Model United Nations in Ghana

I was (possibly wish I was still) a HUGE model UN dork in High School. So much so that I got involved in organising high school conference in University, volunteered at the famed UNAUSA symposium in New York, and may or may not have attended a few university level conferences myself. **I still maintain that by university - at least - you should be trying to change the world for real. Not for pretend. But the travel was subsidised - and there were good parties.**

Anyways! I was over-the-moon to see this on my walk back to the hotel from Osu.



41 YEARS! Good to know MUN is strong everywhere.

Orphanage Idol in Nigeria

I think my jaw dropped when I watched a commercial for Melody Star. It's a televised singing competition for orphans. There's a cash prize for the winner, and other prizes for the runners up. The sponsors come across quite earnest, but it's extremely exploitative. As in many countries, homes for disadvantaged and abandoned children are for the most part privately run in Nigeria. Even state supported homes don't really get that much support. So creative ways of fundraising help. However, publicly displaying - to the entirety of West Africa - the children as sad, poor victims and having them sing for their support may not the best way to do it.

I met up with my old supervisor/mentor/superwoman from my first gig out of college - the Commission on Human Rights and Administrative Justice in Ghana [she now works for ISODEC. Great places - look them up.] We got on to the topic of the emergence of corporate social responsibility in Ghana and it's impact on Accra's orphanages. Here too, company's are realising that they should give back to communities - and are also realising that it gets them great press. But there is limited needs assessments or community consultation as to how their help could be best used. So we end up with a case of classic SWEDOW. Companies donate food, clothing and toys to orphanages without much concern for whether they need those items, and then in return receive a performance of song and/or dance for their cameras. She said that over weekends, the orphanages can be so booked up with donations that the children end up working all day. Yet the orphanages are wary of shunning the support - it is charity and also draws attention to the issue of neglected children in Ghana. A number of orphanages are actually more like foster homes, hosting children that do have surviving parents or relatives, but are unable/unwilling to care for them.

There are other ways to promote your company's compassionate side without exploiting your beneficiaries - obviously. Donors, such as CIDA, are becoming slightly more interested in CSR and supporting companies develop their programs in a responsible fashion. Perhaps a new avenue for West African CSOs could start with CSR programs with a child protection lens?

Posters and GBV

In Sierra Leone, there is a clear public campaign to counter sexual exploitation and assault of women. This is in the professional and domestic sphere. I saw a number of posters and billboards with women being harassed or in imminent danger of being beaten - I particularly enjoy the use of posters from the Ghanaian Commission on Human Rights and Administrative Justice (my old stomping ground) - reminding us that sexual abuse and exploitation is not acceptable and is punishable. Some are in Krio -possibly much more useful then straight up English for billboards at least - and seem to act as a reminder to men not to prey on women. I did not see any posters in Salone with men being abused by women, unlike in Ghana.



Gender based violence and exploitation is endemic in Sierra Leone, from cultural initiations into secret societies that involve genital cutting to human sacrifices (there's concern of this increasing in the lead up to the elections next year). I'm working with the police, and sexual harassment and exploitation is more than just common place. Fortunately this is an area that is heavily supported programmatically and institutionally (for example the SLP has a new Sexual Harassment Policy and a complaints division), but as of yet it's difficult to tell if this is making a difference. Or whether this is just lip service. I didn't really see many posters IN police stations or headquarters reminding people that sexual exploitation, assault, or domestic violence is wrong (there were large billboards beside or in front of some police stations in Freetown at least). I only conducted a basic search for information on how effective the posters are. Obviously many poster campaigns are coupled with use of other media (radio discussions/adverts, television, comic strips, public protest, training and workshops etc). But I couldn't really find anything - I'm not sure if anyone has any suggestions.



While we're on this topic, there was an interesting article in Foreign Affairs on the reliability of rape reporting numbers during war.