“NowIcanopenmymouth,beatmychestandsaysomethingaboutmylife”

Vida Akoljo

If you would like to donate to AfriKids or simply have a chat about our projects and initiatives please don’t hesitate to contact us at: Email: info@afrikids.org Website: www.afrikids.org

AfriKids– UK registered charity number 1093624 AfriKidsGhana– Ghana registered charity number DSW/3024

AfriK

ids–BringingBigSmilestoLittleFaces

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This booklet was designed by Dave Brown from Ape Inc. Ltd at a huge discount. Ape Inc. Ltd, together with David Carroll & Co, also donated their time to rebrand AfriKids. This brochure was printed at cost by Park Communications on 300/150gsm uncoated paper, produced from fibre sourced from responsibly managed forests; Park hold ISO 14001 for their Environmental Management System and are certified under EMAS. The paper was supplied at cost price by Sappi Ltd. All print was sourced at a discount by Urban Life Support Print Management. All costs for the production of this document were sponsored by The Roden Family.

AfriKids would like to thank all of the above for their hard work and generosity.

Vida Akoljo is a shining example of how AfriKids can change a child’s life. She is one of the many children that have profited from the AfriKids sustainability businesses and the type of person who would in the future be employed by them. Vida is 19, she was born in a village called Kongo in Ghana. Her parents tragically died leaving her alone to care and support for her younger brother.

Vida somehow managed to earn enough through begging and odd jobs to feed herself and her brother and to keep herself in school. After a couple of years living hand to mouth on the streets of Bolga where she was badly abused she heard about Mama Laadi, an incredible foster mother who AfriKids works with. Since living with Mama Laadi, Vida has saved enough money to put her younger brother into school. Vida herself has reached senior high school where she is studying business.

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Bringing Big Smiles To Little Faces

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AfriKids is a partnership between a UK charity, AfriKids (UK) and a Ghanaian non governmental organisation, AfriKids Ghana.We have a shared goal which is to alleviate the acute child suffering that rips through the fabric of communities across rural northern Ghana and to open up genuine opportunities to the region’s next generation. All of our projects are locally owned and delivered in a holistic, effective and sustainable manner. We operate like a business; our monitoring and evaluation, our financial diligence and our donor feedback are integral to the organisation.Economic empowerment is the cornerstone of AfriKids; at individual, family, community and regional levels everything we do must be linked to long term financial independence.

AfriKids– UK registered charity number 1093624AfriKids Ghana– Ghana registered charity number DSW/3024

“ AfriKids is an excellent NGO delivering tangible benefits for a crucial and vulnerable community”

DrNicholasWestcott High Commissioner from the United Kingdom

to Ghana, August 2008

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LOSOPHYLISTENto what a community knows it needs

EMPOWERthem to make the necessary changes themselves

SUSTAINEnsure absolute sustainability

AfriKids lives and breathes this philosophy; it runs through every aspect of our work

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PHI

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LISTENEvery activity AfriKids undertakes is informed by listening to and hearing the people it is designed to benefit. • Their aspirations become the heart

of their personal development• Their ideas form the platform of each

project’s development• Their experiences shape AfriKids’

future development

Parent Teacher Associations Community durbarsMicro-finance leaders’ workshops Child rights clubsStaff appraisals School Management Committees Training monitoring visits Fieldworkers’ workshops Focused community discussion groups Children’s social clubs Internal project review workshops Women’s co-operative meetings Staff peer reviews Family monitoring visits Stakeholders’ conferences Community child rights committees Drop in counselling Children’s assemblies

“ It is our Ghana staff, with their indelible commitment to their own communities and to the children whose lives depend on them that has been the driving force behind our success”

GeorgieFienberg International Director

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EMPOWER AfriKids does not deliver change, AfriKids enables

the people intended to benefit from change to deliver it for themselves. At a practical level this means we always work with people to identify solutions to their problems and give them the choice of how to change their own lives.

That can mean providing a lunch allowance to a young woman who wants to be a hairdresser but cannot afford to sustain herself whilst training, providing a mother who wants to trade her way out of poverty with micro-finance or buying a profitable guest house to help a foster home support itself.

“ Their work is focused, participatory and effective. It has evolved from working with a handful of abandoned children to one in which they are now working, with government agencies, traditional authorities, religious leaders and youth leaders to ensure that a sense of ownership is created and reinforced”

SulemanaAbudulai Development Consultant, March 2008

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SUSTAINBeyond enabling, AfriKids is committed to sustaining every change we make possible.At the individual, project and organisational level we are working towards the long term independence and sustainability of the work in Ghana. The AfriKids Medical Centre is one way in which this is happening. The centre is owned by AfriKids and operates through a private-public partnership. It delivers top quality medical care to the local community, free at the point of delivery, and through Ghana’s National Health Insurance Scheme AfriKids is able to claim back the cost of that care at a profitable rate. All of this profit is channelled back directly into the child rights work, helping to take AfriKids Ghana towards its goal of complete financial independence by 2018.

“ I believe history will judge AfriKids as one of the few charities who manage to answer the million dollar question; how can we make aid work for Africa? The way they give in Ghana seems to me as the ultimate upgrade of aid in Africa”

SoriousSamura BAFTA and Emmy award winning journalist

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“ Life in the Kumasi slums is hell, especially for a female of my age. You either have to sell your body or live a life you do not consider worth living. If I see anyone travelling to Kumasi I advise them not to go. You can make a living here, I am doing it… I would be willing to help somebody if they wanted to train as a hairdresser but could not afford the fees… I would help them to have a meaningful life here rather than running to Kumasi”

LamisiNsoyine Beneficiary of Operation Fresh Start

A view across the disused Kumasi racecourse where an estimated 25,000 children and young adults live

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In June 2007 Lamisi chose to return from the streets of Kumasi to the Upper East with AfriKids’ Operation Fresh Start and to train as a hairdresser. She now runs her own salon and is empowering the next generation by teaching her trade. Her own little girl, Latifa is getting the formal education Lamisi never had.

A supporter gives £500 a year to support a young person to leave the streets of Kumasi and come home to Bolgatanga and train as a hairdresser

The young person is reintegrated with their family and community

The family and AfriKids work together to ensure the young person is supported during their training both �nancially and emotionally; in partnership the child is motivated and monitored through the learning process

The young entrepreneur becomes quali�ed and starts their own business with AfriKids seed capital

They in turn train young people otherwise destined for the streets

The trainee speaks at awareness raising sessions in rural communities to educate peers on the dangers of migration and tra�cking thus decreasing the likelihood of young people ending up on the streets

AfriKids collaborates with the police, government, NGOs and transport companies to tighten legislation and process to prevent tra�cking and movement of unaccompanied minors

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AfriKids is a partnership between a UK Charity, AfriKids (UK) and a Ghanaian Non- Governmental Organisation, AfriKids Ghana.Our shared mission is to ensure the rights of every child in northern Ghana are met and to do so by empowering local people.

Georgie Fienberg (International Director) and Nich Kumah (AfriKids Ghana Director) deliver a message of thanks to supporters at an event hosted and funded by GlaxoSmithKline

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Our objectives areTo fundraise in an ethical and transparent way to meet the needs of AfriKids Ghana’s project delivery workTo raise the capital needed for investment in sustainability businessesTo source and create partnerships that help AfriKids Ghana meet its delivery and sustainability objectivesTo offer and source technical expertise to AfriKids Ghana to support its programme delivery and sustainability activitiesTo promote AfriKids best practice in fundraising and programme delivery within the wider development and charity communities in order to:• broaden the impact of AfriKids’ methodologies;• demonstrate the scalability of our approach;• enhance the credibility, profile and fundraising

potential of AfriKids

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Our objectives areTo design and deliver programmes in northern Ghana which ensure that children’s rights are better met and they have a greater prospect of fulfilling secured futures

To empower and support existing local organisations, civil society organisations and agencies, to develop and sustain their work which they have initiated in response to a clear need and which ultimately supports child rights

To facilitate and enhance the understanding and use of best practices and collaboration among local and international organisations, civil society organisations and agencies

To ensure that all of the work we do is sustainable through the development of local businesses and linkages that will reduce and eventually end dependence on charitable donations

To ensure that donor funds are used in a transparent and accountable manner through due diligence and accurate feedback on our operations

To develop and maintain a mutually beneficial partnership with AfriKids (UK) in the areas of fundraising, technical support, linkages, project design, implementation and excellent feedback processes

“ It is what’s behind our philosophy that makes us what we are: the commitment, flexibility and ingenuity of our staff and stakeholders that makes this philosophy more than rhetoric”

NichKumah AfriKids Ghana Director

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UPPER WEST

BRONG-AHAFO

ASHANTI

WESTERNCENTRAL

EASTERN

VOLTA

GREATERACCRA

GHANA

KASSENA/NANKANA BONGO

TALENSI NABDAM

BAWKU WEST

BAWKU

GARU-TEMPANE

BUILSA

BOLGATANGA

BOLE

EAST GONJA

CENTRAL GONJA

WEST GONJA

MAMPRUSI

EASTMAMPRUSI

BUNK–PURUGOYUNYOO

TOLON /KUMBUNGA

TAMALEMUNICIPAL

NANUMBANORTH

YENDI

KARAGA

GUSHIEGU

SABOBA /CHEREPON

NANUMBASOUTH

ZABZUGU/TATALE

SAVELUGO / NANTON

SAWIA-TUNA-KALIBA

NORTHERN

UPPER EAST

LOCATIONWinners of the 2007 Third Sector Excellence Award for Accountability & Transparency

We specifically target the most neglected people, places and issues. We work in remote areas of Ghana; most projects are as far as 800km north of the capital, Accra. Rather than spreading our work across a continent or focusing on a single ‘headline’ issue, AfriKids has invested time and resources in making real and fundamental change to the society and economy of one region.

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THEPROBLEMIn an area where most people live below the poverty line children’s rights are constantly at risk. Life can be rich and rewarding in the Upper East but is lived on a tightrope. With a minimal social safety net an illness, a flood or a death can spell devastation for an entire family and children are always the first to suffer. The problems are complex and are exacerbated by poverty, ancestral tradition and external exploitation. The situations faced have many comparisons with those faced across the developing world but are framed in a unique cultural and social situation.

Children in the worst forms of child labour Children who are abandoned Children with disabilities Children considered to be spirits or witches Children who live and work on the streets Children who have been knowingly or unknowingly trafficked Children who are not able to access education of all levels Children in need of medical care Children who do not have accessto security or opportunities

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34%OFCHILDRENOVERSEVENWORKINCHILDLABOURFULLTIME73%OFCHILDRENINSCHOOLALSOWORKINCHILDLABOUR78%OFPEOPLEOVER15AREILLITERATE

Ghanadistricts.com & HIRD Survey 2007

70%OFTHEPOPULATIONLIVEINPOVERTY71%OFCHILDRENOVERSIXHAVENEVERATTENDEDSCHOOL

In the Upper East Region of Ghana…

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ONEINNINECHILDRENDIEBEFORETHEIRFIFTHBIRTHDAYGhana High Impact Rapid Delivery (HIRD) Supplementary Survey 2007 (District MICS) – Monitoring the situation of children and women, Upper East Region

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IMPACTAfriKids addresses problems in a holistic way, tackling the root causes as well as the symptoms.Every individual has a different experience of a problem and needs tailored support.We help these individuals but we also help the communities to ensure the problems don’t reoccur.Before we start any work we ensure that its impact can carry on without our support in the future.By focusing on one part of one country we can maintain this level of intensity and commitment and make fundamental changes to the communities and the economy.

AfriKids listens. What hits you as you tour their projects is how long it must have taken to penetrate the complexity of the issues faced down to simple, workable levels”PaulHillCOO, LEMG Deutsche Bankfollowing a trip to Ghana

“

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Total number of UK Staff = 9Total number of Ghana Staff = 160Total number of beneficiaries to date = 364,447Current number of projects = 18

Average % expenditure breakdownProjects = 83%Fundraising = 14%Administration = 3%Donor retention rate = 94%

“ It is always heart warming to hear that lots of people are sacrificing their time, energy and lives to fundraise for our projects’ continuity. We really appreciate their efforts and pray that their hearts be filled with joy and happiness”

AliBabaSolomon Head of Finance, AfriKids Ghana, 2009

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“ In the targeted locations, intensive support to families and their children to ensure that children access education and healthcare have reached an estimated 25% of families who are in extreme need”

“ The programmes with children in Bolgatanga and Talensi are having a 95% success rate in keeping children in either formal or vocational education and off the streets”

Independent evaluation funded by Comic Relief, June 2010

The child is at the centre of all AfriKids’ work but in order to support them effectively we engage as many related stakeholders as possible

Mother & care givers

Teachers & wider community

The Child

Institutional Environment

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“ No child goes for more than 15 days in a row without a visit from their fieldworker and the opportunity to share their experiences”

NichKumah AfriKids Ghana Director

A community workshop in the Kassena Nankana District where solutions to the ‘spirit child’ phenomenon are sought through listening and dialogue

“ The biggest change cited by everyone we met both at village, district and regional level is a change in attitudes and practice related to the spirit child phenomenon in Kassena Nankana District”

PaulineWilson Independent evaluator, funded by Comic Relief

to evaluate AfriKids’ core work in 2010

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Winners of the awardfor Impact in EducationSTARS Foundation Impact Awards 2009

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From its origins until the present, AfriKids has responded to needs on the ground, always staying in close contact with the grassroots, designing projects according to need rather than to set formulas or theories”MartinaOdonkorFreelance Development Consultant

“Winners of the Defence of Human Rights of Children2007 International Service Award

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HISTORYAfriKids’ work began in 1997 At the time Sr Jane Naaglosegme was stationed in the village of Sirigu in northern Ghana running the Mother of Mercy Babies’ Home, a centre established by the Navrongo/Bolgatanga Diocese to rescue perceived ‘spirit children’ and give them a good chance in life.Georgie Fienberg (neé Cohen) was a British gap year student travelling through West Africa. She spent several months volunteering at the Mother of Mercy Babies’ Home where she found greater suffering and greater determination to overcome that suffering than she had ever imagined. Nich Kumah meanwhile in the regional capital Bolgatanga was manager of the cultural centre and had just, with fellow members of a prayer group, converted an old latrine building into a centre for street children.It is the convergence of these three stories over the course of the following five years that led to the establishment of AfriKids.Located in a country governed by a stable democratic system and where innovative, inspirational people believe in their communities, AfriKids has thrived.

Outstanding contribution towards Child Protection in Ghana 2010 Ghanaian Government,Ministry of Women & Children’s Affairs

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FUTURE As well as financing and delivering sustainable child rights

projects, AfriKids Ghana owns and runs a number of businesses in the Upper East Region of Ghana across three sectors; tourism, ethical trade and healthcare.

The profit from these businesses feed directly back into the organisation. As well as driving jobs and money into the economy this income generation will give AfriKids Ghana complete independence from charitable handouts and western aid by 2018.

When this happens AfriKids’ fundraising services in the UK will become redundant and the UK fundraising office will close down.

We believe that change must not breed reliance; if the solution is not sustainable then it’s not development.

We’re committed to ensuring that as much of what we do as possible is replicable and scalable, not just within Ghana but globally; this work falls under AfriKids Squared.

“ The learning was in three parts. One was strengthening ideas that I already had, another was concepts and methods that were completely new to me and the third part, which I think was the biggest, was pure inspiration. The whole team were all so generous with their time, of which they have very little, and also with their expertise, of which they have an abundance”

FredBranson Amantani UK, giving feedback on AfriKids Squared, February 2010

This is sustainability,not as a buzzword but for real”SoriousSamuraBAFTA and Emmy award winning journalist

“

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SCALABILITYWe believe that an individual or group who lives and breathes the issues in their society and passionately wants to change them is the most powerful advocate of development. Fully empowered and resourced both financially and with relevant skills and partnerships, they can not only turn around entire communities but their innovative ideas and methods can have ripple effects internationally.

In our work we find such passionate people and support them to achieve their goals but further to this we also work to share the successful methodologies created and lessons learned. From tackling the ingrained practice of infanticide from the bottom up to the ambitious agenda to do the UK fundraising office out of business by 2018, our work is pioneering and internationally relevant.

AfriKids Squared, as the name suggests, is about multiplying the impact that our organisation can have. Our operational focus is deliberately limited but we have found that by sharing our knowledge we can both build our own understanding and help others.

The activities of AfriKids Squared include bespoke consultancy and evaluation for NGOs and individual donors in Europe and Africa; documentation of our methods in film and text; participation in action and peer learning sets and workshops and speeches at larger conventions or events both in the third sector and beyond.

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PARTNERSHIPSWe never work alone, whether it’s with village elders or government departments, everyone with a stake in our work is consulted and engaged. Such partnerships are essential to ensuring our work is successful.We also source and develop partnerships that bring a myriad of additional benefits to our projects, beneficiaries and the Upper East Region in general. These can range from engaging an interested individual who has skills that are needed in our work, right through to large scale, formal, institutional partnerships that benefit millions of people at a time.It’s all about harnessing passion and potential wherever it can be found. With good communication and diligent management, mutually beneficial relationships can be developed that rapidly multiply and diversify the impact one organisation acting alone can achieve.

AfriKids and Architecture for Humanity UK are working together to design an Eco Lodge in Bolgatanga. The Eco Lodge will serve the local, national and international business and tourism markets. It will train young people in the hospitality industry and make a profit that will fund the child rights projects of AfriKids Ghana.

“ Our partnership with AfriKids is about innovation, combining our knowledge of the built environment with AfriKids’ local understanding and aspirational vision. The result will be a unique and environmentally appropriate design for the Upper East, an exciting opportunity to train young people and a business that will drive AfriKids Ghana towards independence.”

JenniferCirne Trustee of Architecture for Humanity UK

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The tri-partite partnership between Ghana Health Services – Upper East Region, AfriKids and Southampton University Hospitals NHS Trust was officially launched in May 2010. It will deliver long-term sustainable training in four critical areas which were agreed in round table discussions between the partners; Maternal Health, Child Health, Anaesthetics and Emergency Care and Diagnostic Services.

“ Ghana Health Service, and for that matter the government and public sector in the region is very appreciative of the work that some NGOs are doing, particularly AfriKids. They have become a major player in the health system development of the region and I think that they compliment the services we are providing”

Dr.J.KokuAwoonor-Williams Regional Director of Health Services,

Ghana Health Services, Upper East Region, May 2010

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ACCOUNTABILITY&TRANSPARENCYAccountability and transparency is a requirement of our work but that does not mean that its implementation is arduous. Clarity, honesty and openness make us efficient, build trust inside and outside the organisation and help us engage with our partners.Our internal standards are high, their implementation can be time consuming but for an organisation that exists to support others, and does this based on the goodwill of our donors and partners, guaranteeing integrity is an investment in our future and those of our beneficiaries.Delivery with our beneficiaries and feedback to our donors and stakeholders are the key functions of our organisation, one cannot exist without the other and both are of equal importance.

“ It makes all our soul-searching over choosing which charities to support feel really worth it when we can read reports like yours and feel very confident that the funding is going where it needs to go and making a difference”

AnnabelJames Magenta Projects – Adviser to Exotix Ltd

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INNOVATIONAfriKids is innovative out of necessity. We started with no pool of funds so built everything from the ground up. This means that, throughout the evolution of the organisation, we’ve been able to keep a clear view of why we do what we do and to find pragmatic ways to deliver our work. The result is an innovative hybrid of business-like, collaborative and developmental approaches to problems.At the most fundamental level this form of innovation comes through in our strategy to do what development is supposed to, and do the fundraising office out of business, creating sustained change not new dependence.In our programmes and fundraising opportunities this comes out in myriad ways; from forming investment clubs for financially minded supporters, to putting those that abuse children as well as the children themselves at the centre of finding solutions and reconciliation.

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CREDIBILITYInstitute of Fundraising2010 – Winner of Fundraiser of the Year Award - Sally Eastcott

Charity Times Awards2010 – Winner of Social Enterprise of the Year2008 – Winner of Outstanding Individual Achievement - Georgie Fienberg2008 – Runner Up for Charity of the Year and Charity Principal of the Year

Third Sector Excellence Awards2010 – Finalist for Social Enterprise2007 – Winner of the Accountability and Transparency Award2007 – Finalist of the Small Charity Big Achiever Award

STARS Impact Awards2009 – Winner of the Education Award – AfriKids Ghana

International Service2008 – Runner up for the Defence of Human Rights of Women2007 – Winner of the Protection of Child Rights Award

Ghanaian Government - Ministry of Manpower, Youth and Employment/Women and Children2010 – Ministry of Women and Children’s Affairs

– Outstanding Contribution towards Child Protection in Ghana2008 – Ministry of Manpower, Youth and Employment

– Outstanding Contribution towards the Elimination of Child Labour in Ghana

Third Sector Awards2008 – Shortlisted for the Most Innovative Charity of the Year Award

The Beacon Fellowship2007 – Short listed for The Beacon Prize for New Initiatives 2006 – Highly Commended for The Beacon Prize for Leadership 2003,4,5 – Shortlisted for The Beacon Prize for Young Philanthropist

(All of these were awarded to Georgie Fienberg)

Clarins & YOU Magazine2005 – Runner up for the Woman of the Year Award – Georgie Fienberg

Ghana Professional Achievers Awards2004 – Winner of the Most Outstanding Contribution to Ghana Award

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“ The human resource development factory – this is what I choose to call AfriKids. They have a special way of infecting you with the desire to serve, to support a cause, not only with your money but your time and energy”

AligebamSeno-RitaSenawo AfriKids Ghana Volunteer

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OPERATIONSINGhAn example of an AfriKids Partner Project

Operation SINGh ran from 2007-09 led by local teachers and community volunteers. The project aimed to help two communities’ most vulnerable children and mothers get their lives on a sustainable track. In one community 75 children and their families were supported with educational materials, goats and health insurance; some horrific medical conditions were uncovered and treated; and children who had been isolated by the loss of a parent were brought back into the heart of their families.

Having originally hoped to help 25 mothers with micro-finance in the second community, the project helped 125 access commercial micro-finance which they invested in up-scaling a whole range of businesses including pig rearing, market trading and street cafes. Six months on from the project’s end all 75 children were still in school and the women’s businesses thriving, the local volunteers continued their monitoring and no extra funding was needed.

Led by passionate local people, with the professional guidance of AfriKids Ghana and the generosity of AfriKids’ donors this project is an example of sustainable grass roots development and partnership at its best.

Matilda is a shining example of successful micro-finance through Operation SINGh. Her business selling dried chillies in Bolgatanga Market funds the education of her four sons

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That’s the thing with AfriKids, others would just push the money to you, what you do with it, no matter. With AfriKids they teach to live first, before they give you money”FrankAdaabreOperation SINGh manager

“

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NOTJUSTAGOATAn example of how AfriKids’ projects link together

A supporter gives £25 to buy a goat for children attending the AfriKids’ sponsored school in Zuarungu. Emmanuella, the Operation Zuarungu fieldworker uses £22.50 to buy a goat in the local market for Sunday Asampana. The market trader uses the profit to put his oldest daughter in school, preventing her from migrating south.

Meanwhile Sunday Asampana takes his goats home with great pride and finds a place for them outside the family compound. He fetches water for them and Emmanuella comes by with the vet who she has paid the remaining £2.50 to vaccinate the goat. The vet goes home happy, such business helps his much needed profession.

When the rains set in and the crops grow the goat falls pregnant, two kids are born. The family sell one and make £25, £18 of this is used to pay the uniform and books needed for Sunday’s younger sister Lamisi to go to school and £7 is used to renew the family’s health insurance. One goat is saved as insurance against a rainy day; quite literally because the Asampanas have lost their home twice to floods.

All six children and their family visit the AfriKids Medical Centre where they use their insurance cards to receive treatment for free. Now malaria cannot stop the farm being productive or the children getting to school. AfriKids Medical Centre in turn makes a small profit from the National Health Insurance Scheme every time the Asampanas visit and this is used to help the next family like them.

Sunday Asampana working hard at school

Back in the family home the goats are reared and breed

Now the childrenare in school and taking part in achild rights club

A supporter gives £25 to buy a goat for a child being resettled from the mines of the Talensi Nabdam district

AfriKids Ghana uses that money to buy a breeding pair of goats from a local farmer

The o�spring are reared to adulthood and the original goats are soldfor cash

The cash is used to put the resettled child and his sibling into school and buy the family National Health Insurance

All family members are able to access the AfriKids medical centre for healthcare, driving pro�ts at the centre (which are ploughed back into project delivery) and ensuring that malaria is treated and the family is healthy enough to work their land and go to school. Bringing big Smiles to little faces

££

£

£ ££

£

They spread the word to their classmates about their right to education

The community begins to reprioritise children’s education over children’s labour

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AFRIKIDSMEDICALCENTREAn example of AfriKids’ organisational sustainability projects

The AfriKids Medical Centre is many things: a crucial service provider for Bolgatanga, the impetus behind an international partnership for healthcare improvement, a leading example of public private partnership and a social enterprise.

The centre was previously a private clinic and has been much expanded and improved since AfriKids took ownership in 2007 and registered as a service provider under the National Health Insurance Scheme. This enabled a 600% increase in patient numbers and dramatic increase in profit. Over 60,000 patients are treated per year and the profit from this is channelled directly into AfriKids Ghana’s child rights projects, putting the organisation on the path to financial independence by 2018.

By offering innovative in-house training to staff and being part of a partnership between Southampton University Hospitals NHS Trust, AfriKids and the Ghana Health Service – Upper East Region, the centre is also helping to make the region a more attractive and viable place for health professionals to work.

The ward treats children from all over AfriKids’projects and the local communities

Some of the pro�t is used to register more families on NationalHealth Insurance

This means they can attend the Medical Centre free of charge

Some pro�t is reinvested in the care at the Medical Centre

The quality of care available in the Medical Centre is improved which attracts more patients to the centre

Treating children and adults under National Health Insurance generates a pro�t for the centre

A syndicate of supporters donate £15,000 to build a ward at the AfriKidsMedical Centre

Some pro�t helps runAfriKids Ghana’s projects

££

£

£

££

£

££ £INSURANCE

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“ For me education is the key to all we do. I always think, with every sad story, if not for my education it could also be me”

NichKumah AfriKids Ghana Director

This young man is a beneficiary of The School of Night Rabbits, AfriKids’ night school for street children

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The whole exercise was a lesson in the power of education and a positive, home grown addition to the fight against child labour.Lucid Magazine, February 2009

The children became ambassadors to their cause and the enthusiasm to which they believed in it was evident at the debate in Gbane.

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Front CoverAfriKidsBrothers Joe and Sunday, the jokers of the family, stick together at Mama Laadi’s Foster Home.

Page 3AfriKidsCousin to Rose Adoku who was resettled back to her village from the streets of Kumasi by the Operation Fresh Start team. This photo was taken on one of the fortnightly field visits.

Page 4AfriKidsThis young girl and her friend were kicking around the dusty mining area in Obuasi where the Operation Sunlight team work tirelessly to remove children working in small scale galamsey gold mines.

Page 6AfriKidsLittle Mercy, as she’s affectionately known, rules the roost at Mama Laadi’s Foster Home; abandoned for apparently being a witch at birth Mama Laadi has totally turned her life around.

Page 8AfriKidsDavid, AfriKids Ghana’s Head of Partner Projects and Charles, Project Manager for Operation Zuarungu take the time to listen to the grandfather of one of the Zuarungu Children’s centre’s beneficiaries.

Page 10AfriKidsThree young women who have been resettled through Operation Fresh Start take a break from their hairdressing training course.

Page 12© Andrew AitchisonThe photographer to the Stars Impact Awards Team captures Elijah and Matthew from Operation Sirigu on a field visit to the home of a child who has just been accused of harbouring evil spirits.

Page 14AfriKidsThe old Kumasi Racecourse, where all of the beneficiaries of Operation Fresh Start were originally found eking out an existence in the most horrendous conditions.

Page 16AfriKidsLamisi, like 160 of her peers from Operation Fresh Start has successfully completed the programme. She now runs her own business and is an inspiration to so many children in the area.

Page 20Dave BrownA shot of the AfriKids (UK) staff at work in their London office.

Page 22AfriKidsA typical shot of the AfriKids Ghana and the partner project staff interacting, all driven by the same goal, they are as much friends as they are colleagues.

Page 24Sam WitneyDaniel showing off his gymnastics skills on the playing field by the foster home where he lives with Mama Laadi. The children’s lust for life now gives you no clue about their incredible and tragic histories.

Page 31AfriKidsThe same little girl as on page five, her beautiful face telling a thousand stories.

Page 26/27Sam WitneyA young boy emerging from a mine shaft in the Talensi Nabdam district. The boy appeared during an early visit by the Operation Sunlight team, shortly after the mine manager had assured the team that there were no children in his mine.

Page 34© Andrew AitchisonCletus, AfriKids Ghana’s Bolga-Bongo Area Programme Manager, leads a discussion on the realities of child labour in the child rights club in Talensi Nabdam district.

Page 36AfriKidsThe owners of a local drinking spot in Tongo where Operation Sunlight is based came over to thank the AfriKids staff for everything that they were doing for the local children.

Page 38/39AfriKidsThe Busongu Women’s Cooperative, who are on their third phase of micro-finance loans from Operation Sirigu, end one of their community workshops with a song and dance.

Inside Front CoverAfriKidsVida sat round the back of Mama Laadi’s Foster Home where she helps prepare the food for whole family. While pounding millet into TZ she discusses her remarkable story with candour and optimism..

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Page 40/41AfriKidsChildren from The Zuarungu Children’s Centre enjoy their class on Agriculture and Rural Affairs, their desire to learn is overwhelming.

Page 42AfriKidsOne of the women from Natugnia is taking a break from the dancing. Her peers are singing about bring an end to the Spirit Child Phenomenon, thanks to the Operation Sirigu team.

Page 44AfriKidsThis compound was in a small village just across Ghana’s border into Burkina Faso where a family had approached the Operation Sirigu team to help them seek surgery for their little boy who was born with webbed hands and feet.

Page 46AfriKidsA typical view in the rainy season from compound to compound in Sherigu, just outside Bolgatanga.

Page 48/49AfriKidsAyinde Naaba is one of the oldest girls in the Next Generation Home; she grew up on the streets and was brought to the centre by Mama Laadi who cares for one of her brothers. She’s bright, kind and well respected amongst her peers.

Page 50AfriKidsA view across the Tono Dam, this is an unusual scene in such an arid landscape. Super imposed on it are some of the original CAD drawings of the AfriKids Eco Village designed on an entirely pro bono basis by the team at Architecture for Humanity UK..

Page 52AfriKidsBismark, AfriKids laboratory technician for the Medical Centre checks hundreds of blood samples every day for malaria parasites as well as other common diseases.

Page 54Sam WitneyStudents being taught computer skills in the AfriKids ICT Academy. Many of the children had never touched a computer before so it was right back to basics however they were engrossed in every moment.

Page 53Nick EastcottThe GAS Partnership in action. Dr Malvena Stuart-Taylor and Jonathan Stanger of Southampton University Hospitals NHS Trust work with Emmanuel Achum of Ghana Health Services in the operating theatre of Navrongo District Hospital.

Page 56AfriKidsThe first pot of water is filled when the Zuarungu Children’s Centre’s borehole is mechanised.

Page 58Dave BrownA selection of the AfriKids’ awards which stand proudly on our office shelves!

Page 60/61AfriKidsEmanuella, Operation Zuarungu’s community development worker takes the time to catch up with each of the students as often as she can; understanding their family situation is as important as understanding their educational needs.

Page 62AfriKidsMatilda was so proud to be able to show off her stall and all she has achieved through her participation in the project.

Page 64/65AfriKidsChildren at the Kpatia Junior High didn’t need much encouragement to show their big smiles; many of their families receive micro finance loans and other levels of support through Operation SINGh.

Page 70/71AfriKidsHaving worked on the streets carrying loads since 3 o’clock in the morning, a young boy studies intently at the School of Night Rabbits, a night school established specifically to ensure young children who can’t or won’t come off the streets have access to a basic education, health advice and moral support.

Page 72/73Paul KnipeA photojournalist from Lucid Magazine captures the cheers following a debate on child labour between two local schools as part of Operation Sunlight’s education programme.

Back CoverAfriKidsChildren of Sirigu gathered at a lake just before it dries up until the next rains; having caught as many mudfish as they can carry, they come to show off their success and dance for the camera.

Page 67AfriKidsSunday in lessons at Operation Zuarungu’s Grace International School. His lessons have recently become more engaging with a new system of phonics teaching developed by the charity Let’s Read being used at the school.

“NowIcanopenmymouth,beatmychestandsaysomethingaboutmylife”

Vida Akoljo

If you would like to donate to AfriKids or simply have a chat about our projects and initiatives please don’t hesitate to contact us at: Email: info@afrikids.org Website: www.afrikids.org

AfriKids– UK registered charity number 1093624 AfriKidsGhana– Ghana registered charity number DSW/3024

AfriK

ids–BringingBigSmilestoLittleFaces