Practical Training at the District
The Governance and Rural Infrastructure (G&RI) team in Ghana is currently asking the question: how do we overcome barriers to scale? G&RI has been working at the community, district and regional level in Northern Ghana to improve data and infrastructure planning capabilities to better meet the water, roads, education and healthcare needs of rural communities. Our model has been direct capacity development in District Assemblies. But with limited resources, this model limits our impact on Dorothy.
One approach we are taking is to partner with the regional government and donors to implement region-wide skill development trainings that align with the institutional systems at the district level. Two significant independent activities will take place at districts over the next 4 months: (1) Housing and Population Census; and (2) preparation of the district 4-year development plans. G&RI has made the link between the two in that to create evidence-based district development plans, districts need data. The census will be collecting data on population, education, health, water, and sanitation; all data required to effectively develop evidence-based plans.
This past week G&RI partnered with a World Bank project called the ‘Northern Region Poverty Reduction Project’ which operates in all 20 districts in the Northern Region of Ghana. Team G&RI (Shamir, Jody, Gato, Hasan, and Dan) facilitated a 3-day computer training program for all the planning and budget officers in the region. Our training program was a practical exercise on district planning and census. Modules included file management, data management, data analysis, district indicator selection, and presentation skills. All modules included actual data that officers use in the district.
A fun exercise that two of our team members Jody and Shamir facilitated was to take a bunch of paper documents and spread them across a table. Next to the table was a filing cabinet with organized files. Shamir was asked to look for the District water and sanitation data file. He scrambled across the table searching but could not find. At the same time, Jody opened the filing cabinet opened a folder for water and presented the needed document. One of the district officers, Akwesi, said at the end of the day “I didn’t realize how I was making it so difficult for myself to find information”.
So again, the big question - how can G&RI continue to find new innovative ways to move beyond the direct capacity development model at the district and scale-up our behaviour change model to all districts in Northern Ghana? One idea could be to hold a regional competition for the most innovative district data management/analysis system, and to develop regional standards and best practices. We will keep you posted, but please share your ideas.