EnterWASH reflections: Involve me and I learn

Blog written by MDF WA interns Jojo and Victoria

Jojo and Victoria in front of EnterWASH banner

Opportunity they say comes but once. These days, great opportunities are hard to come by so when a door of opportunity opens for you all of a sudden, like a suckling toddler clinging to its mother’s breast, you grab it with all your might.

In this case, that is what we did. The genesis of our exciting journey of great opportunities began when we were selected out of the lot and recommended as interns to MDF West Africa. Oops! In case you’re in wonderland.

Hello! We are final year under grads of the Environmental Health and Sanitation Department of CAGRIC currently undertaking our Students Internship Programme here with MDF. Prior to MDF, we worked with MMDAs and other offices but not with a training and consultancy firm.  Therefore we didn’t have many expectations and went in it with an open mind.  Hmm! Let’s save the ‘about us’ for another day. We are here to talk about EnterWASH.

Our first week was spiced with briefings on the EnterWASH training programme, then in our 2^nd week KABOOM, EnterWASH itself dawned. We must say that we are highly privileged to have had the chance to participate in the programme.

Let us take you through some reflections.

From our own perspective, we felt that the current water, sanitation and hygiene menace in Ghana and the influx of unemployed youth coupled with MDF’s drive to help solve these issues inspired this initiative.

The approach

The training was unique and a complete stand-out as compared to other training experiences.  It has also been very learner-centered, and very practical. Participants’ involvement was highly prioritised and this was made evident through the discussions, presentations, group tasks and challenges (the Marshmallow Challenge, the Business Game), role plays, assignments, field visits, marketing research, community surveys, among others. A good example of the insightful exercises was developing our business ideas and analysing it with the Business Model Canvas. The energisers and icebreakers, videos and the friendly nature of the facilitators maximised learning. This kind of approach adopted by the trainers brings to mind a quote by Benjamin Franklin, “Tell me and I forget, teach me and I may remember, involve me and I learn.”

Why it worked

This approach has worked tremendously and this is because of the right tools, the right information and the way various topics were handled. This gave trainees the chance to participate to the fullest as they were given room to try things on their own and with the help of others, explore, be innovative and creative.

Change of perception

We studied some entrepreneurship back at school and prior to EnterWASH, we perceived it as something that “sucks”. We thought it was rather unnecessary in what we’re studying as environmentalists and never thought of it as an option. We even thought that running a business didn’t require any special training, knowledge or skills. Then came EnterWASH; debunking our previous thoughts and hence transforming our perception on entrepreneurship especially after realising the rich opportunities that the WASH challenges bring to the table. “Shit is business”, as said by Ibrahim Musah has given us a lot to think about.

Skills learned

With the skills acquired, we plan setting up our own WASH businesses in the near future. We will also organise seminars with other students and colleagues back at school to share what we have learned about entrepreneurship and innovations in WASH.

Jojo and Victoria