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Community development
There appears to be an under-utilisation
of the massive congregations as a resource
for community education and community
development.
Community-work practice
There could be over-concentration on self-provisioning
leading to a jack-of-all-trades syndrome.
This will blind the need to also emphasise
on the market and the new opportunities
: things that require each organisation
to specialise in one or two fields - and
draw the expertise of others into partnership.
A new place for Bible Schools
Ghana is about 70% Christian. Sadly, people
are seen on the streets in large numbers
each day, selling petty items or roaming
about. There is an indication of under-employment/unemployment.
I found very unrealistic expectations
from many people with regards to government
subsidies and other public-sector provisions
for students in tertiary education. There
is over indulgence in self-interests.
In the midst of these frustrations, people
appear to be getting into Bible Schools.
The Bible Schools and Church training
programmes are becoming the 'Middle Schools'
in Ghana- providing the continuing education
bridge for many people.
Churches & Education
Churches are very much providing infant
schools for the early-years child development
education. Some are continuing to provide
junior secondary schools - in some places
with determination but also with relatively
innovation in the education/course delivery.
The success of the Churches in these areas
is not so much due to innovation (for
example) in the use of Church people as
regular volunteers and mentors but incidentally
on a favourable climate where parents
are prepared to invest in early years
child education.
The
squeeze is at the tertiary-level of education.
The Central Gospel Church International
in Accra has successfully established
a visionary University College which is
affiliated to the Cape Coast University.
The Methodist Church has begun preparations
to run a university in Ghana in the year
2000. The Roman Catholic Church is producing
another in 2001. The Presbyterian as well
as some independent Churches are conceiving
such provisions around these same years.
With
both the Bible Schools and the private
tertiary institutions, I observed that
there was over-concentration on the institutional
sites in the delivery of the learning,
instead of for example establishing (i)
collaborations, and (b) co-ordinating
centres working with/for partnership schemes/collaborations.
I observed that such an innovation would
allow more people to be trained and various
expertise accessed in the course delivery
processes - perhaps in the future even
building a register of private tertiary
education expertise (lecturers, administrators,
principals/managers) and theses of the
graduates.
National Development Planning and Market
Expansion
Ghana has produced and published its Vision
2020 the first medium-term (1997-2000)
Development Plan. This is the outcome
of the work of the National Development
Planning Commission (NDPC) Extracts from
the 292-page document says: "The
work of the NDPC culminated in the formulation
of the long-term national development
perspective: National Development Policy
Framework, which is now called GHANA VISIOIN
2020".
The Ghana-Vision 2020 is a 25-year development
framework document representing "an
integrated programme of economic and social
policies that provide a perspective framework
for accelerated growth and sustainable
development".
In
detail, the development-framework document
represents "the long-term policy
direction to be followed by all sections
of the society (centre and local governments,
national security agencies, print and
electronic media and information agencies,
private and public sector operators, including
non-government organisations (NGOs), rural
and urban communities, individuals and
groups) in order to achieve the long-term
development agenda of Ghana".
The
long-term development goal of Ghana is
that the country becomes "a buoyant
dynamic middle-income country within the
first decade of the 21st century so that
by the year 2020, Ghana will have attain
the status and standard of living of an
upper middle-income country, with gross
national product (GNP) per capital of
about c10,400,000 or just above US $4,000".
Assistance: British Airways
I informed the British Airways of the
place of this exercise in current international
development, and they graciously agreed
to give a reduced air-travel ticket. I
hope they will continue to do so for as
long as the need remains visible.
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