Construction of a Meeting /Training Facility at Nakuaabi Community Centre

This project is funded by Osborne Properties

Nakuaabi

The Northern Region is one of the poorest areas of Ghana and poverty is compounded by the out-migration of the young economically active population to Southern Ghana. For those left behind, life is dependent on the increasing infertile soils.  Over 70% of the Northern region's population relies on subsistence agriculture for survival and in the rural villages, this rises to nearly 100%..

Until AfriKids* began work in Nakuaabi in 2005, the village had never benefited from an NGO project or even been visited by a government minister.

Background to the Project

Operation Smiles is a grass roots, rural development programme run by AfriKids.  It works with communities in Ghana's Northern Region to tackle the root causes of poverty endured by young women and children.  It was founded by Sister Jane Naaglosegme who highlighted the hardships facing the community to AfriKids.  A series of community workshops were held and were instrumental in developing a project plan.

AfriKids has already financed home based care for single mothers and orphans in the area and has provided 10 single mothers with micro-finance loans to enable them to support themselves and enrol themselves on Ghana's National Health Insurance Scheme.

The Project - Establishing a Community Centre near Nakuaabi

AfriKids is establishing a community centre near Nakuaabi which is being built on a wing by wing basis, to allow the community to reassess its needs at each stage. The first wing is focusing on the needs of young mothers and their children in the community.

There are a disproportionately high number of young single mothers in the area due to a lack of family planning provision, traditional practices which result in the abuse of women and a dowry system which, with increasing poverty, makes it impossible for many girls to marry.  Typically the girls who fall pregnant are unable to care for themselves or their children adequately because they do not have an education or marketable skills. They are also often ostracised for having had children outside of marriage. This leads to great suffering for the girls and infants concerned as well as exacerbating the problems of poverty and the high number of dependant as opposed to economically active people in the community for generation into the future.

This project will lead to the provision of a meeting / training facility in the Nakuaabi Young Mothers' wing. 

The Centre has the following important targets for 2007:

• To give access to micro-credit, business training, support and monitoring to 20 young mothers
• To give vocational skills training to young mothers
• To make progress towards making the project sustainable by 2009 through generating initiatives such as a piggery ,a purified water distribution business and a mango plantation

Project Cost

The cost of constructing and equipping the meeting / training facility is £4,000.

AfriKids is a Child Rights Organisation, which works alongside indigenous communities in Ghana to improve the quality of life for rejected and vulnerable children. The charity specifically targets the root causes of the children's problems, by improving community support services and by providing access to basic education and primary health care.  It is also committed to ensuring the sustainability of all its projects' activities.

www.osborneproperties.co.uk