Background



Background

Pwalugu and Surrounding Area

Geography

History

Before Ghana’s independence in 1957, the main crops of the Upper East region were traditionally paddy rice, onions, millet, groundnuts, sorghum and maize and a local variety of tomatoes.

With independence, the new government’s development plans included the introduction of large-scale agricultural processing. Under this state initiative, three tomato-processing plants were established in the late 1960s, one of which was established in the town of Pwalugu. To provide a high-quality supply to the factory, a higher-yielding variety of tomato was introduced to the area.

When the canning factory was in operation it directly employed between 60 and 100 workers and indirectly employed thousands more. Over one thousand farmers made a living by supplying tomatoes to the factory. In turn, these farmers employed thousands more workers to help in the fields. The factory provided an incentive for local children to attend school, and for high school students to continue their education into trades.

In 1989, the Pwalugu tomato-processing factory closed down. The reasons for the closure are a debated issue. Some critics blame the “structural adjustments to the economy” carried out under IMF supervision in the 1980s. Others believe that the factory lost money to corrupt managers, or that it simply was not profitable because of poor transportation infrastructure.

The unfair competition of European canned tomato products is another factor blamed for the closure of the Pwalugu factory. Tomato-processing in southern Europe receives 372 million euros in annual subsidies. As a result, Ghana is overwhelmed by imports of subsidized Italian tomato products.

Whatever the reason, with the closing of the factory, the farmers lost their largest customer and lost the stable prices that came with supplying a government-operated facility. Farmers now face much more difficulty selling their produce. Market Queens – women who transport tomatoes from the agricultural areas to major urban centres – act as middlemen between the farmers and the wider market. Farmers complain of their lack of bargaining power when dealing with the Market Queens and are often forced to sell their produce at unfair prices.

Many skilled workers who lost their jobs have been forced to migrate to nearby cities such as Bolgatanga to find other employment. Others have remained in the area, though continue to face bleak employment prospects.

The Situation Today

Due to the particular combination of stakeholders in the Pwalugu area – farmers without access to a stable market and a highly skilled workforce – the Ghanaian Appropriate Technology Organization (GATO) has selected Pwalugu as the next community they would like to work with to improve their economic situation.

Last week, Albert Akoto from GATO went by motorcycle to Pwalugu and spoke with the chief, Gabriel Assibi. They set up a date for a meeting, where GATO staff could come to Pwalugu and speak with the major stakeholders to determine what type of project they would like to improve the economic situation of the area.

The meeting will take place at the Pwalugu school, on Friday, February 6th at 4:45 p.m. Gabriel Assibi has agreed to chair the meeting.

Profile of Local NGO

History of NGO

The Ghana Appropriate Technology Organization (GATO) is a mid-sized NGO that was established in 1987. It is the brainchild of Isaac Ikyea, its founder and current Executive Director.

GATO has a head office in the capital city of Accra, and three field offices: in Bolgatanga (Upper East Region), Ho (Volta Region), and Tamale (Northern Region).

Mandate of NGO

The organization focuses its work on promoting small-scale industrial growth and improving incomes and employment opportunities. These objectives are being achieved by developing and demonstrating marketable products and processes that enable small and medium enterprises to increase productivity.

In addition to introducing improved technologies, manufacturing processes and products, GATO provides loans for to small-scale industrialists seeking to acquire equipment or working capital to expand or upgrade their operations.

For example, GATO has a successful program working with women’s groups in the Volta Region to increase their income. GATO engineering staff at the Ho field office designed and manufactured a machine that decreases the labour intensiveness of expelling palm kernel oil. GATO offered micro-credit loans to small-scale industrialists and women’s groups interested in acquiring the equipment. The first women’s group to acquire the equipment have recently paid off their micro-credit loan, after two years of successfully processing palm kernel oil and selling their product to the soap-making industry.

Funding Opportunity

As part of its fundraising activities, GATO recently approached the Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA) and the European Union (EU) and has been informed of two possible sources of funds.

The possible funding amounts to $40,000 from CIDA to undertake an agricultural-processing project, and $25,000 from the EU to undertake a project that spreads information communication technologies (ICTs) to rural areas of Ghana.

Although GATO has not worked in ICTs before, the Executive Director of the organization is eager to push GATO in this new direction. He sees computer training fitting well within GATO’s mandate, as computer skills can be a means for medium-scale industrialists to improve their efficiency.

Previous Experience in Project Area

In 2000, Pwalugu and the surrounding villages of Winkogo, Sambruno and Zuarungu were selected as the target area for GATO’s next project. This decision was largely made because it is

an economically repressed area with an educated workforce, yet no other NGO was working there.

GATO’s involvement in the Pwalugu area began 16 months ago when a group of villagers from Winkogo approached and requested GATO to work in their village. Initially, when dialogues were held with the village community, it became apparent that the men in the village would not mobilize to form a village organization. To circumvent the situation, GATO chose to redirect its efforts in the direction of women. The idea was to invest in a small project that would serve to establish a relationship with the village. After a brief discussion with the quickly formed Women’s Management Committee, an agro-processing equipment project was initiated.

Unfortunately, GATO did not make it clear upfront that the project would only benefit a small number of women. Once this was realized, the non-beneficiaries of the Women’s Management Committee quickly withdrew their participation, and the committee soon disbanded. Given the failure of the entry project, it is imperative that a new project be introduced to meet the development needs of the community and regain their trust. The men in particular seem to have been dissatisfied as they feel they were by-passed by GATO.

Project Costs

To run a similar small-scale agricultural project similar to the successful oil-press project in the Volta Region would cost $25,000 per year of operation.

Setting up an IT centre in Pwalugu with 20 workstations would cost approximately $10,000. Computer training would cost an additional $10,000 per year to train 100 people.

Refurbishing the defunct tomato canning factory in Pwalugu would cost $40,000 in capital costs. An additional $10,000 would be required to pay for start-up costs.

Challenges

The task at hand is for GATO to formulate a project proposal that meets an expressed need from the beneficiary communities for submission to the international funding organizations.

At this stage, GATO is wrestling with several issues, such as:

1) Should it gradually nudge the villagers into an “appropriate” project or risk community members choosing one that may not be the best undertaking according to GATO?

2) Should it take a target approach or a community approach in realizing a project, i.e. should it focus on certain groups within the village who are most in need or concentrate on the village community as a whole?

3) Should GATO try to develop a project that it can use to apply for both sources of funding at the same time, or should it concentrate on one source of funding for the Pwalugu area?

How much of the funds should be allocated towards the hardware (i.e. physical infrastructure like machinery or computers) and how much towards the software (i.e. formation and training of village organizations)?

-----------------------

Pwalugu is located in the Upper East region of Ghana roughly 10 km south of Bolgatanga, the region’s capital. The population of Bolgatanga is approximately 50,000 people; the population of Pwalugu is approximately 5,000 people. This area is of international importance due to its close proximity to neighbouring countries Burkina Faso and Togo.

Pwalugu is situated 800 km north of the nation’s capital, Accra, and 530 km away from the second major centre, Kumasi. Pwalugu lies along the major highway, which connects Bolgatanga with the capital of the Northern Region, Tamale, and with Burkina Faso. Pwalugu’s three closest neighbours are the villages of Sambruno, which is located 12 km Northwest; Zuarungu, which is located 6 km East; and Winkogo, which is located 6 km South.

[pic]

( Pwalugu

................
................

In order to avoid copyright disputes, this page is only a partial summary.

Google Online Preview   Download