During the period 2018-2024, we have invested in several remote and impoverished communities in the Ashanti region of Ghana. Based on discussions with community members to understand their needs and preferences, we built two kindergarten schools, one in Aframano (2022), and another one in Kontonho (2024). We have built a total of five boreholes (enclosed water wells with a pump on top): two in Aframano (2020), and one each in Atonobi (2023), Kontonho (2024), and Anyanhamamu (2024). We built 61 latrines in Aframano, and a covered marketplace there. We have transformed these communities that had no water (except dirty or polluted streams) into ones with plentiful clean water. We have improved the education potential of young children, not only by building the schools: we also built teacher accommodation for them. This is essential in such remote areas, where teachers cannot commute from home easily. We have started an apprenticeship scheme, and currently we have four apprentices building new lives for themselves by learning dressmaking, a skill very much valued in the region. For full details, please see our completed projects.
In our visit in February 2024, we held about 12 meetings with community members in several different communities, and in that process we identified five new projects. We are fundraising for these projects in 2024. The projects are toilets, boreholes and schools. For details, including the discussions we had with community members to plan the projects, please see our list of current projects.
From 2018 to our financial year end on 31 March 2024, every penny of money received from non-trustee donors was spent directly on projects. That’s because all admin expenses (including flights and accommodation for monitoring, fundraising costs, government registration, banking, and website) were covered by donations from the trustees. Now that we are growing, this is harder to achieve. But we guarantee that for the year 2024/25, admin expenses will not exceed £5K or 7.5% of donations, whichever limit is smaller.