The Projects Coordinator, James Afful, and one member of Engineers Without Borders (EWB) KNUST chapter, embarked on a journey to Ullo, Ghana.

The purpose of the trip ultimately was to know the status of the bridge construction site, and collaborative projects preceding the arrival of the team from the Engineers Without Borders Chapter of Iowa State University (EWB ISU).

 The team arrived at the Adehyee Market at 6:45am on Friday, 10th December, 2021. Two tickets were purchased for a bus going to Wa in the Upper West region of Ghana, and the bus set of at exactly 8:00am. The team arrived in Wa at 5:30pm, and went for a motorcycle, after which they continued their journey to the Immaculate Guest House in Jirapa. In the morning of the next day, the team set out to Ullo at 8:00am.

After the tour, the travel team thanked Mr. Paul for taking time off his busy schedule to take them to see the project sites.

They set off for Jirapa at 2:00pm that day, and slept at the guesthouse to rest for the night. The next morning at about 5:30am the team left Jirapa and continued to Kumasi through Wa, Bole, Techiman and finally arrived in Kumasi at about 3:30 pm. Overall, the trip was very successful and all targets were met at the end of the trip.

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During the summer of 2021, ISU’s PhD student in Agricultural and Biosystems Engineering and a member of EWB-ISU chapter was hosted by KNUST to conduct his research and also monitor EWB-ISU’s projects in Ullo.

For his three-month stay in Ghana, he conducted a qualitative survey on the Shea women in Ullo. This was done in order to get a baseline information for EWB-ISU chapter’s and EWB-KNUST’s Ullo Shea Project for which he serves as the Real Engineer in Charge (REiC). 

 George also organized a workshop to train trainers on the post-harvest management of food grains and Shea nuts in Ullo. This workshop which had a direct impact to over 30 trainers was made possible through the involvement of Self Help International, which is one of our partners in all our projects in Ullo. Speaking to George about the workshop, he said “I’m happy EWB-KNUST and SHI were ready when the time was up for us to saw seeds in the lives of these farmers as I couldn’t have done this alone. I’m positive that the training we’ve given these farmers will have a ripple effect in the community where farmers will be experiencing less post-harvest losses”.

Asking about the exciting part of his trip, this is what George had to say:

 

“Haha … there’s been a lot, especially with staying in Ullo for about 4 weeks and getting the chance to spend some time with you (EWB-KNUST) there. Nevertheless, my greatest excitement has always been the impact we have made, and continue to make in the lives of the people in Ullo. I’m happy to be a part of this!!”. 

It’s was great to have George over the summer, and we look forward to seeing you him again!

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The Water Project team took water samples from the borehole, tank at the kitchen and the tanks at the various dormitories at the Ullo Senior High School. The pH, Electrical conductivity, Total Dissolved Solids and Temperatures were recorded. Other tests would be conducted at the laboratory on the KNUST campus. The team suggested that the most appropriate location for the Klornam In-line system should be before the main pipeline splits into the dormitories.

The Kitchen Stove team took the dimensions of the kitchen and household pots, the quantity of water used in each pot, the fuel used when cooking, the height of the traditional stoves, the materials available to mold bricks and fire starters.
The Rainwater Collection/Irrigation team measured the roof overhang of the dining hall building, the diameter of the tank lid hole and came up with possible placement sites of tanks for the project.

Heading back, the team used the same route, from Jirapa through to Wa then to Bole, and then Bamboi through Wenchi to Techiman and then on the Kumasi-Techiman road to Afrancho, Maacro, Suame, Anloga Junction, Tech Junction and then to KNUST campus. The team arrived on Sunday, 8th November at 6:00 p.m. After helping to unload the samples and equipment used during the trip, they said their goodbyes and parted ways.

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Representatives from the Texas International Education Consortium (TIEC) and Iowa State University (ISU) also participated in the virtual launch, with each institution providing an overview of the projects they are undertaking at KNUST.

TIEC, in collaboration with the KNUST Business School, is implementing “Flexible Learning: Responding and Reimagining Education in Ghana.”  In response to the urgent need for virtual education due to the COVID-19 pandemic, TIEC staff has assembled higher education professionals from several universities in Texas to train 30 administrators and faculty to produce quality online and flexible learning.  Participants will go on to train other faculty and administrators within KNUST and throughout Ghana.  Please visit www.tiec.org/university-partnerships for more information on TIEC’s university partnerships.

ISU is partnering with the KNUST College of Engineering to implement “Institutional Capacity Building through Engineers Without Borders (EWB) Collaboration.”  ISU and KNUST faculty and students will partner with the Ullo Traditional Area in the Upper West Region to collaborate on small-scale community development.  These projects will promote research-driven solutions to address food security, potable water security, sustainable agriculture, and improved economic opportunity.  This ‘learning by doing’ approach will bolster the students’ real-world problem-solving abilities and globalize the undergraduate engineering curriculum at both universities.  For more information on this project, please visit the EWB chapter at ISU: www.ewb.stuorg.iastate.edu.

In her welcome remarks, Professor Dickson noted that the TIEC-KNUST project “propels us in our pursuit of building the needed capacity for the establishment of a more resilient and robust e-learning system that ensures seamless academic work all year round and also offer us the opportunity to transfer knowledge to individuals less privileged to access in-person learning experience from our University.”  The Vice-Chancellor also endorsed the ISU-KNUST project, saying it “will strengthen our institutional capacity towards achieving our mission as it will position KNUST in an era where academia-community engagement for the socio-economic development of our less privileged communities is paramount.”

Assistant Secretary Nagy applauded the inaugural UPI collaborations in Ghana, stating, “these projects exemplify core principles in American higher education leadership: excellence and innovation in delivery of online education (now of paramount importance as schools rely largely on virtual learning), and hands-on, practical education that when put into action, improves lives.”

Through the UPI, the U.S. Embassy will continue to expand existing links and promote new partnerships at the university level that will strengthen Ghana’s educational institutions as instruments of national development – enhancing the United States and Ghana’s shared goals of regional prosperity, security, and stability.

Read Chargé d’affaires Christopher J. Lamora’s remarks at the event below:

Remarks for CDA Christopher J. Lamora

Launch of Ghana’s University Partnerships Initiative

Virtual Participation

October 14, 2020, 3:00p.m. – 4:00p.m.

Professor Rita Akosua Dickson, Vice-Chancellor of KNUST

Other honorifics TBD

Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs, Tibor Nagy

All protocols observed.

I’m delighted to be with you all today for this launch of the University Partnerships Initiative.  Greetings from Accra to our colleagues in Washington, DC and to our partners in Kumasi, in Texas, and in Iowa.

University partnerships are a critical element of collaboration among American and Ghanaian higher education institutions.  We estimate that hundreds of these types of partnerships already exist in Ghana, forged through decades of binational academic collaboration.  These partnerships have flourished through exchange programs such as Fulbright, which sends Ghanaian students, scholars, and professors to the United States and brings American students, scholars, and visiting professors to study and work in Ghanaian universities.

For these reasons, the U.S. Embassy in Accra was well-poised to implement the new University Partnerships Initiative that is the vision of our Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs, Tibor Nagy, who is with us today and who will speak to us in just a few minutes.

The University Partnerships Initiative, or UPI, in which Ghana is one of four African focus countries, seeks to strengthen existing ties and foster new collaboration between U.S. and African universities.  Focus areas include faculty and student exchanges, joint research, building administrative capacity, and creating public-private partnerships.

The UPI’s timing was fortuitous.  The interruption of in-person learning for Ghanaian students due to COVID-19, and the enormous challenges facing higher education globally, require sustainable e-learning programs that increase access to quality higher education.  And as we have seen throughout this crisis, faculty and institutions need support and training.

Fortunately, the U.S. Embassy in Ghana was able to provide funding under the UPI for exactly this type of training, in partnership with the Texas International Education Consortium (TIEC), to build faculty capacity to deliver quality, online, and flexible learning and build a bridge to the next generation of students who will increasingly be virtual learners.  The initiative for this joint project, known as “Flexible Learning:  Responding to and Reimagining Education in Ghana,” came from KNUST faculty in March 2020 because of their existing relationship with TIEC.  This is a superb example of what U.S. and Ghanaian universities can do, working together.

The second project we’re launching today builds on a longstanding partnership between Iowa State University (ISU) and KNUST that was also ripe for UPI assistance.  Since 2013, the ISU student group Engineers Without Borders (EWB) has worked on community-driven projects in Ghana, most recently implementing a solar-powered, mechanized borehole that distributes 6,000 gallons of water a day to a Senior High boarding school with 1,000 students.  KNUST recently established an Engineers Without Borders chapter, building on the two universities’ MOU signed in 2017.  Their joint project – Institutional Capacity-Building through Engineers Without Borders Collaboration in the Ullo Traditional Area in the Upper West Region in Ghana” – further strengthens collaboration between the institutions and engages both ISU and KNUST students through interdisciplinary, bilateral STEM projects that bolster their problem-solving skills via “learning by doing.”

Now that I’ve talked a bit about both of these inaugural UPI projects, I’m honored to introduce the visionary behind the University Partnerships Initiative, Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs, Tibor Nagy.

Assistant Secretary Nagy, a retired Foreign Service Officer, spent 32 years in government service, including over 20 years in Africa.  He served as U.S. Ambassador to Ethiopia (1999-2002), U.S. Ambassador to Guinea (1996-1999), and Deputy Chief of Mission in Nigeria (1993-1995), Cameroon (1990-1993), and Togo (1987-1990).  Previous assignments include Zambia, the Seychelles, Ethiopia, and Washington, DC.  Following his retirement from the Foreign Service, Ambassador Nagy served as Vice Provost for International Affairs at Texas Tech University from 2003 to 2018, during which time he lectured nationally on Africa, foreign policy, international development, and U.S. diplomacy.

And on a personal note, I’d just like to add that I worked for Assistant Secretary Nagy nearly 30 years ago, in my very first diplomatic posting, when he was our Deputy Chief of Mission in Yaoundé and I was just out of university myself and serving at our Consulate General in the Cameroonian city of Douala.  In addition to being my boss, he was an early model and mentor, and one of the reasons I’ve dedicated much of my career to fostering U.S. relations with Africa.  And so it’s a personal pleasure and honor for me to share some screen time with him today.   Assistant Secretary Nagy.

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Solution

EWB-ISU has the opportunity to aid in the construction of an improved clinic. The hope is that this clinic will be able to serve as a catalyst for a larger health facility (polyclinic or hospital) in the future. Currently, EWB is only responsible for creating drawings for a clinic and not one of the larger health facilities. However, all designs that are constructed should be made so that they can be expanded on in the future. The Jirapa Municipal Health Directorate of and the Catholic Diocesan Health Services of Wa have reaffirmed in January 2020 that they are fully supportive of the construction of a clinic and will provide the equipment and staff. Additionally, the community has committed to pay for connecting the clinic to the electric grid, provide water via a borehole, and make available the land for the new clinic. EWB-ISU would only be responsible for funding and facilitating the construction of the main clinic building which would be broken up into multiple phases. To build Project DoC, a phased approach will be used so that the project can be carried out over the next 3 to 4 years with new features being added on every year. Phases can either be broken up by sets of rooms, or by aspects of construction, such as laying the foundation for an entire building first but waiting for a year to add the walls and then the roof etc. By building in phases, it is possible to prioritize certain aspects of the main clinic building that might be of more immediate importance than other aspects.

Time Frame

4-years constructing main clinic building, 1-year monitoring. Drawings submitted to contractor in May of each year, review and approval of contractor proposal in June of each year, construction of next phase between July and December of each, on-site review by EWB-ISU travel team in December of each year.

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The Ullo community is a predominantly farming community, and as such water is needed all year round the growth of crops. The community, as part of efforts to have water during the dry season (January to March), constructed an earth dam. The concept of the dam was to allow for water to seep through the soil underneath the dam and into the low-lying rice farms behind the dam. Unfortunately, the dam failed and needs to be re-engineered and reconstructed almost immediately. According to the resource persons on the site, the water in the dam could rise and flood the low-lying area behind the dam. Mr Razak, a resource person also said the community decided to place a PVC pipe that passed underneath the dam to control the flooding. But that did not work out as planned and also failed woefully.

 

Download presentation here

Bridge Project Meeting 16.10.2021

 

 

Vs.

The above pictures show us how difficult it is for people to move from one town to the other when it is the rainy season

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Project Statement/Scope

The primary objective of this project is to expand the learning opportunity of the students of Ullo by helping them explore new and in-depth agricultural practices. The secondary objective of this project is to show the community members and local farmers how relatively simplistic a rainwater catchment system is to build. This will be achieved by delivering a rainwater catchment system that supplies a sustainable, water-efficient irrigation system at the school’s garden during the dry season that has community buy-in and long-term scalability.

Design Description

1. Gutters Sub-Assembly: 44 ft of the gutter with a pitch of 1 inch will be nailed along the south edge of the dining hall roof.
2. Connection to tanks Sub-Assembly: Immediately after the roof ends, a downspout adapter will allow for pipe to be routed at an angle and for the cross-section of the flow to change from square to circular as desired. A coarse filter will catch debris in the gutter flow before it can enter the tanks. A fine filter will be installed within the circular section of pipe to catch any debris that may not have been caught earlier.
3. Tanks Sub-Assembly: There are four tanks that will be provided by the school. Two of the tanks are 5.5 ft tall with a 5.81 ft diameter that holds 4500 litres and the other two are 6.16 ft tall with a 4.92 ft diameter that holds 3500 litres. The tanks will be lined up along the west side of the building with the 3500-litre tanks further south.
4. Tank Stand Sub-Assembly: The tank stand for the 3500-litre tanks will have a height of .4575 m, and a width and length of 1.55 m. The tank stand for the 4500-litre tanks will have a height of .4575 m, and a width and length of 1.83 m.
5. Above ground piping Sub-Assembly: 1-inch HDPE piping will be connected to the holes at the bottom of each tank. These pipes will connect to either a 90-degree elbow or a three-way tee depending on their tank placement. About 20 feet of piping will connect all of these elbows and tees together and a third tee will connect this sub-assembly to the below-ground piping subassembly. A one-way check valve will be placed before the third tee to control backflow caused by the differing tank heights.
6. Below ground piping Sub-Assembly: About 125 feet of 2-inch HDPE piping will bring the water from the above-ground piping to the drip irrigation system following the path outlined below.
7. Drip Irrigation System: Includes a system of HDPE piping spanning a total of 300 feet (5 rows of 60 feet). This system would enable irrigation to 100 tomato plants for 80 days. The pipes are connected to one another with elbows. The drip line would likely come with pre-drilled holes for emitters to be placed. The ideal distance between each emitter is 36”, but various distances will also work.
8. Temporary Fence: There will be a temporary fence while the living fence is becoming established. This fence will serve the purpose of keeping animals out of the garden and projecting the irrigation system from damage. It will be made of barbed wire wrapped around large poles along the perimeter of the garden.
9. Living Fence: The living fence will be planted via seeds around the perimeter of the garden before the rainy season. This allows for the seeds to be watered naturally and less maintenance during the early stages of growth. The fence would keep out humans and small animals when it is mature. Pruning will need to be done during the first few years to establish a shrub-form. The branches that are removed in the process can be used for firewood among other things.
10.  

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These stoves create the following concerns:

1. Efficiency: the open design of the stoves creates a lack of focused heat to the pot. Therefore, more fuel is needed to heat the pot of water.
2. Smoke and User Health: these stoves are not well ventilated and do not direct the smoke away from the user. This means that the user can easily breathe in the smoke easily which is a safety concern.
3. Reliability: due to the construction of the stoves, the stoves break down easily when rain or other harsh weather comes. This means the community has to rebuild the stoves often.

To cook on these stoves, the team uses 3 different sizes of pots. These pots are very large and heavy. The sizes are named by 50, 30, and 60. The dimensions of the 50 are 67cm in diameter and 53cm for height. The dimensions of the 30 are 56cm in diameter and 40 cm in height. And the dimensions of the 60 is 77cm in diameter and 59cm in height.

The team was tasked with creating stoves that fit the size of pot needed, improve all current state concerns, and is low cost for the community to rebuild.

Implementation History

In Fall 2018, a team travelled to Ullo to implement a small-town water system. While there, the team noticed the concerns with the stoves. This led to the creation of the engineering team to face the problems of the stoves. From January 2019 to December 2019, the team researched stove designs and created a design that was believed to be ideal. The design used a brick size that was currently made in the community to save cost and limit added complexity to the design. Due to the unusual brick sizes, the team created a design that was less optimal on the efficiency of the design, yet it would still be an improvement from the current state. The design is shown to the right.

In December 2019, a new travel team went to Ullo to implement these stoves. Unfortunately, the brick sizes from the plans did not match the community’s brick size. This caused the stove to not be implemented. In January 2020, the team worked on a new design which is shown in the section below. The following issues from the previous design were addressed and updated:

1. Size of Bricks: changed to use EWB set size of bricks.
2. Inlet Size: changed to accommodate the size of wood in the community.
3. Height of Combustion Chamber: changed to create a more ideal ratio between inlet size and height. The needed height of the camber caused the air chamber to be moved underground, so the air could still flow properly, but the height of the entire stove was optimal.
4. The shape of Design: became more efficient in terms of the number of bricks; improved on ergonomics from the previous design.

Updated Design

After our last winter travel trip, the kitchen stoves group decided to redesign the kitchen stoves from the ground up. We ended up this the design we currently have now, which is made from two types of bricks and features design improvements such as, Dakota fire hole, optimized burning conditions, and refined ergonomics.

In Figure 1,  you can see the Dakota fire hole which provides air circulation into the fire forcing smoke up and out the back Chimney, which is the opening above the Dakota fire hole.

In Figure 2, you can see the opening to insert fuel into the stove,  which has been made larger to better fit the type of wood they use in Ullo. Additionally, you can see the crossbar holders at the top which allows one to lift the pot out of the stove. Finally, in this view, you can see the total height of the stove which is 42.5in.

In Figure 3, you can see the internals of the stove. Its central shaft has a uniform cross-sectional area, which allows for the best airflow. As well you can see the gap between the shaft and outer walls that will be filled with insulative materials. Lastly, from this view, you can see the removable grate we have at the bottom which makes ash removal easier.  note: the grate could be made as seen, but a more open metal grate is the best option.

Conclusion

We will continue to polish our current design and attempt to create a downsized prototype model to test. As well we will work on creating easy to read the instruction manual for creating the stove. Finally, we will implement our new design in the winter of 2020 and modify our designs based on the data we collect then.

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1. Market Analysis
2. Drying Process
3. Storing Process
4. Product Process
5. Design of a mobile processing system
6. Legal Process
7. Product Research
8. Buyer Relations
   Community Relations
9. Scholarship
10. Communications
11. Market Analysis

Using data collected across the country of Ghana through several trusted sources, we have tracked the profit potential of the shea product in Ullo, Tamale, and Accra based on the average annual gross product collected in the Ullo region. Additionally, we have collaborated with transporters in Ghana to account near-estimated pricing of in-country shipping, and Global Shea Alliance executives and Ghana Shea Network executives, to continue the research in regards to market competition and potential product buyers.

Trip Report: 2019/2020

We met with several of the women’s groups in the Ullo region and were able to see how they were storing their shea nuts. The Ullo-Dhantie area had nuts stored in 3 classrooms at the Ullo Senior High School. These nuts were very damaged and rotting. We found that many of these nuts were dried inside on concrete, and mice/bugs are in the piles. The neighbouring burrow women had their nuts stored in a shed in the simple plastic woven bags, again with many bugs and cracked nuts.
We also recorded the humidity of the shea nuts being stored openly in the classroom. We took x3 50 kg test samples from this abundance and organized them into 3 different storing bags (a jute sack, polypropylene bag, and a hermetic bag). The nuts were to be stored until our proposed summer travels (May 2020) which by then, the nuts would have been stored for 6 months. Because summer travel was suspended, we asked the women to send pictures of the different bags, and give a brief description of the quality within these bags. It was found that all bugs were killed inside of the hermetic bag, and there were live bugs in the tradition and single-layered woven plastic bags.

Way forward

We are asking the women to process portions of these samples separately, to see the inner quality of the shea oil and butter from these nuts that were stored in the respective bags. We are working on getting 100 PICS bags for the shea women to use in the 2020 harvest season. Arrangements are also being made to get tarps to aid in the safe drying of harvest shea.

Areas for Collaboration

1. Check-ins with the contractors on construction projects
2. Staying in contact with the community
3. Consultation regarding building designs, techniques, and materials.

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