International aid is often ineffective because it is delivered without an
understanding of local ideologies and contexts. My Capstone examined whether or not
international aid in northern Ghana could be effective when addressing adolescent
pregnancy. The Ghanaian programs I address in my Capstone are six non-governmental
organizations, a government sub-district clinic and government junior high schools. The
majority of my data was collected through interviews with individuals at all levels of the
organizations, including directors, staff members, volunteers and individuals seeking the
organization’s services. Alongside interviews I also spent time in the field, participating
in youth group discussions, visiting regional training centers for skill-based education,
and observing the daily interactions at a maternal healthcare clinic. I also examined the
developmental history of northern Ghana to gain a better understanding of the contexts
within which this aid was utilized.
My findings show the ways northern Ghanaian fieldworkers utilize international
funds, and how ideologies and volunteers ensure that the services’ northern adolescent
women and mothers can access are specific, multi-faceted, and effective. They work not
only to decrease adolescent pregnancy rates, but also to improve the livelihoods of
marginalized women across the North. Fieldworkers are able to utilize this aid while
simultaneously juggling local customs, a history of systematic underdevelopment, and a
disconnect from southern Ghana. Despite these constraints, this network is imperative to
the northern community, especially when governmental efforts to address adolescent
pregnancy thus far have been inadequate and unable to meet the needs of the North,
despite over fifty years of unification as a nation. The network demonstrates that
international aid can be effective so long as it is channeled by local fieldworkers, who can
better adapt Western aid to specific, local needs and adapt the ideologies of the aid to the
local worldview.