WATERAID GHANA TRAINS PARTNERS ON THE ENDOGENOUS APPROACH

WATERAID GHANA TRAINS PARTNERS ON THE ENDOGENOUS APPROACH A three day programme on the Endogenous Approach to WASH was held in Accra. The discussions were mainly on using cultural beliefs, norms and values for effective hygiene and behaviour change communication. The Endogenous Development (ED) approach was developed at a different level with a view of applying the information and ideas on resolving issues around poor sanitation and hygiene in Ghana.
The resource person for the programme was Dr Emmanuel Akpabio, a visiting scholar at Kyoto University, Japan. Dr Akpabio has researched extensively on factors that influence community reaction to external development interventions. The programme started with a National Level Alliance Platform (NLLLAP) where Dr. Akpabio made a preseason Talking WASH on its root, socio-cultural realities and alienated solutions: Adapting development intervention to local complexities in sub-Saharan Africa. The topic was base on his award winning publication presented at North Carlolina University. Dr. Akpabio said studies shown that all environmental behaviours are located within some contexts and values that have evolved out of cultural practices and religious beliefs. He explained that as human beings live within an environmental context they influence the environment and the vice versa. He said the meaning people give to water influences the way they relate to it and this subsequently leads to their sanitation and hygiene practices. His presentation suggests a deep ambivalence with regards to a community appreciation of WASH and what the average development worker consider to be the " idea situation ". Dr Akpabio is of the view that instead of the straitjacket approach to transforming communities, development workers should adopt an indigenously rooted framework and be flexible about developing strategies that can positively influence complex environmental health issues that are deeply entrenched in culture. He said proposes hybrid development where existing or internal norms and values are not discarded for external ones. Source WaterAid Ghana

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