You’re Making a Difference Here
GHANA
Ghana was, until very recently, one of the poorest countries in the world. Over the past few years, the nation has experienced unprecedented growth and development (IFAD report; African Development Bank). Although the lives of Ghanaians have improved greatly, the country still faces many challenges, especially in the education sector.
In Ghana, 18% 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, 2012). Additionally, over 28% of the Ghanaian population is illiterate and out of all the current primary school classrooms, the government estimates that almost a quarter need repairs (World Bank, 2014; USAID, 2009).
PoP works with 109 communities in Ghana to ensure that students overcome these and other barriers to accessing a quality education. To date, PoP has impacted over 222,000 lives in Ghana.
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 113 schools in the Volta Region and will continue to scale our teacher training and educational programming across PoP schools in the region.
Before a PoP School Build
Previously, preprimary and primary students of Avatime Dzogbefeme attended classes in aging structures made of brick and cement. The build showed severe signs of decay, evidenced by cracks on the walls, holes in wooden windows and doors, and through mold marks from water damage. The classrooms were small, dark and often leaked as a result of old roofing. Additionally, the primary students’ classrooms had unfinished walls that were constantly in danger of collapsing. Overall, the condition of the preexisting structures posed major health concerns, safety hazards and learning distractions for the students of Avatime Dzogbefeme.
Your Impact with a New PoP School
Through your support, PoP was able to partner with the Avatime Dzogbefeme community to complete the build of a 3-classroom school. Teacher, parents and community members were actively engaged throughout the build process and committed to contributing 20% of the materials and labor required for construction. Your generosity also helped support necessary renovations and rewiring of the preexisting structures for the Primary 1-6 grade students. Additionally, proper classroom components were set up, including ceiling fans for proper ventilation and wall-mounted blackboards to improve teacher instruction. The community is enthusiastic knowing that their students now have access to a higher quality learning environment.
