PepsiCorps - Ghana 2011, A Reflection

Many blogs were written during our 4 weeks in Denu, Ghana about the location and projects on which we worked, along with pieces about the culture, the people and places visited.  Now that our project has come to close, it’s time to reflect a little on what was accomplished during our time and provide some context to the work completed.

Our larger team was split into two projects (Tourism & Clean Water) and I was proud to be a part of the latter.  Our teams both had large presentations at the end of our time with District Executives, local Chiefs, Elders, Queen Mothers, District Assemblymen and a host of members from the community.  I was impressed with the Tourism Team’s approach and recommendations of a phased approach to developing the Volta Region’s Ketu South District’s future Tourism Strategy and I was equally proud of the accomplishments and recommendations that our team provided to the Water Management System.   Our Team was tasked with developing the Management Capabilities of two Community Water Boards.  In rural areas, the communities own a portion of the water system and, thus, have to manage their respective systems.  Owning the system is one thing; being ready to manage is quite different.  Our team met the challenge head-on and had several wins:

• Created a Quarterly Review Training program designed to allow the Water Boards to speak intelligently about the business and offer a forum to present proposals for positive change.

• Spent countless hours of training and coaching two Water Boards on their presentations and the scheduling of a Quarterly Review for both boards in front of the District Executives and Key Members of the Communities.

• Automated Financial Reports that will save time for the Boards and allow them to focus more on the Water System as opposed to hand calculating their income and expenses.

• Created the first ever Water Hotline (Etsi Ne Do Line) that will allow Community Members to anonymously call to report system outages, needs, and potential mismanagement.

• Instituted a water testing process to insure the communities had clean water.  Unfortunately, we found one community had non-potable water quality with the results.  The next steps and plan of action are left with the Ketu South Water & Sanitation Team to formulate a plan to address how best to treat the water and correct the issues.  We will be monitoring their progress.

With regards to the scope of the project, we met our client’s objective early in the last week and could have created a report that just recapped our accomplishments at the final presentation.  However, this team felt we had a moral obligation to offer suggestions for improvement to the system that could make the boards extremely efficient and provide better service to the members of the community that they serve.   To continue reading about the PepsiCorps project in Ghana, click here.     About PepsiCo 
PepsiCo offers the world's largest portfolio of billion-dollar food and beverage brands, including 19 different product lines that generate more than $1 billion in annual retail sales each. Our main businesses -- Quaker, Tropicana, Gatorade, Frito-Lay, and Pepsi Cola -- also make hundreds of other enjoyable foods and beverages that are respected household names throughout the world. With net revenues of approximately $60 billion, PepsiCo's people are united by our unique commitment to sustainable growth by investing in a healthier future for people and our planet, which we believe also means a more successful future for PepsiCo. We call this commitment Performance with Purpose: PepsiCo's promise to provide a wide range of foods and beverages for local tastes; to find innovative ways to minimize our impact on the environment, including by conserving energy and water usage, and reducing packaging volume; to provide a great workplace for our associates; and to respect, support, and invest in the local communities where we operate. For more information, please visit www.pepsico.com.   PEPSI19494