Project OKURASE

If selected, I would use the Elevate Prize funds to help Okurase village complete their goals of safe water and toilets and increase the education in the area through the Montessori elementary program. There is no high school in the area. So, it would be great to begin a high school for the district, as education is the key. I would also support area farmers in the work they have begun to convert to organic farming. I would use the funds to help people engage in businesses that could truly pull them out of poverty. One business example is taking the next step on opening a music studio that is in process. Doing so would allow us to highlight Ghana culture and support aspiring musicians. On a larger scale and as a "teaching village," the funds would allow me to support outreach to other rural areas where resources are so low that people are barely surviving day-to-day. I would work to get the word out about what we are doing through speaking and writing. I would teach the principles of supporting people in poverty through realizing their own dreams and the spirit of Nkabom, bringing people together in unity.

As a small child in Ghana, I was concerned about hunger and poverty in the world. My mum decided to have someone mentor me in African drumming. I started drumming at a young age and then began to make instruments. When I would make a drum and someone would play it, they would say, "Wow this drum is powerful." So I began to be called Powerful.  As a teen, I started going to Okurase, a drum carving village, to buy drums shells to make my drums. There I saw the plight of the people - hunger, no safe water, no toilets, little educational opportunities, dying from small sicknesses. I started an NGO to use arts as a platform to address health and environmental cleanliness. A group from America bought a drum from me and that drum and connection was the start of my dream to found a second NGO, Project OKURASE in 2007 to work with people to be able to change their lives through their own work and outside resources. I am a Ghanaian drummer and performing artist who wants to change the world through helping people realize their strengths and through Nkabom - bringing people together in unity.

Project OKURASE is an NGO located in the rural village of Okurase, Ghana. We mainly address health and education. Through an assessment of village resident needs and priorities, we set 6 objectives: 1) water and sanitation; 2) health and nutrition; 3) education and technology; 4) economic self-sufficiency; 5) cultural exchange; and, 6) building the Nkabom Centre. We abide by principles that recognize the people of the village know what is best for improving their lives and how to attain sustainability. We follow the spirit of Nkabom, the Twi word meaning bringing people around the world together in unity to achieve our goals. Okurase has the desire to be a teaching village, to share what they know to help others. The project daily affects the lives of 3500 people in the village but we have extended beyond this village. For example, in partnership with Ghanaian medical professionals and American partners, we have provided health care for over 15,000 people. We have worked with the village to develop a water system, toilets, a school, and to support people in businesses. We fundraise in Ghana and America to support our work, which is carried out by people in Ghana making local labour contributions. 

Okurase is a village that has been in dire straits. We started this project 15 years ago. The thing that makes our approach innovative seems simple. Instead of going in and telling people what they want and doing it for them and leaving, we have worked to develop strong collaborative relationships. We have asked people formally what their needs and priorities are. Then we have together set objectives to achieve their goals. In doing so, we have expected full participation and local labour from the community to match the fundraising we do towards the programs. For example, we built a school from bricks. Before we started we set a training program for 9 women and 9 men to learn compressed earth brickmaking. It took us a number of years but they build the school by hand and took a reduced salary. Now they have a skill and a legacy. In addition, we have held a high standard to only implement programs that either have an evidence base or for which we evaluate with research to determine the outcomes. The community understands research ethics and is accustomed to research. Together we are overcoming the status quo in the work of NGO's.

1. Assess the community to understand their goals and vision

2. Set the goals with the community

3. Carry out programs to implement evidence-based strategies or to evaluate through research

4. Expect the community to be involved in carrying out programs

5. Bring in local people or people from other countries to be involved in programs to create a sense of global unity and caring for each other

4. Review outcomes and feed those back to the community

5. As a teaching village, share what we learn by having people from other communities visit or participate or publish our work

To date we have made a lot of progress together towards the goals of the community. We are also making headway on teaching people from other countries about biases, equality, and how to work showing cultural respect. A man from Europe came to visit and saw our school that was hand made by village residents but is unlike any building in Ghana. He said, "Where have you taken me? Where are the poor children? This is not a school for poor children."  We knew we were on the right track to teach that poor children also deserve spectacular buildings.