Rock Paper Scissors

Rock, Paper, Scissors

I have not blogged in a while, and I apologize for that but hopefully this blog will explain why. Work over the past couple weeks have been incredibly slow- I mean, sitting on my computer and leaving early nearly everyday- slow. So I have had absolutely nothing to write about! And for that I apologize. Last week was rough, I was annoyed at how slow work was and how useless I felt. I ended up calling a couple of friends who helped me through it. One suggested I think of something to add to my work plan that could keep me busy, and I think I got it!

My Office

My job here is to assist with the Girls Clubs in approximately 20 schools, both primary and junior high. However, when I got here there were some problems already present. There is a lack of motivation in many of the teachers at the schools, which makes it really difficult to encourage the students to go to school. I went to my first Girls Club last week and we started 30 minutes late… the headmaster or principal was not even there yet. Another time I went to a spelling bee, which was awesome- don’t get me wrong- but a lot of the time the students didn’t understand the words they were spelling. So what good is it if you can spell a word but have no idea what it means? It is safe to say that there is a lack of accountability within the education system and certainly a lack of effectiveness! That is where I hope to come in.

Spelling Bee Competition

Rock, Paper, Scissors

We have all played the game before. But I am turning the game into real life. I created a project for myself in order to keep busy and in order to improve the Ghana Education Service, specifically related to the Girls Clubs. I am going to create an Evaluation Report that focuses on the realities of the Girls Clubs, the problems that are present, and possible solutions that could be made in order to improve the effectiveness and efficiency of the system. At the end of my mandate I will sit down with the Director of Education and the Girls Education Officer (my boss) to discuss the report and ways to improve the system!

So where does the Rock, Paper, Scissors come in? Well the rock is what I consider to be the current state, or the reality that the Girls Clubs are in now. The report that I will draft will be the paper and the ideas that it proposes. You see the paper will be full of ideas and changes that need to be made in the future. Now in the game, paper covers rock. So when the report is done, I would like the suggested changes to happen. Therefore, I would like the ideas to become reality- the paper to cover the rock. I see scissors as an item that ceases change. There are many times when scissors cuts paper and therefore turns down new ideas. But if the paper already covers the rock, then a new solid foundation has been created and it therefore crushes the scissors- allowing for new realities to emerge.

Are you a bit confused? Here’s a quick rundown:

Rock: reality (current state)

Paper: ideas (my report)

Scissors: ceases change

Scissors cuts paper = scissors is trying to stop change, and can therefore cut paper and crush new, emerging ideas. But...

Paper covers rock = a new, solid foundation is created as the ideas become reality

Rock (covered in paper) crushes scissors = If the new foundation is solid, it will crush scissors and its attempt to stop change.

So with time, I am hoping to develop a solid foundation so that when I leave they can begin to work on positive changes within the Girls Clubs. I am hoping that through evaluating the schools, I will be able to see what is working and what needs improvements. Whether my report is taken seriously or not in the end doesn’t matter… although I would love it if it did, it is still an amazing learning experience for me and will certainly challenge me to think outside the box. I have never drafted a report like this before and to be honest I have no idea where to start. But I am up for the challenge! So wish me luck…

Perhaps I will share my report with you sometime at the end of March!

Kintampo Waterfalls, Ghana

Lots of love!

Bianca