Help Fund Women Farmers in Ghana

Ghana – IDP Rising Schools and Sinapi Aba Trust

The IDP Rising Schools Program, an initiative created and implemented by the IDP Foundation, Inc. and Opportunity’s Ghana institution Sinapi Aba Trust, is improving the quality of education offered in affordable non-government schools in poor urban and rural communities across Ghana. Now in its third year, the pilot has built on its progress with 103 schools in varying stages of training. As of December 31, 2011, 100 loans were disbursed to 80 schools. An external evaluation is underway to assess the pilot and develop the future plan.   

Recent highlights include:

• 26,883 children have been positively impacted over the course of the program.  
• All school proprietors have successfully completed targeted training covering business management and school administration.   
• IDP partnered with Sesame Workshop to develop ten 10-minute training DVDs for teachers covering child-centered learning, active learning and classroom discipline. Ninety-two teachers will participate in this pilot.  

Ghana – Opportunity Savings and Loans (OISL)  

 Many women in Ghana struggle to pay school fees for their children to attend to school. But with your help, Opportunity is banking on education in Ghana to make sure every child gets an education. 

The Education Finance program in Ghana seeks to provide funding and technical support to disadvantaged private education institutions. As of December 2011, Opportunity reported active school loans with 110 proprietors and an outstanding Education Finance loan portfolio valuing $468,811. OISL is working to form relationships with an additional 25 schools.

• A school proprietor survey conducted in Q2-2011 helped Opportunity Ghana leadership define a growth strategy for the program.
• Continued to build the relationship with Ghana National Association of Private Schools.
• Expanded scope of project from 13 branches to all 25 branches.
• GOAL (Greater Opportunity Access for Learning) loan product has been introduced. This is an education loan for tertiary and technical school students. Students can access this product without collateral.
• A School Fee loan product for primary and high school students has been developed. This product will be launched for the next academic year, targeting our Trust Group loan clients who need a way to finance their children’s education.
• The goal is to serve 445 school proprietors with loans by December. 

Links:

• www.opportunity.org