Cultural dimensions thatcan be considered as enablers during our project are:
- Internalism
People do know that they can influence their health themselves, by the choices they make and that this is their own responsibility when they do have access to the nutrition they need. Only the part how they can improve their health by changing their feeding pattern misses sometimes. - Certainty avoidance
Moringa powder is a natural resource, and not a traditional medicine. It is a product that hasn’t been used to cure malnourished people in hospitals, because usually these people will get their nourishments in the form of vitamin tablets and other pharmaceutical resources. The implementation of Moringa powder as a cure for malnutrition is untraditional and a new way of using resources Ghana has available itself. - Collectivism
This is both a enabling dimension as a barrier. We only can sell the Mor Nutro Powder to schools when everybody at that school will be supplied with. This makes it very difficult to implement through the whole school system, but when this happens, the demand increases enormously at once.
Examples for barriers are:
- Power by position
No matter what research tells, in the eyes of professionals and doctors in Ghana, Moringa isn’t a product that can cure diseases. The status of the Mor Nutro Powder therefor isn’t determined by it’s positive effects, but by the sceptical attitude of the - Synchronous
All key activities of the project have to be performed at the same time, because both supply, demand and capacity of KITA need to be raised to a certain level in order to create a sustainable business. This means that there can’t be fully focused on one activity, without the others been taken in mind. This way it can result in something where everything has been reached just partly.
During the project, these dimensions have to be taken into account. We have to make sure that the reputation of Moringa betters, by improving the education about nutrition. Besides this, we have to take into account that there is a possibility that we aren’t able to reach every goal. Therefor, not everything has to be done synchronous, although it could have an undesired impact on the project because when we put emphasis on the milling and packaging centre, there is no use to this aspect when there is no demand for the powder for example. These are difficult considerations that have to be discussed with the director of KITA.
Ghana has developed a modest degree of national coherence. British rule provided a number of unifying influences, such as the use of English as a national language and a core of political, economic, and service institutions. Since independence, Ghanaian leaders have strengthened national integration, especially the expansion of the educational system and the reduction of regional inequalities. The Ghanaian legal system is a mixture of British law, applicable to criminal cases, and indigenous custom for civil cases (Schwimmer, n.d.). The formal system is organized under an independent judiciary headed by a supreme court. The tribunal system is in placed under the control of the Chief Justice. A traditional chief usually hears civil cases that concern customary matters, such as land inheritance and marriage (Schwimmer, n.d.).
Ghana is considered to be a democratic state, but corruption is still a big problem. Ghanaian companies are not willing to share information about their dealings with the government, which implicated that there is a lot of corruption in the county (Mensah et al, 2003). This indicated that the government of Ghana could be considered as particularistic and in some ways extractive. Governmental initiatives like the School Feeding Program are started, but the results of such initiatives are left in the dark. Other initiatives, like vitamin A supplementation haven’t been taken to a higher level, and now are often left out of scope in governmental publications (Larty, 2007). When we are in Ghana, it will be easier to find out what the success of these initiatives is and how much effort the government puts into education about health.
We will not be having direct contact with higher authorities of the government of Ghana who make decisions about things like the school feeding program. This means can’t influence these aspects, and we will operate on a smaller scale, educating only the schools in the area. This can’t solve malnutrition in the whole of Ghana, but it can make a difference.
The institution that stands a lot closer to the project is KITA. KITA is very inclusive, and will provide a stable foundation for the project. From within KITA, schools and care centers can be reached and an educational program for the farmers will be started.