Saani's voice booms from the statistics office as I tap away on my netbook creating the Talensi Nabdam newsletter for all officers and teachers. No change there I think to myself, Saani's voice always booms, but never usually with this much anger and hate, I figure I should go see what's happening. Before I manage to walk out of the main office door to head to his smaller office for three, he is stood in front of me shouting words I cannot understand. I manage to grasp hold of "we would rather starve than have your money, starve! We don't need you!" "Saani what are you talking about?" I have no fear in my voice, for I have no fear for Saani. He is always loud and opinionated, but it is rarely directed specifically at me. Often it is aimed at "your people," by this I think he means 'all white people living in the developed World.' I ask again "Saani what has happened?" "Your people are cutting aid to Ghana because we don't allow gays!" The main office erupts behind me, which again is a regular occurrence when there is a debate to be had. Although usually it has a religious undertone, which this one eventually does, and I am just observing. This debate directly involves me and "my people."
I choose to keep myself at a distance in the heated discussion that follows. It emerges that Saani has just heard it announced on the radio that the UK has already cut aid to Zambia for their strong beliefs on homosexuality and that Ghana is next. They have in fact cut aid to Malawi by £19 million after two homosexual men were sentenced to 14 years of hard labour as punishment for being the people that they are. Having lived in Ghana for the past eight months I have learnt that if there is one topic where there is no room for open discussion it is homosexuality. It is still considered a taboo in Ghana, and much of Africa, with Ghanaians viewing it as a "non-human, disgusting sexual act." It is a closed case, for which my liberal, accepting views are not welcome.
The whole incident drags my mind from the focused, channelled place it has been, to the bigger picture. I start to question what right the UK has to cut aid to countries based on their deep-rooted cultural beliefs? If so, why homosexuality, why not juju? Hundreds of people still die every year because of acts of juju. And I ask - how much of UK aid money is going to punishing homosexuals in Ghana? If none, then what business is it of theirs to impose thoughts that have only come into play in the UK over the last 50 years? Why not re-focus the money they are cutting to educating Ghanaians on homosexuality and to giving homosexuals in Ghana a voice?
I then can't help but think further about UK aid and how it is accumulated, distributed and monitored. Next year UK aid to Ghana will increase by £5 million taking the total up to £90 million. The majority of this goes to the government, with a small percentage going to the likes of VSO in order to have volunteers in country, "sharing skills and changing lives." DFID (Department for International Development) who act as the UK's 'aid ministry' are the ones in control of UK aid money. They are the ones implementing aid cuts to some and increases to others, as well as monitoring and over-seeing the use and benefits of UK aid to much of the developing World. I would question from my time in Ghana how well these processes are actually working and whether DFID are in fact reducing poverty by pumping millions of pounds into a country with little action plan for it and even less monitoring. Mr Mitchell said the coalition had made "huge changes" to the way the department runs its finances and that aid is linked to "tangible results on the ground". These results I am struggling to see. But clearly the intentions of both DFID and VSO are good, but in my view, the implementing is not.
I choose to keep myself at a distance in the heated discussion that follows. It emerges that Saani has just heard it announced on the radio that the UK has already cut aid to Zambia for their strong beliefs on homosexuality and that Ghana is next. They have in fact cut aid to Malawi by £19 million after two homosexual men were sentenced to 14 years of hard labour as punishment for being the people that they are. Having lived in Ghana for the past eight months I have learnt that if there is one topic where there is no room for open discussion it is homosexuality. It is still considered a taboo in Ghana, and much of Africa, with Ghanaians viewing it as a "non-human, disgusting sexual act." It is a closed case, for which my liberal, accepting views are not welcome.
The whole incident drags my mind from the focused, channelled place it has been, to the bigger picture. I start to question what right the UK has to cut aid to countries based on their deep-rooted cultural beliefs? If so, why homosexuality, why not juju? Hundreds of people still die every year because of acts of juju. And I ask - how much of UK aid money is going to punishing homosexuals in Ghana? If none, then what business is it of theirs to impose thoughts that have only come into play in the UK over the last 50 years? Why not re-focus the money they are cutting to educating Ghanaians on homosexuality and to giving homosexuals in Ghana a voice?
I then can't help but think further about UK aid and how it is accumulated, distributed and monitored. Next year UK aid to Ghana will increase by £5 million taking the total up to £90 million. The majority of this goes to the government, with a small percentage going to the likes of VSO in order to have volunteers in country, "sharing skills and changing lives." DFID (Department for International Development) who act as the UK's 'aid ministry' are the ones in control of UK aid money. They are the ones implementing aid cuts to some and increases to others, as well as monitoring and over-seeing the use and benefits of UK aid to much of the developing World. I would question from my time in Ghana how well these processes are actually working and whether DFID are in fact reducing poverty by pumping millions of pounds into a country with little action plan for it and even less monitoring. Mr Mitchell said the coalition had made "huge changes" to the way the department runs its finances and that aid is linked to "tangible results on the ground". These results I am struggling to see. But clearly the intentions of both DFID and VSO are good, but in my view, the implementing is not.
I am working on VSO Ghana's largest donor project - TENI (Tackling Education Needs Inclusively). This five year programme receives £1 million each year of Comic Relief money, with VSO Ghana contributing a further £250,000 per year. So in total £1,250,000 per year is being given to reduce poverty through education in three districts in Northern Ghana. The focus of the project is led by VSO and Comic Relief, not by the needs of the people. The idea is that three volunteers - an MSO (Management Support Officer), TSO (Teacher Support Officer) and CASO (Community Advocacy Support Officer - me) are shipped in to build the capacity of the district GES (Ghana Education Service) in order to improve education for all, but specifically girls and those with disability, those not obviously included. Where is homosexuality in this? If the UK feel so strongly that Ghana must legalise homosexuality, why not include that in their development work? Small tangent, back to TENI...the districts themselves have no buy-in, they have very little say in what work they do and they are most definitely not having their capacity built. Instead they have lost their voice, their ownership and accountability. They have become dependant on TENI money to carry out activities, most of which do very little to help school children and teachers, rather doing more to line GES officers pockets with crisp Cedis from Ghana Commercial Bank. And the only question I ask is - what will happen once TENI is gone? Because TENI will leave and VSO and Comic Relief will declare the project a huge success with thousands of beneficiaries lives changed. A video clip will be shown on Red Nose Day of smiling happy children sat comfortably in a concrete school with a celebrity by their side just to add a theatrical twist. And little of this thanks to TENI, because children in Africa do smile. They also laugh and joke. They cry and they hurt. They are the same little children as you and I once were. They push boundaries. They learn. They grow. They cause mischief and trouble. They bring smiles of joy. This I am sure of. One thing that I am less sure of is how much they directly benefit from UK aid money. In fact I'm not sure how much most people in Ghana benefit from UK aid money.
So to wrap up...does the UK have the right to cut aid to African countries that do not legalise homosexuality? Is that part of the terms and conditions for aid? How many people in those African countries have the voice to agree or disagree with the UK's proposed actions? And after all of this I have to retract some statements a couple of posts back, because clearly I do care about International Development, maybe just not the way VSO or DFID go about it.
So to wrap up...does the UK have the right to cut aid to African countries that do not legalise homosexuality? Is that part of the terms and conditions for aid? How many people in those African countries have the voice to agree or disagree with the UK's proposed actions? And after all of this I have to retract some statements a couple of posts back, because clearly I do care about International Development, maybe just not the way VSO or DFID go about it.
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