[wsfii-discuss] REVIEW - Wireless Training in Winneba

[Marco Pompe]

Hi all

With a little delay, my reflections on the 10days training on wireless networking in Winneba, Ghana.
First of all I want to acknowledge  everybody involved and say a big THANK YOU to the hosts , winneba open digital village / one village foundation (WODIV, OVF) and the local partners, Ghana information network for knowledge sharing (GINKS), Ghana Telecom (Victor), Arrownet (mr. Buadu), Accra Linux User Group, and the sponsors, International Institute for Communication and Development (IICD) Djursland Community Network (DIIRWB). After all it was a successful seminar with a majority of the participants satisfied with the program. There was a number of interesting sessions and some people are now in touch haven’t known each other until then.

Now the uncomfortable part: The fact that the training was not well prepared has brought a number of problems of which many have been technical. These technical problems have been solved mostly, even though one of the partners has failed to contribute in many ways. But as mostly WODIV and GINKS have provided the most urgent needs, it happened at certain costs. The modus the training was held in finally could suit as to benefit the start up of the WODIV center in winneba, but failed to address the following:
-	The impact of the event on the local environment (winneba, university) as well as Ghana and Westafrica was very low.
-	The practical aspect of the training was very inefficient and confusing, due to a lack of preparation.
-	The interaction of the participants was very little because the structure of the sessions is what we call ex-cathedra teaching. the “after-show” was missing at all.
-	The content of the session in general was not focused on particular solutions and was rather confusing than empowering.

Some of these thing were also an effect of the last minute promotion of the event. It was actually promoted as a training for certain staff working in that field so WODIV was very focused on suiting to the expectations of these participants.

my personal conclusion would be, that it needs a stronger (personnel, financial capacity) local hosts network for a summit with international in- and output and certainly a VERY MUCH longer and committed preparation. Even the training in Winneba could have been very much better, when the local partners would have had more time to dedicate it to the preparation. To organize a WSFII Africa 2008 it will need people locally being paid for the time the have to commit, because the amount of volunteers we have in europe or US is definitely not available here. It will need certain NGOs to step in with more powerful ressources and more contacts and experience in networking and public relations.

Finally, I was expecting something worse to happen and I am relieved it didn’t end up in a mess. Sorry for being that direct (some people even call me rude because of that). I am very concerned about grassroots empowerment and I want everybody at least to learn as much as possible out of this experience.

greetings from accra, marco
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