Some thoughts on Capacity Building in Africa

We just rounded up the 7^th Annual African Community of Practice meeting and as usual a lot of insights and knowledge was shared on how Africa can achieve results-oriented development whilst promoting African Integration. For the sake of readers not familiar with AfCoP, more on AfCoP here and more on the 7th annual meeting here.

Now the theme of this year’s meeting was centered on Powering Regional Integration for Africa’s Transformation. A well captured theme for which the forum did justice to. Two main issues remained with me after the meeting but to avoid a lengthy blog I will split these into two separate blogs. In this post I concentrate on the issue of capacity building, specifically referring to human capacity building.

The issue of capacity building was dealt with from many angles especially on how important it is in achieving regional integration. How do we build the capacities of national institutions to adjust to regional integration? After all the treaties that have been signed, do African countries have the capacities to implement these treaties?  Also, to effectively achieve results-based development, we need to be able to build the capacities of the various stakeholders. However, some cautions on capacity building were also thrown. I would like to dwell on two of these.

First, how do we measure the effectiveness of capacity building? A number of members gave examples of various funding agencies shelving out money for capacity building exercises which have been carried out. However in the monitoring and evaluation context how do we measure just how successful or effective these capacity building exercises have been? There are usually objectives and indicators set for a particular training event. It’s easy for participants at such events to fill out evaluation forms. But after these training sessions, what follow-ups are made to measure the true impact of these capacity building events. It is understandable why human capacity building would be difficult to measure especially since it is a soft skill. In that, it is a skill the trainee now possesses inherently thus not easily quantifiable. We may then want to look at indicators that go beyond the immediate outcomes after the training and beyond the evaluation sheets filled in at the end of the training. For each capacity building training, both mid-term and longer terms outcomes and indicators should be set. For instance, so 6 months down the line after the training what should we expect participants to have been able to achieve? What about in a year’s time? Admittedly this makes the evaluation process more expensive but yet more comprehensive. How else will you know your capacity building exercise worked? It is one thing gathering a group of people into a room to discuss and train them on an issue, be it results-based management or on African integration and it’s another thing what they actually do with this knowledge when they step out.

This brings me to the second caution on capacity building I would like to discuss. What's the purpose of skills development in a context where those skills cannot be used? What's d point of capacity building when the person is constrained by the political economy or the cultural environment in which he finds himself? Yes, you will train a person and reveal to them the benefits of a particular initiative, but then there is ‘the way things are done’. Most public sector workers can relate to this especially one with prior experience in the private sector. Our experiences from other sectors may teach you better, however there is little you can do to overcome the bureaucracy you face in the public sector.  Another case in point is with the recent Ebola virus where communities and individuals, well aware of the Dos and Don’ts from awareness creation, would still hide infected corpses or attempt to bury them. Why? Because that is the way things are done. The cultural norm. How then do we ensure that the skills or capacity building will be used? Do we accompany capacity building with an overhaul of the entire system? What tools and policies do we need to put in place to ensure that the newly acquired skills can be implemented and not wasted? How do we ensure that the person does not go back to ‘the way things are done’. Yes we can depend on the hope that individuals are highly motivated and gingered to ‘defeat’ the drag of the system. But then this would likely be an exception to the norm. We need to make these kind of success rather the norm. Reforms, especially that of the public sector are very much needed. I have recently joined the public sector and only 6 months down the line I can already start to feel my once pumped, results-oriented, development fanatic, capacity built self slowly slipping away.

In summary, yes capacity building is crucial but we need to also start talking about 1. How to measure the mid-term and longer term impact of capacity building and 2. How do we make ensure we don’t slip back into our old ways of doing things that how do we sustain this capacity building.

The R-Word Is Not Dirty

"When we spend money on programs whose effect we do not know, we are experimenting without evaluating. When we provide a program to some people and not others, we are rationing without randomizing. These sorts of uncontrolled experiments measure up no better than controlled experiment..., and they fall far short of RCTs in guiding us towards better decisions and improved program designs in the future."

<<Interesting Article by Jessica Goldberg on the why RCTs are not unethical. Click on title below for full article >>

The R-Word Is Not Dirty

For Laughs :D - My ride with Mohammed

A bit lengthy(understatement) but interesting encounter i had yesterday...
After field supervision in Wa i had to head back to Tamale (for my non-Ghanaian readers, these are cities in the Northern region of Ghana)
So as usual i call up the car rental for a driver
Im giving a driver named Mohammed
Through out our phone conversations (before actually meeting up) Mohammed had been VERY VERY professional. I instantly liked him for that.
Then it was time to pick me up
As soon as Mohammed saw me, he giggled and asked if i was Dagomba
Of course i am
We set off for our 5-hour journey...
Just then he turns up the radio on full blast and i kindly request it off
Then we bumped into some of his old friends, he stopped to chit-chat
I really didn't mind until he comes over to the car and says to his friend
'Don't you see she is pretty?' (Awkward!)
We continue our journey
About an hour into the ride (at which point im lying in the back, with my eyes closed tryna nap)
He comes to a stop and signals to a stranger,
The man approaches and Mohammed asks him where he is headed, he replies, Damongo.
Thats when he turns to me to ask if we can give this man a ride
Well saying No! whiles the man is looking on will just make me look like a wicked witch
And well its Ramadan so maybe Mohammed just wants to give a stranger a FREE ride
I agree
We continue our journey (Im dozing in and out of sleep)
Then i hear Mohammed tell our new friend (thinking im asleep) how he is only offering me a ride.
He apparently bumped into me in Wa and offered me a ride to Tamale cuz we live in the same area, plus he's known me from way back. He couldnt just leave me stranded like that (LOL!)
We get to Damongo.
And guess what?
Mohammed charges this man a fare (so, no, it wasn't charity and no i didn't get my share!)
Lol!
At this point i finally doze off to sleep until we arrive in Tamale (Thank God!)

One question i really wanna know is
How did professionalism get thrown out the window so fast?!
Was it realizing after we had finally met, that a) she is young so this one is a 'small madam' or b) realizing we are from the same tribe, Dagomba, hence identifying with me as his 'Peoples'.

Either ways, I'm still baffled :)

Poverty: Nature or Nurture?

So I have spent the last couple of months traveling to some of the remotest parts of Ghana, first as part of my internship with Oxfam and now working with Innovations for Poverty Action (IPA). An exciting experience it has been indeed…Like how I’m currently sitting under this lovely tree as it’s the only location in this village with mobile connection (not such a fun fact for a phone/tech addict as myself).

Throughout my travels one question has constantly bothered me and hence the title for this post. It’s a question that has always existed in some corner of my mind. I recently asked my mom what she would define poverty as. She simply replied, “Isn’t poverty a person’s fate? Baffled I probed further, asking her to explain. Mama said to me, a child born in the city to rich parents and a child born in a remote village to ‘poor’ parents are never the same? Instantly that child is also described as ‘poor’?  And if s/he never gets an opportunity to break out of that state, isn’t it then purely their fate? Mama has a point.

Poverty: Nature or Nurture?

For most of the world’s poor, it all becomes a vicious cycle. Born to ‘poor’ parents, attend ‘poor’ schools, and hardly graduate, and if they do graduate, most likely get comparably bad grades (well since they are made to take ‘standardized’ tests) and then end up in second cycle tertiary institutions or just settle for low paying manual jobs, come up with a business plan regardless, tries to get some funding but doesn’t have worthy collateral, eventually settles down, get married, have kids and the cycle starts all over. This may be an oversimplified depiction and even maybe a myopic point of view…but admittedly that’s most often the reality on the ground…except for the few ones that break out of this vicious cycle. The ones that get away.

Then of course there are the world’s poor who are as a result of not ‘making hay whilst the sun was shining’. Those who missed out on opportunities to break out or made one too many bad choices. Those who wait for the world’s hand me downs and never take initiatives. Always waiting on the parent, the government, the donor partners, the IMF and the World Bank, someone, anyone out there.

This same question interpreted in a different way has been the driving force behind my interest in development economics, which is, Why some countries are rich and others poor? I have since read several growth theories ranging from history to anthropology and still yet to find my answer.

I’m guessing there are many out there like myself seeking the answer to this same question… if you are one of us, and find an answer, please do find me and share :)

M.

Driving Ms.Mona

So I finally found the inspiration for my next post (this very one) 3 days ago as I drove to work. Right in front of my work building was a garbage truck blocking the entrance to the parking lot. About to throw a how-could-you look to the driver of the truck, I turned to look up only to see a familiar face. The garbage truck driver turned out to be the very same driver that used to drive me and my siblings to school. As far back as primary school. More than 10 years ago. We instantly exchanged pleasantries and a bit of pep-talk. Curious as to why he was now driving a garbage truck, he replied saying his kids are all grown up and in high school now. Something’s gotta pay the bills.

Back at my desk at work, I keep replaying our pep-talk and lots of questions running in my mind. The most pressing of them being: After all these years of driving, why is he now driving a garbage truck? I know he gave me a reason but my worry is deeper than just paying bills.

My driver, Kwesi’s story is probably typical for most hand-to-mouth living Ghanaians and others all over the world. Do our economy not present opportunities for folks to break out of such vicious cycle of poverty? In particular citizens with more technical and ‘less formal’ education. I don’t exactly know the situation in other developing countries but in Ghana, formal education and a degree certification is almost a necessity for success, But should that be the case? What then happens to the hardworking Kwesis out there who for various circumstantial reasons end up learning an essential trade? Is that a passport to eternal hand-to-mouth living? No wonder Kwesi is doing all he can to make sure his kids get a formal education. Woe to them to follow in his footsteps.

In my opinion…

All too often in our quest as a country for growth and to be categorized a ‘developed’ country, we lose sight of that which matters most. The wellbeing of the very ones we govern. The road to alleviating poverty is a long and daunting one. We Know. But in the interim, we really need to create opportunities for individual success. Educated or ‘not-Educated’ / Driver or Student. There is the need for micro-level policies to help break intergenerational poverty, you know that poverty that just keeps passing on from one generation to the other. We need a situation where every skill, technical or intellectual, can be aptly tapped into to further our development.

Giving that in most developing countries, our man power or labor is made up of mostly ‘un-skilled’ labor (I’ve always disliked this word since my high school economics class), it is rather ironic that our policies, from education to employment, seem to lay emphasis on the ‘skilled’ minority. For instance, in Ghana, poor small-scale farmers produce about 80% of the food we consume and contribute 60% of agric GDP yet receive only about 15% of government agriculture investment.

All I’m saying is, whilst on our quest to becoming a ‘rich’ nation it is equally important to create that space to engage and develop our best assets i.e the citizens.  We are mostly all we have and we best make use of us (citizens).

Deal or No Deal?

It’s no secret China’s immense involvement in Africa. It unsurprisingly comes up during any hot debate on Africa’s development and the way forward for Africa. Curiously though, the conversation is mostly taken from one particular angle i.e ‘Is China’s involvement in Africa good or bad?

If you are novel to the arguments from both sides on this debate the first question that would probably pop up, and rightly so, is why China? I mean every country is more or less present in Africa so why the particular interest in China? Vice versa, China is everywhere as well so why the particular interest in their involvement in Africa? Well, a simple answer to this question in my opinion is because both Africa and China are ‘hot’ topics now and their interaction is bound to be ‘hotter’ :). Honestly, their involvement is inevitable. Africa needs what China has to offer; monetary resources, and China needs what Africa has to offer; natural resources. A simple case of Supply meets Demand. So why all this fuss then?

To summarize…

The argument against China ranges from labour abuse to poor-quality 'made-in-china' infrastructure. Numerous international newspapers report china’s ‘inappropriate’ work ethics. Others are not very pleased with the flooding of their local markets by cheaper goods from China. But the biggest headline has been ‘China is only a new form of colonialism. They are only using us for our raw materials’. African leaders counter by saying “ well no one else is prepared to give us this amount of money we need for this duration of time with no stringent conditionalities”.  The deal doesn’t get sweeter than China.

The way I see it…

Well both sides most certainly have valid arguments but in my opinion Africa needs to move away from trying to figure out whether China is good or bad. Whether we accept it or not, China has come to stay. Their economic hegemony is exploding and I personally wouldn’t want to be caught on the wrong side of that explosion. What Africa and her leaders need to start figuring out, if they havent already, is

WHAT DO WE WANT FOR AFRICA? And how can we get China to give us exactly what we want?

For instance, does Africa give more priority to protecting its labour force than just monetary gains? If so then Africa needs to allocate more resources to outlining and enforcing the appropriate labour laws needed to safeguard its people. And simply tell anyone who wishes to do business that “Hey, my people are my priority, you mess with them, this deal is off” and actually enforce this. If on the other hand, our priority is to sell off as much of our natural resources as we can possible do for any good price without stressing the importance of labour force protection then we need to shut up and stop blaming China. Or any other country for that matter. We need to go back and draw a simple scale of preference for investor participation.

I know the arguments I’m putting across may be oversimplified, as a country would definitely have conflicting priorities coupled with a complicated political economy. But the point im trying to make here is that in my opinion if we as a continent allow colonialism/neo-colonialism to prevail a second time around, then we should be prepared to take up part of the blame and not point fingers at others. 

Once Bitten, Twice Shy.

Hand go, Hand come

Just read yet another newspaper article protesting the current Economic Partnership Agreements (EPA) being negotiated with African countries by the EU. This agreement is to replace the previous non-reciprocal African Caribbean Partnership (ACP) trade agreements. Under this new EPA, all parties are to drop whatever trade barriers existed between them and grant unrestricted market access. The EU has been pushing this agenda for the past ten years even though so far only 10 of 47 Sub-Saharan African countries have signed on to this agreement. The EU argues that “the EPAs are set out to help ACP countries integrate into the world economy and share in the opportunities offered by globalisation”. In addition, they “ are designed to be drivers of change that will kick-start reform and help strengthen rule of law in the economic field thereby attracting foreign direct investment (FDI) and helping to create a "virtuous circle" of growth”.

Let’s cut to the chase…

This, in my opinion, is another attempt to crowd out the development space available to developing countries. Most developing countries under this partnership are barely industrialised and most of them are highly dependent on agriculture. An unrestricted market access for EU products (with the infamous EU – CAP still in place) is only going to shoot up the export bill of many of these countries and worsen already bad balance of payments. What then happens to the over 20 million subsistence farmers and small land owners in these countries? On the other hand, there is no doubt that these African countries gain reciprocal access to the EU market. But in the presence of (with emphasis) the CAP and other quiet interesting Non-Tariff Barriers in the EU market, its a no-brainer - admittedly a bold assumption - who would be the net beneficiary.

Most developing countries are already facing the eminent danger of the influx of cheap Chinese product stifling local initiatives to move up the value chain of production. Imagine adding to that a no holds-bar access for about 20 industrialised and semi-industrialised nations? Based on pure speculation, could this be an attempt to recapture the market share of developing countries from Asia (in particular China)? Another angle to the power struggle between the West and the East over the South?

Interestingly, this proposed partnership seems to concur with the ‘Kicking away the ladder’ gospel, where those already at the top try to defend their status and to wipe away the strategies they themselves used in getting to the top.

But who is to be blamed?

In this rat race of a global economy, every nation must look after their own and to do whatever they can to keep growing. Everyone wants the biggest bite off the cake. If tables were turned with EU as a developing continent and Africa as a developed continent, would we not have pushed a similar agenda? Now that’s something to think about :)