The ICS Makeover: Before and After

At the beginning of the ICS programme, the WOSAG team wrote down all their hopes, fears and goals about their project. As we near the end of our time with WOSAG, we now look back at these thoughts to reflect back on what we have achieved.

Our fears, hopes and goals from week 1

Latif

-- What were you doing before ICS?

I was studying Community development at Wa campus of UDS.

-- What were your fears about the project?

I was worried in case we wouldn’t get on as a team.

-- What were your hopes for the project?

I hoped to make friends, to learn new ideas and to learn new facts about the UK.

-- What were your goals?

Through ICS, I aimed to be an agent of change, to acquire basic skills and experience for women’s empowerment.

-- Did any of your hopes, fears or goals come true?

Yes! I’ve learnt new things and feel as though I am becoming a development agent, I’ve made lots of new friends. And thankfully, we’ve all got on really well as a team!

-- What has been your greatest success from the programme?

I have had the opportunity to gain knowledge and experience of working with people from different cultures.

-- What are you going to do after ICS?

I am keen to get back to my friends and family to share my experiences and all I have learnt. My aim for the future is to do more development work with NGOs.

Elizabeth

-- What were you doing before ICS?

Liz at Banvim School

I had recently finished my A-levels and was working two jobs.

-- What were your fears about the project?

I feared we wouldn’t make a difference and that we wouldn’t be as good as the last cohort.

-- What were your hopes for the project?

I hoped to change attitudes about domestic abuse.

-- What were your goals?

I wanted to gain confidence, reduce domestic violence, and increase sexual health knowledge in young people.

-- Did any of your hopes, fears or goals come true?

I feel like we have made a difference. This is clear when we do peer education sessions with the girls in the communities we work with, when they remember what we’ve taught them and it feels like we are getting through to them. I’ve also become more confident and have an increased sexual health knowledge.

-- What has been your greatest success from the programme?

I think my greatest success has been speaking in front of all the pupils at awareness raisings. I wasn’t scared at all as I felt I needed to deliver the information, and there were almost 100 girls!

Liz speaking to Kanvili school girls

-- What are you going to do after ICS?

I have been inspired to pursue more creative interests in my future, such as art and music, which would be more fulfilling. I still have a big interest in human rights, but would prefer to work on it in my spare time. 

Mariama

-- What were you doing before ICS?

Before ICS, I was working with Simli radio station and Mother/Child Healthcare community project.

Mariama displaying the reusable pads

-- What were your fears about the project?

I was worried that the community wouldn’t cooperate, and was afraid of not working well as a group.

-- What were your hopes for the project?

I hoped to achieve the end result as a team in our project.

-- What were your goals?

My goals were to learn new skills from the group and people we will be working with, and to learn more about report writing.

-- Did any of your hopes, fears or goals come true?

The communities tend to cooperate well but we’ve encountered some problems. And we get on well as a group! We’ve done what we set out to do and I hope some will benefit.

-- What has been your greatest success from the programme?

I have learnt lots of new skills, from report writing, to improving my IT skills. My proudest moment was working with Kanvilli school girls through peer education. The girls could understand us and demonstrated what we had taught them very well. My favourite part has been us working well as a team and getting along with each other.

Raising awareness about domestic abuse in Kanvili 

-- What are you going to do after ICS?

I am going to continue with radio, as a board member with an organisation called Youth Opportunity Partnership, and as a community coach.

Juliana

-- What were you doing before ICS?

I was a team leader for the previous cohort. Before that, I was a volunteer in the social welfare department for my national service.

Juliana helping out at the Shea Butter factory

-- What were your fears about the project?

I feared that sickness would break the team down.

-- What were your hopes for the project?

I hoped that our budget would be approved early for us to start the project.

-- What were your goals?

I wanted to sustain the project.

-- Did any of your hopes, fears or goals come true?

Yes, the budget was approved in week 3! I feel that we have been able to sustain the project, and luckily, sickness didn’t affect us (too much!)

-- What has been your greatest success from the programme?

We have been able to sustain the work done by the previous cohort, by improving the knowledge of the communities and giving them resources to use when we are not there.

Talking to Banvim peer educators

-- What are you going to do after ICS?

I’d like to go and visit the UKVs in the UK if I get a chance! Other than that, my goal is to go to the south and open a fashion centre, employing girls in fields of hairdressing and dressmaking (and boys in the future.)

Helen

-- What were you doing before ICS?

I had recently completed the Graduate Diploma in Law, and was working as a paralegal.

-- What were your fears about the project?

I feared our worked wouldn’t make an impact that we would be able to witness. I was also worried we would offend a community!

-- What were your hopes for the project?

I hoped that we would be able to make a real difference to the communities we would be working with.

Teaching Kanvili girls about the menstrual cycle

-- What were your goals?

I wanted to be able to speak Dagbani better, and that we would be able to work with and educate schools/young people.

-- Did any of your hopes, fears or goals come true?

Thankfully, we didn’t offend any of the communities! And I have learnt that development is a slow, ongoing process, and change takes a long time to be able to see, but short term, I have been able to witness the retention of the education we have delivered in our communities. But unfortunately, I still can’t speak Dagbani very well…

-- What has been your proudest moment from the programme?

My proudest moment was working with peer educators from Kanvilli. They were so grateful for us spending time with them and educating them on issues that affect them and their communities. We could see that they were learning new things and remembering what we taught them, so we feel confident that they are able to educate others properly.

Helen with Kanvili women peer educators

-- What are you going to do after ICS?

My long term aim is to become a lawyer, and I still have one more year of university to complete before I achieve this. In the meantime, I will continue my role as a paralegal back in the UK, but I have also been inspired by working with ICS to do more developmental work abroad before starting my career.

Alice

-- What were you doing before ICS?

I had just graduated from Glasgow uni, and was working in a pub over the summer.

-- What were your fears about the project?

I was worried that we wouldn’t achieve much or be well received in the community. I was also concerned about having to leave early (because of illness for example.)

-- What were your hopes for the project?

Good team work, working hard on the project, making a positive impact, to learn a lot… and to have fun!

-- What were your goals?

That we would carry out meaningful work and successful activities. I also wanted the chance to do a presentation/ lead a workshop, to improve my public speaking.  To find out more about women’s rights and issues in Ghana too.

Alice helping Banvim peer educators with a condom demo

-- Did any of your hopes, fears or goals come true?

My fears turned out to be far from reality! We’ve been able to achieve a lot and be well received by our communities. I haven’t really been ill at all either. I’ve had many opportunities for public speaking so I feel more confident in that area, and we have carried out meaningful work. I’ve learned so much on placement and had a lot of fun!

-- What has been your greatest success from the programme?

Seeing something through all the way from the planning stage, to the implementation, to the evaluation; and all the procedures that entails. We’ve planned all our activities, wrote risk assessments, organised with the communities – then gone and carried them out – then came back and evaluated them. I’m really grateful to have learnt how to do all this, and to get an insight into the work development organisations do. We’re only a small team with a small budget and I’m really proud of how well we’ve done in these circumstances!

-- What are you going to do after ICS?

Before I came I had an interest in the kind of work WOSAG does, but now I’m sure I want to work in the field of gender equality – as cliché as it sounds, I really feel inspired! I’m planning to do a Masters in Gender Studies in September and in the meantime hope to do some more travelling, volunteering with women’s groups, and development work.

The team with the chief of Banvim community and the secretary of the women's group

Written by: Helen and Alice