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 116 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
Previously, nursery and kindergarten students at Goviepe – Todzi were taught in an old clinic structure, serving as the school. The aged building showed severe signs of decay evidenced by cracks on its walls, mold marks on the wooden windows, posts and doors, and rust on the corrugated metal roof. Additionally, the students lacked classroom desks, tables and chairs; some of the children would carry furniture from their homes to use at school. These unfavorable conditions posed a hazard to student safety and wellbeing, as well as to engagement and learning.
Your Impact with a New PoP School
Through your support, PoP was able to partner with the Goviepe – Todzi community to complete the construction of a 3-classroom school. The Goviepe – Todzi build broke ground in the beginning of September 2012 and was completed in January of the following year. The community remained involved and dedicated to the build throughout, contributing 20% of the labor and materials required for construction. The students are now able to enjoy formal classrooms for productive learning and academic growth, and the old clinic structure can once again be used as a community building. The community is enthusiastic knowing that their students have access to a higher quality learning environment.