The implementation of the Environmental Information Network (EIN) Project in Ghana: Experience and Lessons

Author : Agnes Adjabeng
Date added : 2002-04-10

Brief Project Background

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) was motivated to formulate and implement the Environmental Information Network Project (EIN Project) because for many reasons. The Agency, through its activities realised that information relevant to environmental management is available in many government Ministries, Departments Agencies but were scattered and unsystematically managed. The project focused on linking up two key institutions that have vast holdings in environmental information. These institutions are the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) (www.epa.gov.gh) and the Forestry Research Institute of Ghana (FORIG) (www.forig.org). Government mandates the FORIG to research into forestry and forest products. The FORIG is located in Kumasi, Ghana’s second largest city, 450km from Accra. The Forestry Research Institute of Ghana (FORIG) was identified as a partner in the EIN Project for two reasons. FORIG already collaborates with the EPA on issues concerning the environment and also maintains a collection of well-documented information on forestry and forestry products in the country which was useful to all stakeholders involved in the protection of the environment.

The EIN project came out of the National Information and Communication Technology Roundtable Conference that was organized by the International Institute for Communication and Development (IICD) from the Netherlands in association with the Internet Society of Ghana (ISOG), in 1998, Accra. I represented the EPA at the conference. The benefits of the use of ICTs in managing environmental information were highlighted. Hence one of the projects that emerged and approved at the end of the conference was from the environment sector.
With technical support from the IICD the EPA came out with a draft document for the development of the Environmental Information Network Project in September 1998,. Subsequently in February 1999, a five-year agreement was signed between the IICD and the EPA. The International Institute for Communication and Development provided $116.00 for the implementation of the Environmental Information Network (EIN) Project. The IICD was the main source of funding for the implementation of the project. It provided support/funding for training and equipment. The Environmental Information Network Project became operational in August 1999.

The key project objectives of the EIN project were to strengthen the effective information handling capacity and networking between the participating institutions and to improve the system of delivery of information to the users of environmental information. This would facilitate access to information to support decision-making and stimulate research in urban and rural environmental management.

The key project objectives are:
¨ Strengthening the effective information handling capacity in and networking between the participating institutions;
¨ Improving on the system of delivery of information to the users of environmental information.

The EIN project benefited all sectors of the Ghanaian economy since it provided up to date information on the environment for industry, commerce, and management and for research purposes. It was a unique project in the sense that the networking system enabled partner organisations to access information from each other’s databases while sitting at their various institutions at the click of the mouse. This brought a great reduction in costs and made information retrieval very easy. The project improved environmental network and the information system made information gathering faster and also enhanced capacity for collection, storage, processing and dissemination. It also facilitated easy and faster retrieval of information and provided the ability to repackage information in the desired format tailored to user needs. Beneficiaries of the system included decision-makers, consultants, researchers, students, private companies and the general public.

INFORMATION

The information content of the EIN project was on environmental information. Over the years the activities of the EPA has created environmental awareness among the general population in Ghana. This is evident in the increasing number of requests that are received in the library for environment information. The EPA library though a special library was open to the general public. The EPA Library has a collection of 2,868 documents on the environment. The documents are available in various information sources, which include reports, legal documents, periodicals, magazines, and newsletters. The library collection includes documents on all aspects of the environment. Information is mostly required in various subject areas like environmental law, environmental impact assessment, environmental education, water pollution, waste management, human settlement, desertification and drought, land and forestry. Bibliographic databases are available in the EPA library and subject bibliographies are compiled from the databases for users of the library on request.

COMMUNICATION

Information managers in the EPA who the constraints posed to environmental management due to poorly organised environmental information formulated the project. It was also realised that the Environmental Protection Agency in the performance of its daily functions interacts with a cross section of people in need of environmental information and there were also organisations with large holdings of useful information that could be made accessible for environmental management. Of particular importance therefore is the EPA’s partnership with District Assemblies through the traditional rulers and the Houses of Chiefs since they form the level of government closest to the people and best placed to reflect local concerns and priorities and to develop and implement practical action programmes. Traditional Rulers also have a vital role to play in protecting the nation’s environment through the respect and influence they command among local communities. The Wide Area Network (WAN) was widely used as the communication link between the EPA Head Office and the ten EPA Regional offices throughout the country. The WAN therefore offered a great opportunity to the EPA to extend its activities and services to many users. Partner agencies that are both users and suppliers of environmental communicated information through the normal postal services, telephone and the email. Some amount of awareness was also created by the information that was made available on the EPA website. (www.epa.gov.gh). The main communication technologies were the normal telephone, fax and e-mail.

TECHNOLOGY

The information system designed for the EPA and the partner organisations can serve as a model to link up other suppliers of environmental information in Ghana. The approach taken was to develop a standard model for improving access to information, networking and ways to provide easy dissemination of information. The relevance of the technology was world-wide and was not limited to any country. This kind of information and communication technologies can be made available for any organisation that is interested in using them. Besides the dealers are always available to offer maintenance services and to give training to users when the need arises. They also make available current updates and new versions. The type of equipment that was used were Dell Servers (FTP, File and Mail Servers), Personal Computers, HP.Scanjet.6100, Dell Latitude. CPX.Laptop, 3Com.U.S.Robotics-Voice.Faxmodem and a heavy-duty Photocopier (Model. 6035 series). The operating system used was the Windows NT for the Local Area Network (LAN) at the EPA. The Wide Area Network (WAN) connects the EPA Head Office to the ten EPA Regional offices in the country. We use standard software such as the Paintshop pro, the Dreamweaver and the MS Office Ver. 97 for the stand-alone PC. The Computerised Documentation System/Information Sets of Information System (CDS/ISIS) software was used to design the database in the library. The WorldClient is used for the electronic mail while the like the Netscape Navigator and the Explorer web browsers were used on the Internet.

Results

The development of electronic information services at the national and regional centres of the EPA was one of the major achievements of the EIN project. A local area network (LAN) was established at the EPA that could facilitate access to the available information to staff at the EPA headquarters and to the ten regional offices of the EPA. Also through the wide area network system (WAN) that was created information delivery services were improved through the use of ICT tools like telephone, fax and e-mail and the Internet. Similarly inter-library loan services were promoted between the EPA and other institutions that are stakeholders on the environment. Other services that were offered included bibliographies and directories that were compiled from the databases available in the EPA library.

The demand for environmental information is now on the increase and many users can now have access to the sources of the information. The number of users of the EPA library has continued to increase steadily over the years. The library records registered the following figures for the users in the last three years as in 1999 1,500, in 2000 2, 300 and in 2001 as 3,000 visitors in the library annually. The Internet was used to retrieve environmental information from other databases. Substantial environmental information was downloaded from remote databases and made available to the users of the library. The staff of the Agency subscribed to discussion groups and listserve. The project team was made up of the Librarian and four technical staff from the Computer Unit. The communication link through the use of the e-mail and the telephone systems was established between the EPA and the FORIG, which helped to improve the system for information sharing and exchange.

There were many reasons for the success of the EIN project. In the main the spirit of ownership was highly displayed by the partners in the network system. Secondly a high level of commitment and involvement was showed right from the start of the project. The administrative directors in both institutions readily accepted the ideas behind the EIN project and therefore gave all the institutional support to make the project a success.

Benefits of using ICTs at the EPA

The EIN project used ICTs to enhance the provision of information in new ways. For instance while scanners were used to scan texts and images the photocopier was used to produce multiple copies for readers that used the library services. This service was very useful in the face of rising cost of textbooks. The photocopier services were very helpful to the readers since the library offered only reference services and readers were not allowed to borrow books out of the library. Readers also viewed videocassettes on environmental issues. The facilities on the Computers are used for data storage and retrieval, data analysis and report writing. The Secretariat staff who also used the computers for word-processing were enthusiastic in using the skills acquired in the performance of their duties. Our Internet connection is through an Internet Service Provider (ISP). We received full Internet services, which include the following: World Wide Web searches, E-mail services and the File Transfer Protocol (FTP).

Lessons

CHALLENGES

During the implementation of the EIN Project, the challenges encountered were similar to the problems facing the development of ICTs in Ghana. The problems range from natural sources to human-induced ones. They could be classified as natural, hardware, software and “humanware” problems and categorized as “third world” problems. Some of these could be related to undeveloped telecommunication infrastructure, poor and erratic electricity supply. The major problem associated with the telecommunication infrastructure was the poor telephone system. The telephone system in the country was analog and was yet to be digitized. The phone lines were always congested while hanging cables were a common sight. The telecommunication system was unreliable to the extent that making international calls was easier than making local calls. Maintenance of telecommunication infrastructure was not effectively done, as spare parts were not readily available or where available prices were prohibitive and funds were not promptly released. The weather problems also compounded the telecommunication problem. After heavy rains, the telephone lines went down, countrywide. It was a common sight on Accra streets to see technicians going down into cable joint holes to repair underground cables or telephone lines. This was a daunting task in the absence of spare parts.

Another problem that emerged was the lack of resources to update computer system in line with changing technologies. The cost of computers and peripherals were generally very high by third world standards because they weree all imported and the exchange rate was not favourable. The cost of substitute equipment for example, Radio links instead of telephone link were also prohibitive. Subscription to Internet services was very expensive. Getting connection through the Internet Service Providers was not regular. There was much unnecessary disconnection without notice while browsing the Web. For dial-up connections modems took a long time to respond. Electricity supply was unreliable and that prevented users from getting Internet connections through the Internet Services Providers. These power fluctuations affected performance of the computers and other equipment and resulted in frequent equipment breakdown.

Some problems were also encountered with the selection and acquisition of the equipment. There were the bureaucratic procedures in the public service, which caused a lot of delays in equipment purchasing. Vendors of IT systems were also seen to be exploiting users because of their lack information about IT systems. The users were likely to be given obsolete equipment and in other cases advanced and more complicated and inappropriate versions.

RECOMMENDATIONS

In the light of the problems that were encountered the following recommendations were made. It was recommended that users of the equipment be trained before the equipment would be acquired. This would help to save time and allow for the quick start of the project. From the experience of the EIN project this caused some delay in the start up of the programme. It was also important that the IT computer literate personnel are available to train the personnel that would handle the equipment and to also train the end users.

LESSONS LEARNT

Many lessons were learnt in the cause of implementing the EIN project. The first lessons learnt were that it was important:
§ To acquire some knowledge about the equipment to be purchased.
§ To have detailed knowledge about ICT equipment and what they can do.
§ To have training in product and equipment specification
§ To know what equipment and products are available and the prices before drawing up a budget.

The other lessons learnt concerned the users of the equipment. Equipment should be made available for hands-on training so that the project manager could be more effective. This should be done before project start-up. In a developing country such as Ghana the full potential of what computers can do are not exploited. Specifically most computers are used as typewriters and even here only about ten percent of the computer features are used.

Development Impacts

THE FUTURE

In the second phase of the EIN project focus will be on the upgrading information of services at regional centres and the development of the same facilities and information services at the partner organisation-FORIG, thereby establishing a through network of information. The facilities of the EIN project are expected to play an important role in the development of EPA as an African focal point in electronic information collection and distribution of environmental information.

Conclusion

The EIN project had a developmental impact on the work of the Agency. There was improvement in environmental management due to the availability of environmental information at the Headquarters, the Regional and the District offices. It increased information for decision making, increased timeliness and improvement in the information delivery system.

Project Information

Organisation : Environmental Protection Agency
URL : http://www.epa.gov.gh
Country of activity: Ghana [GH]

Contact Information

Agnes Adjabeng
aadjabeng@epaghana.org

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