The traveling financial literacy show and Ghanaian salsa

Yesterday, Wednesday, I explored Accra. Early in the morning I met with Cynthia Odonkor, an assistant microfinance specialist with SPEED Ghana. I’ll attach my word documents notes, but here’s a quick overview.

SPEED Ghana works to improve the financial sector, develop micro, small, and medium businesses, and make the microfinance industry more efficient. For instance, SPEED Ghana works with 18 microfinance institutions (MFIs) to make sure they are growing their clientele base, increasing sustainability, and decrease their cost of operation.

SPEED Ghana is also starting a financial literacy program where a troupe of actors tour rural Ghana, acting out skits in marketplaces about how to save properly, the benefits of investing, etc. This troupe travels to an area of Ghana for about 6-8 weeks, visiting anywhere from 10-18 communities. After the skits, a member of SPEED Ghana goes on stage to take questions from audience members about personal finance. They will start a second phase, a radio campaign, in August in their quest to reduce the number of citizens ages 18-45 who are financially illiterate, which is a large majority of citizens in the country.

After my visit to SPEED Ghana, I went to the Artist Alliance, essentially a huge (gorgeous) art gallery. Most of it was well out of my price range, but I ended up buying a few small treasures, including a book (which is very amusingly written) called “Where Have All the Trees Gone?”

Later in the evening, I headed out to a hotel in Ghana that offers poolside Salsa dancing. I was extremely lucky that my first dance partner just happened to be a professional Salsa instructor. He was awesome – so much fun! I did not think that on my first full day in Ghana I would be salsa dancing!

This morning, I left for Cape Coast with Jane, another volunteer who has been to Ghana three times. We took a three hour bus drive, and arrived at the store/Global Mamas office just shortly thereafter via taxi. After a quick walk around the neighborhood and a lunch of Red-red, essentially a bean/platano/palm oil mix, I started to settle into the office.

I was really excited to meet everyone here at Global Mamas in Cape Coast. All the volunteers and staff are great. Alice, the general manager, introduced me to the Global Mamas mission, the facility here, and fair trade in general. The official fair trade principles are:

• Receive fair price, pay fair wage
• Being open and responsible
• Building stronger businesses
• Treating everyone equally
• Promoting your inclusion (in the fair trade movement)
• Creating opportunities for local producers
• Respecting childrens’ rights
• Taking care of the environment
• Providing safe and adequate working conditions

I’ll explain more about the work of Global Mamas as I start my internship work which starts…now! Alice gave me materials so that I can start making marketing materials on Photoshop, and I’m going to look around the store and begin to think about my strategy work!