What FIFA Taught Me About Fixing Ghana’s Gutters

When FIFA partnered with Michigan State University and the University of Tennessee to solve an unusual problem, how to grow natural grass inside domed stadiums for the 2026 world cup, it did something powerful. It treated a real problem as a national priority for research and innovation. The universities did not just talk. They built test centres, tried different grass types, failed, improved, and finally found what worked. Today, top-level football can be played on natural grass in places where it once seemed impossible.
That mindset is exactly what Ghana needs.
In communities like Amarmoley in the Ga North Municipality, a choked gutter is not a small issue. One heavy rainfall can flood homes, destroy property, disrupt work, and expose families to malaria, cholera, and other sanitation-related diseases. Every rainy season, the same story repeats. There is an emergency clean-up, gutters are desilted, and within months they are choked again.
This keeps happening not because Ghana lacks talent or ideas. It happens because we have not built a system that connects our intelligence to our everyday national problems.
Across Ghana, universities, technical schools, and STEM senior high schools are teaching robotics, coding, and artificial intelligence. Young people are learning useful skills. But too often, those skills do not touch the daily problems our towns and cities face. Students graduate with certificates, but many do not graduate with experience in solving problems like flooding, waste, and sanitation. Meanwhile, our local assemblies are left to manage modern problems with old methods.
That gap is holding us back.
Now imagine something different. Imagine if Ghana treated sanitation and flooding the way FIFA treated football turf, as a real challenge that deserves serious national attention. Students could work with municipalities to create simple, low-cost tools to clear gutters. They could build systems that use cameras to spot blocked drains. They could place small sensors in flood-prone areas to warn people early. They could also use data to help assemblies plan ahead instead of reacting after damage is done.
In Amarmoley, for example, students could map the drainage lines, test small gutter-cleaning devices, and improve them based on what happens in real life. The community benefits quickly. Students learn practical skills. Everyone gains.
To make this work across the country, Ghana should create a National Science Innovation and Engineering Solution Competition.
Think of it like the National Science and Maths Quiz, but focused on building practical solutions, not just answering questions. Each year, government would announce a few national problems that need solutions. Examples include sanitation, flooding, plastic waste, traffic congestion, clean water, affordable housing materials, or energy efficiency.
Schools and universities would compete by designing and building working solutions. Not essays. Not slides. Real prototypes that can be tested. Teams would be judged based on whether the solution works, how affordable it is, how easy it is to maintain, and whether it can be used in many communities.
Municipal assemblies would host pilot projects. Winning ideas would receive support to improve and expand.
For this to succeed, the responsibilities must be clear. The Ministry of Environment, Science, Technology and Innovation, known as MESTI, should lead the national coordination and ensure the competition produces solutions that can be used. The Ministry of Education should help integrate it into the school calendar. Metropolitan, municipal, and district assemblies should provide the real problem areas and support testing. Universities and technical institutions should guide students and help test the ideas. The private sector and development partners can support the best ideas to scale.
Some people may say coordination across ministries and institutions is difficult. That is true. But this model helps because it creates a clear goal and shared incentives. Everyone has a reason to participate, and no one institution has to do everything alone.
The results will go beyond cleaner gutters. It will create jobs and help businesses grow.
If we take innovation seriously, Ghana can build new businesses around sanitation and flood prevention. Student projects can turn into startups. Small engineering firms can produce parts locally. Software developers can create simple platforms that help assemblies track blocked drains and plan maintenance. Local artisans can help with building durable parts. Assemblies can contract Ghanaian businesses for repairs, upgrades, and regular deployment.
This means we move from spending money on emergency clean-ups every year to building a local innovation economy. We create products, services, and jobs for young people who might otherwise graduate into unemployment. Instead of importing solutions that break down and become useless, we build solutions we can repair and improve ourselves.
There is also a bigger national benefit. A country that challenges its young people to solve real problems sends a strong message. Intelligence is not only for exams. It is for results. It is for healthier communities, stronger local businesses, and towns and cities that work.
FIFA did not wait for grass to magically adapt to domed stadiums. It built a system that made innovation happen. Ghana can do the same.
As the next rainy season approaches, the choice is clear. We can keep reacting to floods and choked gutters every year. Or we can empower our young people through schools, science, and smart policy to build lasting solutions, starting in places like Amarmoley and growing across the whole country.
Nation-building is not only about politics. Sometimes, it starts with a student, a prototype, a new business, and a gutter that finally flows.
Stay tuned for my next piece on tree planting..
About the author: Augustine Blay is a Ghanaian technology and innovation leader working at the intersection of digital systems, public problem-solving, and youth empowerment. He has served as Executive Secretary to H.E. Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia, Ghana’s former Vice President, and has led several national digitalisation initiatives. He advocates practical STEM education that helps communities solve real-life challenges.