Ghana
context
Ghana has a population of 33 million, predominantly youth, with a rural population of 42%. Ghana was consistently placed among Africa’s ten fastest-growing economies since 2017, but in 2020, falling oil prices and the Covid-19 pandemic outbreak plunged the country into economic recession. Ghana’s economy has been described as ‘jobless growth’ because its economic growth has not translated into adequate job creation for the rapidly expanding unemployed youth.
While there has been some success in improving school enrolment at the basic level, the number of out-of-school children in Ghana remains high. Of those in school, children are attaining lower levels of learning and leaving schools without the skills required for sustained success. Since 2013, there have been no tangible advancements in learning levels; a trajectory that calls for concerted attention on learning.
*All pictures not Street Child's own.
Ghana IN NUMBERS
265,000
Children are out of school as of 2020. This number rose from 35,000 in 2019.
Only 2%
Of primary year 2 pupils can read at an appropriate level. 50% are unable to recognise a single word.
2.4M
People are estimated to be living in poverty.
what we are doing
Our rural initiative, termed Ghana TransformED Partnership, is an ambitious partnership with the Ghana Ministry of Education and Education Outcomes Fund to deliver a payment-by-results programme targeted at improving access and quality in primary education for Ghanaian children in the Northern Region.
It has two components: Mainstream School Improvement Program (MSIP), which targets literacy and numeracy improvements in 200 primary schools at primary year 2 and primary year 4, and Accelerated Learning Program (ALP), which enrolles 20,000 out-of-school children into primary schools.
The urban initiative is termed Street Child Education Outcomes Partnership (SCEOP). SCEOP runs a holistic programme for 8,000 out-of-school children targeted at achieving literacy and numeracy gains, successful transition into mainstream/ vocational education and retention in education for one and two years in Accra and Kumasi.
The programme includes an accelerated learning programme, together with Street Child’s flagship package of social and economic support for the child and primary caregiver.