FISTRAD Report for 2006

Executive Summary

This year's action plan has been drawn from our long term plan which among other things proposed the development of a community radio station to enhance advocacy and public education to empower marginalized groups to eradicate poverty.

The construction of a guest house for the centre which has been on the drawing board for some time now has been revisited. The objective is to, among other things, provide accomodation for our friends who come from far and near and also provide some kind of hospitality service to the public as a source of generating income for long-term sustainability.

Traditional programs like literacy classes, remedial and extra classes for senior and junior secondary school children and the provision of library services were successfully implemented. We also collaborated with Ghana AIDS Commission and Builsa District Assembly to carry out HIV/AIDS prevention education and with Paul ev of Germany to implement a human rights education campaign. Skills training in cloth weaving and tailoring to empower women and young people was not left out. In fact we consider this service central to our development agenda for the eradication of poverty in marginalized communities. This is because most often rural people are poor because they lack much money and in an unpredictable agricultural environment where farmers depend solely on nature for success or failure, the rural farmer simply lives a risky life. In such circumstances women and children are the most vulnerable. Introducing marketable skills as well as basic knowledge in business management to rural people is the way foward and that is what we stand for.

The guest house project is now at the roofing level while the community radio is at an advanced stage. We have indentified interested donors who are willing to support the project. We have also applied to the Ghana National Communications Authority for a frequency and joined the Ghana Community Radio Network as an affiliate member. The community radio is an advocacy tool through which rural people can express themselves and be informed on issues that would help to break some of the cultural barriers to development. Witchcraft accusations, discrimination against women, female genital mutilation and many anti-development practices will become the target of our programming. Our motto "voice to the voiceless" will become a reality.

Challenges

Inadequate skilled labour and poor salaries for staff continue to be a major challenge. Insufficient funding also makes realization of some of our objectives difficult. Despite these challenges significant successes have been made and this could not have been possible without support from our donors and friends in Ghana and far away in the United Kingdom and Germany. I wish to use this opportunity to express on behalf of our people our sincere gratitude to our friends in Ghana, DED (German Development Service), Ghana AIDS commission, Ibis Ghana, Builsa District Assembly and SEND Foundation of West Africa. Special thanks must also go to our friends abroad without whose contributions our dreams could only be a mirage. They are Paul ev, Mrs. Gertrud Schauber and Dr. Almuth Schauber, Burgerkommittee Stain Hagen, Mr. Joachim Schreiber, Mr. Nick O'Neil of Falconer School in the United Kingdom and last but not least the trustees of Sandema Educational Resource Centre London, our main partner and supporter.

Skills Training

The objective of this program is to provide skills to women and girls in the district so as to empower them economically. It is hoped that this strategy will also help reduce gender inequality. Twenty women and girls were enrolled to train in dress-making and fifteen for cloth weaving in January. They were given orientation about the project, advised to take their lessons seriously and to take good care of project property. The skills training program has three instructors, two for tailoring male and female and a female instructor for the weaving department. On December the 18th a passing out ceremony was held for fifteen learners who have successfully completed three years training and were awarded certificates.

The ceremony took place at the centre and was attended by a large crowd including representatives of the District Assembly. The function was chaired by the Chief of Seniensi. Main challenges of this program are ageing equipment and inadequate funding for purchasing materials for training. Participants are trained free, they only pay a tiny registration fee.

Remedial Classes

Remedial classes for students who for some reasons have not passed in all their subjects or got grades not sufficient enough to move them to the next stage were the first on the hierarchy of need assessment of young school leavers ten years ago when the project started. Looking back, thousands of young girls who would have ended their educational careers benefited immensely from our remedial classes. More girls have been able to enter training colleges, nursing schools, polytechnic and universities through this program.

Registration started in February but classes finally started in March. The salary increment granted by the secretary of Sandema Educational Resource Centre, our main partners and donors, served as motivation. In all, two hundred and thirty students registered, ninety eight being girls. Mock examinations were conducted to help students prepare well before going for the final examinations conducted by the West African Examinations Council.

Extra classes for junior secondary schools were designed to help children at that level because the failure rate in the district was very high. Extra classes were to supplement the efforts of the regular schools which most often did not have the full complement of teachers and text books. Seventy six children registered for the program. the library at the centre provides all necessary text books for both senior and junior secondary school children. The library also serves as a resource centre for the public. It opens at 9am each morning and closes at 7pm in the evening except on Sundays.

Our main challenge with the library is inadequate personnel, we have only two library assistants working the whole day. This makes it difficult to go on breaks or even attend to nature's call while on duty. Sometimes they have to engage the service of other members of staff or students to assist and this is not good enough. Intensive use of the centre by students poses serious challenges as it results in wear and tear of the furniture, books and other resources at the centre, leading to high maintenance costs.

Literacy

The literacy project targets two categories of people, namely illiterate women and girls undergoing skills training and illiterates in our four operational areas in the district, namely Banyansa, Zaring, Seniensi and Kobdema, all villages in the Builsa district. Those who learn skills at the centre have their lessons in the afternoon while those from communities have their lessons in the evening after working hours.

The main challenge here is lack of transport to supervise literacy instructors in the villages. Others are irregular attendance particularly during the rainy season and inadequate teaching and learning materials.

Advocacy

Our advocacy work was developed from practice. As we continue to work in the communities we realized that there are many factors which hinder development. Some of these factors are cultural and attitudinal and as such need constant education to influence community members to bring about desired change and outcomes. Some developmental problems also need state support in the form of policy making or creating new laws and enforcing existing laws. For example, human rights violations are not only carried out by governments or people in authority as many may think, but community members in some cases commit serious human rights abuses and atrocities. Cases of witchcraft allegations and instant justice sometimes resulting in death, physical injury and loss of self-esteem by the victim. Female genital mutilations, gender bias against women, HIV/AIDS all need prevention and advocacy to influence both community leaders and policy makers. Advocacy cannot be carried out by one organization in isolation, it must be holistic and involve many other organizations and institutions that have the same interest. In view of that, FISTRAD belongs to many networks, notable ones being Anti-witchcraft Allegation Campaign Coalition, Anti-HIV/AIDS Campaign Network, Ghana Community Radio Network and Forest Watch Ghana Network.

Within the reporting year we trained one drama group in Wiaga and carried out advocacy in HIV/AIDS campaign in two communities. Our emphasis now is on reducing stigmatization of people living with HIV and preventing new infections. Financial support for the activities came from Ghana AIDS Commission.

Advocacy to stop human rights abuses particularly against women was also intensified in the district. We used drama and radio to reach out to more people in the district. Emphasis here is on eradicating witchcraft allegations and instant justice as well as female genital mutilation. Financial support for this program came from Paul ev of Germany, they also provided support for the drama group and micro finance support for learners who passed to enable them to start their own businesses.

Guest House Project

The guest house has been on the drawing board for a long time. The importance of this project is to provide accommodation for resource persons who come to assist our work and also visitors who come from near and far. Another objective of the guest house project is to serve as a source of generating income for the long run sustainability of the project. Sandema presently has no decent and convenient guest houses for visitors; our guest house will provide this opportunity.

Funding for this project has come from Burgerkommittee Stain Hagen through Mr Joachim Schreiber. Financial support also came from Nick O'Neil of Falconer school in the U.K. Great contributions have also been made by community members who provided labor. The project when completed will have four self-contained chalets and a yard for relaxation. The building is now at the roofing stage. When completed it will be named after Jenny Nicholls, a former teacher of Falconer School who died of cancer and who was a strong supporter of our school link project with Falconer School. The main challenge is how to raise enough funding to complete the project according to plan. The energy crisis in Ghana and its effects on prices of building materials has increased the cost of the project considerably, initial estimated cost being 147,000 EUR.

Community Radio Project

The community radio project is an initiative to support our advocacy programs and to bring to reality our objective of promoting active community participation in decision making at all levels as a means of eradicating poverty and promoting democracy in the Builsa district. We have submitted a proposal to the German Embassy under their good governance program for funding and it has received positive response.

FISTRAD has also applied to join the Ghana Community Radio Network so as to learn from their experience. A proposal has also been submitted to the National Communications Authority for a frequency to operate a radio station.

Construction of the building to accommodate the radio station has also begun. This involves alteration of our abandoned carpentry workshop and modifying it to suit the purpose of a radio station. The building, when completed will have a studio, production room, transmitter room and reception.

Challenges of the Radio Project

1. Training of community members to take up the responsibility of broadcasting
2. The current electricity crisis and the high cost of diesel and petrol as alternative energy sources
3. Employing and paying key staff of the station for the first three months when it will be test transmitting and not charge any fees to advertisers.
4. The intransigence of the National Communications Authority in giving frequencies to community radios is yet another obstacle to overcome.

By Richard Alandu