Impact

In Engineers Without Borders we have this obsession with the word impact. Within our own little microculture, it’s become synonymous with positive change for the world’s poor. As an organization we try to make sure everything we do – be it the overseas projects we’re involved with or the in-Canada advocacy campaigns that we run – has impact. We spend time and energy planning to have it, being critical of those who aren’t having it, trying to decide if we’re having it and, hopefully, actually having it.

Yet for all this obsessing, I approached this summer in Ghana with relatively little optimism about having impact, at least direct impact through my work overseas. I didn’t think four months was long enough to affect lasting and meaningful change within any organization or group that would directly benefit the poorest Ghanaians. I saw the main return on the time and money invested in me as a Junior Fellow to be what I shared with people in Canada and how the experience affected me on an individual level (and how I used that experience in the future).

At the same time, I recognized the need to try to have impact. Not only is it important to me on a philosophical level, but I think trying to have impact is the only way to really understand why it’s so difficult.

With the NILRIFACU rice farmer and processor cooperative I had planned to use the computer as a tool for teaching better record keeping and analysis, which I in turned hope would increase the profitability of the group and the ten thousand dollar marketing fund they’re supposed to be managing. Increasing their profitability would (I hypothesized) allow them to provide better services to their members, thereby reducing poverty on the ground. I ended up working with two or three of the group’s members and got as far as MS Word and Excel, letter writing and entering their previous accounts into the computer. There are a couple of major reasons that events didn’t go exactly as planned, mostly that I overestimated their existing record keeping skills and that farmers are very busy people during the rainy season.



Zakeria learned MS office and excel.



Zakeria, Ayesha and 'Assembly Man' would often teach each other computer skills.

I also conducted a profitability study of a new variety of rice called the New Rice for Africa (NERICA). I initially got interested in the rice because of its dependence on chemical fertilizer and the recent growth in world fertilizer prices. My study included a theoretical section in which I attempted to illustrate the relative profitability of NERICA with changes in fertilizer prices, as well as a case study where a presented the applied profitability of NERICA for farmers in a village where I stayed for a week.



I did a profitability study of NERICA rice.

During the last week of my placement I made a PowerPoint presentation of my report to my office of the Ministry of Food and Agriculture and had a group discussion about it with the management and agricultural extension agents. As the background data was pretty limited, it was tough to make a lot of solid recommendations based on the results. It did generate some good critical discussion however. As EWB and MoFA are looking to pursue an Agriculture As A Business strategy, I hope my report will be able to serve as loose template for future market and profitability analysis, and that it will ultimately have an indirect impact on farmers.

So did I have the ever elusive impact? Probably not. At least not on the scale I wanted. I made some incredible friends; when I left my family gave me such nice gifts that I felt terrible for having questioned how much was too much to give them. My two friends from the rice coop, Ayesha and Zakeria, gave me gifts as well and came to the bus station at six in the morning to see me off. Each volunteer has had a different experience in Ghana, but everyone that I’ve met and worked with in this country has been incredible to me. And so perhaps I’ve made small impact on their individual lives? It’s not measurable and it won’t change the world, but it means something to me.



My host family was incredible to me during my stay in Ghana.



I was so excited with some of my friend Mohammed's wardrobe that he took me to get my own suit made up.



Once tried cooking pasta and salad for my family. They couldn't handle the lack of salt, oil and pepper.

As for impact on people in Canada, it is largely to be determined once I return and try to share my experience. I hope you’ve enjoyed reading my blog and that you’ve got something out of it. It’s a little late for feedback, but I’m still curious as to what people learned from reading it and what it made them think about or do. Please post a comment at the end of this post if you have anything to contribute.

I’ve thought immensely about how this experience has impacted me personally. Perhaps part of it I won’t understand until I’m home and can see myself in that environment. That being said, I want to shy away from any grand proclamations about a new outlook on life. It’s not that I don’t think I’ve changed, but something about over sensationalizing the experience doesn’t feel right. Ghana was probably the hardest thing I’ve ever done. At the same time, there were days when the sunshiny craziness of life here made me swear I’d have to come back.

Most of all I’ve been touched by the simple sincerity in the people and relationships I’ve made. Something about that honesty makes me want to be a little more honest with myself. Life is so structured; it’s easy to get lost in the details. What I've seen and learned this summer makes me want to lose some of that structure and open myself to the more of the huge range of opportunities that the world has to offer.

The twelve other volunteers and I board the plane to Amsterdam tonight. It’s tough to describe the group’s mood. Other than general excitement about seeing friends, eating cheese and not being heckled at, most of us are pretty relaxed. It all feels a little anti-climactic, but perhaps that’s how it should be. Goodbyes have taken on a new meaning for me. I’ve decided there’s a certain sincerity in simplicity: sometimes the most important things don’t need to be said.



All the Junior Fellow volunteers in Ghana got together for a final workshop in Tamale before departing for Canada.