VACI-Ghana hopes to help underprivileged children by financing their education and other needs. This is impossible without adequate funding; thus, we have introduced the Vaci-Ghana “Sponsor a Child” Program.

In Ghana, a lot of children are deprived and do not have the chance to go to school. A lot of families have many children and can’t afford to feed, clothe, and put them all in school. This affects a lot of Ghanaian children. Most often, boys are favored leaving girls to performing household chores, working as child slaves, etc. VACI-Ghana has since started locating some of these children from the surrounding communities (mostly at Denu and nearby settlements) who need financial support for school fees, books, school uniforms and other personal effects. VACI-Ghana currently has in its records, more than 50 pupils and students that could use some financial help for education. VACI-Ghana is calling out to philanthropists, individuals, well wishers and organizations to collaborate with the VACI-Ghana sponsor a child program to help in supporting these kids to ensure that they can go to school or into some vocation to learn to help develop themselves and Ghana in the future.

If you are interested in supporting the VACI-Ghana sponsor a child program, Contact Us.

Please Note: Sponsors will get detailed reports and personal contact with the children or families they sponsor.

VACI has now established an ICT Centre with seven computers. There are not many ICT schools, or centre’s in the various town and villages and the few available are very hard to access due to exorbitant fees they charge. The VACI-Ghana Community IT Centre was established to help the youth in the surround villages who aren’t able to pay the high prices of other computer schools. ICT has become an important part of the school curriculum and as a result of inaccessible IT centers, pupils and students in this area(Ketu South and North) are not able to cope with their mates and inevitably fail to pass their exams. It is to this effect that the Vaci Center was set-up. Currently the center caters for pupils from Denu, Dzodze, Kopeyiah, Akama and other Tonws in the Ketu South and north Districts. The ideal is for rural areas to have access to affordable ICT education.

VACI decided to open a school based on equality and to promote ICT education among the youth in both Ketu South & Ketu North districts of the Volta Region. Interested students will just have pay a very small amount for the lessons. This fee will be used in paying a permanent ICT teacher to enable the continuation of the project whiles incoming volunteers assist. Hopefully we would like to secure two ICT teachers to facilitate the continuation of this project.The organization will not make any profit out of this, which means that the prices for computer education will be lower as compared to the other computer schools in the area.

Progress

Enrollments at the VACI Community ICT School starts from January 10th 2014. The establishing of the computer school has been made possible by VACI-Ghana, therefore VACI welcome generous donations from individuals and organizations to make this project a big one!! VACI will acknowledge any individuals or organizations who contribute in anyway on our website!

VACI-Ghana counselling is an integral part of the VACI project with the intention of educating and supporting at-risk youth on issues such as teenage pregnancy, drug abuse, sexual transmitted infections (especially HIV/AIDS), unsafe abortion and school dropout and targeting the ever-increasing youth unemployment rate, one of the biggest problems in Ghana today. VACI-Ghana counselling project provides the opportunity for adults to mentor and counsel youth concerning their lives and future careers. Counselors will help the youth to discover and build upon their strengths. This will enable the youth to gain valuable and needed skills for future employment. Volunteers with experience in counselling, mentoring, or working closely with children, adolescents and young adults are preferred. VACI counselling project provides the opportunity for young psychology, sociology and social work students to do a placement with VACI. This will enable them to acquire experience in their respective fields and also impact the lives of the upcoming youth in Denu in the Ketu district of southern part of Ghana. VACI counselors will be located in Denu or surrounding community, at the VACI-Ghana office.

Duties of volunteers:

1. Classroom teaching in the volunteer’s area of expertise.
2. One – on – one counselling in the counselling center.
3. Mass education on health issues in the Denu community.
4. Community counselling, involving a volunteer moving out within the communities doing group counselling or one on one counselling.

Throughout much of rural Ghana, access ti reading materials is painfully limited, with very few age-appropriate resources available to the youth of these impoverished areas. The University of Birmingham Library Project is a new and exciting step towards combating this problem, with aims to set up a well furnished, fully functioning public library in the area of Dzodze, Ketu North District and Hatsukope Town Ketu Sorth District of the Volta Region. In areas stricken with poverty, providing access to literature and other reading resources, becomes nearly impossible; students from the University of Birmingham have long cultivated a strong, working relationship with VACI and are now aiming to collaborate on this issue. The proposed project is overseen by our project manager and UK Training Co-coordinator, Abbie Foster, who taught English during her volunteering in 2014. Having had experienced the difficulties faced by local teaching staff to provide adequate reading materials for students, she began to work alongside other VACI staff in order t address this growing concern. Abbie, now works back in the UK as a fundraiser for the project, and oversees the collection of donations of both money and materials, that are then brought over to Ghana by our volunteers. The University of Birmingham Library Project recognizes the difficulties faced by individuals of low income families and aims to provide a sustainable source of easily-accessible educational materials that could benefit an entire community. Through the combined efforts of VACI participants and local volunteers, we hope to establish a safe, comfortable environment for the people of Dzodze to further explore their literary interest, with hopes to encourage individuals, and to provide a solid foundation for the continued improvement in educational resources across Ghana.

VACI-Ghana is open to work with people of all interests and ideas. We think that Ghana, as a third-world developing country presents numerous opportunities for research into social and developmental issues. Get more involved in local issues and gain heightened understanding as you ask questions and investigate your curiosities. Research findings are instrumental in formulating VACI projects. In order to help in this work we have established contacts with study objects and university professors. This is a flexible program in which the participants can extend their stay if so desired. If you are interested in doing research work in Ghana please do not hesitate to contact your country coordinator or Director. If you come from a country with no country coordinator, contact the VACI Director in Ghana. The following are the research work areas:

Social Aspect:

1. Child Abuse/ Slavery in the Volta Region
2. Child Trafficking in the Volta Region
3. Child Prostitution in the Volta region
4. The need for Child Education in the Volta Region
5. Case Studies on effects of Single Parenting, Teenage Parenting and divorce in the Volta Region

Cultural Aspect:

1. Ewe Culture and its Dynamics
2. Traditional Food Preparation in the Volta Region
3. Psychological/ Social/ Economic effects and in infuences of the Troski System on woman in the Volta Region; A Case Study

In communities around Denu the volunteers work alongside locals to start various projects, like starting schools, encouraging local entrepreneurship, or developing eco-tourism. The specifics of these various projects will be left up to the respective communities and the participant.

Participants with this project will be visiting different communities to work on projects aimed at food security such as the development of local rice production. This particular project is very good for agricultural students who want to have more information about tropical African crops. Participants will also get the opportunity to work with professors from the Ohawu Agric College in Abor.

Many rural communities depend on firewood for fuel which over time can degrade their natural environment. Practicing tree planting helps to reverse environmental degradation in populated areas.