Women Empowerment
Education plays a major role in developing the mind and shaping and securing the future of individuals and societies. The major activity under this project is the Readers2Leaders project which aims at training young children to develop the love and passion for reading from an early age in order to propel them into becoming great achievers in whatever careers they may desire to pursue in future. The vision was born out of the observation that many rural children who make it to Senior High Schools are deficient in reading, a situation which derails their academic performance in many ways. The vision is also as a result of available data (PROVIDE SOURCE) on the reading ability of children in the primary schools in the country, which showed a rather huge and worrying gap between rural and urban school children. The implication of many of these studies is that there is a serious disconnect between academic achievement in the rural and urban areas and this can be attributed largely to the poor reading culture in the rural areas. This disconnect may have dire consequences for the development of the human resource of the rural communities and the country at large. iHelp Africa Foundation believes the only way to bridge the gap between the rural and urban communities is to consciously instill reading habits in children at the basic level and provide access to materials that aid the learning process.
Education
iHelp Africa Foundation shares the view of many world leaders, scholars and experts that one of the most powerful tools for national development, economic growth, political stability, social transformation is empowering women. iHelp Africa Foundation’s ultimate focus is to provide women from rural communities in Ghana and beyond with sustainable livelihood through skills training in bead making, baking pastries, preparing detergents etc. and providing them with financial support to make them financially independent. It is believed that economically empowered women are more able to take decisions that concern the education, health and general well-being of their children and entire families. “When women succeed, nations are more safe, secure and prosperous” (Barrack Obama).
ONE GIRL ONE BOX
Menstruation is an important milestone for adolescent girls but it could lead to several health problems if poorly managed. A UNESCO report estimated that one in ten girls in Sub-Saharan Africa misses school during their menstrual cycle and in Ghana, a study conducted by Sustainable Development Focus (SUDEF) a non-governmental organisation in 2016 revealed that 95 per cent of girls, especially in the rural area in the country failed to attend school during their menstrual period because many of the girls are unable to take good care of themselves due to lack of modern sanitary pads and sanitary facilities. It is not uncommon to see many of these girls resort to using old and tattered rags during their menstruation period, a situation which could lead to serious health complications for the young girls.
The main purpose of the One Girl One Box Project is to help provide teenage girls with sanitary pads in order to reduce absenteeism in schools. Having access to pad means many of these young girls will feel confident to go and stay in schools and keeping the female child in school is a sure way of providing and shaping a brighter future for her and her family as her education and subsequent career advancement would become the springboard with which the entire family breaks out of poverty.