Africanews September -Ghana: NGO wins excellence award

[Africanews <ramalkandy@iol.it>]

AFRICANEWS - News and Views on Africa from Africa
Issue 54 - September 2000
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Ghana
NGO wins excellence award

Local non-government organizations are taking up the challenge to
assist in the development of their communities.  One NGO has just
distinguished itself in the promotion of girls' education and won an
excellence award for it.

Education for girls
by Santuah Niagia


Nyariga Doone Mothers' Club in the Upper East region, one of Ghana's
three most arid areas, has received this year's Agathe Innovation and
Excellence Award for its role in promoting girl child education.

The Agathe Innovative Award Competition is organised by the Forum for
African Women Educationalists (FAWE) in honour of the late Rwandan
Prime Minister, Agathe Uwilingiyimana, one of the organisation's
founding members. The award comprises a certificate and a cash prize
of US$6,000. Sixty per cent of the prize money is to be used for the
club's girl child education project, while the remaining 40 per cent
will go to help members undertake income-generating activities.

The Nyariga Doone Mothers' Club is a community-based NGO committed to
ensuring high enrolment of girls in schools, especially in the
Bolgatanga District. The Club encourages women to send their daughters
to school and to keep them in school until they graduate. The Nyariga
Doone Mothers' Club has constructed a three-classroom block in the
district for girls. The cost of the project, which was undertaken with
support from FAWE and Alliance Ghana, is put at 30 million Cedis,
about US$7,000.

The Bolgatanga District Director of Education, Stella Yimbilla,
observed that school enrolment for girls in the district has increased
significantly in recent times because of the activities of the Nyariga
Doone Mothers' Club and other local NGOs. She was optimistic that if
the trend continued, the district -- one of the most densely populated
districts in the generally sparsely populated region -- would soon
produce more educated and enlightened girls than is being done in
other parts of the region. Yimbilla urged teachers to encourage girls
to study all subjects, including those previously thought to be the
preserve of boys.

Mary Yirenkyi, a resource person of FAWE and a retired university
lecturer who presented the cheque for the prize money, called for the
total elimination of all types of obstacles that impede the
educational development of girls. She said girls must be given the
opportunity to explore their talents and fully utilize their
potential. This, she said, is the surest way to empower women to break
the vicious cycle of ignorance and poverty.

The organization is particularly interested in Northern Ghana, the
poorest and the least developed part of the country. The 1996 World
Bank Report on the Republic of Ghana Education Improvement Programme
said that in 1992 "the total gross enrolment ratio (including both
public and private schools) for primary education in the Upper East,
Northern and Upper West regions ranged from 53 to 46 per cent, as
compared to the national average of 77 per cent".

The quality of education in the three regions is also reported to be
the poorest in the country. In 1994, less than 10 per cent of children
in Primary Six (sixth grade) passed a criterion-referenced test
administered under a project sponsored by the United States
government. In some of the regions, scores were as low as zero percent
for English and mathematics. NGOs have focused their efforts on
raising the standard of education in these regions, especially at the
basic level, because increased literacy levels are required for
substantial economic growth. Some international NGOs work through
local partners, which has encouraged community-initiated NGOs such as
Nyariga Doone Mothers' Club, whose projects are better suited to the
needs of the people.

Headquartered in Nairobi, Kenya, FAWE was formed in 1992 as a regional
NGO that brings together African women who are senior policy makers in
education and are well-positioned to stimulate broad policy reforms
for girls' education. The Agathe Award, which honours innovative
achievements in female education, aims to support projects started
through the initiative of local communities, groups and individuals
who promote education of girls and other projects beneficial to the
community and the nation as a whole.

The award enables innovators in education to document their successful
programmes and share their experience with others committed to the
education and achievement of girls and women. These linkages occur
between educators at the community level and educators, researchers,
and donors at the national and international levels. The award also
aims to inspire educators, policy makers and communities to support
the education of girls and women as a means to development, and to
identify role models who are committed to the education of girls.

Those eligible to apply for the Agathe award are individuals and
organisations whose innovative programmes have benefited both males
and females but must have caused significant improvement in girls'
access to education, retention, achievement and performance in either
the formal school system or in alternative non-formal delivery system.