NSESA Foundation Ends Projest iSWEST 2014 Succesfully

Nsesa Foundation has organized a program “Project iSWEST 2014” where

high school students and graduates were SPONSORED to attend a 4-week

Innovation Program in Accra, Ghana!

Project iSWEST (Innovating Solutions with Engineering, Science &

Technology) is an annual summer program in Ghana to get high school

students solving problems by inspiring them to be creative, equipping

them with the requisite tools, soft and hard - basic science,

engineering and technology (SET)-skills, while coaching them to

develop innovative solutions to problems in their communities. The

program is run by “Team Nsesa”, a highly motivated group of young

Ghanaians from different disciplines effecting change in Ghana by

promoting a culture of innovation and problem solving (Nsesa means

change in Akan).

This year’s program brought together 15 students from 12th August to

6th September at Presbyterian Boys’ Secondary School (PRESEC, Legon).

The theme was “The Next Generation of Ghanaian Entrepreneurial

Innovators” and consisted of a 2-week workshop phase, 2-week

innovation phase and “The Pitch Day”.

In the first part – Workshop Phase, students were taught the

innovation process and then given basic and hands-on training in

Electronics, Robotics, Computer Programming, and Microcontroller

(Arduino) over a 2-week period. Students worked in teams on various

small projects and had the opportunity to listen to inspiring stories

from the members of Team Nsesa.

In the second part–Innovation Phase, 3 teams of students received

funds, and were tasked to develop innovative and cost efficient

solutions to problems they have identified in the community over a two

week period using provided resources, locally available materials and

the skills they obtained from the workshop.

Members of Team Nsesa supported and consulted with project groups in

the process using project management tools like Slack, Instagantt and

Asana.

The climax of the summer program was the final day dubbed “The Pitch

Day” where students presented their developed solutions along with

their business plans to a panel of judges and the general public. This

took place on Saturday, 6th September 2014 at Anum Yemoh Plaza, East

Legon. They had two judges: Professor Ayorkor Korsah an assistant

professor in Computer Science at Ashesi University and Mr. Dela

Kumahor a Design and Innovation consultant and lecturer at Ashesi

University. Teams were assessed on the social impact, technical

feasibility and business viability of their projects. The three teams

presented their projects as:

1. MUGEN worked on a device to make the cleaning of window nets,

louver frames and glass windows easier and more comfortable. The

device works by using a vacuum to suck dust as it is passed over

louver blades.

2. SWEPP Innovations worked on a device to tackle the problem of post

harvest losses of vegetables due to poor storage systems. The device

uses evaporative cooling to create a cool internal temperature within

which vegetables are stored and their shelf life prolonged.

3. Innovation Republic worked on a device to tackle the problem of

medical adherence in Ghana; people not taking their drugs. The device

works like an alarm that beeps to remind patients to take their drugs,

keeps track of whether the patients have taken their drugs and makes

the information available to a doctor.

Team MUGEN won and was presented with a cash prize.

The participants and audience were empowered with talks from guest

speaker Ebenezer Essuman founder of Synergy For Success Ghana who

challenged everyone to put their ideas into action in a way of making

impact in the society.

The students were excited about continuing to work on their projects.

They are currently working with the students to redesign the current

prototypes, further develop them and then get the products into the

market so the problems they identified get solved. They are also

working on setting an iSWEST Club & Lab in one of the high schools so

students continue building upon the skills received during the program

and develop solutions to problems in their communities.

This year’s program was sponsored by the Institute for Security,

Technology and Society, the Neukom Institute and Thayer School of

Engineering, institutions at Dartmouth College, U.S.

iSWEST is one of the programs of Nsesa Foundation, a Ghanaian

non-profit organization based in Accra. Their vision is to create what

we call an “Innovation Revolution” in Ghana - a state in which the

youth across the length and breadth of the country are developing

innovative solutions to problems in their communities using Science,

Engineering & Technology (SET). At the core of Project iSWEST is the

desire to inspire youths of Ghana to believe that they have the

capacity to be innovative as well as to empower them to develop

solutions to the problems within their communities.

“Inspire! Innovate! Impact!”

For more information visit https://www.facebook. com/project.iSWEST

and www.nsesafoundation.org

Thanks

Akpah Prince