Programmes and Projects
Our goals within each of our thematic focus areas are reflected in our programs and projects.
Equity and Sustainable Development
Empowerment for Life (E4L) is Ghana friends' main development program and has entered its fourth phase. The objective of the program is to ensure greater equity in Ghana, so more Ghanaians will have better opportunities in life. Issues of inequality will be addressed in regards to education, geography, economic inequality, age, ethnicity and gender. Furthermore, we will work to promote inclusive growth meaning that growth and development is not only measured as Ghana's macro-economy but that growth is distributed more equal and also includes areas as poverty reduction, job creation, a more efficient public sector, climate protection, better agriculture and increased social and economic equality.
We work in five districts in Northern Ghana: Mion, Kumbungu, Saboba, Karaga og Savelugu-Nanton, and we also work on national and international level.
The program works with three interrelated areas:
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Democracy and Good Governance
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Education
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Inclusive Growth and Employment
A strengthened civil society and active civil society organisations is fundamental to the Empowerment for Life program. Whether it is fighting inequality, promoting sustainable development, good governance, education or climate adaptation civil society is the foundation in our work.
Empowerment for life objectives
The overall program objective is: Civil society actors contribute to increased equity and sustainable development in Ghana
The immediate objectives for out three thematic areas are:
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Civil society engagement improves government transparency, accountability and performance.
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Civil Society Organizations contribute to improved distribution and use of resources in education.
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Rural communities are climate adaptive and have improved livelihoods and resilience.
Thematic Areas
The three thematic areas constitute the program
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Education
The main elements of the education intervention are strengthening of school governance bodies and national civil society collaboration to pursue fair and transparent allocation of education resources as well as effective use. Other elements are testing and adoption of methodologies for improved learning outcomes and the creation of better opportunities for girls and young women through e.g. literacy, numeracy and life skills classes.
Democracy and good governance
The main elements of the governance intervention are citizen-led monitoring of capital development projects in the districts; civil society engagement in district revenue generation, utilization and provision of public services; bringing evidence of corruption to the national level and engaging youth in governance through e.g. citizen journalism. Read more
Inclusive Growth & Employment
The main elements of the Inclusive Growth and Employment intervention are strengthening of livelihood strategies and climate change adaptation among small
holder farmers; supporting well-organized farmer organizations to venture into larger-scale commercial farming and women groups to start agri-businesses; and training young entrepreneurs and creating a supportive environment for young rural entrepreneurs.
Youth Speak Up
Youth Radio - young people's voice!
Together with our partner organization Youth Empowerment for Life we produce radio programs for children and adolescents. We call it Youth Speak Up, because the radio helps to give young people a bigger voice in their own community.
75% of Ghana's population is between 5-35 years. Yet children and young people in Ghana marginalized. They are subjected to social injustice and inequality in many ways; children are seen primarily as workers and not as a key group of people to develop the local community. Young people do not have equal access to relevant information, which can result in less community awareness and confidence to speak out in public about problems that concern them..
Ghana Friendship wants to change this. As radio is the main source of information and news for more than 80% of people in Northern Ghana, radio targeted the youth (Youth Speak Up) is an effective tool to educate young people on their rights and empowering them to be actively responsibility for their own community and its development.
Youth Speak Up er funded by Danmarks Indsamling 2015.
Follow the project on Facebook.
PARSAO
Cattle routes for nomadic people
The nomadic people, the Fulanis, move in the broad Sahel-belt of southern Saharan. Their livelihood depends on breeding and trading cattle. But the increasing urbanization has made it more difficult for nomadic people to move cattle across borders and regions to places where they can feed and trade their cattle without coming into conflict with local farmers and landowners.
In collaboration with the French NGO Acting for Life and our Ghanaian partners GDCA and CLIP Ghana Friends works to improve conditions for cattle breeding and movement across borders and regions in West Africa, thereby also increasing the local meat trade and access.
Read our partner Acting for Life's description of PARSAO program.
(PARSAO: Programme d’Appui à la Résilience des Systèmes Agropastoraux en Afrique de l’Ouest (PARSAO)
COMMUNITIES UNITED IN FIGHTING HUNGER
Communities united in fighting child hunger
Ghana Friends' newest project 'Communities united in fighting child hunger' aims to fight hunger and ensure better nutrition for children in Northern Ghana. The project will be implemented in the period 2017-2019 in cooperation with GDCA.
The funds come primarily from Denmark Collection 2017, as well as other funds to finance the project. Read how you can help fight children's hunger here.
Hunger is a real problem for the people in the north and very poor part of Ghana. In the villages, almost everyone lives by subsistence agriculture, and in times of drought, there is simply not enough food. In the periods when there is enough food, all too many children suffers from what can be called called the hidden hunger. They might have eaten, but their diet is too one-sided and does not contain the proteins, vitamins and minerals they need. The result is that more than one out of three child's growth is retarded, making learning more difficult, and thus reduces their prospects for a bright future.
The goal is to mobilize a number of villages in the fight for better nutrition for children, and cooperation with schools and other relevant authorities to spread knowledge about the importance of diet for children's overall development and growth.
The entire village will be involved in the fight against hidden hunger, and:
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women in 24 women's groups should learn about nutrition on child development and how they can use local crops to make the diet more balanced and healthier.
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The women will be organized in three cooperatives, where they learn to process local crops, including soya beans to oil. Revenue from this production can help to ensure that there is more money to make better and more varied food to the children throughout the year.
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Ambassadors from the women's groups will teach other women, so everyone improves their knowledge of children's needs for - and right to - healthy food and how to make healthier food with plants and crops that are already in the local area.
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Children receive protein-poor food because of cultural myths and practices. These issues need to be brought out in the open, e.g. through radio programs, so families can have better knowledge of nutrition and its benefits to their children and themselves.
Thanks to Denmark Collection 2017 and Ghana Friends private donors to give us the opportunity to support the fight against hunger and malnutrition in northern Ghana.