Friends of Adaklu in Ghana

Friends of Adaklu, Ghana

Context:

Adaklu is situated in the Volta region of Ghana and the NGO, Friends of Adaklu's (FOAs) mission includes empowering young people to break the poverty cycle by offering relevant skills and training. They work closely with local communities to determine their needs and actively support the implementation process.

They already offer school fee sponsorship including school supplies (18 youths added in 2022), a Pen Pal program to connect 45 youths in Adaklu with peers in Berkeley California, they provided 136 refurbished bicycles to youths to ease their long school commute, there is a vegetable garden project, and Alma's gift sanitary pad program ensures girls in Dawanu and Tsrefe consistently attend school.

FOA offers various other community services like supporting women farmers, women pastry entrepreneurs, Nunya Village for artisans to conserve arts and provide employment and they built and support Mimi Clinic which provides health services. FOA is 100% volunteer-run.

About Adaklu:

 This is a rural area within Ghana's Volta region. The majority of houses are built from mud and more than half have no access to electricity. Food is generally prepared using woodfires. Families have difficulty in accessing proper sanitation and drinking water is obtained from rivers, streams, and boreholes. The area offers few employment opportunities which makes subsistence farming often the only option. In 2010 96% of households were involved in crop cultivation, facing poor soil quality, restricted access to contemporary agricultural practices and equipment, and inadequate avenues to sell their produce.  

About the beneficiaries:

Only 1% of the 12 years+ population has internet access. In addition to starting with the coding training, FOA sees many more opportunities through access to computer equipment and the internet. Youths can be taught to do online research and explore a variety of other online educational support programs (even topics that may not be in the curriculum). Young adults can use the access to learn digital skills and possibly find remote employment as well as engage in online business development training. Current small businesses like the Nunya village can sell their handmade beads, drums, and Kente woven fabrics online and local farmers could be supported to increase their crops.  

FOA recently ran its own Coding for Girls program successfully and is now ready to become part of a more formal program, that is not time-bound and that can accommodate more youths. 

This project will touch more people in the villages than just the school-going youth!