Ghana

AGSP/Ghana At a Glance:

• Program Start Date: November 2004
• Academic Focus: Primary and Junior Secondary School
• Academic Year Start: September
• Number of Local partners: 4
• Number of Scholarships to Date: 9,487 (Girls: 8,767 Boys: 720)
• Number of Schools: 243
• Number of Mentors: 55
• Geographic Focus: Eastern Region (2 districts), Upper East Region (3 districts), and the Northern region (12 districts)

Mentors are volunteers who are teachers, health workers, clergy, district education officers, girl–child officers, etc. Mentoring activities include extra tutorials during vacation periods, HIV/AIDS talks, Inter–School Debate competitions and Essay writing, etc.

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Basic Information

• School year calendar: September – August
• The target areas of this assistance are the Eastern Region (East Akim and New Juaben districts), Upper East Region (Bongo, Bawku, and Garu–Tempane districts), and the Northern region (West Mamprusi, East Gonja, Gushiegu, Karaga, Nanumba North, Nanumba South, Saboba/Chereponi, Savelugu/Nanton, Tamale Rural, Tolon/Kumbungu, Yendi and Zabzugu/Tatale districts)
• To date, visits have been conducted to all the regions by World Education and IETC (World Education's subcontractor) representatives
• World Education has relationships with local organizations The ARK Foundation and Red Cross Ghana (Eastern Region), ISODEC (Upper East region) and School for Life (Northern region)

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Program Overview

In Year 1, the AGSP in Ghana provided scholarships to 1,323 girls in two regions of the country with assistance from an in–country consultant, Ekem Amonoo–Lartson. The AGSP activities in Year 1 were implemented as planned.

Year 2 activities began in September 2005. Disbursement of the scholarships took place and the mentoring and community activities were launched with a high level of enthusiasm and participation on the part of the girls and the communities. Our NGO partners were able to increase the actual number of scholars to 2,354 girls.

In Year 3, NGO partners estimate increasing scholarship numbers to approximately 2,588 girls.

Thanks to the addition of boys in Year 4, AGSP Ghana scholarship numbers were increased to 3,062 (2,502 for girls and 560 for boys). Also, a new implemented partner, Red Cross Ghana, joined the program to carry out the boys' expansion in lieu of the Ark Foundation who preferred to implement only girls' scholarships.

Scholars are selected through a transparent process which increases accountability and inclusiveness. The girls are chosen by local selection committees made up of school heads, District Education Officers, District Girl Child Officers from the Ministry of Education, religious leaders, District Assembly members and/or other community opinion leaders. School heads and parents/guardians of girls who wish to apply for the scholarships fill out application forms which are sent to the selection committees. Girls and their parents/guardians are then called in for interviews after which selection is completed.

The scholarships are comprised of text books, notebooks, pencils, pens, erasers, sharpeners, rulers, uniforms, shoes, bags, bicycles and food (sacks of rice, millet, etc usually given out during the lean season). The bicycles and food are given only in the Northern and Upper East regions as determined by local needs.

There are over 55 mentors in the program in Ghana. Mentors are volunteers who are teachers, health workers, clergy, district education officers, girl–child officers, etc. The mentors will be monitoring the girls' academic work and help to organize and supervise study groups for the girls. Additional activities such as HIV/AIDS awareness and health discussions have been implemented, and are still being planned for future months. We expect the mentoring programs in Ghana to build the scholars' self–esteem improve their academic performance and provide them with essential life skills.

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Exemplary Practices

SFL Practice: Treated Mosquito Nets

SFL responded to community level requests to include insecticide–treated mosquito nets as part of the scholarship package.

• Malaria fever is one of the leading sicknesses affecting men, women and children in Ghana and frequent recurrences affect the academic performance of scholars. The community AGSP committees requested that insecticide–treated mosquito nets be added to the scholarship package and SFL considered and fulfilled this request for all recipients.

SFL Practice: Adjusting Scholarship Packages to Individual Needs

SFL made efforts to adjust scholarship packages to meet individual needs of the scholars and maintain equitable distribution of items.

• In the first year, girls living more than 4 km away from their schools were given a bicycle each; all other girls received a bag of rice as food support. In the second year, those girls who had already received bicycles were instead given a bag of rice while those who got rice the first year also received the benefit of the bicycles.
• This year, the NGO reported that ~35% of scholars received bicycles, spare tires and tubes; while the rest received a 50 kg bag of rice.

The Ark Practice: Purchasing Committee for Scholarship Items

The Ark formed a committee of NGO staff members, both those working on AGSP and those working on other programs to supervise the process of purchasing bulk items.

• The committee includes the AGSP team, Finance Officer, The Ark Executive Director/President, and volunteer members. The committee reviews solicited bid, makes recommendations, and a written record of committee deliberations is made available to the public. Three signatures are required for purchases and purchased items are usually checked by the Executive Director or Accounts Officer before the AGSP team will package them for distribution to the schools.
• The Ark collects bids from a minimum of three shops for comparative prices and quality for scholarship items, also considering opportunities for bulk purchasing. Budget for items to be purchased is presented to the accountants for approval before checks are prepared with the companies' name.

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