Moreover, Appiah has become a teacher and role model. As the elected Vice
Secretary of his farmers’ group, he’s in charge of mobilization—spreading the
word about the activities and services the group offers. He has shared what he
learned in the Heifer training program with other farmers in the area. Appiah
is a local man who started with very little himself—as a Heifer staff member
pointed out, this gives him an advantage as a teacher. He is effective because
he understands what people need to know and uses familiar language to communicate the information to them.
Scott Bleggi
Training for health care volunteers—and songs
Women with recent training in family nutrition and child health issues often make
excellent educators, finding accurate,
compelling ways to share their knowledge and experiences.
89
4 Essay 1
n
Another example of development assistance that includes education and training benefits two neighboring
communities in Ghana. Like the Heifer International
program that took a chance on Alexander Appiah and
farmers like him, a U.S.-based organization, World Vision, is helping to ensure that the assistance offered is
useful to the people in the region—in this case, participants in a mother and child health and nutrition
program in western Ghana.
As in Nkwableng, resources are tight in Ghana’s Saltpong-Biriwa district. Many children are malnourished,
and many adults have little formal education. Nonetheless, things are happening. At the health center shared
by the communities, for example, about 60 mothers of
babies and toddlers, plus some fathers and grandparents,
attend a popular mother-to-mother support group.
For these communities, development assistance
comes in the form of songs specially designed to convey important nutrition
messages, training for community health volunteers, and support in analyzing
local health information.
World Vision worked with Ghana’s Ministry of Health to develop an education program to help mothers improve their diets, seek prenatal care, and raise
healthier children. It works because it uses songs, a familiar and culturallyaccepted teaching method, and because the women who participate quickly
become enthusiastic and accurate communicators. Once people have sung a
song a few times, they can easily pass its content along to others.
The women who attend the support group are involved parents who want
to do what’s right for their children but don’t always have the information and
percent:
the share of the world
population who now
have access to safe
drinking water.
Bread for the World Institute
3 billion:
the number
of people living on
less than $2.50 a day.