SI ACCRA: EDUCATION PROJECTS

Abokobi Day Nursery was constructed by the Club at Abokobi, a suburb of Accra to provide the community with a safe and congenial place to send their children for pre-school care. Over the three decades of its existence, the Club has visited the nursery periodically assisting it with supplies.

Maale Dada Library at La in Accra where the building was constructed for a cluster of 7 schools by the Club.  We also took on responsibility for installation of shelves, supply of books and several other requirements of the library.[1]

Another cluster of schools at Bawaleshie in Accra benefits from periodic health screening of the young children as they begin primary school.  This leads to early detection of any disabilities that might affect their learning and skill acquisition.

In 2017, SI Club of Accra also undertook a project to provide 300 girls of a primary/junior high school at Dodowa with a Biofil toilet facility in a bid to check school absenteeism among adolescent girls during their menstrual period, and stem the school dropout rate. The project, a 10-cubicle and changing room facility was the result of collaboration among SI Accra, SI Kyoto and SI Emmental-Switzerland. The Club conducted training on use of the facility and presented the school with starter packs for maintenance of the facility as well as equipment and materials to encourage handwashing among the children.

One of our most successful projects has been a project on: REUSABLE SANITARY PADS (RSP) PROJECT

The target group is Junior High School (JHS) students plus about 300 primary school students who had early menstruation in the target communities. The total number of girls who benefited from the project is about 1,764. The Project team interacted with members of the target group during workshops and seminars held under the project. Education and dissemination of information were a key component of the project.

In several communities within Ghana, an alarming 20%, or more, of girls drop out of school during early adolescence mainly because of a lack of information about their reproductive health, and the high cost of related hygiene materials. Girl-child education is critical. Evidence points to female empowerment being a key tool in the fight against poverty and in the progress of a nation. In order to reduce the level of absenteeism and school dropout rates among Junior High School (JHS) girls, reproductive health workshops were conducted by Soroptimist International (SI) club of Accra in four circuits (Aburi, Kitase, Pakro and Nsaba) in the Akuapem South District of the Eastern Region of Ghana. A total of 1,740 adolescent girls in 31 schools participated in the workshops. Following the educational workshops organized and distribution of RSP to 500 needy adolescent girls between the ages of 12-15, a survey was administered to 270 beneficiaries from the target group. Feedback from the survey indicate that the girls found the new product (RSP) useful as it helped manage their menstrual hygiene during their period and recorded a low incidence of leakage and odor. The number of girls who previously reported having an odor problem were reduced by 42 %. Sixty-six percent (66%) of the girls reported that they did not encounter leakage issues while using RSP. They recommended the production of different sizes, with 26 % advocating for a decrease in size more than an increase (23 %) to suite their different body types. The project’s aim of improving the levels of hygiene, providing reproductive health education and introducing the reusable sanitary pads to adolescent girls to reduce absenteeism was achieved.

The project was a collaborative effort by SI Accra and SI Benicia, California (USA) on the one part, and the District Education Department of the Akuapem South District in the Eastern Region of Ghana on the other.

Activities conducted under the project include:

• distribution of reusable sanitary towels
• reproductive health education seminars and workshops on:
   the reproductive system;
   the menstrual cycle and what it means;
   the need for hygiene during the period;
   the keeping of records of the cycle to assist early detection of problems.

This project has been so successful and has made such a huge impact on the communities which benefited and on girl child education that the Club is seeking to replicate it in other areas. The project is under the SI focus areas of education and healthcare, as well as SDG 3 – Good health and well-being, and SDG 4 – Quality education.

The Club’s main project in Education emanates from collaboration with the Norwegian Education Foundation, which offers scholarships for training girls and equipping them for the world of work.  SI Accra has through grants received from the Norwegian Scholarship Scheme assisted several beneficiaries both in and outside Accra to acquire training in vocational fields such as Dressmaking, Hairdressing, Catering, Events Management etc. The girls are often sourced from institutions or independently apply.  They are monitored throughout their training sometimes in collaboration with local partners. Many of these girls are now gainfully employed and are managing their own enterprises.

[1] Unfortunately there are no photographs available.