Ensuring gender equality via girl child

I am Harriet Nana Serwaa, the CEO of Ahsa Life Non-Profit Organization.  The foundation of the organization has been
my personal life experience. I was born to abusive father end up in a broken home. At age 13, I was a street hawker who will invest
in any means possible to raise funds to accomplish my dream to become a capable
and competent woman in the future. I knew my dream could only come though only
if I have higher formal education. Therefore, I worked tirelessly to fulfill
the dream which I celebrate today as a priceless reality. After gaining admission
into the University of Professional Studies, Accra, I was moved to help the
many people out there who may be handcuffed by poverty thereby being homeless
and hopeless in life. With my life experiences and through my organization, I
want to assure the poor that there is still hope for a better future.

This project targets female youngsters especially who are forced to struggle on the streets for survival either by broken homes, teenage pregnancy, poverty, and other related causes. The project reach out for these girls through alms giving, inspirational seminars, and any other means possible, which could sensitize them on the need to pursue a bright future by having aims and working towards these aspirations. We hope to prove futile the ideology that men are far better than women in terms of labor force, higher politics, holding higher offices, being capable and competent for nation building. In the next year, the project is proposed to have moved a higher number of street children, mostly females, from the streets back to the classroom to pursue either formal or informal education. By this, we shall discourage deprived street lives, teenage pregnancy and drug abuse among female youths.

Ghana, as other existing global bodies and governments has adopted various United Nations conventions and declarations geared towards promoting gender equality and to mainstream gender perspectives in all spheres of the society. A clear example is some provisions made in the 1992 constitution of Ghana which provides constitutional protection for all persons before the law. Section 17 of the 1992 constitution of Ghana prohibits discrimination based on gender, race, color, ethnic origin, religion, creed or social or economic status. Sub-section 3 of section 27 provides that, women shall be guaranteed equal rights to training and promotion without any impediments from any person (Constitution of Ghana, 1992). In line with these provisions by the Ghanaian constitution is the first international women’s conference held in Mexico in 1975. It has been proven through other subsequent conferences which relates to women and gender issues that, the world has a reflective experiences in socio-economic and political changes having some exquisite implications for women across the globe. A tendency driving this project is, solving the problem of global gender bias by instilling in women a can-do spirit capable of setting ablaze their desire to equal their male counterparts in terms of politics and socio-economic factors. 

Ahsa Life Organization through its measures to ensure gender equality and discourage gender bias move on the streets of Ghana to fetch female street children who are willing to be enrolled in formal or informal education. The project reaches out to parents and sensitize them on reasons to be concerned about the future of their female wards. We also discourage the Ghanaian traditional believe that male children are wealthier than female children and therefore deserve higher formal education than their female counterparts. These are done through organizing inspirational seminars in Girls Schools in Ghana, issuance of brochures and booklets which contain the struggles and survivals of local and international celebrated women, having fun with and organizing annual get together for female children. After every motivational speech in Girls’ school we visit, we donate sanitary pads to female adolescents to check and ensure personal hygiene among them and also to boost their self-esteem. This has helped in currently having over 7,300 female youngsters under our inspiration. 

The project mainly targets female children. The major concern are those lacking formal or informal education living on the streets in the rural and urban areas of Ghana, whose lives we seek to improve. Through our regular call on the targeted population and their parent(s), if any, we have an evident increasing percentage of 22% of female street children moved from the street and sent back to the classroom. Others are given access to informal education, either technical or vocational, from the coffer of Ahsa Life’s organization. Ahsa Life has been able to provide most school going children with 10,000 exercise books, 5,000 text books, 600 pairs of shoes and 500 school bags with school uniforms in Ghana within three months (October to December 2019) last year. Nonetheless, we are still putting in much efforts through this project to ensure influencing the target population at a large in order to make positive impacts in the society, the nation, and globally to achieve our prior goal of ensuring gender equality in Ghana and beyond. With this, we are moved by the assumption of extending our wings to reach as many people as we can in Ghana in the nearest future.

Our innovative ways of dealing with the issue of gender inequality by targeting female street children relates this project to The Elevate Prize. We search for and fetch deprived female youngsters and their families, give them hope, provide for them their critical and essential educational needs, which is the major means to give them a future of hope and exposing them to becoming useful people to their nations and societies. We inculcate the spirit of belongingness into female children who may have lost their families to hunger or disease, by providing them with homes and families. 

As a victim of street live, I was moved to influence others in some way to help them achieve their desired aspirations in life after my quest to pursue higher education became a success. After giving it a second thought, I knew there are many young females who have a similar or equal aspirations in life as I did. So, the idea of this project is to aid all these female youngsters in achieving their dreams with ease, although I was denied such great opportunity as a youngster. After making it through the hard times, I have come to understand the problems and needs of these street female youngsters and I hope to positively influence them. After several face to face interview with some few female children lacking education and their parents, I was convinced that these people have better plans for the future but are left hopeless due to some hindrances. As time goes on, in the early days of 2019 last year, I decided to set up this organization to embark of reaching out to a larger population of female youngsters and making a positive impacts on their lives.

Personally, after making it out the streets, it was such a great relief. Most female youngsters in the streets are forced to engage sexual acts either by force or by persuasion. The results of these acts has led to an increase percentage in teenage pregnancies and its consequences. In contrast, most female children who fall victim to these acts tend to regret the outcome in the end. This is a clear reflection of how they wish they had means to prevent such bad experiences from happening. As an eye witness, I am very passionate to rescue these innocent females from the streets through this project. We seek to have every street girl enrolled in education, either formal or informal. Also, most of these girls have aged parents who are incapable of caring for their wards, instead, these children are forced to engage in head porting in order to make some cents for themselves and their parents. To ensure education for these children means denying the parents their daily bread. Therefore, the project will cater for all these aged parents who are catered for by their children living on the streets. This we hope shall discourage street live among female children.

In the first place, as the CEO and founder of the organization executing this project, I have been a victim of the problem we seek to solve. I have known the hardships of female youngsters on the streets, and things necessary to get them going with ease. Since not all may have the interest for formal education due to differences in age and other matters, I have implemented some technical measures to have the interest of these female youngsters through my life experiences. My team is made of people with cases similar to that of our targeted population who can work hand in hand with me to ensure a smooth implementation of our proposed activities. Through alms giving and other interactions, we have won the hearts of many parents who are willing to have their enrolled in formal, vocational and technical education respectively. By so doing, we are distinct in implementing our goals a large.  As the CEO, I have linked up with some governmental and non-governmental bodies whose interests are similar or are the same as ours to also give a hand in ensuring an excellent implementation of our work and services. We still expect to gain more links to donors and sponsors who are interested in helping us in one way or the other. 

Dealing with female youngsters who are homeless, hopeless and aimless of pursuing a better future is such a difficult task. Most of these females are convinced to be satisfied with their lives and are therefore very difficult to be convinced to seek a better life of hope. Sometimes, it will take much efforts to convince most parents that their female youngsters are capable of becoming useful women in the future. In some situations even, it will take more than a couple weeks to make regular call on these parents and their ward before winning their hearts. After convincing them to pursue education for their wards, the next is to explain which education is good for their children and why. Sometimes, after successfully going through all these processes, neighbors of the targets come in to worsen the case by discouraging the parents and their children. Despite these challenges, we have been able to create a great rapport between ourselves and every parent we have come across through our down-to-earth call on them, and our timely alms giving. By so, we have influence positively any parent who initially became an obstacle, some of whose wards are enrolled in formal or informal education.

Few months ago, after reaching out to a mother of three, she was hardly convinced to believe her 19 year old girl can still be a capable woman in the nearest future. Although the girl herself believed so, she was very shy to step a foot in the vocational school to begin her education. As an enthused leader, I assured the girl my company and support. Every morning, I took her to school for two consecutive weeks. Fortunately, after she became familiar to her new environs, she was one of the quick learning students known to be among the best in her class. Currently, she has been able to grasp most concepts and does practice them at home. In a conversation with her mother, she said, “I did not know you could transform my daughter’s life this way. She is totally a new creature and new hope of our family.” As a sign of appreciation, she handled over the remaining two siblings of the girl into my care, who are currently enrolled in formal education through this project. Despite the difficulties, I strongly believe my persistence and patience will yield a joyous results.  

Ahsa Life is not part of larger organization. 

My project deals with innovative approach because, instead of giving up on parents and female children who prove adamant, I rather have the time to prove myself right by surprising them with profuse smiles. I invest in people who have already accepted defeat in life. Where people believe there can be no sign of hope, that is where this project targets and is yielding a positive result. We have a unique way of winning the hearts of our targeted population. Which is through alms giving and organizing party for the children living on the streets. Unlike other projects, this project hits the nail straight on the head by having physical interactions with parents of our target population. This helps to strengthen our relationship with these parents and also helps to prove ourselves trustworthy. In all our visits to Girls’ Schools in Ghana, we have been walking with some celebrated females in the country who are used as a means to motivate and boost the confidence of our target population. Most of these women have their pictures and biographies in the brochures of world celebrated women we present to female adolescents. Having in hand their pictures and seeing them in reality is way of bringing alive the life aspirations our targeted population, and this yield a great positive results.

Just as quoted earlier from the 1992 constitution of the republic of Ghana, this projects seeks to give women equal opportunities in their nations as their male counterparts. Considering our targeted group, although the project’s prior aim is to solve the problem of gender bias, it shall also contribute greatly to battling the problem of teenage pregnancy, drug abuse among teenagers, bad peer pressure, and violence against women, among others. The government of Ghana and other governments have been trying in all means possible to stop tribal conflicts among their people. The increase in this act has been due to lack of formal or informal education for the youth, drug abuse among them, peer pressure, broken homes and others. In view of this, this project shall consequently check and stop or reduce tribal conflict in the Ghanaian society, and other parts of the world after extending its wings to other nations.  The rampant increase in domestic violence against women is mainly due to underrating women in our local communities.  After women are found to lack formal or informal education, they are regarded as burdensome to their husbands and families, and therefore are abused without care or concern. Making formal or informal education accessible to these female adolescents shall check the problem of domestic violence after generating a future of capable and competent women. After parents expressed their genuine interest of wishing a formal or informal education for their female wards in an interview with them, it is evident that, enrolling these girls in school shall be a way of reducing the burden of these parents. Sooner or later, we expect to produce a large quantity of capable and competent women from this project. This we hope shall be another way of supporting local governments in their quest to seek a gender equality in the various nations. 

Currently, the project is serving 4,030 female adolescents who are enrolled in either formal or informal education. We have other 1,150 female children enrolled in basic education. In all, this projects is serving 7300, females in less than a year after its establishment. In the next year, after extending our wings to our neighbor countries, we hope to serve 10,260 female adolescents who will be enrolled in formal or informal education based on age and interest, and 3,050 female children who will be offered basic education in their respective countries. In five years, a total sum of 100,000female adolescents are proposed to be benefiting from the project, and a sum of 10,200 female children will be enrolled in basic education through this project.

Within the next year, we hope to:

• Ensure gender equality in Ghana via girl child education
• Stop or reduce school dropout among children in Ghana, females especially
• Promote sustainable development in Ghana via formal or informal education
• Build a future of competent and capable women responsible for enhancement in politics, education, economics, and other related areas instigating national peace and sustainable development in Ghana.
• Give a future of hope to the needy through alms giving, vis-à-vis dealings, inspirational speech, and any other form of interactions to boost their self-confidence.
• Providing room to support single parents and broken homes in Ghana by supporting almost all basic and educational needs of their wards.
• Reduce drastically or annihilate drug abuse among Ghanaian female youngsters.
• Discourage deprived street life of Ghanaian female children

In addition, within the next five years, we hope to:

• Draw a thin line between females and their male counterparts in our countries of operation
• Increase the population of capable and competent women by 80% in our countries of operation

• Increase the population of school going females by 90%  and 100% respectively, in our countries of operation
• Reduce by 75% the rate of teenage pregnancies in our countries of operation

We hope to achieve these goals through series of activities like seminars, workshops, alms giving, community mobilization, radio and television broadcasts, and all other means possible. 

The main barriers has been to convince the targeted population to ignore their current statuses in life and pursue a future of peace and security. Since these girls depend on their current works for survival, it has been very difficult to have them convinced that there is something ahead which is better than depending solely on the penny they make in their daily lives. Secondly, we are sometimes locked up in getting adequate funds to execute our various activities in order to achieve our goals with ease. Since our targeted population have been on the streets for years before our arrival, they have been used to streets lives and are therefore sometimes unwilling to stay in school though we have gained their consent to pursue education. Tribal and language has also been a barrier to assure parents and their wards our genuine intention of helping them without fear. Should these persist in the next year and in the next five years, it shall extremely difficult to execute fairly or proposed tendencies with ease. 

As an enthused leader, I plan to overcome these barriers by including at least, two people from all ethnic groups of our targeted population. These people will be made to interact with parents and their children in their native language which shall provide them the assurance of our trustworthiness. I have decided to find any means possible to sensitize female children on the need to pursue a better future although they may be satisfied with their current statuses in life. I have also decided to employ more physical dealings than virtual in order to create a strong rapport between my team and our targeted population. This I hope shall help in winning the hearts of parents and their female children with ease. Working hand in hand with some locally celebrated females shall also boost the confidence of our target population and assure them the possibility of being any admirable change they wish to see. Regarding financial difficulties, we hope to look out for more donors, grants and sponsorship from local and international bodies who may be interested in the aims of our project. 

We are still on the search for partner organizations.  

We have, to a large extent contributed to our community and have made positive impacts on the lives of the people. We have enrolled 7,300 female adolescents and children in education as means of preventing an increase in teenage pregnancy, drug abuse among youths, bad peer association, and prostitution among female adolescents, which are contrary to societal development. We have provided food and other basic necessities to our targeted group in order to check pickpocketing and theft cases among these groups. In a way, this will protect the properties of the community. We have also organized seminars for the targeted population and have fun time with them to inculcates in them some spirit of belongingness and also protect their happiness. On May 14, 2020, we moved to the village of Subriso to share 2,000 story books to students from the basic level to Senior High School level. We also shared 4,000 nose masks, 60,000 liters of hand sanitizer, to both parents and students. If we continue our good works, and are able to keep on positively affecting the lives of our targeted population, the peace and security of our communities can be secured.

The project is mainly funded from the work of the CEO of the organization; Harriet Nana Serwaa, who is a professional a graphic designer. She is currently using her work to back the project financially. In addition, we have been receiving some financial support from donors from our official website which in a way help the association to execute the goals of this project. Day in day out, we search for new ways of reaching companies who may have a special interest of lending a  hand in one way or the other to help the project come to a success. Some individual donations from independent bodies are also worth the mention. Yet still, we look forward to receiving many international donors and grants that would enable the association see its dream come true. 

Name of organization : The Stewards Ghana

Amount USD : 2,737.62

Type of funding : grant

Develop Queen Mother

 Amount USD :  1,586.53

 Type of funding :  grant

Positive Travel and Educational Consult

 Amount USD :  1,269.16

 Type of funding :  grant

Amount of funds:  $46,425.72

Type of funding: grant

Proposed date: October 2020 – December 2020

Amount of funds:  $60,465.26

Type of funding: grant

Proposed date: January 2021 – July 2021

Amount of funds:  $84,475.24

Type of funding: grant

Proposed date: August 2021 – November 2021

Below estimated expenses for our activities lined up for 2020.

$ 62,000 - shall be used to provide over ten thousand female children with educational needs such as, exercise books, notebooks, pens, pencils, erasers, mathematical sets, slates, school bags and sandals.

$ 100,000 - shall be used to support 2000 females who want to go to vocational schools, basic school, and high School.

 $ 10,000 - shall be used to purchase sanitary pads for female adolescents across Senior High Schools in Ghana in order to check personal hygiene among them and to boost their self-confidence.

$ 70,000 shall be used to produce 10,000 brochures containing the struggles and successful life stories of celebrated women across the globe with their pictures, including locally celebrated ones for ten thousand female children who can read in order to inspire and motivate them to challenge their male counterparts by dreaming big and chasing their dreams. 

$9,000 – shall be used for media broadcasting, organizing inspirational seminars, and fetching locally celebrated women to the door steps of our targeted population. 

$120,000 - shall be used to build two Community ( Science Technology Engineering Maths) STEM library and literacy development centers and also bring training those who have previously had little access to technology to reduce the impact of the COVID-19 on our young girls education, empowering children to enjoy life long learning and reduce ting pregnancy.

In total, the estimated amount of the project for the year 2020 to 2021 is USD $371,000.

 I am very hopeful, The Elevate Prize will serve as a bigger platform to showcase my dreams and will help me and my team to deal with the societal challenges in our areas of operation. The opportunity shall aid in helping this project to eradicate teenage pregnancies, school dropout, drug abuse, and domestic violence against women, bad peer influence, prostitution among female youngsters, and other acts contrary to nation building.  It will also help in generating capable and competent women in the nearest future. This we hope, will contribute on a large scale to aid governments and other local whose interests are the same as the project to implement their measures and see results very quickly. 

Since we dream of extending our arms to other neighboring countries, we hope to have a solid background in funding and in raising revenue for the project, which will help to largely implement our goals.

The Stewards Ghana, Develop Queen Mother and Positive Travel and Educational Consult are the current potential partners in mind. These are organizations with similar objectives as the objectives of this project. I shall lay before them, the tendencies driving this project and seek their usual cooperation to aid me in achieving my listed goals in this project. Taking Positive Travel and Educational Consult for instance, her innermost desire is to make education accessible to all by providing school-going children with some educational needs such as, books, pens, uniforms, school bags, and others. They also have experts who are excellent in inspiring children in schools to stay focus and chase their life dreams. The remaining two, that is, The Stewards Ghana and Develop Queen Mother have equal interests and services. My project can be said to be half-achieved with the partnerships of these organizations.