Besides our specific achievements/experiences on our social media platforms since 2014, we have been gathering a lot of data on development challenges from various communities, Heads of public Departments and Institutions across Northern Ghana in the areas of Education, Health, water and Sanitation, socioeconomic challenges of the youth, women and children, agriculture and food security, afforestation, peace and security; with a number of direct and indirect interventions in such areas. However, our interventions, as well as that of other organizations and government have not been sufficient and sustainable to meet the socioeconomic needs of the people for better life.
In the year 2018/2019, we conducted basic research on education, health and community development challenges, including infrastructure, and came out with a number of issues that include parents/couples in ability to support their kids with school materials, feeds and feeding in/to school, and depending on herbs/concoctions for treatment when sick, including pregnant women; due to their inability to afford hospital/health service expenses. We also discovered a number of school and health facilities that have been ripped off without renovation/maintenance. Some facilities ripped off from a single piece of zinc to a whole, due to lack of early interventions and existing/contingency funds by the District Assemblies and the community members. Confronting the community members, we were told that, the facilities are to be maintained through “capitation fund” of the Ghana Education Service and government. On approaching the said institutions directorates as well, we were told that, when a disaster happens, reports have to pass through a series of administrations for long before it could be attended to, and they might not even get positive response from the central Government after the submission. However, out of ignorance, most community members believe that, since the funds for building the facilities were not directly from their own pockets, it’s not their duty to maintain them when they go wrong; forgetting that, it’s their own money collected in the form of tax for that, and equally failed to think that, it is themselves or their own children who benefit; even though most of them too have the desire to contribute for the maintenance when there is the need to do so, they lack means for it, probably at a point of the need and caused the whole building to collapse before intervention is made.
As a result of the above challenges and other poverty situation stated earlier on, we received delegations from two (2) deprived rural communities (Tosal Kumboni and Kunkpeni Communities) under the Chereponi District of the North East Region of Ghana in June/July, 2021, in need of boreholes for portable drinking water, basic schools for early childhood education, inputs for farming with associated livelihood support program, which we could not afford to help; due to lack of funding opportunities for us.
In critical analyses of the situation, we realize that, such challenges can never be solved by anyone, neither the Government, nor individual Donor and charity organizations, without empowering the people to manage their own resources and solve their own problems. We therefore suggested to those two communities to establish a Community Development Fund (CDF), through a series of Community Self Initiative Programs (CSIP), for Poverty eradication and ensure Sustainable Development in the areas of Education, Health, Agriculture and food security, afforestation, water and sanitation, vocation and skill development in July, 2021. The suggestions were accepted by the chief and elders of the 2 communities and led to the formation nine (9) member Community Development Committee (CDC), comprising 5 men, 4 women with 10 Community Development Agents (CDAs), responsible for the various sectors and programs of development that will late be discussed. As agreed upon, the CSIP tasked every household and all individuals above 18 years with exception of students in the community, starting from the Community Chief to contribute a cow, sheep, goat, fowl, Guinea fowl, plots of land and money to be entrusted under the care of the CDC and the CDAs for multiplication and income generation to solve community common needs(school feeding, water sources, school and health facilities), with closed monitoring of a CSIP Coordinator from within the community. The CDF is to be used in facilitating the communities accessibility to quality Education, Health, Agriculture, water and sanitation, Afforestation, easy and affordable technical, vocation and skill development, peace and security, in collaboration with the various stakeholders in the above mentioned departments, Institutions, Agencies, other Non-Governmental Organizations and individual philatelists within and outside Ghana; through a series of Sub-Trust Funds.
Our Impact Statement since the 2014:
- Number of widows/women supported with farming food security: Over 12,000
- Number of Orphans/Children in Education: Over 55,000.
- Number of Men/Youth Supported in Agriculture (farming): Over 200
- Number Communities supported with boreholes: 6