Adopt a Secondary School in Ghana

BUDGET

MONITORING (Distribution in Ghana)

ACCOMPLISHMENTS

CONTRIBUTION

 Emmanuel Baidoo, President 
 ASSIG Society 
 12905 SE 66th Street, Suite 300
 Bellevue, WA 98006, USA
 Tel: 425. 747.4764
 Fax: 425.746.7891
 E-mail: ebaidoo@aol.com
 Adopt a Secondary School in Ghana (ASSIG) is a volunteer-based, nonprofit organization formed exclusively for charitable, scientific, literary or educational purposes within the meaning of Section 501 (C) (3) of the Internal Revenue Code. 
 A four-member committee, volunteers and advisors administratively run the organization. ASSIG relies solely for its support on the generosity of individuals, corporations and private donors. 
MISSION
 The mission of ASSIG Society is to acquire new and used educational materials and ship them to Ghana for distribution to poor and needy secondary schools in the rural areas of the western region. 
RATIONALE
 Secondary school education in Ghana has not changed since Ghana became independent in 1957. Education in Ghana in general is a hybrid of the American and the British education systems. However, due to growth in the population, development and technological advancement, there is a pressing need for the government to reform the education system and increase literacy and skill levels of its school age citizens particularly, those at the primary and secondary school levels. The goal is to prepare these citizens for the challenges of the new millennium. 
 While education reform remains the top priority of government, inadequate funding continues to be an obstacle to the Ghana Educational Services (GES), which is responsible for primary and secondary education in Ghana.  The financial support from the central government for education has been reduced tremendously since the Ghana government adopted the Structural Adjustment Program under the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) in 1983. As scarce public money is channeled into debt payments, public schools in the rural areas are the most affected, and there is every indication that the success of these rural schools cannot depend on the government support alone. ASSIG believes that these conditions can be changed, but not without public support. 
GOALS
 The primary goal of ASSIG is to ship one 20-foot container filled with textbooks and other instructional materials to Ghana for distribution to the needy schools in these districts every year. It is estimated that there are about 700 schools, which are considered poor in theseral school districts that are inadequately funded. These are the target schools and the beneficiaries of the ASSIG donations.  We believe that getting these materials to these target schools will make a lot of difference in providing enough resources to:
 
 Provide quality education 
 reduce student dropout 
 prevent teachers and administrators from leaving 
 ease demand on school budgets; and 
 provide stability and encourage attendance 
 
OBJECTIVES
 
 Reach out to major public and private schools, textbook publishing companies and individuals in the Seattle area who are willing to donate educational materials to ASSIG. 
 Collect and store the donated materials. 
 Organize fund-raising activities to pay for shipping and administrative expenses. 
 Organize workshops to provide feedback from Ghana to our donors. 
BUDGET
 ASSIG relies sorely for its support on the generosity of individuals, corporations and other private donors.   The annual operational budget, which includes administrative, storage and shipping expenses, is estimated at twenty thousand dollars ($20,000).  We estimate that about 70% of the budget would be raised from individuals and private donors and 30% from grants. 
MONITORING (Distribution in Ghana)
 Donations shipped to Ghana are distributed to needy schools in the Western Region, one of the ten regions in the country.  A committee represented by teachers, parents and administrators from the school district is charged with the responsibility for selecting the schools and ensuring equitable distribution of the materials. After the consignment has been received and distributed, the committee submits a report to ASSIG. That report is used to provide a feedback to the donors and volunteers in the USA. 
ACCOMPLISHMENTS
 
 In  1999, ASSIG collected about 2000 books (mostly textbooks for grades 5 to 12), 50 boxes of teacher’s aids, 12 typewriters, 10 computers and 5 printers including educational software. 
 In year 2000, 150 boxes of educational materials were shipped and distributed to five of the target schools. These schools have a total student population of about 1000 who are now benefiting from this donation. 
 A community library is currently under construction at one of the district where some of the books, typewriters and computers would be shared by the schools and the community. 
CONTRIBUTION
 ASSIG relies sorely for its support on the generosity of individuals, corporations and other private institutions. We welcome contributions and donations from all sources. Our tax identification number is EIN: 91-1951351.  We urge you to make a generous contribution to help children of Ghana. Please send your tax deductible contributions to:: 
 Emmanuel Baidoo, President 
 ASSIG Society 
 12905 SE 66th Street, Suite 300
 Bellevue, WA 98006, USA
 Tel: 425. 747.4764
 Fax: 425.746.7891
 E-mail: ebaidoo@aol.com