NGOs provide scholarships to 50 children in VR

Two organisations have partnered to provide scholarships to 50 brilliant, needy children in the Volta Region.

They are a Ghana-based charity institution, OAfrica and Henry House Community School (HHCS), an NGO in Ho.

The scholarship package would cover tuition for 30 girls and 20 boys at the primary level, starting from September this year. The beneficiaries will attend the HHCS as part of the scholarship.

The gesture followed a comprehensive assessment by the two organisations that identified the beneficiaries were needy.
 

Briefing

Briefing the Daily Graphic in an interview in Accra last Tuesday, the Founder and President of the OAfrica Board, Lisa Lovatt-Smith, said: “OAfrica has a track record of supporting vulnerable Ghanaian children to remain in education. This partnership is a continuation of the work we are already known for”.

She said the charity organisation was established more than 20 years ago to empower children and young adults in need of care and protection. Ms Lovatt-Smith said page 17 of the World Bank Social Protection Programme Spending and Household Welfare in Ghana Report (2023), indicates an increase in poverty in “rural areas” such as the Volta Region where cases of poverty were extreme in households where there were no formal education.

She, therefore, expressed hope that the gesture would go a long way to help reduce poverty among needy children in the region.

Appreciation

The Chief Executive Officer of HHCS, Akofa Wallace, expressed gratitude to OAfrica for the partnership which she said would ultimately improve the lives of the children and their respective families and communities.

“On behalf of the families in Ho, and especially the families in the Kpenoe community, we are grateful to OAfrica and their expert team for stepping in to support our children; primary education is essential to the overall development of a child and will give our children a fighting chance against poverty,” she added.

Assessment

On the mode of assessment and how the selection process was being implemented, Ms Wallace encouraged parents and guardians who were interested in their children being considered for scholarships to visit the school located on the Ho-Kpenoe Road near the military barracks in Ho to pick up an application form.

She said trained and licensed social workers from OAfrica would conduct an assessment of the child and family during the third week of August 2024. Ms Wallace further explained that the HHCS was established in 2010 by a couple who are philanthropists, Dr David Atubra and Mrs Bernice Atubra, adding that the HHCS is a recognised institution by the Ghana Education Service that delivers the Ghana National Curriculum to its pupils from Kindergarten to junior high school level.

The school, she said, was a not-for-profit institution and registered as an NGO under the Department of Social Welfare.