S U STAINABLE EDU CATION GHANA
“How wonderful it is that nobody need wait a single moment before starting to improve the world.” – Anne Frank
WHAT CAUSES DO YOU CARE DEEPLY ABOUT? WHAT ARE YOU DOING ABOUT THEM? There are so many causes out there that deserve attention, aren’t there? For our team, there are a couple big ones. This is our story of what we are doing about the things we care so much about.
WOMEN’S EDUCATION IN GHANA Today in Ghana, the quality of education in the Volta Region is the lowest in the country. Female enrollment drops from 61.6% in primary school to 7.9% in secondary school. According to the 2014 World Survey on the Role of Women in Development, this is perpetuated by the burden that women and girls carry: to secure shelter, food, water, and fuel for their families.
Educating girls proves to be the most cost-effective measure a developing country can take to improve its standard of living. Yet there has been resistance towards offering women’s education. Young women in Ghana should be given the same opportunities for education as their male peers are receiving. Each girl should be empowered to recognize and appreciate her own potential.
[It is so important] that we educate women from the start, for just as long as we educate the boys. That is really how they will rise up to become leaders, is through education.” – SEG Engineer
IT ALL STARTS WITH A VISION. Voices of African Mothers (VAM) was founded in 2004 by Nana FosuRandall. Nana believes in moving Africa forward socially by educating and empowering women, and is determined to create VAM Village, an ecological educational center to draw people in from all over Ghana to promote and support women’s empowerment. One of the first parts of VAM Village will be VAM Girls’ Academy, a safe-haven for girls to receive food, water, shelter, education, and mentorship. Nana had her vision, 200+ acres of land in Sogakope, Ghana, and a few key connections. One of those connections was with Cornell University Sustainable Design.
“VAM’s mission, and our mission, is to create a school ... that is a safe haven, where they won’t feel judged or stereotyped or discriminated against in any means, a place where they can receive education, where they can really be in the center of the spotlight.” – SEG Engineer
“[VAM] may seem small, but they can be big in the impact they make in people’s lives. Even if it’s only an impact in one person’s life, that person’s life is better off because of it.” – Member of SEG
A PARTNERSHIP FOR CHANGE Cornell University Sustainable Design (CUSD), a student run, interdisciplinary project team, was looking for opportunities to positively impact communities through sustainability. VAM was looking for willing minds and hands to help bring VAM Girls’ Academy to life. And their partnership was the birth of Sustainable Education Ghana (SEG). From the start, they knew that SEG could be so more than just a school building. VAM Girls’ Academy had the potential to be much more.
“Not everyone has access to consistent education. Not everyone has someone in their corner cheering for them. VAM is putting people in their corner and making sure there’s always someone rooting for these students. SEG is bringing that to life through design.” – SEG Lead
“Yes, we are designing a school for this community. But we’re also hoping to teach them about sustainability and about how important it is for women to be educated. This is not one single act; this is to start a culture of sustainability and women empowerment.” – SEG Engineer
VISIONS CAN BECOME REALITIES In the summer of 2015, student leaders Claudia, Arielle, and Dan rose to the occasion and flew out to Ghana to visit the site and build connections in the community. Upon their return to Cornell University, they assembled the SEG team. Every team member brought something new to the table, with knowledge, skills, and talents in a number of diverse areas. Architecture. Design. Systems engineering. Civil engineering. Business. Landscaping. And yet, they all shared the same end goal: to make a lasting impact in the lives of Ghanaian communities for women’s empowerment, education, and environmental, economic, and social sustainability. This is a peek into our chaotic, messy, impromptu, yet incredibly beautiful process. The building is not yet built, but we are greatly anticipating laying down the very first brick. Even though our SEG story is not yet finished, we want to try to describe this indescribable experience to you, and to share some of the many things we’ve learned.
“You need everyone working together in order to make any project happen. Engineers should be working with architects and people outside of their field – it helps expand how you think about problems.” - SEG Lead
WHAT WE LEARNED #1 WE NEED EACH OTHER Collaborating with people with different backgrounds, opinions, and ideas is healthy for a project. We have to be willing to work through our differences to create even better solutions.
WHAT WE LEARNED #2 GO AND LISTEN We can’t make assumptions about anything. Go to the community. Start a conversation. Listen to what they have to say. Learn all that you can.
“What’s comfortable to them is not [necessarily] comfortable to us – and we’ve thought about that, and we’ve asked them questions. What temperature is comfortable for them? What sounds are comfortable for them?” – SEG Engineer
Members of SEG took several trips to Ghana, experiencing the culture firsthand, and meeting and speaking with students. Members also visited local Ithaca schools to hear from more kids. We integrated all of those insights into our design solutions, and then brought our ideas back to those students for more feedback. Through the empathy fieldwork, we were able to really listen to what the kids wanted for their own school.
“With any community engagement project, you have to be there. You have to be within the community. You really need to see and listen to and talk to the communities you’re working with. You can’t just assume a community is going to be a certain way, or want certain things, just because you’ve done research about that community online. That’s not how people work – we’re humans. We change and we interact with each other in different ways.” – SEG Lead
WHAT WE LEARNED #3 CREATE IN CONTEXT The context of a project drives nearly all of the design decisions. We must understand as much as we can about the culture, climate, and site to make effective, lasting change.
In addition to site visits while in Ghana, members did research to better understand the site, climate, and culture of Sogakope, Ghana. Those findings, as well as what is available locally, informed the decisions for materials, solar power, rainwater collection and filtration, building orientation, and more. Other cultural issues also heavily influenced design decisions. For example, the social taboo against menstruation in the region results in many girls skipping school and falling behind in their studies. We needed to consider the design of our bathrooms very carefully so that girls can menstruate comfortably, sanitarily, and privately without missing school.
“When it comes to SEG, it’s really about putting the needs of others in place, and putting the context – the local materials, climate – into consideration.” – SEG Architect
WHAT WE LEARNED #4 DON’T BE AFRAID TO ASK FOR HELP We don’t need to reinvent the wheel and do things alone every time. Make connections with other people who care and be amazed by they ways they can make your impact greater.
“The most important [thing I’ve learned] has been the method of group work: Collaborating with people from very different majors and very different opinions from me, and with people internationally who come from entirely different cultures and backgrounds. And we’re still being able to work together and find the best solution for both of us.” – SEG Engineer
Ghanaian community members, CUSD alumni, local engineering firms, and students and professors from all over Cornell’s campus were more than willing to help out in any way they could. This incredible support filled in many of the gaps that the team itself could not fill.
WHAT WE LEARNED #5 TELL THEIR STORY This isn’t about selling or marketing anything. It’s simply about sharing the story of why something really matters to us and why it should matter to someone else.
Each member of SEG has had the privilege of telling the stories of Nana and her vision for VAM Village, SEG’s role in VAM Girls’ Academy, and of the girls of Ghana who we aim to help. We hope that all who hear them would also stand up for what they care about and are inspired to make their own impact.
“This project is important to a lot of people because it touches on a lot of issues that people don’t realize are a problem until they start to look into them.” - SEG Lead
WHAT WE LEARNED #6 YOU TOO CAN MAKE AN IMPACT. We aren’t too young or inexperienced to make a real difference. Our own decisions to work hard for things that matter are more powerful than we often realize. The real question is will you make those decisions?
“Every single second that I spent working on this project has been time well spent because I know that it will become something so much bigger than me, and something that I had a hand in that can help shape girls for years and years can come. It’s exciting to know that the work I do as an undergrad student is making such a big difference in the world. It’s not such a me focus, but a world focus.” – Member of SEG
“Even though all the solutions don’t work on the first time, or there might be projects that were started that aren’t finished or don’t catch on, there are so many people out there who are genuinely trying to help and genuinely trying to make the world a better place. I think it’s really important to not get discouraged and to keep working, and as long as the motivation behind what you’re doing is good and pure and you’re listening to others, you can accomplish a lot more than what you think.”– SEG Engineer
“Giving is a responsibility that we all have. It’s not necessarily giving somebody an object, but having the capacity to offer something to someone who either doesn’t have or needs help, because you can. And I think if you can, you have a responsibility to.” – SEG Engineer