Our community learning centers provide young children with the opportunity to attend school in rural Northern Ghana. Each child receives a daily lunch. Students also get school uniforms, sewn by our vocational training participants. Classes, taught by local teachers, use environmental and cultural themes and outdoor learning includes school gardens and tree planting. Our learning centers also offer literacy and health classes for youth and adults.
In some rural communities there are no schools within walking distance. In other villages schools lack teachers, desks, and supplies. Many children do not begin school until age eight or older and many others are able to attend only briefly. Unfortunately, few adults in our partner communities were ever able to attend school and literacy levels are very low, especially for women. Thus, educating the next generation and insuring that half of the students are girls is very important.
Our community learning centers were designed, built, and opened by our local partners. They are constructed to be sustainable with kitchens, food storage, rainwater catchment, and solar power. Staff are all local and are able to teach a bilingual curriculum that engages children in learning about culture, sustainable farming, and conservation. Daily lunches help to improve nutrition in a region challenged by weather changes and soil degradation.
Educating children and helping families achieve literacy is essential to sustainable development. However, our community-led approach goes beyond this starting point and provides students with opportunities to continue their learning through high school or in vocational training. We seek to create a path to local employment for all of our students, beginning with a first step of kindergarten at our community learning centers. We also hope this long-term, sustainable model will inspire others.
Support this important cause by creating a personalized fundraising page.
Start a Fundraiser
