MANY OF THE PROBLEMS TROUBLING OUR PEOPLE ARE PREVENTABLE AND CAN BE SOLVED VIA THE RIGHT EDUCATION - DESMOND KOFI AKWAAH

Desmond Kofi Akwaah is the founder and Executive Director of Eaglesworld Innovatives, a nongovernmental organization based in Ghana. In this interview with Wole Adedoyin, he talks about his activism, experience and efforts in promoting sexual and reproductive health education in Ghana.

WA: YOU ARE THE FOUNDER OF THE EAGLESWORLD INNOVATIVES, WHAT ACTUALLY LED TOTHE ESTABLISHMENT OF THE INITIATIVES?
DESMOND: I grew up in a society where you find a lot of social problems confronting the people which most of them are as a result of ignorance. You find many girls drop out of school because of teenage pregnancy. Misconception about HIV and AIDS, and other social, environmental and health issues. With my passion to help solve these problems in my community, I attended workshops and seminars when I was at the university. When I completed university and after my national service, my passion in social entrepreneurship grew. I started developing innovative educational materials on HIV and Sexual and Reproductive Health (SRH) to educate the people, especially, the youth. I realised this vision must be formalized thereby formally registering Eaglesworld Initiatives.

WA: WHAT HAS BEEN THE BIGGEST HIGHLIGHT OF THE EAGLES WORLD INNOVATIVES
DESMOND: It was a SRH education for forty (40) senior high school students in Ashanti region of Ghana. It was in partnership with DKT International Ghana. The project was dubbed, " No Yawa, We dey for you". (No Yawa means No Problem. We dey for you is the response). Twenty (20) of the schools had drama in addition to the verbal education and 20 had no drama.

WA: TELL US ABOUT YOUR BACKGROUND AND EXPERIENCE IN HIV/AIDS EDUCATION AND SEXUAL AND REPRODUCTIVE HEALTH EDUCATION
DESMOND: Actually I read Agriculture at the university but my quest to help solve these health problems in our society, I learnt a lot about HIV, SRH via seminars, workshops, training programs and reading wide on the subject.

WA: IN WHAT WAY IS YOUR ORGANIZATION CONTRIBUTING TO THE GROWTH OF HIV/AIDS EDUCATION AND SEXUAL AND REPRODUCTIVE HEALTH EDUCATION IN GHANA
DESMOND: Apart from the fact that my organization engaged in projects directed by Ghana AIDS Commission, we have been developing practical and innovative HIV, SRH educational materials that captures the attention of the youth thereby perfectly sensitising them on the subject.

WA: WHAT CHALLENGES ARE YOU FACING IN YOUR FIELD OF WORK
DESMOND: The challenge has been seeking partnership with likeminded organizations and funding.

WA: WHAT DOES IT TAKE TO BE AN EXPERT IN HIV/AIDS EDUCATION AND SEXUAL AND REPRODUCTIVE HEALTH EDUCATION
DESMOND: I know people have gained higher educational certificates in health courses related to HIV and SRH. But I also believe that anyone with the passion for it and ready to learn through books, workshops and seminars can also end up becoming expert in the subject.

WA: AS THE FOUNDER OF EAGLESWORLD INNOVATIVES, WHAT KINDS OF CHALLENGES DO YOU FACE?
DESMOND: My challenge as a founder has been not being able to convince organizations (funders) to support a project that I believe will have a positive impact on the lives of many disadvantaged people when executed.

WA: HOW AND IN WHICH AREAS DO YOU THINK EAGLES WORLD INNOVATIVES AND THE INTERNATIONAL HUMAN RIGHTS ART FESTIVAL CAN COLLABORATE
DESMOND: At Eaglesworld Innovatives, we are good at developing innovative educational materials to educate people on a subject, therefore, IHRAF being expects in Arts, we believe we can learn a lot from your outfit and also add value (professional) to the works we develop.

WA: WHAT ARE THE THEMATIC AREAS OF THE EAGLESWORLD INNOVATIVES
DESMOND: Now, Sustainable Development Goals- innovative ways by which the knowledge of the SDGs will get down to the grassroots so that no one will be left behind to advance the United Nations (UN) vision of " Decade of Action".

WA: WHATDRIVES YOU AS THE TEAM LEAD AND VISIONER OF EAGLES WORLD INNOVATIVES
DESMOND: The fact that many of the problems troubling our people are preventable and can be solved via the right education.

WA: WHAT HAS BEEN YOUR GREATEST ACCOMPLISHMENT SINCE THE INCEPTION OF YOUR ORGANIZATION
DESMOND: The SRH education for forty (40) senior high school students.

WA: WHAT MESSAGE WOULD YOU GIVE TO RAPE VICTIMS AND HIV/AIDS PATIENTS
DESMOND: My advice to a rape victim will be to admonish her to let the law deal with the matter if it is accessible, not to allow the pain of rape to destroy her life by being slave to it and do well to encourage other rape victims to live above the pain of rape.
WA: WHAT ARE THE KEY LESSONS YOU HAVE LEARNED SINCE THE INCEPTION OF YOUR INITIATIVE?
DESMOND: I have learnt that the things the enlightened ones see as simple are not that simple for the illiterate folks. Also, I have learnt that to be a good social entrepreneur and to be able to help solve some of these societal problems, you must continue to learn everything including the cultural behavior of the people you want to help, and avail yourself for new ideas that emerge on daily basis.

WA: WHATIN YOUR LIFE HAS BROUGHT OR GIVEN YOU THE GREATEST SATISFACTION OR FULFILLMENT?
DESMOND: Before I registered my organization, I realized the need for the youth to be educated on HIV and AIDS. Since I did not have any job to raise money to fund my passion, I would seek a job as a labourer in construction, raise funds, print some of the HIV educational materials to do the education. One of such passionate works happened at sports stadium when there was inter schools athletes’ competition. I will go to the stadium, distribute the educational materials and verbally educate them. I was always happy when I saw how they were eager to listen and learn. I felt satisfied doing this.

WA: LOOKING BACK, WHAT WOULD YOU HAVE DONE DIFFERENTLY? WHATWOULD YOU DO AGAIN?
DESMOND: I would have searched for the right network of organizations that are also in line with our purpose. Seek for every capacity building that came my way. Now is about continuing to learn and to be creative and innovative as much as I can.