Why Ghana?
While Ghana has experienced unprecedented growth and development over the past few years (IFAD report; African Development Bank), the country still faces many challenges, especially when it comes to access to education.
In Ghana, 17% of primary school age children are not enrolled in school and of those who are in school, 28% will drop out before completing primary school (UNESCO, 2018). Additionally, over 14% of the Ghanaian population is illiterate (UNESCO, 2018).
PoP works with over 150 communities in Ghana to ensure that students overcome these and other barriers to accessing quality education. Currently, PoP is impacting over 42,000 students in Ghana through School Builds, Teacher Support and WASH programming.
VOLTA REGION
The Volta Region is located in southeastern Ghana, to the west of the Republic of Togo and just east of Lake Volta. In many of our partner communities in the region, PoP couples school builds with literacy programming in order to create sustainable change.
To date, we’ve built over 150 schools in the Volta Region and have also provided teacher training and educational programming to many PoP schools in the region.
Amesianyakope
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With a population of around 500, this farming community is located within the Ho West district of Ghana. Amesianyakope currently serves 234 students spread throughout five grades. The Ewe language is spoken here, and students are excited about their new school, where each child will be inspired to their full potential and promise. |
Michelle’s Impact in Amesianyakope
At PoP, we strive toward a world in which every child can experience and benefit from quality education. Previously in Amesianyakope, the younger students were learning in classrooms built by PoP a few years ago, whereas students in second through sixth grade were learning in structures that had no windows or doors, cracks in the walls, and poor roofing. These conditions posed a serious hazard to student safety and well-being, as well as to engagement and learning.
We believe that a quality learning environment is critical to increasing student attendance, engagement and overall literacy outcomes.
A school building is only the start of a transformative education experience. We broke ground and began repairs in January 2020 and completed construction in September 2020.
PoP has partnered with the Amesianyakope community to build a new classroom for sixth grade students and repair a four classroom unit for second through fifth grade students! We have replaced doors and windows, re-roofing and plastering, and updated the electrical system. The community is devoted to providing a valuable education to its students, and contributed 20 percent of the resources and labor required for construction.
We establish partnerships with communities who are deeply committed to their children’s education. The support of the Amesianyakope community ensures the sustainability of the school that it will remain a quality learning environment for generations to come.
We are excited to celebrate the extraordinary learning that will take place there!