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 113 communities in Ghana to ensure that students overcome these and other barriers to accessing a quality education. To date, PoP has impacted over 262,500 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 98 schools in the Volta Region and have also provided our teacher training and educational programming to many PoP schools in the region.
Before a PoP School Build
When our team first visited the community of Gafatsikope, Ghana, over 100 preschool and primary aged students were attending class crammed into a small, decaying school. In the former structure serving as the Bakpa Gafatsikope D.A. Preschool and Primary School, multiple grades were combined into one classroom and with one shared teacher, the building housing 1st – 3rd grade classrooms had collapsed and Kindergarten students lacked formal classrooms. As a result of the large volume of students and the absence of dedicated learning spaces, students were not in an environment conducive to quality education. Having recognized this issue, the community was trying to work together to rebuild the collapsed structures in order to provide their students with a safe and positive school environment. Unfortunately, the Gafatsikope community was struggling to produce the finances and labor necessary to implement their dream of building a new school for their students.
Your Impact with a New PoP School
Your compassion and generosity made hundreds of dreams a reality in Gafatsikope, Ghana! You recognized that the previous condition of the school was not conducive to effective student learning and helped PoP and the Gafatsikope community complete construction of a 3-classroom school block and a new teacher office at the Bakpa Gafatsikope D.A. Preschool and Primary School. Your support helped equip these new and safe classrooms with furniture, finished floors and walls, proper ventilation and sufficient space to accommodate the growing number of students. The community remained engaged throughout the build process and contributed up to 20% of the labor and resources needed to complete construction. Your build broke ground on March 12, 2015 and 183 days later on September 11, 2015 it was ready for the excited and eager students to pursue their education. The new school was officially inaugurated on October 2, 2015. We’re incredibly grateful for your generosity—you made possible a higher quality learning environment for hundreds of students in Gafatsikope so that they can unlock their full potential and promise.