30/07/2024
A RECALL FOR HELP
While studying for my master degree, I developed a special interest in communication for social change and development. In my final semester, we were divided into groups of 3 persons. My group was tasked with the project to ascertain the livelihood of the fisherfolks within Winneba community, located in the Central region of Ghana.
During these 3-month project, we noticed that the fishermen most often had good harvest of fish from both the sea and the lagoon, but a lot of their fishes go waste after few days if they were unable to sell them. Additionally, there were lots of abandoned, broken-down fishing equipment long the lagoon and there were always looking to buy new ones.
In our quest to determine the cause of these great losses, we embarked on a community-based assessment to understand socio-economic conditions of the fisherfolks, assess resource use, and evaluate the community’s need at large. Through focus group discussions, surveys and interviews, we gathered data from different sources to ensure accuracy and reliability. Inanition, we spend a lot of time in the community observing daily activities, fishing practices, and community interactions.
In our findings, we observed that, the fisherfolks in this community mostly lacked equipment maintenance culture and proper fish handling and storage techniques. In addition, it was realized that, the children in this community barely go to school, leading to a high rate of school dropouts in the community. This contributed to the significant increase in teenage pregnancies in the area.
Upon further investigate, it was revealed that, the situation is similar among the people living along the coastal zones in Ghana. This calls for a media campaign to raise awareness of the problem in order to engage interested parties and government institutions to bring about development in the business activities and the livelihood of the residents of these communities in Ghana.
I would like to commence a media campaign to bring about development and social change these communities. Starting with getting about 70% of the children back to the classrooms, which I believe would lead to a reduction in teenage pregnancy cases. Education is the key for a bright future and the young ones are the future of every country. This would be followed with the facilitation of equipment maintenance training, and for proper fish handling and storage workshops targeting about 60% of the fisherfolks in these communities.
I believe this campaign will change the attitudes and behaviours of residents in these communities. It will also support the vision of providing education for every child and contribute to the nation's food security agenda. Ultimately, this will empower individuals and the community to take initiatives to improve their standard of living.
