Egyankwa is located near the coast in the Central Region of Ghana. People in Egyankwa are primarily dedicated to farming and charcoal sales. The nearest is a health center to the community is in Essuehyia, about a 60 minute walk away and there are no Community Health Worker in or public latrines in Egyankwa. With Global Brigades’ support, a Community Bank was established in June 2011 offering savings and loans services. In addition,an event supplies rental micro-enterprise was established. To alleviate issues with water quality and quantity, GB built various rainwater harvesting units in the community.
District: Ekumfi
Region: Central
Global Brigades establishes mobile clinics in Egyankwa up to twice per year in an effort to provide access to basic health care services to the community members. In conjunction with the government run Ghana Health Service, GB is working to improve healthcare in the region including the support of establishing and training local Community Health Workers.
The two main water challenges in the Ekumfi district are: water access and water quality. Where piped water is not available, rainwater is the most culturally accepted form of drinking water. When rainwater is not available, community members will often go to rivers or small dug out ponds for water.
When Global Water Brigades entered the community of Egyankwa, its residents fetched water for domestic consumption out of a stagnant pond on the west-side of the community. The water from this pond is subject to high levels of contamination and is rarely treated before consumption. Using this water for personal consumption can lead to diarrhea, bilharzia, cholera, skin rash and other water related diseases and infections. Furthermore, women and children can spend many hours a day collecting this water in open containers and carrying it back home. One of the few safe water options for Egyankwa’s community members is purchasing water sachets but this is an unsustainable practice as well as an unreliable and in the long-term expensive form of drinking water.
Water Brigades Ghana has focused on three types of water solutions in the Ekumfi District : School Rainwater Harvesters, Community-wide Rainwater Harvesters and Household Rainwater Harvesters. In January 2011, Pennsylvania State University and Indiana University constructed a Community-wide Rainwater Harvester (CWRH) in Egyankwa as well as helped set up a water committee consisting of a president, treasurer, secretary and two agents responsible for selling the water from the system. The generated funds are used to maintain the system as well as to fill up the system’s storage tanks with purchased water from tanker trucks during the dry season, which is again sold to the community.
In June 2012, Cardiff University constructed a School Rainwater Harvester as well as help set up a School Water Club responsible for gathering clean water for each classroom. Each class had also been given a Family Lifestraw water filter or Sawyer filter to use.
The majority of the community members rely on agricultural work to support themselves and their families. They mainly grow maize and cassava. Another important occupation is charcoal trading. Charcoal provides community members an alternative source of income as farming is seasonal. Charcoal is a high-margin business, yet it is not environmentally sustainable. In desperation for quick returns, community members sell the charcoal they produce through intermediaries at a very low price, as it saves them the effort and time of going to the markets. They are so used to the situation now that they don’t even try to break out of this system of being exploited.
Other than the Susus (the traditional savings system), there was no other access to credit or savings in rural areas. Yet with the way Susus are structured, there was very low capital injection into the community. Money just moved from one community member’s hand to another’s. The community members therefore had no control over their financial future and are left to continue this annual cycle, year after year.
EGYANKWA’S BUSINESS SOLUTIONIn Ghana and specifically the Ekumfi district, festivals, wedding ceremonies, outdooring and funerals play a key role in the culture of the people. These cultural activities require a space and basic shade and seating like similar events around the world. Obtaining simple things like seats and canopies was difficult and expensive in the region.
In May 2013 with Global Brigades support the community of Ekumfi Egyankwa was able to establish a Chair & Canopy Rental business. The rental business has two basic departments – marketing and finance. The marketing team handles all advertisement and promotion of the business. They serve as the front-runners in the customer relationship management process. The finance manager is in charge of the finances of the business. The business is doing incredibly well since they have grown the business from only three (3) canopies and chairs to eleven (11) canopies.