Child Protection Ghana Project #30448

Providing School Supplies to 100 Children in Ghana

by Action against Child Exploitation (ACE)

Providing School Supplies to 100 Children in Ghana

Project Report | Dec 24, 2024
Rice Farming Training for Improving Income

By Yuki Akahori | SMILE Ghana Project Manager

The women attending the rice farming training

Thank you very much for your kind support for ACE. My name is Yuki Akahori. I am SMILE Ghana Project Manager.

ACE is running the “Smile Ghana Project” in the cocoa-producing regions of Ghana to protect children from hazardous labour and support their education.

In the two communities where we are implementing this project, rice farming training for parents, particularly women, has officially begun! In this report, I would like to share the details of this training.

Increasing Income Sources for Female Caregivers

The project aims to ensure that all children in the two communities we are working in can attend school. The Community Child Protection Committee (CCPCs) is working with project staff to raise awareness among parents about the importance of education and the dangers of child labour.

In Ghana, education up to the high school level is free; however, to send children to school, parents must purchase uniforms and school supplies. For families with limited income from cocoa farming, this can become a significant financial burden.

To address this issue, our project is providing training in alternative income-generating activities, such as rice farming, to improve the economic stability of cocoa farmers.

Ghana has a high divorce rate, and many mothers are raising several children as single parents. Women also have more responsibilities in household chores and childcare, which limits the time they can spend earning an income. As a result, women often have lower economic stability compared to men. Studies suggest that when women’s income becomes more stable, the funds for children’s education are more secure. Therefore, the project has started rice farming training, especially targeted at female caregivers.

Why Rice Farming?

According to the Ghana Ministry of Agriculture, rice consumption in the country has been steadily increasing due to population growth and changes in eating habits, while the domestic self-sufficiency rate in rice production has been on the decline. From a food security perspective, rice farming is being encouraged.

For this reason, the project has focused on rice farming as a potential source of supplementary income.

The training is conducted once a week in each community by staff from the local agricultural office. Over four months, participants learn a wide range of practical knowledge and skills, including land preparation, nursery management, pest control, and more.

The approximately 40 women who participated in the training shared the following reasons for joining:

"I want to work hard to help my household!"

"I want to earn money for my children’s education!"

"I want to acquire better knowledge to harvest more rice!"

Promoting Group Work

In the training, the women were initially grouped into teams within each village. While rice farming is done individually, working together as a group offers advantages such as mutual assistance during harvest time, greater negotiating power when selling the rice, and easier access to support from local authorities or external organizations.

The training then moved to a practical farm plot where participants learned about land preparation for rice farming, how to create the right soil conditions, and how to manage rice nurseries. They also discussed the impacts of climate change on agriculture and how to choose suitable rice varieties. The participants asked many questions about nursery creation and management, showing their seriousness about learning.

When it came to choosing rice varieties, the instructor explained the characteristics of various types. After considering the options, the project decided to distribute a variety called "Agra rice" to the participants. Agra rice is disease-resistant, grows quickly, produces abundant yields, tastes good, and is in high demand in the market. The project also distributed herbicides and fertilizers to each participant. After receiving these materials, the women began rice farming on their plots.

Supporting the Education of Children

Dorothy (a pseudonym), a 45-year-old single mother from Community K, is participating in the rice farming training while working as a caretaker on a cocoa farm. She is raising seven children on her own. Two of her children had to drop out of school due to the inability to afford enough school supplies, and one other child frequently missed school. Through the project, these three children received the necessary school supplies. Dorothy shared her thoughts about her children and the rice farming training:

"When I received the school supplies for my children, they were so happy. I was also truly pleased. They are still attending school, and I feel their academic performance has improved. I am committed to learning and mastering the techniques from the rice farming training so that I can continue to support my children’s education."

Having an alternative source of income beyond cocoa helps stabilize the income of cocoa farmers. As Dorothy hopes, the project aims to ensure that each family can support their children's education. We will continue the rice farming training to make this possible.

These activities are supported by the generous donations from all of you. We sincerely hope to continue safeguarding the children's school lives, and we greatly appreciate your continued support. Thank you for your kindness and generosity.

Listening attentively to the instructor

Creating a seedbed

Placing the rice seeds

Cover with palm leaves to retain heat and moisture

Rice seeds, herbicides and fertilizer are provided

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Aug 13, 2024
Creating a "Community Activity Plan"

By Yuki Akahori | SMILE Ghana Project Manager

Discussion at the workshop

Thank you very much for your kind support for ACE. My name is Yuki Akahori. I am SMILE Ghana Project Manager.

ACE is implementing the "Smile Ghana Project" in Ghana's cocoa-producing regions to protect children from hazardous labour and support their education. In the two communities where the project operates, residents are working to create a "Community Activity Plan" to ensure that children do not have to work on cocoa farms.

What is a Community Activity Plan?

In January of this year, we conducted a workshop to create Community Activity Plans in the two communities where the project is active. A Community Activity Plan outlines the necessary activities and their implementation plans to address child labour within the village (community).

Creating such plans is one of the indicators for Child Labour Free Zones (CLFZ). Our project aims to use these activity plans to help the community residents create an environment where they can continuously protect children.

Our project provides school supplies to children from economically disadvantaged families and supports school meals from Wednesday to Friday each week. However, we are hoping that the community residents will continue these activities without us after the project is finished. We truly believe that children will be able to attend school instead of working by sustaining these activities.

Challenges and Solutions for Addressing Child Labour Issues in the Villages

The workshop included village elders, members of the Community Child Protection Committee(CCPC), school teachers, School Management Committee (SMC) representatives, and PTA representatives.

In response to the project staff’s question about the challenges the village faces in addressing child labour, residents discussed the following issues:

Insufficiently developed environment for children to enjoy their time at school.

Lack of teacher accommodation in the village, causing delays in class start times due to teachers commuting from outside the village.

Low awareness among some residents about the dangers of child labour and the importance of education.

Few opportunities to discuss the difficulties parents face in raising their children.

Limited opportunities to understand the challenges children themselves face.

To address these issues, the following activities were proposed for inclusion in the Community Activity Plan:

Pooling resources among residents to increase the number of days for school meals funded by the community.

Providing school supplies to economically disadvantaged children.

Constructing teacher accommodation.

Repairing desks and chairs for children in village schools.

Continuing awareness campaigns about the dangers of child labour.

Municipal staff also attended the workshop to explain available municipal grants that could be utilized when implementing the Community Activity Plan. We also suggested that residents could raise funds to establish a community fund to finance these activities. We aim to provide some initial operating funds from the project and to ensure that the fund is sustained solely by community donations by the end of the project.

Although the workshop ended with the proposal of activities, residents are working on a detailed activity plan that includes who will be responsible for each activity, deadlines, budget requirements, and funding sources. They are taking steps to create an environment where they can continuously protect children.

Rice Cultivation Training for Supplemental Income

To ensure that children do not have to work on cocoa farms, it is also crucial to improve the income of cocoa farmers, who are the parents of these children, so they can continue to buy educational necessities for children.

Starting this month, the project will provide rice cultivation training for the parents of children from impoverished families. We have invited officials from the district’s agricultural department to teach a wide range of practical knowledge about rice cultivation, including land preparation, seedbed management, and pest control.

By improving household income through this training, we aim to ensure that each household is able to pay for their children's school supplies and meal costs, as well as contribute to the community fund. We also plan to conduct cocoa cultivation training next month.

These activities are supported by your donations. We hope to continue protecting the school lives of children, and we appreciate your ongoing support.

A municipal employee explaining about the grants

An interview with applicants for a training

A demonstration of rice cultivation

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Apr 2, 2024
Improvement in Attendance Rate

By Yuki Akahori | SMILE Ghana Project Manager

In August 2023, the project supported 66 children from economically disadvantaged families in two communities who are currently engaged in activities. The support provided them with sets of school supplies. These sets included uniforms, socks, shoes, bags, pencils, erasers, notebooks, and other stationery items. The children who received these supplies were those engaged in child labor, not attending school, or irregularly attending school despite being enrolled.

To identify such children, the project established several stages. Firstly, the community register was conducted in collaboration with members of the Community Child Protection Committee (CCPC). Community register involves gathering information on community residents by household to understand the reality of child labor.

Next, from the data collected through the community register, children who were suspected of engaging in child labor or not attending school were identified. Furthermore, the CCPC identified particularly distressed families from this group, ultimately resulting in the support of 66 children with school supplies.

Children who received the school supplies and their guardians promised to ensure that the children attend school daily. Additionally, guardians pledged not to engage children in labor that would hinder their school attendance, compromise their safety, or impose physical strain on them.

Following the support with school supplies, support for school meals began in October at three primary and middle schools. In the two communities, due to a strong trend of children skipping school to assist their guardians at cocoa farms or open-air markets with their guardians from Wednesday to Friday, the project decided to support meals from Wednesday to Friday, with guardians contributing financially for Monday and Tuesday.

The reason for households to partially cover expenses was to ensure that they don't become solely dependent on project support and to gradually increase their share of self-funding each year, enabling guardians and residents to sustain school meals even after the project's completion.

Children who received the school supplies started attending school daily as promised, and since the end of August, school attendance has been maintained at 100%. Furthermore, there has been a continuous increase in new enrollments. Parents from neighboring communities heard about the start of the school meal program and began sending their children to these schools. We once again realized that creating a school environment that attracts children naturally leads to an increase in enrollment.

Let me introduce Nancy, one of the children who received the school supplies. Nancy is a 2nd-year middle school student living in Community L. Since there is no middle school in Community L, she walks about an hour and a half to attend a middle school in another community. Nancy's mother, who was a single parent, passed away early, leaving her orphaned. Her uncle took her in, but as a cocoa farm caretaker, he was far from affluent. He struggled to send his own three children to school and couldn't adequately provide Nancy with school supplies.

As a result, Nancy frequently skipped school, helping her uncle in the cocoa farm or doing household chores when not attending school. We interviewed Nancy and her uncle.

<Nancy's Interview>

"I used to work in the cocoa farm or study alone instead of going to school, and it was sad. The school supplies I received from the project have motivated me to go to school every day. I'm really happy to receive the school supplies. Going to school every day has made me even closer to my friends. I enjoy studying social studies, especially about the environment. I want to become a doctor in the future, so I want to continue studying."

<Uncle's Interview>

"Through the members of the Community Child Protection Committee (CCPC), I realized the importance of education. I want to continue supporting Nancy's education."

However, this requires increasing income. I told her uncle that cocoa cultivation training is planned in the project and urged him to participate. Children who have been taken in by relatives due to the loss of their parents often engage in child labor or frequently skip school. During the interview, I noticed Nancy sitting with her back to her uncle. It may be difficult for her to express her true feelings within the family as an orphan, and she may have found it difficult to express her desire to continue studying. We will continue to monitor Nancy to ensure she doesn't return to child labor.

The future challenge for supporting school supplies and school meals is how to create a system that residents themselves can sustain. The recipients of school supplies are families economically unable to provide school supplies for their children. To ensure that such families can continue to afford what is necessary for their children's education even after the project ends, we plan to introduce training in cocoa cultivation and rice cultivation next year to increase income and create a safety net for such families throughout the community.

Regarding school meals, we aim to make it possible for families to cover meal expenses by improving household income through training and other means. Such activities are supported by your donations.

We ask for your continued support to protect the school lives of these children in the future.

Children eating school lunch

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