Literacy Bridge
Here is a post from Andy Bayor about the new program he is working on in Ghana:
The Women in Agriculture Development Program is a collaboration between Ghana’s Ministry of Food and Agriculture (MOFA) and VSO (which is similar to the Peace Corps for the UK). The program targets female farmer groups and seeks to reach these groups with relevant farming information and technologies so they can increase their crop production. MOFA/VSO use the Talking Book to transfer information for these activities through a volunteer leader who is also from these rural regions.
In all, fifteen volunteers each with a Talking Book are reaching over 750 people (75 groups, 10 members each) with vital farming messages in two districts of the Upper West Region of Ghana.
All preliminary activities of the programme such as training of volunteers on the Talking Book, introducing volunteers to the women groups, pre-loading the messages, and so on, has already been carried out. The first batch of messages will give advice on cereal and legume crops—topics range from land preparation and selection to sowing, weeding and spraying.
Here in the Upper west Region of Ghana, I am monitoring these groups and keeping close association with MOFA and VSO as the program progresses. I am attending group meetings and collecting usage statistics from the Talking Books so see what messages are being listened to most often. The female farmers are also recording their feedback about the program directly onto the Talking Books, and I will help ensure we act on the feedback to best meet their needs.
I’m including a picture of our recent training session where I worked with the MOFA/VSO staff as well as the volunteers to ensure they are very comfortable with using the device.