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