Dec 17 2010 @ 15:52

Translating an approach across continents

Wayne Miranda is a Mechatronics Engineering graduate from the University of Waterloo. He has been working in Ghana with EWB since 2008, and is now the lead of the Rural Agriculture team. He wrote this article for the Ontario Society of Professional Engineers.

"At first glance my job these days doesn’t look very much like engineering. But it is my 4 years at the University of Waterloo studying the ins and outs of problem solving and design that have allowed me to succeed."

I’m an engineer working in Ghana. And I’ve learned that the engineering approach translates across contexts, continents and problems to solve. Just like in Canada, here, iteration is a key element of any successful project.

Identify the problem

Ghana is a small country in West Africa. Most Ghanaians depend on small-scale agriculture to support themselves, and farming is a key part of the culture. Here, farmers often only have the skills and opportunity to farm for day-to-day survival rather than to support their families over the long-term. This can result in families unable to pay their children’s school fees, purchase household necessities or even buy the seeds and fertilizers they need to prepare their farms for the next season."

Continue reading the full article here

Twitter Share