivers; employees in the government sector, portor drawing salary e.g., teachers; petty traders or self employed. EW: Bakoso (“not a Characteristics : word from here so difficult to use”). Livestock : YW: only fowls, goats and sheep EM: Amashebi-Wura Food : EM: can eat 3 meals a day, and even more (drink tea (Money Rich) and prepares snacks); YW: will never go out to eat; what she/he has is enough for him/her -> self-dependent; can feed YW: Ebo 5 people out of the whole family from his farm products YM: Eboo throughout the year; YM: no problem with food to eat;
Housing : EW: has own house Transport : YW: bicycle, motorbike; Education : EW: children can complete secondary education; Other : EW: (has) mobile phone; this group was often seen as the same as the poor. EM: Has only physical cash; has no children; YW: he/she is OK; can wear the average quality cloths; can borrow but not much (till 10 GHC); - income up to 300 GHC if a trader; YM: does not borrow money from others; not a criminal; does not work on other people’s farm; has cloths to wear but limited; has a secure livelihood
83 POOR Who : O: farmers; people selling firewood; EW: single In the local language: parents, small farmers; EM: Labourers and farmers; YW: idem; YM: small farmer; pusher of trucks; cutting and O: Etripo; bringing firewood to town to sell. EW: Etripoo; Characteristics : EM: Kpakpa-Wura Livestock YW: Etiripo; : YM: Etrepo Farm / land / harvest : EW: do not use fertilizer. weedy farms; cannot hire in labour; YM: does peasant farming; strong and does work for others; Food : EW: food is not sufficient for all; EM: eats twice daily; okro soup with TZ and cassava leaves; YW: finds it difficult to get food; struggle to feed the family; YM: gets food to eat but not to a satisfactory level; Housing : EW: thatched house; they stay in the house; YW: thatched house; YM: Lives in thatch houses; Education : EW: Children do not finish school; Other : O: can provide some very basic means (food, water), but not adequately; EW: lack of money to go to hospital; EM: always find it difficult to make a living; can't get things done instantly, has to struggle for it; YW: many children; two different sandals on feet or no sandals at all; self-fixed sandals with straw.
84 VERY POOR Who : O: sells firewood on the head; EW: beggars from the In the local language: rich, supported by the mosque; EM: Beggars and no work; YW: farmers, sellers of fire woods; if beggars, then mostly O: Kpakpawura; handicapped people; YM: jobless/unemployed; beggars; EW: Ekulpoo; lazy person. EM: Atripo Characteristics : YW: Etintina-Sipo YM: Kpakpawura; Livestock : all groups: none Farm / land / harvest : YW: ploughs with hoes
Food : O: 1 meal a day; EM: eats what ever he gets; YW: malnourished; difficult to get food, some are looking for sympathy from the others; YM: food is always a problem; Housing : EW: not own house; depending on others - live with family; EM: can live in a family house; YW: mud thatched houses, two rooms; YM: no shelter; Transport: all groups: none Education :YW: if they have children: cannot afford the books and school uniforms; cannot afford the school fees Social support : all groups: the very poor depend on others Other : O: cannot afford anything; cannot provide his/her basic needs and for a family; EW: If sick cannot do anything; if well they can farm; EM: Only depend on others for theirlivelihood; YW: walk bare-foot; always in the bush looking for firewood to sell; children are dirty; YM: no good clothing; no children.
Showing wealth (or poverty) at funerals We spent specific attention (but always probed) on the differences people experience between funerals of the wealthy and funerals of the poor. In general it should be said that in Daboya there should be funeral functions on the 3d, 7th, and 40th day and after one year These are the impressions as given by various groups:
The very rich people’s funerals: EW: chiefs are buried under the big tree in town. People come from many places to attend. Food is provided for all, even tea in the morning. Other food: TZ, fufu, meat, soda drinks. A lamb is offered as part of the ritual. Food is prepared at home. People are dressed in beautiful clothes; EM: The normal performance is to slaughter a ram and some traditional foods such, as masa , for every funeral. The number of animals would be many. His family would kill animals to take care of the large number of visitors who would come. A lot of poor people would go to get the money that would be shared. Food is also prepared for the people. Food such as rice in take away containers is also provided; YW: plenty of people and plenty of food, TZ in the morning and in the evening for everyone; slaughters a cow for the 3rd, 7th and 40th day after death; cook rice for take away for sympathisers for the 3rd, 7th and 40th day after death; print t-shirts and prepare cloths for sympathisers; hire entertainment groups: singers/dancers; provide drinks: beer, coca-cola, fanta, minerals and pure water; delaying the burial, as it is also a source of money;
85 The rich people’s funerals: YW: - also very rich funeral, like the very rich, just in stead of slaughtering a cow at each occasion, they are slaughtering one cow and a sheep for the following days; prepare TZ, but no "take aways"; also prepare t-shirts and uniforms, just lower quality; can buy some dance groups and music (if he/she belongs to a dance groups they will attend and perform); The average people’s funerals: EM: the same as with the rich, but with less people and less food. Sometimes they have to borrow money to afford the funeral and pay back later. Often ice water instead of tea and sodas; YW: on the 3rd day there is nothing to eat; 7th day they will slaughter a sheep; no uniforms; not much food, unless the family will support; no music 0r dances (if he/she belongs to a dance groups - they will attend and perform); can provide pure water for sympathisers, but not much more;
The poor people’s funerals: EM: Only the traditional requirements of providing a ram; traditional food is prepared. The number of people attending such funerals is low hence everything is prepared in small quantities; YW: less people attend funerals; family members will have to contribute to the funeral; small food will be provided if the family will support; only TZ; do not slaughter any animals;
The very poor people’s funerals: EW: for the very poor the family or the community organises the funeral. It can take longer before the funeral takes place because of the time it takes to raise money. Less people, less food. They go out to buy food; EM: same as for the poor; YW: if a very poor man or woman dies and has no family, people will bury him/her fast and during the day; mostly no funeral rite;
Below, the findings on the type of people belonging to the different groups are summarized and the characteristics of wealth and poverty are discussed. There was quite some debate in the Daboya workshop about the various words to use to describe the very poor, and no agreement about the correct spelling of these words. After, sometimes heated, debate most people would agree on the following words and major characteristics.
Wealth classes Daboya summary, agreed after a general discussion
Very rich : Aso-wura (‘all rich’/rich in every respect in Dagonja language) Who: large-scale farmer, food and livestock trader, big business owns several vehicles and houses, including in Tamale. Large family, plenty of cattle. Has gone to Mecca for the haj. “Has got everything in life”.
Rich : Amashirbi-wura (money rich)
86 Who: traders and farmers with sizeable farms; high civil servants owns a completed compound house and a sizeable herd of cattle (+/- 50). Has a large farm and can feed quite a large family (+/- 20). Doesn’t depend on anybody and can help others. Can have cars. Children can be educated at tertiary level.
Average : Ebuo Who: normal farmers, small traders, weavers, self-employed, teachers “Is Okay”. Self sufficient and stable. Does not need to borrow money from others. Has enough to cater for family. Has own house, a mobile phone and often a motorbike. Children educated at least up to SHS.
Poor : Kpakpa-wura (poor, but can still aspire to be rich some day; can sometimes also mean: “normally Okay, but now without money”) Who: small farmers and labourers, firewood sellers (can also be very poor) Thatch house, not always enough food to eat. “Always struggling”. Children drop out of school. Does labour for others and can’t hire labourers on own farm.
Very poor : Etripo (hopeless) Who: beggars, handicapped, peasant farmers, firewood sellers (can also be just poor). Some can farm and sell firewood, but most very poor people fully depend on others. Often they have no shelter or they sleep in a family house, owned by somebody else. Walks bare-footed. If they have children, they look dirty and there is no money to pay for school uniforms.
A large number of characteristics of wealth groups were mentioned by the workshop participants. Table 8.2 gives a schematic overview of the findings.
Table 8.2: Summary of findings on wealth and poverty criteria
Characteristics Very Rich Average Poor Very rich poor
87 Owns a lorry or truck + - - - - Owns a car + +/- - - - Owns a motorbike + + +/- - - Owns a bicycle + + + - - Owns cattle + + - - - Owns small ruminants + + + - - Owns poultry + + + +/- - Has many acres of farmland + + - - - Has employees or helpers on the farm + - - - - Owns a tractor + - - - - Uses a tractor for ploughing + + + +/- - Has a place to stay + + + + - Owns several houses + - - - - House made with cement blocks + + +/- - - House roofed with zinc + + +/- - - Able to support others + + - - - Children in SSS + + + - - Children in basic education + + + +/- - Has access to good health care + +/- +/- - - 3 meals a day + + + - - 2 meals a day + + + + - Has a family (wife/children) + + +/- +/- +/- Has a mobile phone + + + - - Goes well-dressed + + +/- - - Visited Mecca + - - - - Works for others - - - + + Goes bare-footed - - - +/- + Depends on help from others - - - +/- + Has to beg in public - - - - +
The findings from table 9.2 could possibly be used in a more dynamic way to monitor people’s movement in and out of poverty. For example, according to local wealth criteria one can recognize that a person moves from poor to average if s/he is able to purchase a bicycle, a mobile phone and small ruminants, if s/he has three meals a day Conversely, a person moves from rich to average or poor if he loses his/her motorbike and cattle, if his/her children can no longer attend senior secondary school and if s/he can no longer afford three meals a day. On health care the groups were not very explicit; later discussions made it obvious that only people who regularly go to Tamale or who have a house there (only the very rich) can benefit from ‘proper’ health care. Locally the provisioning of health care is regarded as poor.
When the groups finished their description of the different wealth groups we asked them to reflect on the distribution of these groups in their communities. The workshop participants were asked to distribute twenty stones among the wealth categories, each stone representing five percent of the community’s population. The distribution is shown in table 9.3 and figure 9.1.
In the last column of table 9.3 an index score is presented for the distribution of people among wealth groups. Values higher than 100 indicate that the perceived
88 distribution is skewed towards more wealthy people and values lower than 100 indicate that the perceived distribution is skewed towards more poor people, which is mostly the case. The scores for elderly women are quite different from the others, and they show a ‘normal distribution’ (as in statistics) with more cases in the middle groups and less in the extreme groups. However, among all other groups the perception is that there are considerably more (very) poor people compared to rich and very rich people. About the very rich all groups agreed, they are only a small minority (5%) and the elderly women added that in the recent past most of the very rich local people left for the cities, and those who stayed during a conflict period lost part of their assets.
Table 8.3: Perception of wealth group distribution in the participants’ communities (%) Very rich Rich Average Poor Very poor Total Index * Young women 5 20 20 20 35 100 70 Elderly women 5 25 40 25 5 100 100 Young men 5 5 40 35 15 100 75 Elderly men 5 15 20 40 20 100 72.5 Officials 5 10 20 40 25 100 65 Women 5 22.5 30 22.5 20 100 85 Men 5 10 30 37.5 17.5 100 73.75 Youth 5 12.5 30 27.5 25 100 72.5 Elderly 5 20 30 32.5 12.5 100 86.25 Average (%) 5 15 28 32 20 100 76.5 Median 5 15 20 35 20 95 70 * Index would be 100 if all groups contained 20% of the population; scores < 100 indicate more poor people; scores >100 indicate more rich people. Index = (2 * very rich) + (1.5 * rich) + (1 * average) + (0.5 * poor) + (0 * very poor).
In chapter 9, the perceived impact of development interventions on the different wealth groups is discussed. It is good to keep in mind the characteristics of these groups as described in this chapter. The group of ‘very poor’, for example, is a very marginal group with very specific problems (physically and mentally challenged, social outcasts). Helping this group to improve their quality of life would require quite a specific approach.
89
~9~ The impact of initiatives on wealth and poverty
During the last day of the PADev workshop in Daboya the participants were presented with a condensed overview of what they earlier had discussed about wealth levels in their area. Five different wealth classes and their characteristics were the basis for an exercise in which five different groups had to agree on the impact of the ‘five best’ and the ‘five worst’ development initiatives on the various wealth classes. Three groups worked with ten stones and for each ‘best’ or ‘worst’ initiative they had to distribute the stones over the five wealth classes, which they had earlier defined. The distribution then showed the relative impact per wealth group. Two groups, the officials and the women, used twenty stones. Table 9.1 gives the results for the ‘best initiatives’ (“who benefited most and who much less so”) and table 9.2 for the ‘worst initiatives (“who were hit most”). It also differentiates between ‘then’ (when the initiative or project had just been finished) and ‘now’.
The best initiatives
Table 9.1 Impact of ‘best initiatives’ on five wealth categories, percentages
Workshop nr initiative Very rich Rich Average Poor Very poor group then now then now then now then now then now Leaders 1 clinic 0 0 10 10 20 20 30 30 40 40 2 Global 0 57 10 43 20 0 30 0 40 0 2000 3 boreholes 0 0 20 20 20 20 20 20 40 40 4 electricity 50 50 30 30 10 10 10 10 0 0 5 Tsetse 20 20 20 20 20 20 20 20 20 20 control Subtotal 14 25 18 25 18 14 22 16 28 20 Artisans 1 clinic 40 40 30 30 20 20 10 10 0 0 2 boreholes 20 30 20 20 20 20 20 20 20 10 3 electricity 20 40 20 30 20 20 20 10 20 0 4 telecom 40 40 30 30 20 20 10 10 0 0 5 Equal 20 - 20 - 20 - 20 - 20 - education Subtotal 28 37 24 27 20 20 16 13 12 3 Women 1 clinic 15 30 15 25 20 20 20 15 30 10 2 education 10 25 20 30 15 25 20 20 35 0 3 water 30 30 25 25 20 20 15 15 10 10 4 farming 30 35 30 25 20 20 15 15 5 5 5 Feeder 30 35 25 30 20 20 15 10 10 5 road Subtotal 23 31 23 27 19 21 17 15 18 6 Peasants 1 boreholes 20 40 20 30 20 30 20 0 20 0 2 clinic 20 30 20 30 20 40 20 0 20 0
90 3 schools 40 30 30 30 30 20 0 10 0 10 4 Feeder 40 30 40 30 20 20 0 10 0 10 road 5 electricity 20 40 20 30 20 30 20 0 20 0 Subtotal 28 34 26 30 22 28 12 4 12 4 Officials 1 clinic 5 5 10 10 20 20 30 30 35 35 2 electricity 5 5 10 10 40 30 35 45 10 10 3 boreholes 10 10 15 15 40 40 20 20 15 15 4 telecom 5 5 25 25 55 55 10 10 5 5 5 Wulungu 5 5 5 5 25 25 35 35 30 30 schools Subtotal 6 6 13 13 36 34 26 28 19 19 Total 20 27 21 24 23 23 19 15 18 10 Perceived current 5 15 28 32 20 distribution (see Ch. 8) Relative perceived benefit 540 160 82 47 50 score (equality = 100)
Graphic illustration of percentages of perceived benefits per wealth category (blue colour) and perceived distribution of wealth categories (red colour) (1 = very rich; 5 = very poor)
Graph 9.1 Perceived distribution of best development initiatives between wealth groups, compared with their perceived distribution in the population of Daboya
Graphic illustration of perceived benefits per workshop group (1=very rich; 5 = very poor; percentages); A Dark blue = local leaders in the area B Red = artisans in Daboya Centre C Green = women in Daboya Centre D Purple = peasants in the villages around Daboya Centre E Light blue = officials; salaried people
91 Graph 9.2 Perceived impact of best initiatives between wealth groups according to five different workshop groups in Daboya
The interpretation of the perceived benefits by the five different workshop groups is not always straightforward. What is immediately clear from the last graph is the completely different perception of the group of salaried officials: for them the very rich group hardly benefited and the very poor group benefited a lot. Among the local leaders the very poor group also stands out as having benefited considerably. However, in general the perception is that there is a downward trendline: the richer a group is the more it benefited from those development initiatives that were perceived to have been the best. This is even more so if we look at the perceived distribution of the various wealth groups in the area. Relatively speaking the very rich benefited more than five times more than their fair share in the community, while the poor and very poor benefited half or a bit less than half of their fair share. The graphs illustrate the situation during the time of the workshop (“now”). It is interesting to note that the perception of benefits soon after the projects had been implemented was that these benefits were more equally spread than currently. Over time there is a (perceived) shift of benefits to the (very) rich.
Let us focus on the different types of ‘best initiatives’, of which there are eight.
The clinic, or local health centre in Daboya This was mentioned as among the five best development initiatives by all five workshop groups, and in four cases even as the most beneficial one. The opinions of the officials and the local leaders clearly differ from all other groups with regard to the wealth distribution of benefits. According to the officials and local leaders (themselves belonging to the rich or even very rich categories) rich and certainly very rich people do not make use of this health centre but go to Damongo or even to Tamale if they need a doctor or medicines. According to them particularly the poor and very poor now have access to a service that was too far away for them before and it really helped them. The Daboya women agree with that point of view, but only in the beginning of the ‘hospital’, but recently everything has to be paid for and the poor and certainly the very poor can’t afford and no longer go, or if they go they are not
92 able to pay and depend on the willingness of the clinic staff to ‘cater for them’, or by ‘well-wishers’ in the community (or church or mosque leaders) to pay the bills, which sometimes happens for the poor, but not often for the very poor. The boreholes in and around Daboya. Again this was mentioned among the ‘best initiatives’ by all five workshop groups. According to the local leaders the very rich don’t need it so much, as they have private watertaps in their houses, but others are not so sure about that: also the very rich need borehole water for washing clothes (often by maids in their households). According to the local leaders the arrival of boreholes changed the lives (and health) of the very poor most, although the Daboya women remark that the poor and very poor still go to the (nearby) river for bathing and washing clothes.
Primary schools or specific projects for education With the exception of the local leaders all groups mentioned education, or specific education projects (Equal; Wulugu) as among the five best initiatives. For the officials, who mentioned the Wulugu project that provided school equipment, the poor and very poor really benefited, but all other groups were far more sceptical. They said that in the earlier years, when primary education became ‘free’ (when school fees had been abolished) indeed also children of poor and even very poor people started to attend school. But when recently ever more payments became necessary again the (very) poor started to withdraw their children from school. The women had an interesting observation to add: in the early years of primary education schools were seen by many as a punishment because of the habit of teachers to use ‘caning’ as a way of disciplining children. The very rich did not want their children to be treated like that and they started to send their children to private schools elsewhere (or, in the early years thought they could afford not to send their children to any school). This was confirmed by the officials who stated that few rich persons would send their children to the local schools, that were and are also regarded as rather poor in performance. It should be noted here that many Muslim parents, who do not send their children to primary school, or who withdrew their children from school do send their children to Koran classes in the various mosques in the area.
Electrification The very rich and rich benefitted most, according to most workshop groups, as they have the money to buy the electric apparatuses and pay the electricity bill. Some groups say that also the poor or even the very poor benefited somewhat because of the street lights in Daboya. It was remarkable that also the peasants from the villages around Daboya (where electricity has mostly not yet arrived) mention electrification as among the best projects, as they also benefit from the electrification in Daboya Centre. But the poor and very poor from their areas hardly benefit, according to them.
Telecom Mobile phones are a recent phenomenon in the area and with currently three providers, competing for customers, two groups regarded that as among the best initiatives ever. Both the artisans and the officials judged the impact to be very high for the rich and average people, although mainly the rich are the ones who buy phones and credit, and others in the community can hire their services. The officials observed that the arrival of the mobile phone had mainly changed the lives of the average and the rich, not so much the very rich.
93 Farming support Local leaders and women mentioned farming projects (including the ‘global 2000’ projects) and they completely disagreed about the impact on wealth groups when those projects had just been implemented, but they agreed about the current ex-post impact. According to the local leaders (in red on the graph) during implementation of the ‘global 2000’ agricultural project particularly the poor benefited. They said that the (very) rich did not really need the project, but the average and the poor they suddenly could use fertiliser at no or very low costs, while the very poor could get day-jobs in those expanding farms. However, when the project stopped only the rich and very rich could afford to continue with the improvements taught by project staff. According to the women (in blue), who talked about ‘farming projects in general’, from the start the very rich and rich benefited most, as they were the ones with the money to buy fertilisers and seeds, and to pay for labour needed to develop their farms. The increased crop harvests initiated by farming projects could generally be maintained, but now the (very) rich benefit even more, because they can buy agricultural produce from their poorer peasant neighbours nearby after the harvests, and they can sell at much higher prices later. The graph illustrates the differences.
Graph 9.3 Different assessment of ‘best projects in farming support’
‘Then’ ‘Now’
Roads There have been some projects to build or improve feeder roads in the area. Both the women from Daboya and the peasants from the villages and hamlets around Daboya regarded this as beneficial projects, and among the best. But both groups agreed that the (very) rich use these feeder roads most, particularly with their tractors and small lorries. According to the women the average people sometimes hire the lorry to transport agricultural produce and belongings. But the poor and very poor hardly benefit; maybe a bit because the local market now has more local produce and prices are cheaper.
Tsetse control Although tsetse eradication happened a long time ago the local leaders (elderly people generally) very much regarded it as an important innovation when it came and according to them the benefits then and now are still considerable and shared by all.
The worst initiatives
The exercise about the differential impact of the ‘worst five projects’ on wealth classes was done when many participants were tired and the results are not very clear, as two completely different approaches were possibly used by participants and facilitators. The approach that was intended was the one in which groups agreed on
94 the distribution across wealth groups of the most negative or damaging effects. But it could also well be that some participants (and facilitators) agreed on an interpretation where certain wealth categories benefited from a project despite their overall negative impact. So the results should be read with caution. The results will be presented according to major sectors.
Toilets
The public toilets in Daboya and for one group also the private toilets provided to some houses were the most despised projects in the area. As many poor and very poor people happen to live near the smell of these toilets, where no or hardly any cleaning takes place, they are the ones who are suffering most. But also the (children of the) rich and very rich are negatively effected, as they refuse to go to these stinking places, and continue using the bush, with risks of snake bites. According to the officials the average wealth groups are hit most, as the rich and very rich have private toilet facilities on their compounds and do not live near the public toilets, while the average people’s aspired status (and lessons learned about hygiene) make them use the facilities, while they hate doing that. As visitors of the area, making use of these toilets as well, we could smell what they meant.
Table 9.2 Stinking toilets, percentages for wealth groups ‘hit most’
Group Very rich Rich Average Poor Very poor Artisans 20 20 20 20 20 Public toilets Private toilets 0 10 20 30 40 Women 20/5 20/15 20/15 20/30 20/35 (then/now) Officials 5 5 40 30 20 Total 11/8 14/13 25/24 25/28 25/29
95
The road conditions
Table 9.3 Bad roads, bad culverts, damaged bridge; percentages for wealth groups ‘hit most’.
Group Very rich Rich Average Poor Very poor Local leaders 40 30 20 10 0 Artisans 0 10 20 30 40 Women 5 15/10 20 25 35/40 (then/now) Total 15 18/17 20 8 25/27
Opinions differed a lot between on the one hand the local leaders and on the other hand the artisans and the women from Daboya. Local leaders talked about the very bad state of the road system in general and about the damage it has done to those whose cars, motorbikes, trucks/lorries and tractors ‘suffer’ because of the bad conditions and this is mainly a problem for the very rich and rich. Also their produce cannot be traded easily or only at high costs and those who are traders have to spend a lot of extra money and energy to get their trade goods to Daboya. Also a lot of money has to be spent and time lost to cross the river. The artisans had a very different perspective. They focused on a damaged culvert in a particular road and lack of repairs meant that some goods could not be transported. They told an anecdote hat donated furniture for schools could not be delivered and parents had to buy furniture instead, which particularly hit the poorest parents. The women looked at this problem from a different angle and the focused on the impact of the bridge that had collapsed and had never been repaired. For the very rich and the rich they did not think it was a really big problem, as they use other roads. The average people are the ones who own the boats used for crossing the river and they earn money doing so. The poor and very poor used to fish and they used to be able to use those boats free of charge. For them fish was an important addition to their diet and it also provided them with a source of income. Now they have to pay for the boats and it is no longer worth fishing the way they used to do that in the past. And for the very poor conditions have further deteriorated between ‘then’ and ‘now’.
Livestock innovations
The local leaders very much blamed the animal health control services for no longer providing services in Daboya. According to them that meant that particularly the (very) poor suffered as they were the ones buying or getting left-over meat that was dangerous for their health and as they had no way of defending themselves against malpractices of criminal businesspeople. Artisans, however, mainly blamed the government for not maintaining the veterinary quarters and lack of veterinary services mainly hits those with animals, the (very) rich in particular. Finally, the peasants in the villages around Daboya stated that the (mobile) Fulani, who regularly visit the area, had increased their herds of ‘big cattle’ (‘improved cattle’) and that was really becoming a problem for the farmers with big areas of land, the very rich and rich people in the area, as the Fulani with their cattle trampled the fields and caused a lot of damage. Peasant also blamed the ‘beekeeping’ project for providing hives, also to
96 the poor and some very poor, who could afterwards not at all afford the costs of maintenance and became very frustrated.
Table 9.4 Failed or unwanted livestock innovations
Group Very rich Rich Average Poor Very poor Local leaders 0 10 10 40 40 Artisans 40 30 20 10 0 Peasants: new 50 30 20 0 0 cows P: beekeeping 10 10 10 30 40 Total 25 20 15 20 20
Official agencies and their buildings
Many groups discussed in quite negative terms about the ‘Area Council’ in Daboya. There was a general feeling of disappointment and of not fulfilling promises. Two groups mentioned the Area Council as one of five ‘worst initiatives’ even. The artisans mainly blamed the lack of activities, while the local leaders (including some who are close to the Council themselves…) said that the lack of proper functioning of the Council was a big blow for the poor and very poor, as they could be expected to benefit most from a properly functioning local government with attention for their problems. The women particularly blamed the area council for starting a rest or guest house and not using it properly. According to them particularly he rich and very rich could make use of that pseudo-hotel facility if it would function properly. The women also blamed the government for not maintaining the magistrate’s house, or court building, as the lack of proper local justice means that people have to go elsewhere and there ‘the rich can bribe their way in’ and ‘buy their rights’, while the poor and very poor cannot afford that. It is unclear from the notes why the women made a big difference between ‘then’ and ‘now’.
Table 9.5 Badly functioning local governance agencies
Type Group Very rich Rich Average Poor Very poor Area Artisans unclear Council Leaders 0 10 10 30 50 Rest house Women 35 35/30 20 5/10 5 (then/now) Leaders unclear Court bld Women 5/35 10/30 20 25/10 40/5 (then/now) Total 13/23 18/23 17 20/17 32/20
Agricultural, forestry and market projects
Some workshop groups were very critical about projects meant to improve commercial agriculture. The soy beans project was disliked by the local leaders because it should have come with a promised guest house, that did not come. They
97 had hoped for a place to accommodate their visitors ( a practice only relevant for the very rich, they thought). Peasants in the surrounding villages criticized a project to introduce new varieties of cassava (failed completely and hit the poorest segments of the community most as they would have benefited most). They also blamed a cashew project that failed and a teak forest project that was a non-starter. The women, finally, blamed the government for not maintaining the old market. First mainly the poorer parts of the community suffered as they could not buy local produce in a central place. Later the lack of local marketing opportunities were mainly seen to have hit the richer parts of local society, as trading costs had gone up considerably.
Table 9.6 Failed commercial projects (then/now)
Type Group Very rich Rich Average Poor Very poor Soy beans Leaders 100 0 0 0 0 New cassava Peasants 20/10 10/10 20/10 20/30 20/40 New cashew Peasants 20/0 20/0 20/0 20/40 20/60 Teak forest Peasants 20/10 20/10 20/10 20/30 20/40 Old market Women 10/30 15/25 20 25/15 30/5 Total 34/30 13/9 16/8 17/23 18/29
Conclusions about the worst projects
The following graphs show the perceptions among the Daboya workshop participants about the wealth groups that were impacted most negatively by failed or unwanted projects or development initiatives in their area. The first graph shows the situation when these projects were or had just been implemented and the second graph the current assessment. Often groups did not or could not differentiate between ‘then’ and ‘now’ and hence these graphs are not very different. The blue colour shows the distribution of the perceived negative impacts between the five wealth groups (from very rich to very poor), while the red colour shows the perceived distribution of the wealth groups among the population (assuming that that was the same ‘then’ and ‘now’). The conclusions are quite clear. In relative terms the very poor suffered most by the non-implementation of, the failure of or the adversities caused by the ‘worst initiatives’ in Daboya. In comparison to the perceived wealth class distribution in Daboya this is even more so. However, in that case also the very rich were considerably hit, mainly because they could have profited so much from some of the projects and initiatives if these would not have failed. Of course one wonders: if that is so, why did they not use their major decision-making and influencing powers to make sure that these projects did not fail. Also among the rich and very rich there often is a tendency to blame the ‘donor’ or initiator and not taking responsibility for solving the problems. The lack of action around the public toilets is an illustration.
Graph 9.4 Negative impacts of development interventions in Daboya
‘Then’ ‘Now’
98
99
~10~ Assessment of good and bad agencies
In Daboya we experimented with an approach in which we asked the workshop groups to look at the initiative, which they had judged to be the best initiative that had ever happened to their area (and in some cases also the worst initiative) and value a number of statements on a scale from ‘fully true’ (in the tables below: green), ‘a bit true’ (yellow), ‘neutral’ (blue), ‘a bit false’ (pink) and ‘(fully) false’ (red). These statements are judgements about the ‘project’ (or group of projects/initiatives) but in fact also very much about the agency or agencies responsible for implementing these ‘projects’. These statements were: "They are really concerned about us" (Long term commitment) "They do not promise more than they can do" (Realistic expectation) "When something goes wrong, they explain honestly" (Honesty) "We feel that they trust us" (Trust in people) "We feel that we can trust them" (Trustworthiness) "They really address the problems that affect us" (Relevance) "We have a real voice in what and how they do projects" (Participation) "They treat us respectfully and take us seriously" (Respect) "They really live among us and are part of us" (Local presence).
Three groups had selected the (poly)clinic as the best project in the area. This was and is a government responsibility and it came to Daboya in the early 1970s, and expanded in 2008, while in between and afterwards there were adjustments to tasks and staffing.
Table 10.1 Opinions about the behaviour of the people involved in the government clinic projects
Opinion L A O "They are really concerned about us" (Long ++ ++ ++ term commitment) "They do not promise more than they can ++ + + do" (Realistic expectation) "When something goes wrong, they explain - + - honestly" (Honesty) "We feel that they trust us" 0 ++ - (Trust in people) "We feel that we can trust them" ++ - - (Trustworthiness) "They really address the problems that affect ++ ++ 0 us" (Relevance) "We have a real voice in what and how they + - - do projects" (Participation) "They treat us respectfully and take us 0 + - seriously" (Respect) "They really live among us and are part of ++ ++ - us" (Local presence)
100 Overall judgement 10 9 -3
The local leaders and artisans in Daboya were quite positive about the mentality of the people who were and are involved in the design and execution of the activities in and around the health clinic. The local leaders have problems, though, with their honesty and the artisans with their trustworthiness and about the participation they allow the local people. Local leaders are not so sure about the respect with which the clinic people treat the local people, and they doubt if the clinic people give enough trust to the local people (artisans feel they do). On the other hand is it obvious that there is a real long-term commitment and serious local presence, and that the activity is seen as very relevant. The officials were far more negative about the clinic and its people. In fact they only agreed with the others about the long-term commitment. Their overall judgement is negative, and in some cases strongly worded if we look at the comments they gave (like: ”there is no respect at all”), and they criticize the ‘politics’ that play and have played a role, like “they built the clinic where we did not want it”.
The women of Daboya also had the clinic as their ‘best’ project, but decided to discuss ‘education’ as their topic of discussion. It is not very clear which educational activities they had in mind when they judged the behaviour of the people involved; it is assumed here that they focus on the primary, junior secondary and vocational schools in Daboya itself. The government’s Ministry of Education plays a key role there, but assisted by international donors (HPIC of the World Bank; DfID and Danida’, but also with a growing role for the District Assembly, and some support by an NGO called Wulugu.
Table 10.2 Opinion of the women about the behaviour of the agencies involved in education in Daboya
Opinion W “They are really concerned about us” (Long ++ term commitment) “They do not promise more than they can ++ do” (Realistic expectation) “When something goes wrong, they explain -- honestly” (Honesty) “We feel that they trust us” ++ (Trust in people) “We feel that we can trust them” -- (Trustworthiness) “They really address the problems that affect ++ us” (Relevance) “We have a real voice in what and how they ++ do projects” (Participation) “They treat us respectfully and take us ++ seriously” (Respect) “They really live among us and are part of - us” (Local presence) Overall judgement 7
101 Six of the nine opinions expressed were very positive, but two were very negative and one a bit negative. The lack of honesty was linked to anger about the way suddenly the school feeding programme had stopped and nobody could give them any explanation. The lack of honesty and complete lack of trustworthiness is not related to headmasters and teachers but to `the ones above them, whom we don’t know, and who only come occasionally and for visits which are regarded as much too short`.
The peasants from the villages around Daboya Centre had selected the various borehole projects as their ´best ones´. These were the ones constructed with supported from the Catholic Relief Services in the early 1980s and the ones improved and started by the District Assembly in the late 2000s, particularly in Lingbinsi. We can be brief here. They judged all the statements as fully true, and the overall judgement was extremely favourable.
What about the opinions about the agencies involved in the ´worst initiatives´. Only three workshop groups were willing to do this exercise, or had time to do it (it was at the end of the workshop). The local leaders and the artisans had selected the bad condition of the roads as their ´worst project´, a government responsibility. As could be expected the overall opinion was quite negative (although nowhere the local leaders or artisans said that statements were ´fully false´). Both groups regarded the roads as quite relevant (but it seems they had given up hope that it would ever improve) and one group, the local leaders, stated that now the community themselves had decided to get themselves organised and they started to maintain some of the roads themselves, and the repairs were done with their own (unpaid) labour.
Table 10.3 Opinions about the behaviour of the government with regard to maintenance of the road infrastructure
Opinion L A “They are really concerned about us” (Long - - term commitment) “They do not promise more than they can - - do” (Realistic expectation) “When something goes wrong, they explain - - honestly” (Honesty) “We feel that they trust us” - - (Trust in people) “We feel that we can trust them” - - (Trustworthiness) “They really address the problems that affect + + us” (Relevance) “We have a real voice in what and how they + - do projects” (Participation) “They treat us respectfully and take us - - seriously” (Respect) “They really live among us and are part of 0 - us” (Local presence) Overall judgement -4 -7
102 Finally the peasants from the farms around Daboya had chosen the cassava project of the Ministry of Agriculture as the projects that they regarded as the worst one ever in their area. This project, started in 2004, was first regarded as really important, and proved to be a great disappointment later. There was a very mixed opinion about the extension people involved (´they did not promise more than they could do and we felt that they trusted us when they lived among us, but we did not trust them so much’), and about the project ideas or design the workshop participants were extremely negative. There was lack of respect, lack of participation from their side, and the things the project wanted to do was not seen as relevant at all. So it failed. It should be said that the villagers judged many of the agricultural improvements quite negatively, but this one really made them angry.
Table 10.4 Opinions of the peasants around Daboya about the cassava project of the Ministry of Agriculture
Opinion P "They are really concerned about us" (Long - term commitment) "They do not promise more than they can ++ do" (Realistic expectation) "When something goes wrong, they explain -- honestly" (Honesty) "We feel that they trust us" ++ (Trust in people) "We feel that we can trust them" - (Trustworthiness) "They really address the problems that affect -- us" (Relevance) "We have a real voice in what and how they -- do projects" (Participation) "They treat us respectfully and take us -- seriously" (Respect) "They really live among us and are part of + us" (Local presence) Overall judgement -5
103 Appendix 1
Daboya workshop, 23-25 January 2010
List of participants
Nr Name Function Ethnicity/ Age- Area Religion gender group Group 2d/3d 1st day day 1 Mr Garima wura Trad leader (chief) G/T OM D-1 2 Mr Adamu Trad leader (chief river) G/T OM D-1 Buma-Naa (Ntere wura) 3 Mr Saaka Bakeri Headmaster; workshop Hanga/M OM O Ahmed co-organiser 4 Mr Muazu Head Vocational School; G/M O (O) Haruna Secretary to the Chief; workshop co-organiser 5 Mr Mazidu Farmer Daboya G/M OM D-1 (Majeed) Kassim 6 Mr Nyame Yazori, farmer Hanga/M OM H Mahama 7 Mr Kwame Vi Sisipe, fisherman Ewe/Pente OM H 8 Mr Charles Health (accountants) Ashanti/M O O Mustapha 9 Mr Ibrahim Farmer Daboya G/M YM? D-1 Abubakar 10 Ms Yakubu Tidrope, petty trader G/M OW W Salamatu 11 Mr Mallam Ferilah, religious head G/M YM? D-2 Musah 12 Mr Seidu Issah NFED G/M O O 13 Mr Abdul Weavers Association, G/M YM? D-2 Munim chair 14 Mr Abdalah Arabic Instructor G/M - O Abubakar 15 Mr Dramani Kopoto, farmer G/M YM? H Haruna 16 Mr Sakitu Disali, teacher G/M O H Abubakar 17 Mr John M. Lingbinsi, Catholic Tamplma/ O H Tiika Mission GILLBT Cath 18 Ms Mary Lingbinsi, farmer Tamplma/ OW W (Merry) John Cath Tiika 19 Mr Paul Adam Lingbinsi, farmer Tamplma/ O H
104 Cath 20 Mr Jafaru Weaver, poultry dealer G/M YM? D-2 Yahaya 21 Mr Issahaku Gua, farmer G/M YM? H Takona 22 Ms Taiba Tailors Association G/M YW W Mimuni 23 Ms Zulfawu Hairdressers Association Dagomba/M YW W Yussif 24 Mr Alidu Ass. Chief Farmer G/M OM D-1 Mahama 25 Mr Joseph Pensioner/ex G/Cath OM O Mimuni Issah educationalist 26 Mr Abdul Primary school teacher Tamplma/ O O Basigwe Isaac Daboya, lives in Cath Yidana Lingbinsi 27 Mr Sulemana Tachali, farmer Hanga/M OM H Ndunkpera 28 Mr Bani Bugri Pentecostal Church G/Pente OM D-2 Joshua 29 Mr Fusheini Dying Association G/M OM D-2 Lazi 30 Mr Kawala Zoom Lion G/M ? O Sanda 31 Mr Musah Bawena circuit supervisor G/M O H Yahaya education GES 32 Mr Mohammed Animal rearer G/M OM D-1 Mumuni 33 Mr Dramani Kito, teacher G/M O H Baba 34 Mr Eliasu Tourist Board, tour guide G/M OM O Yakubu (ass.) 35 Ms Mata Tanda Petty Traders chairperson G/M OW W wura 36 Mr Mallan JSS representative G/M ? O Bawah Afafo 37 Mr Sulemana Muslim representative, G/M O D-2 Hanan Al-Suna Arabic Instructor 38 Ms Gambi Teacher PS G/M OW W Alhassan 39 Ms Adiabi Petty Trader G/M OW W Mimuni 40 Ms Saratu Teacher PS G/M YW W Ayomah Sopriah 41 Mr Mahama Ali Youth Association chair, G/M YM D-2 sewer 42 Mr Abukari Kagbal, farmer G/M OM H Tiyumba 43 Mr Ibrahim Sinsina, farmer G/M YM? H
105 Mimuni 44 Mr Alhaji Soale Sewer G/M OM D-2 Saibu 45 Ms Ramatu Hair dresser, petty trader G/M YW W Kelly 46 Ms Salamata Seamstress, Simisi G/M YW W Saaka 47 Mr Zakaria Sewer G/M OM D-2 Karimu Abongo 48 Mr Dramani Farmer Daboya G/M OM D-1 Mahama 49 Ms Surayatu Fish monger G/M OW W Jamani 50 Mr Mutallah NADMO G/M OM D-1 Yaya (transl) 51 Mr Abi Vincent Daboya GES teacher Kasena/Cath O O 52 Mr Mahama Student Cape Coast Univ. G/M - O Huseini 53 Mr Mahama Traditional ruler G/T OM D-1 Sumani 54 Ms Suraya Fulani migrant woman F/M - W Amina Ali Jamani 55 Mr Alhaji Ali Fulani Chief F/M - D-1 Yobi
106 Appendix 2: Chronological list of interventions in the Daboya area Year Nr Project / Agency Sector Assess- Impact on domain**** intervention / * ** Ment N P E H S C initiative *** 1930 1 Construction of LA=G; support E W:++ + first Local from Presby=C Best2 Authority Primary school 1947 2 Daboya Primary DA=G E O:++ + + + + + school [1955] 2a [Tsetsecontrol] [G] [N] [Not, but later included in best projects by local leaders] >1957 3 District G I W:0 Magistrate court W: Worst4 (abandoned) 1960s (or 4 Daboya Health G H L:++ Best1 + 1971/72?) centre W:++ Best1 + (‘Policlinic’or +O: Best1 ‘Hospital’) +V: Best1 +A: Best2
1960s 5 Military Training G O L:++ + + (1970?) Camp with W:++ + foreign trainers 1960-62 6 Feeder roads G I L:+/- + Worst1 1961 7 Construction of G H W:-- + (1966?) first toilet in Daboya 1961 8 Presby church German R O:++ + + + + + Lingbinsi Presbyterian C 1961 9 Water reservoir Idem W O:++ + + + + + Lingbinsi 1961 10 Lingbinsi PS and Idem E O:++ + + + + + TQ (Presbytarian) 1963 11 Daboya JSS Presby =C E O:++ + + + + +
107 Year Nr Project / Agency Sector Assess- Impact on domain**** intervention / * ** Ment N P E H S C initiative *** 1963 12 Daboya Rest DA=G I L:- Worst5 + + + Home/Visitor’s place 1969-72 13 Culvert bridge G I O:0 + constructed (no L:+/- + + longer maintained A:0 from 1984; W:0 + + + + collapsed 1991) :Worst2 1969-72 14 Construction of G I W:++ road: Daboya- Best1 Lingbinsi, (But Daboya- culvert Damongo, Daboya- Daboya-Bowina Busonu: and Daboya to Wa A: Worst1) 1970 15 Baptist church USA C R O:++ + + + + + 1970-72 16 Piped water G W O:++ Best3 + + + + + supply L:++ Best3 + + (mechanical; A:0 Best2 collapsed in 1991) 1972-75 17 Upgrading G H O:++ Best1 + + + + Daboya Health (included Centre in nr 4) 1972 18 Nurse quarters G H O:++ + + + + + 1974 19 Sheep ranch G (MOFA) L O:0 + Lingbinsi 1978 20 Introduction of G L W:0 + + (improved) pigs, sheep, cows, goats and poultry + Building 1978 21 School feeding USAID=S E+S W:0 + program from Usaid <1979 22 Piped water G W W:+ Best3 + + supply Lingbinsi 1980 23 Construction of SDA E W:++ + JSS Mission=C Best2 1980 24 Pavilions in Party (MP)=G B W:++ + + Lingbinsi market
108 Year Nr Project / Agency Sector Assess- Impact on domain**** intervention / * ** Ment N P E H S C initiative *** 1980 25 Three boreholes Catholic W V:++ Best1 + + in Lingbinsi Church=C 1980 26 Market place in NPP party=G B W:0 Daboya Worst1 1981-82 27 Dam in Kagbal Local W V:++ + community=L 1982 28 Improved crop UNDP=S C A:++ varieties, e.g. sweet potatoes 1982 29 Borehole in CRS=C and the W V:++ Best1 + + Yazori community=L 1982 30 Well in Kupote Community=L W V:++ + + and in Tachali 1982 31 Clinic in New Ireland H V:++ + + Lingbinsi Christian Friends=C 1984 32 Fertilisers and G (MOFA) C L:++ + + tools distributed to farmers 1985 33 Teak plantation in Private N V:x + Yazori farmer=L 1985 34 Construction of Baptist E W:++ + Primary School in Church=C Best2 Lingbinsi 1987 35 Expansion of New Ireland E V:++ Best3 + primary School in Christian Lingbinsi Friends=C 1988 36 PS Daboya Taken over by E O:++ + + + + + LA=G 1989 37 Fertiliser depot MOFA=G C A:++ 1989 38 Construction of a New Ireland E V:++ + Literacy Office in Christian Lingbinsi, and Friends=C providing four motorbikes 1989 39 Construction of a New Ireland I V:++ + guest house in Christian Lingbinsi (3 Friends=C rooms)
109 Year Nr Project / Agency Sector Assess- Impact on domain**** intervention / * ** Ment N P E H S C initiative *** 1990 40 Lingbinsi Health Baptist H W:++ + centre mission=C 1990 41 Tree planting Iran=M N L:++ + + 1990 42 MOFA residence MOFA=G I O:+/- + 1990 43 Area Council G I W:+ + building Worst5 (+ O:Worst2 L:Worst2 A: Worst5) 1990s 44 Introduction of MOFA=G C V:++ + + water yam 1992 45 Construction of St Roman Catholic E W:++ Best2 + Peters Primary Church=C school in Lingbinsi 1992 46 Guesthouse Baptist I W:++ + + Lingbinsi Mission=C 1992 47 Donation of a Danish H V:++ + personal house for couple=N (DA a clinic in took over in Baulina, 1993) supporting four villages 1992 48 Vaccination and G L L:+ + + veterinary support Worst3 (incl. veterinary (+A: quarters) Worst2) 1993 49 Cashew planting MOFA=G C L:++ + + introduced 1994 50 (Expansion of) Italy C R O:++ + + + + + Catholic church Lingbinsi 1994 (or 51 Six Boreholes Italy Roman W O:++ Best3 + + + + + 1992?) Lingbinsi Catholic Church W:++ + + =C Best3 1994 52 SDA Church’s C E O:++ + + + + + JSS 1996 53 Introduction new MOFA=G C L:++ + + maize variety
110 Year Nr Project / Agency Sector Assess- Impact on domain**** intervention / * ** Ment N P E H S C initiative *** 1996 54 Credit Union in Catholic B V:++ + Lingbinsi church=C 1996 55 Building a Local R W:++ + mosque in initiative=L, Daboya with support from MP from NDC party=G 1996 56 Construction of New Ireland R V:+ + Baptist Church in Christian Lingbinsi Friends=C <1997 57 Construction of G W W:+ Best3 + + waterpipes (4) in Lingbinsi 1997 58 Construction of MP=G C V:++ + + + Agricultural cottage for an Agric Officer in Kagbal 1997 59 Construction of CRS=C E V:++ Best3 + primary School in Kagbal (3 class rooms) 1997 60 Mechanical MP=G; W O:++ Best3 + + + + + boreholes Daboya CIDA=S; Comm=L 1998- 61 Improvements DA=G I O:+/- + 2007 Area Council/DA Worst2 Buildings in L:x Worst2 Lingbinsi and A:++ Daboya Worst5 (also see: nr 43) W:++ + Worst5 1998- 62 Support to Zungu Islamic Council R O:++ + + + + + 2001 Central Mosque (S.Arab)=M + L:++ + + Comm=L A:++ 1999 63 Church building Comm=L R O:++ + + + + + 1999 64 Mechanised water G W A:++ delivery, using a Best2? borehole (later collapsed)
111 Year Nr Project / Agency Sector Assess- Impact on domain**** intervention / * ** Ment N P E H S C initiative *** 2000 65 Improvement of DA=G I V:++ + + road Lingbinsi- Best4? Disali 2000 66 Construction of DA=G I V:++ Best4 + + feeder Road Larabanga- Yazori-Baulina 2000 67 Improvement of DA=G I V:++ + + road Tachali- Best4? Daboya 2000 68 Widening of road DA=G I V:++ + + Disali-Tara Best4? 2000 69 Road Kogbil-Gua DA=G I V:++ + + Best4? 2000 70 Electricity poles G P O:++ Best2 + + + + Daboya L:++ Best4 + + + + (+ A: Best3 +V: Best5) 2000 71 Community Department of N V:++ + Forest Wildlife=G and Management in community=L Baulina, and Yazori, 2000 72 Construction of a NGO=N? E V:++ Best3 + two-classroom school and an office in Sisina 2000 73 Shinga PS DA=G E O:++ + + + + + L:++ + + 2000 74 Start of Amadiya Two brothers, R W:++ + activities near with Iranian Daboya support=L+M 2000 75 Construction of a Assemblies of R V:+ + Church in Baulina God=C 2000 76 Construction of a Catholic R V:+ + Church in Baulina Church=C
112 Year Nr Project / Agency Sector Assess- Impact on domain**** intervention / * ** Ment N P E H S C initiative *** 2000-01 77 Global 2000 UNDP and C L:++ Best2 + + agricultural IFAD=S W:++ + + project Daboya; + MOFA=G V: not a.o. cashew in mentioned Lingbinsi and first , but Daboya: farming later education for Worst3 women and men !! 2001 78 Afforestation NDC/ 31st N W:+ + project in Daboya DWM =N+G (teak trees) + IFAD (Global 2000)=S 2002 79 Construction of Catholic E V:++ Best3 + Primary School in Church=C Lingbinsi 2002 80 Construction of DA=G E V:++ Best3 + primary School in Tachali: three classrooms, toilets and an office 2002 (or 81 Junior Secondary DA=G E L:++ + + 2004?) School W:++ + Best2 2002 82 Vocational school Christ E L:+>++ + + Command, A:++ Nigerian C (later: Wulugu) 2002 83 Introduction of G C W:+ + + Soybeans 2002 84 Introduction of ADRA=N C W:++ + + soybeans at Tidrope 2002 85 Introduction of ADRA=N C W:0 + + cotton, maize, at Tidrope 2003 86 Electricity G P A:++ Best3 (2007?) functional in W:++ + Daboya (also see V:x Best5 nr 70) (+O: Best2 + L: Best4) 2003 87 Culvert in Dar es G I O:++ + + Salaam
113 Year Nr Project / Agency Sector Assess- Impact on domain**** intervention / * ** Ment N P E H S C initiative *** 2003 88 Addition of block EU=S E O:++ + + + + + to existing PS 2003 89 Construction of a DA=G E V:0 pavilion for school in Diasali (was destroyed by strong wind in 2006) 2003 90 Credit support to G C L:+ + + cashew farmers 2003 91 Baptist mission Baptists=C P W:++ + + connected to the electricity grid 2003 92 Baptist Credit Baptists=C B W:++ + union 2004 93 Solar pumps in CRS=C P+W L:++ + + + Lingbinsi 2004 94 Four additional DA=G W L:++ Best3 + + boreholes W:++ + + Best3 2004 95 Introduction of G C V:- + + cashew in Yazori, and Kogbal 2004 96 Introduction of MOFA=G C V:- Worst1 new variety of cassava (‘industrial cassava’) in Daboya and Lingbinsi 2004 97 Construction of Wulugu E V:++ Best3 + Primary School in project=N Baulina (six class rooms) 2004 98 Construction of Wulugu E V:++ Best3 + JSS in Baulina project=N 2004-05 99 New buildings St CRS=C E O:++ + + Peters PS and TQ L:++ + +
114 Year Nr Project / Agency Sector Assess- Impact on domain**** intervention / * ** Ment N P E H S C initiative *** 2004-07 100 Post office with G I O:+ + + + + 40 post boxes L:++ + + A:++ W:++ + 2004-05 101 Primary school at DA=G E W:++ + Tidrope Best2 2005 102 Support to two Wulugu=N E O:++ Best5 + + + + + (four?) PS and L:++ + + provision of W:++ + + furniture: Salafia, Best2 Taraweka, Sarfiat, Trabite 2005 103 TQ Lingbinsi and Wulugu=N E L:++ + + Daboya W:++ + Best2 2005 104 Introduction new MOFA=G C L:- + + rice variety 2005 105 Boreholes at NGO=N? W L:++ Best3 + + + Anyando, Bowina, Samisi and Djiferano 2005 106 Reconnection of DA=G W W:++ + + pipelines in Daboya 2005 107 Day nursery Word E A:++ Ministry=C 2005 108 Ante-natal clinic G H L:+ + 2005 109 Health clinic at G H L:++ + Tare 2005- 110 Provision of fund New Ireland H V:++ + + for buying drugs Christian by Lingbinsi Friends=C clinic 2005-06 111 Pavilions built for MP+DA=G I+B A:++ market kiosks W:0 2005-06 112 Expansion of PS LA=G + HIPC E L:++ + + Daboya Initiative=S A:++ W:++ + Best2 2005-06 113 Junior Sec. School LA=G E L:++ + + A:++
115 Year Nr Project / Agency Sector Assess- Impact on domain**** intervention / * ** Ment N P E H S C initiative *** 2005-06 114 Kalibito Mosque Islamic Council R O:++ + + + + + (Arab)=M + L:++ + + Community=L A:+ 2005-06 115 Credit to the NGO=N? S+B L:+ + disabled 2005-07 116 Expansion Wulugu=N E O:+ Best5 + + + vocational school A++ (3 unit classroom W:+ Best2 + + block) 2005-07 117 School uniforms, Gate-2 E A:++ Best5 books (for girls) programme = Equal (N) 2005-07 118 Solar-Mechanized EU=S W V:++ Best1 + + Boreholes in Lingbinsi (six) 2006 119 Bee-keeping Arocha-Ghana L V:++ + + project =N Worst4 2006 120 Construction of Wulugu/ E W:++ + primary School in Wuzulungu=N Best2 Lingbinsi V:++ Best3 + 2006 121 Credit to parents Wulugu=N E+B L:+ to send their children to school 2006 122 Elephantiasis G H L:+ + + drugs given to community 2006 123 KVIP toilets (“6- G H A:+ seater”) Worst3 (+O: Worst1 + W: Worst3) 2006 124 Teak plantation in MOFA=G and N V:x + Lingbinsi private Worst5 farmers=L 2006 125 Support to PS Danida=S E L:++ + +
116 Year Nr Project / Agency Sector Assess- Impact on domain**** intervention / * ** Ment N P E H S C initiative *** 2006- 126 Distribution of EQUALL=N E V:+ + school uniforms Best3 and food for school girls in Baulina, Disali and Yazori 2006-07 127 Barkarbasipel Islamic Council R O:++ + + + + + Mosque (Arab)=M + L:++ + + Community=L A:++ 2006-08 128 Credit to farmers MOFA=G + C+B A:+ NGO (?)=N 2007 129 Conscientization DA=G N W:++ + project on (Took over bushfire by radio from unknown NGO) 2007 130 Pigs rearing Local L W:++ + + initiative community=L Lingbinsi (taken over from MOFA) 2007 131 Construction of Roman Catholic W W:++ + + pipes in Daboya Church=C 2007 132 Six boreholes in DA=G + W O:++ Best3 + + + + + Daboya, Yazori, Comm=L A:++ Best2 Disali, and V:++ Best1 + + Tachali (one never working) 2007 133 Boreholes in DA=G + W O:++ Best3 + + + + + Lingbinsi Comm=L 2007 134 Four boreholes in DA=G W V:++ Best1 + + Baulina 2007 135 Lingbinsi (to be) G P W:- connected to the electricity grid 2007 136 Construction of 3 Catholic E V:++ Best3 + new class rooms Church=C for JSS in Lingbinsi 2007 137 CHIP (Health GHS=G H V:x Insurance) Project in Lingbinsi 2007 138 Penta Church Pentecostal C R O:++ + + + + +
117 Year Nr Project / Agency Sector Assess- Impact on domain**** intervention / * ** Ment N P E H S C initiative *** 2007 139 Expansion Amadiya R W:++ + Amadiya Mosque Mission near Daboya (support from Egypt)=M 2007 140 Amadiya Islamic Amadiya E W:++ + Daycare Mission (support from Egypt)=M 2007 141 English-Arabic PS Wulugu=N E O:++ Best5 + + + TQ Lingbinsi 2007 142 Individual farmer MOFA=G C+L A:+ training 2007 143 Cashew support G + NGO (?)=N C A:+ 2007 and 144 Flood victim Red Cross=N S A:+ 2009 support: food, W:++ + + + medicine, drinking water; building materials 2007 and 145 Food from NADMO=G S A:++ 2009 NADMO for W:++ + + + flood victims (Tidrope, Daboya and Lingbinsi 2007 146 Idem US Marines=S S A:++ 2007 147 Idem MoH H A:++ support=G 2007-08 148 New variety of Fulanis =L L V:+/- + + cows (bigger Worst2 cows; grows faster) 2007-08 149 KVIP toilets to 30 DA=G H A:+/- individual houses Worst3 W:-- Worst3 (+O: Worst1) 2007-08 150 Asafu JSS DA=G + DFID E O:++ + + + + + and/or A:++ Danida=S W:++ + Best2
118 Year Nr Project / Agency Sector Assess- Impact on domain**** intervention / * ** Ment N P E H S C initiative *** 2007-08 151 Upgrading of G H A:++ Daboya HC to Policlinic 2007-08 152 Tigo mobile P I O:++ Best4 + + + + phone network, L:++ + + + mast A:++ Best4 W:++ + 2007-08 153 MTN mobile P I O:++ Best4 + + + + phone network, L:++ + + + mast A:+ W:+ + 2008 154 Livestock American L L:+ + + vaccination military team=S campaign during floods 2008 155 Boreholes in District W V:++ Best1 + + Kupote Assembly=G with the community=L 2008 156 Borehole in Sisipe Ghana W V:++ Best1 + + Military=G 2008 157 Distribution of New Ireland P V:+ + + solar mobile Christian chargers Friends=C 2008 158 Construction of DA=G E V:++ Best3 + Primary School in Kupoto (3 classrooms, toilets and an office) 2008 159 Pentecostal Pentecostal C E A:++ kindergarten near the church 2008 160 Madina Central Iran=M + R A:++ Mosque Comm=L 2008 161 Dustbins (NCRC) EU=S H A:++ + 2008 162 Microcredit to G E+B L:+ + + women (to send children to school)
119 Year Nr Project / Agency Sector Assess- Impact on domain**** intervention / * ** Ment N P E H S C initiative *** 2008 163 MASLOC G B A:+ microfinance loans to farmers and traders 2008 164 Weaving project USAID=S B W:++ + 2008-09 165 Police station G + Local I O:++ + + + + (2005?) support=L L:++ + A:++ W:++ + 2008-09 166 Visitors/tourist (NCRC) EU=S B O:++ + + + centre + Peacecorps L:++ + + (‘Mr Lary’)=N A:++ + Comm=L W:++ + + 2008-09 167 Construction of Pentecostal C R A:+ 2008 Pentacost Church V:+ + 09 in Tachi 2009 168 Construction of a DA=G E V:++ Best3 + new block (4 class rooms) of the primary school in Kagbal 2009 169 Construction of Pentecostal E W:++ + Kindergarten Church=C 2009 170 Eyesight checking Peacecorps=N H L:+ + + 2009 171 Soybeans MOFA=G C L:- Worst4 + + campaign (in A:+ Kogbal) V:++ + + 2009 172 (Re-)introduction MOFA=G C V:- Worst3 of cashew in Lingbinsi, Yazori, Kogbal 2009 173 Introduction of MOFA=G C V:- cassava in Kogbal 2009 174 Introduction of Arocha C V:++ + + + soybeans and Ghana=N cassava in Yazori 2009 175 Maize Project at (RC) Church C W:++ + + Lingbinsi =C 2009 176 Sheep vaccination G L L:+ + +
120 Year Nr Project / Agency Sector Assess- Impact on domain**** intervention / * ** Ment N P E H S C initiative *** 2009 177 Vodafone mobile P I A:x phone network, mast 2009 178 Construction of a DA=G E V:++ Best3 + pavilion for school in Tachali 2009 179 Computer Kofi Annan ICT E A:++ facilities added to Initiative (N) vocational school 2009-10 180 Examination DA=G + E O:++ + + + + + centre DUAF=N A:x construction W:x + 2010 181 a) Lingbinsi Gilbert=C H a) O:x Health post, and b) O++ + + + + b) Lingbinsi guest house for health worker.
Explanation of symbols:
* C Christian Church/Mission; G Government (LA=Local Authority; DA=District Assembly); L Local initiative; M Muslim support [state or NGO]; mosque-based N Non-faith-based NGO; P Private company S Supra-national agency; often a foreign state (donor) agency; or a UN agency (foreign NGOs can be found under N; Muslim state donors under M) ** B Business C Crops E Education H Health and sanitation I Infrastructure L Livestock N Nature/Natural resources O Other P Power (electricity) R Religion S Social W Water
121 *** ++ Positive for many people or many of the intended beneficiaries + Positive for some +/- Partly positive; partly negative x Not yet functioning - Negative -- Very negative; should never have started Best1-5: among the best five projects according to a group Worst1-5: among the worst five projects according to a group **** N Natural resources; nature P Physical infrastructure (roads, buildings) E Economic Capabilities; market access; wealth levels H Human capabilities: health; knowledge levels; skills S Social relations; social capabilities; access to political power C Cultural abilities (language, mentality, spirituality)
122