On 25 May BEHC had arranged to host a meeting between the Premix
committee, the Chief, and the Assemblywoman in hopes of resolving the
issue of how much and where the Premix committee community funds
should go. BEHC, along with the Assemblywoman, Chief, and other
members of the community want to the community fund to go towards
repairing a bridge in Butre. Unfortunately, the Chief arrived late
from a meeting in Sekondi, and the meeting has been postponed. We are
attempting to hold the new meeting on 26 May by 6 P.M. Fredrick Kwase,
the Chief Fisherman (Opofohene) of Butre and a signatory to the Premix
committee, informed us that the document which explains the duties of
the committee and the amount of funds which are to be distributed to
the community is currently in the hands of the secretary. We asked
Opofohene to ask the secretary to bring the document to the meeting,
and he said it would not be a problem.
On 26 May Julie, Brendan, and Mr. Joseph Yankee travelled to Takoradi
to speak to the Water Company Limited, a sector of the Ghanaian
government, to inquire about a borehole. We were informed by the
Community Water and Sanitation agency of two borehole instilation
processes and prices. The cheaper option is the portable system drill,
which will cost anywhere between GhC3,000 and GhC4,000. The second
option is a machine system drill which would cost somewhere between
GhC6,500 and GhC8,000. We will soon meet with Mr.Henry V. Aboagye, a
government engineer, to survey the land and see which option is best
fot Butre. The meeting was very successful and for the most part the
prices are compatible with BEHC's budget.
Wednesday, May 26, 2010
Progress with the Butre Premix Committee
24 May 2010
Last night, Sunday, 23 May, we went with Mensiez to vsit the Assemblywoman, whom we were originally planning to stay with, Florence. We discovered that sshe was not feeling well and was unabe to go to church or go to her cassava farm that day. Fortunately, she was abel to discuss the Butre Premix Committee's resistance to following its consignment with the local government. There was an agreement that the Premix Committee would allot a specified amount to the community fund, which it has not done yet. We were informed that the original Butre Premix Committee was cooperative; however, the transition to the NDC Government has dissolved the previous committee as well as any semblance of cooperation to the community. There are three signatories of the Butre Premix Committee: 1) the Chief Fisherman, Frederick Kwase, also known as "Apofohene," 2) the Secretary, Matthew Wotu, and 3) a man in the village known as "Old Man." Three months ago, there was a community meeting related to the withholding of community funds by the Butre Premix Committee; however, little progress seems to have been made. We were even informed that the Assemblywoman, Florence, submitted an application to the District Commissioner (DC) informing them on Butre Premix Committee's resistance to concede with its original agreement to the community. Supposedly, the DC has done very litte to act on the matter, which caused Florence to recover the application.
Later that night, we traveled with Florence back to the Chief's house. Julie notified Nana that the Butre Premix Committee's resistance to hand over funds to the community has created tensions in the village that are not likely to go away until the issue is resolved. It is necessary to have the full cooperation of the Chief, local assembly members, as well as committee members and signatories of the Premix Committee to resolve the problem.
On 24 May, we spoke with Mensiez and Joseph Yankey in the Butre Tourism Committee kiosk regardinmg the Butre Premix Committee once again. Originally, we were informed by Florence that Phillip, a man in the village that helped Brendan and I conduct sanitation surveys, was a signatory to the Premix Committee. We later found out tthis is false and shared some information on the committee. Phillip informed us that the money couldn't be withdrawn without a meeting with the committee, signatories, Chief, and Assemblywoman present. Mensiez argued that this meeting already occurred, so why is there a need. Either way, we organised a meeting that was planned for Tuesday, 25 May at Nana's Palace. We hope to also suggest a committee to be organised that will be responsible for overseeing the Butre Tourism Committee and Premix Committee to see that the funds are going to the community as promised.
On 24 May, we also held a meeting with the JSS teachers at 10 AM. At this meeting, we presented our peer education programme. The teachers were not only enthusiastic about our project, but about the fact that we are staying for so long and making conscious efforts to integrate ourselves into the community. The teachers agreed to nominate the students from the classes by the next day and we will personally speak ot these students on Friday, 28 May to explain the projects ourselves.
During our meeting with Forence and Mensiez, we realised that we needed to postpone our community entry scheduled for Tuesday, 25 May because of a funeral. It will be rescheduled for next Tuesday, 1 June, so the fishermen are able to be present.
Last night, Sunday, 23 May, we went with Mensiez to vsit the Assemblywoman, whom we were originally planning to stay with, Florence. We discovered that sshe was not feeling well and was unabe to go to church or go to her cassava farm that day. Fortunately, she was abel to discuss the Butre Premix Committee's resistance to following its consignment with the local government. There was an agreement that the Premix Committee would allot a specified amount to the community fund, which it has not done yet. We were informed that the original Butre Premix Committee was cooperative; however, the transition to the NDC Government has dissolved the previous committee as well as any semblance of cooperation to the community. There are three signatories of the Butre Premix Committee: 1) the Chief Fisherman, Frederick Kwase, also known as "Apofohene," 2) the Secretary, Matthew Wotu, and 3) a man in the village known as "Old Man." Three months ago, there was a community meeting related to the withholding of community funds by the Butre Premix Committee; however, little progress seems to have been made. We were even informed that the Assemblywoman, Florence, submitted an application to the District Commissioner (DC) informing them on Butre Premix Committee's resistance to concede with its original agreement to the community. Supposedly, the DC has done very litte to act on the matter, which caused Florence to recover the application.
Later that night, we traveled with Florence back to the Chief's house. Julie notified Nana that the Butre Premix Committee's resistance to hand over funds to the community has created tensions in the village that are not likely to go away until the issue is resolved. It is necessary to have the full cooperation of the Chief, local assembly members, as well as committee members and signatories of the Premix Committee to resolve the problem.
On 24 May, we spoke with Mensiez and Joseph Yankey in the Butre Tourism Committee kiosk regardinmg the Butre Premix Committee once again. Originally, we were informed by Florence that Phillip, a man in the village that helped Brendan and I conduct sanitation surveys, was a signatory to the Premix Committee. We later found out tthis is false and shared some information on the committee. Phillip informed us that the money couldn't be withdrawn without a meeting with the committee, signatories, Chief, and Assemblywoman present. Mensiez argued that this meeting already occurred, so why is there a need. Either way, we organised a meeting that was planned for Tuesday, 25 May at Nana's Palace. We hope to also suggest a committee to be organised that will be responsible for overseeing the Butre Tourism Committee and Premix Committee to see that the funds are going to the community as promised.
On 24 May, we also held a meeting with the JSS teachers at 10 AM. At this meeting, we presented our peer education programme. The teachers were not only enthusiastic about our project, but about the fact that we are staying for so long and making conscious efforts to integrate ourselves into the community. The teachers agreed to nominate the students from the classes by the next day and we will personally speak ot these students on Friday, 28 May to explain the projects ourselves.
During our meeting with Forence and Mensiez, we realised that we needed to postpone our community entry scheduled for Tuesday, 25 May because of a funeral. It will be rescheduled for next Tuesday, 1 June, so the fishermen are able to be present.
Diving Into Community Development: The Beginning of Butre
22 May 2010
Dear all,
We have officially arrived in Butre safe and sound on the evening of Friday, 21 May. On arrival in Butre, we were reminded of Ghana's culture of hospitality as we were treated like a sister and brother to the community. On our first full day in Butre, Saturday, 22 May, we visited our friend and former District Assemblyman, Mr. Mensiez, as well as Joseph Yankey, a fellow tour guide at the Butre Tourism Committee. It wasn't long until we were both invited to act s intermediaries in community development affair. "Village politics" or local politics are complex, dynamic, and not accountable. "Big man" politics is prominent in Butre where the few people in power stand to gain a lot and the majority of community members are not in a position to argue against the status quo. Similar to other Ghanaian villages, Butre has a community fund, which is controlled by the local assembly members-that is, the local assembly members have the power to deposit or withdraw money from this fund. In Butre, there ae two organisations that contribute money to this fund: 1) the Butre Tourism Committee, which puts forth 30% of their earnings and 2) the Butre Premix Committee, which deals with community petrol. The Chief Fisherman supposedly is in possession of a document that states that the Butre Premix Committee is to contribute a fixed amount of its proceeds to Butre's community fund. As it stands, there is ony 310 GhC in the community fund, which was nearly funded competely by the tourism board. This community fund is used for community maintenance and development projects. Currently the bridge repair is at the fore of development projects to be funded by the community (BEHC is responsible for other projects). Without the rightful contributions of the Butre Premix Committee as stated in its original agreement with the Butre community, the bridge repair cannot be completed. We have met with the community mason and he gave us a list of materials that will be needed and labour costs. We have been asked to discuss the current issue of the bridge with the Assemblywoman, Florence, as well as the Chief of Butre, Nana Agyebu Tsiah IX, whom we are staying with in Butre.
Once we finished talking about the bridge repair, we met one of the JSS teachers, Kofi Amoah, who instucts Home Economics. It was our intention to meet with the JSS teachers that day; however, we were told that the teachers had left for the weekend. Mr. Kofi Amoah was able to tell us that the local JSS has about ninety students, around twenty-fiive of which are from the nearby village. We were happy to hear that there are nine teachers working at the Junior Secondary School. Some of these are permanent teachers, whereas others are temporary National Service personnel that serve for one year. We briefly dicussed our plans to conduct a reproductive health peer education programme in the Butre JSS in order to raise consciousness on reproductive health issues from general repoductive health to teenage pregnancy to rape and so on. We scheduled a meeting for 10:30 A.M. on Monday, 24 May to introduce the idea to all the teachers. If everything goes according to plan, the teachers will be responsible for selecting two girls and two boys from each class (there are two classes at this JSS) that will be chosen on merit, how outgoing and vocal they are, and their ability to discuss these sensitive issues with their peers. Starting 7 June, we plan on conducting the training sessions for the students with our selected Planned Parenthood Association of Ghana (PPAG) volunteer, Anita Akumiah. Julie has undergone a similar training by Planned Parenthood Association of Ghana in Spring 2010 called Life Planning Skills (LPS), so she will also be able to make useful contributions to the week-long training. We look forward to welcoming Anita to Butre!
We also have plans to speak with the Chief of Butre to plan a community entry scheduled this coming Tuesday, 25 May 2010. This community entry will formally introduce us to the rest of the community, make them aware of what our projects and intentions are, and how we can help them become involved to promote sustainability.
On Wednesday, 26 May, we will be traveling with Joseph Yankey to Takoradi, the capital of the Western Region, to the Water and Sewage Agency to receive quotes for the borehole.
Dear all,
We have officially arrived in Butre safe and sound on the evening of Friday, 21 May. On arrival in Butre, we were reminded of Ghana's culture of hospitality as we were treated like a sister and brother to the community. On our first full day in Butre, Saturday, 22 May, we visited our friend and former District Assemblyman, Mr. Mensiez, as well as Joseph Yankey, a fellow tour guide at the Butre Tourism Committee. It wasn't long until we were both invited to act s intermediaries in community development affair. "Village politics" or local politics are complex, dynamic, and not accountable. "Big man" politics is prominent in Butre where the few people in power stand to gain a lot and the majority of community members are not in a position to argue against the status quo. Similar to other Ghanaian villages, Butre has a community fund, which is controlled by the local assembly members-that is, the local assembly members have the power to deposit or withdraw money from this fund. In Butre, there ae two organisations that contribute money to this fund: 1) the Butre Tourism Committee, which puts forth 30% of their earnings and 2) the Butre Premix Committee, which deals with community petrol. The Chief Fisherman supposedly is in possession of a document that states that the Butre Premix Committee is to contribute a fixed amount of its proceeds to Butre's community fund. As it stands, there is ony 310 GhC in the community fund, which was nearly funded competely by the tourism board. This community fund is used for community maintenance and development projects. Currently the bridge repair is at the fore of development projects to be funded by the community (BEHC is responsible for other projects). Without the rightful contributions of the Butre Premix Committee as stated in its original agreement with the Butre community, the bridge repair cannot be completed. We have met with the community mason and he gave us a list of materials that will be needed and labour costs. We have been asked to discuss the current issue of the bridge with the Assemblywoman, Florence, as well as the Chief of Butre, Nana Agyebu Tsiah IX, whom we are staying with in Butre.
Once we finished talking about the bridge repair, we met one of the JSS teachers, Kofi Amoah, who instucts Home Economics. It was our intention to meet with the JSS teachers that day; however, we were told that the teachers had left for the weekend. Mr. Kofi Amoah was able to tell us that the local JSS has about ninety students, around twenty-fiive of which are from the nearby village. We were happy to hear that there are nine teachers working at the Junior Secondary School. Some of these are permanent teachers, whereas others are temporary National Service personnel that serve for one year. We briefly dicussed our plans to conduct a reproductive health peer education programme in the Butre JSS in order to raise consciousness on reproductive health issues from general repoductive health to teenage pregnancy to rape and so on. We scheduled a meeting for 10:30 A.M. on Monday, 24 May to introduce the idea to all the teachers. If everything goes according to plan, the teachers will be responsible for selecting two girls and two boys from each class (there are two classes at this JSS) that will be chosen on merit, how outgoing and vocal they are, and their ability to discuss these sensitive issues with their peers. Starting 7 June, we plan on conducting the training sessions for the students with our selected Planned Parenthood Association of Ghana (PPAG) volunteer, Anita Akumiah. Julie has undergone a similar training by Planned Parenthood Association of Ghana in Spring 2010 called Life Planning Skills (LPS), so she will also be able to make useful contributions to the week-long training. We look forward to welcoming Anita to Butre!
We also have plans to speak with the Chief of Butre to plan a community entry scheduled this coming Tuesday, 25 May 2010. This community entry will formally introduce us to the rest of the community, make them aware of what our projects and intentions are, and how we can help them become involved to promote sustainability.
On Wednesday, 26 May, we will be traveling with Joseph Yankey to Takoradi, the capital of the Western Region, to the Water and Sewage Agency to receive quotes for the borehole.
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