Down to business!

We have been at the Kumasi Institute for Technology, Energy, and Environment (KITE) for just over one week, and the few days of quiet reading with which we started off last week with feels like a distant memory – KITE is a bustling organization and we are definitely part of it now. The main project for Robin and I that was the basis of KITE’s proposal to QPID earlier this year is called the EBC (Easy Business Centre) project. Entrepreneurs can apply to start an ICT business in an under-serviced rural area – they receive a set of basic supplies (computer, router, etc.) as a loan from KITE, and must pay back its cost through monthly instalments once their business is running. Earlier this year it had seemed that the EBC project would be ready to start expanding this summer from the 20 EBCs that were implemented over the last few years to the eventual goal of 100 EBCs, but unfortunately the project has slowed down because a some of the first entrepreneurs are still struggling to get their businesses established. So, starting in a few weeks, Robin and I will be travelling to a number of the centres to help spread best practices from the successful businesses to the less successful businesses, do some simple troubleshooting, and set up a new bookkeeping system software to give KITE a better sense of where the businesses are making and losing money.

In addition, Robin is working on a policy brief that provides relative information concerning the need for non-fossil fuel based, low cost, safe and reliable lighting products amongst rural communities in Ghana that are currently off the electrical grid. By doing so, we hope that certain revisions to the Renewable Energy Bill in Ghana will help provide a better quality of life for the roughly 40% of Ghanaians that do not have access to electricity. While we are up north, I will also be working with a member of KITE staff to do a socio-economic benefit study as part of a proposal for biofuels plant in Jana that converts crop residue into electricity to the community. For the next two weeks, I have also temporarily taken over a project called Evidence and Lessons in Latin America (ELLA) from a member of the staff that is on sick leave – it is an online learning alliance funded by the UK Development Fund for International Development (DFID) that is trying to spread innovations and best practices from development in Latin America to African and Asian NGOs. Finally, I have unofficially joined the IT support time – so far I have fixed one webcam and two problems with Microsoft word. All in all, lots to do, and all of it incredibly interesting and varied.