A little about Ghana
From what I understand, Ghana takes it's name from the great inland trading empire that flourished in West Africa from the 4th to the 11th centuries. In the 15th century, Portuguese traders arrived establishing a headquarters for their slave trade. Apparently, there are slave castles still present today on the coast just out of Accra (the capital), which I'm hoping to visit.
Although Ghana is only about the size of Oregon, it is privy to 3 distinct climatic zones: southern forest belt (warm and humid) aka rain forest, the coastal belt (warm and dry) and finally the northern grasslands/ savannah (hot and dry). I'll be living in Tamale - a large city in northern Ghana. Whereas Accra has been described as very cosmopolitan Tamale is supposed to be more traditional. It should be interesting to experience the differences between the two cities.
The IDS Program
Because not everyone is familiar with what I am studying, I figured a short description of the program and what I will be doing overseas is called for.
"The Co-operative Program in International Development Studies at University of Toronto Scarborough, is a five year undergraduate Program which aims to provide students with a critical understanding of international development issues through exposure to a variety of academic disciplines and to another culture. The Program combines interdisciplinary academic study in the social and environmental sciences and humanities with a practical work experience in a developing country."
Basically what that means is that (under normal circumstances) I spend the first 3 years of the program in the classroom before heading out on my co-op placement in the 4th year. After the co-op term ( in this case after my 10 months in Ghana is up) I return for a 5th year where I will be writing a thesis for which I did primary research in Ghana. However, I have managed to drag the program out longer than 5 years. Having applied and been accepted in 2004, I ended up taking the year and moving to Ireland. In 2005 I came back and completed a year after which I took off to Uruguay (South America) for 6 months. Returning in December of 2006, I managed to complete both my second and third year in 1 year.
My Work Description
So officially I am considered a Research Intern for the Northern Regional Education Directorate (Ghana Education Service [GES]) in the Basic Education Sector of the Ministry of Education, Science and Sports. One of the goals of the GES is to achieve gender parity in basic education as part of the effort towards achieving the Millennium Development Goals. Uniterra is working in partnership with GES in Tamale in order to promote access to education for girls in the Northern Region of the country. My job will be to research and document good practices in gender advocacy tools and strategies in girls' education and the impact on girls' education in Northern Ghana.
So now that all the technical jazz is out of the way, I will hopefully be posting some more interesting posts soon.
Cheers!
