Written by Jaden Parker
Since we are in the middle of PANAFEST, we wanted to bring attention to some African NGOs.
As of 2023, there are over 34 million people in Ghana, the first African nation to become independent. Founded in 1990 and recognized as the first country program to become an Associate of ActionAid International, ActionAid in Ghana works with those living in poverty. They focus on strengthening communities rather than imposing solutions and improve access to basic needs and rights. They also have a hand in policy-making at the government level. In addition to these efforts, they have focuses on women’s rights and climate change. They invest in the benefits of education for girls and women, and they make sure that all communities have access to safe drinking water.
Their vision is “a just, equitable and sustainable world in which every person enjoys the right to a life of dignity, freedom from poverty and all forms of oppression.”
Contacts
Email: aaghana@actionaid.org
Telephone: +233 (0) 30 254 4714 / +233 (0) 30 254 4715
This non-profit, non-governmental organization gives aid and care to elderly people of the area. They care for clients by offering free medical care and necessary aid like food, clothes, and hearing aids. They provide free in-home care services and organize activities in the community every month. They also educate the older generation on ways to prolong life by decreasing usage of alcohol and tobacco.
Their vision is “to have a Ghana where every elderly person (men and women) is treated with love, care and compassion.”
Contacts
Email: care4theagedoutreach@gmail.com
Telephone: +45 50 35 20 38
Alliance for African Women Initiative (AFAWI)
This is a grassroots organization that works on narrowing the gender gap in Ghana. They help create opportunities that empower women and are creating projects that will one day be self-reliant. They collaborate with communities to meet their specific needs and goals and have been working for over ten years. They currently have four projects in the works. The “Livelihood Project” provides poor women with tools needed to start their own businesses. The “ECCACHILD Project” supports children with education and healthcare. The “Empowering Girls Project” creates equal opportunities for girls in schools and also educates both girls and boys on menstruation. Finally, their “Health Screen Project” (also known as the “Community Outreach Project”) holds free health screening days in communities with little to no access to health facilities.
Their vision is “to ensure equitable development for both rural inhabitants and poor urban dwellers, especially women and children.”
Contacts:
Email: info@afawigh.org
Telephone: +233 243 871 816 / +233 303 965 195
“Amicus Onlus” is the Italian name for a voluntary association, and in Ghana it defines the NGO that promotes development and training. Each project has a specific Commission that collaborates with a local Supervision Commission to ensure that each project fulfills its goals. Volunteers are carefully selected and appropriately trained to become responsible for a project with the goal to have Ghanaians run their own developments. Their current programs involve vocational skills training, reintegration, training women in beads making, and the creation of the Baobab Medical Centre, which has Italian doctors volunteering to give healthcare to Ghanaians in need.
Their vision is about development and its relation to capacity building. “Capacity building is the ‘development of people’s abilities and potential to build and efficient State that provides the population with goods and services that creates a favourable environment for growth and development of the private sector and guarantees peace and security. It is also the fostering of a committed society where the people take part in the decisions on public life, contribute to the establishment of goods and services and support the authorities responsible for making decisions and in the results of public action’.”
Contacts:
Email: info@amicusonlus.org
Telephone: +233 26 108 4124 / +233 24 295 5952
Bogosa Area Townships Association
The Bogosa Area Townships Association is an NGO that promotes African-American relationships outside of Africa through education and public awareness. They organize charitable events to fundraise for disadvantaged communities, and they provide basic needs to any members who have recently arrived in the U.S. They also have a chapter called the Bogosa Area Youth that provides peer-to-peer guidance and opportunities for youths in Ghana and the USA.
Their vision is “to foster brotherly relations and self-help, to enhance peace, unity and development among its entire membership and to promote positive African and American cultural relations through public awareness and education.”
Contacts:
Telephone: 301-869-7470
Founded in 2008, the Cheerful Hearts Foundation was created to educate rural citizens about education, public health, and human rights in order to stop child labour and trafficking. They have three interconnected projects that target the daily problems citizens are facing. They collaborate with communities through local leaders to develop various initiatives in Senya Beraku, Gomoah Fetteh, and Gomoah Nyanyano. For their “Public Health Project,” CHF has partnered with the Kasoa Health Centre to identify long-term needs of the clinic. The “Education Standards Project” works with the Ghana Education Service to provide teaching volunteer opportunities. Finally, the “Stop Child Labour & Trafficking Project” focuses on working with schools to keep children from being taken from their education. They also have a sponsorship program that assists rescued children so they can go to school instead of working.
Their vision is stated as such: “By inspiring people to take small actions everyday to improve the well being of their community, we envision Ghana as a whole, without a separation between the rural poor and urban rich. We predominantly research and manage projects as a hands-on team, with international interns and volunteers adding incredible value to the impact that we make in our communities. Our foreign interns and volunteers gain a wide range of experiences and skills through their exposure to CHF’s work in rural communities and schools.”
Contacts:
Email: info@cheerfulheartsfoundation.org
Telephone: +233 262-626182 / +233 246-207926
