Shortly after the CGI Annual Meeting, the Literacy Bridge team met in Ghana to kick off the integrated health and agriculture program Health & Agriculture Communication for Women & Children. Literacy Bridge Maternal/Child Health program manager Ayva Larson chronicles her experience in Ghana in the following blog.
The community of Gozu is home to approximately 500 individuals, most of whom are subsistence farmers. The community has no electricity, no running water and almost no access to medical care. The nearest hospital is an hour down a bumpy, dirt road in the town of Jirapa. The community has no cars or trucks, and motorcycles are a rarity. It is in this community that Literacy Bridge launched the beginning of the Health & Agriculture Communication for Women & Children Program, a program designed to help reduce maternal and child mortality rates.
The program focuses on five key health messages identified by UNICEF and Ghana Health Services as having the greatest impact on reducing mortality rates in pregnant women and children under the age of five. These key health messages are:
- Hand washing with soap.
- Proper use of insecticide treated bed nets for pregnant women and small children.
- Use of oral rehydration therapy for children with diarrhea.
- Delivery with a skilled birth attendant.
- Exclusive breastfeeding for the first six months of a child’s life.
Literacy Bridge added one additional message:
- The best food combinations to create the most nutritious food for small children and pregnant women.
During our time in Ghana, Literacy Bridge staff met with health officials, agriculture ministers and other development agencies to determine how to best create content around these key subjects. The result was interviews, songs and simple messages created to engage community members in low-literate, rural communities in the Upper West of Ghana.
Gozu was the first community Literacy Bridge approached, and the first community to provide essential feedback to our staff. When we first visited the community the sun was beginning to set, and a small group of men were sitting on wooden benches by the road. We first approached the group to ask for an audience with the Chief. When he arrived, we described the program to the Chief, demonstrated a Talking Book and asked if he felt this information was useful to his community. He felt it was very useful and agreed to hold a community meeting the next morning to introduce our staff and allow community members to ask questions.
The community of Gozu.
The following morning we returned to Gozu with Talking Books and all four members of our team: Andy Azaabanye Bayor, Fidelis Da-Uri Awonodomo, Cliff Schmidt and myself. We were greeted at the road by a group of women who sang, clapped and danced for our arrival. Their laughter and singing escorted us to the main ‘square,’ a central clearing in the community with a large tree for shade. There we were greeted by nearly 200 members of community, a very large turn-out for a market day. We were told many of the women would have to leave by mid-day to go to the market, but that all present were eager to hear about the Talking Book and the Child and Maternal Health Program.
What followed was an engaging speech and demonstration by Andy, Literacy Bridge’s Country Director. He described the program and demonstrated the recordings on the Talking Books. He answered questions, received feedback and made certain to engage all members of the community present. Andy and Fidelis took turns interpreting for Cliff and I as we described our roles in the project and how the program would unfold in the coming months. The community members were excited and honored that two people from so far away would care about their community and take the time to come all the way there to provide them with this information.
Community gathering
The meeting ended with more song and dance by the women, which in turn meant I had to dance in thanks. A good laugh was had by all at my terrible mimic of their joyous movements and we left Gozu for the second time, leaving behind instructions and Talking Books, and curious to gain feedback the next day.
The feedback we received in the following two days would help us to rethink some of our ideas and force us to address issues surrounding access. The Talking Books were listened to extensively and community members created their own recordings in response to our content. The final program will be more comprehensive as a result of this trip, and our understanding of the challenges facing these communities has continued to grow.
Interacting with the Talking Book
Access to knowledge is one of the most powerful tools anyone can provide. In communities like Gozu, a Talking Book can provide life saving information to the mother of a small child. The power of this kind of information cannot be underestimated. If you have extremely limited access to a medical facility, are illiterate and live in a remote community with no electricity your access to medical information is extremely limited. Literacy Bridge is trying to increase this access by bringing information from medical and agriculture experts directly to the communities.
For me, this trip informed how I think about the program I am helping to create and the potential impact it will have. I feel extremely privileged to have met the community members of Gozu and to have experienced our time in Ghana. The impact Talking Books can make in a community is incredible and I am humbled and proud to be a part of the Literacy Bridge Team.
Literacy Bridge
