Fighting poverty in northern Ghana

Fighting poverty in northern Ghana, the case of rains Ghana.

The three northern regions of Ghana are undoubtedly poverty endemic and illiteracy plagued. The correlation between poverty and illiteracy cannot be overemphasized. It is an empirical fact that illiterates tend to be vulnerable to poverty than literates. The answer to why this is so is not far-fetched. Education equips us with the requisite skills, knowledge and information to make us do with our capabilities, resources and talents to enhance our lifestyles. It is this correlation between poverty and illiteracy that some organizations prefer to fight poverty and reduce its prevalence in northern Ghana though empowering people and communities by educating them.

As a concerned citizen of the northern region of Ghana, and as a budding Sociology student passionate about education, gender empowerment and poverty alleviation, I have taken keen interests in the activities of Non-Governmental Organizations operating in the northern region aimed at fighting poverty, gender segregation, climate change etc. I must admit that all these NGO’s are fulfilling their mission statements in one way or the other but the Regional Advisory and Information Systems Network (RAINS Ghana) is particularly and worthy of mentioning and commendation. RAINS seeks to “works with all members of local communities including men, women, girls and boys and development partners to improve the quality of life for vulnerable groups especially women and girls and the disabled by strengthening local structures to take local level actions to promote and ensure fairness”. Thus far, it can be said without any exaggeration that RAINS has been successful in actually bridging the development and poverty gap by empowering the vulnerable especially the girl-child through education. RAINS over the past two decades has been on the forefront of providing school infrastructure, uniforms and Teaching and Learning Materials (TLM’s) to deprived communities in the northern region. The NGO has also been a strong advocate for female education which resulted in the establishment of the first all females Senior High School in the northern region in Tamale. In the area of education, only School for Life comes closer in terms of impacting on the lives of the beneficiary communities. What also distinguishes RAINS Ghana from other NGO’s is their well-coordinated interventions spanning from education through culture, sport and recreation, agriculture; to climate change, natural resources management and local participatory governance. In all these areas, RAINS Ghana leave an indelible mark by ensuring that the vulnerable who are the target of their interventions are actually those who get empowered or assisted and not the power brokers in communities where their programs are being implemented. The tendency for interventions to be hijacked by the not-so-vulnerable is eliminated in RAINS activities.

RAINS Ghana is tirelessly working to reduce, if not reverse the incidence of ‘kayaye’ where young girls from the north of Ghana travels to urban centers in the south of Ghana to do menial jobs to the detriment of their education. Most of these young girls, usually trafficked are still of the school-going age. RAINS Ghana normally intervenes by forming and training Community Surveillance Teams (CST’s) to identify and bring to the attention of the authorities, child abusers for the necessary action to be taken. They also enroll these trafficked girls into schools and provide them with school uniforms and other learning materials. These girls are frequently tracked to ascertain whether they are still in school or not.

Poverty in northern Ghana is still a worrying issue which brings to relevance the continuous existence and operations of RAINS. It is my hope that in the not too distant future where poverty will be throwing in the towel due to the punches it will be receiving from the interventions of RAINS Ghana and other NGO’S, civil society and government, donors and partners of this God-sent NGO shall continue to see the impact of their benevolence on the lives of beneficiaries. Until then, we need to encourage RAINS and all other NGO’s to keep on doing their humanitarian works for God will surely bless them abundantly.

This write-up will be incomplete if I fail to acknowledge the founders of RAINS Ghana especially Dr. Sulemana Abdulai (Ph.D) for his foresight. Even as a student with limited resources at his disposal, he still dreamt big about alleviating poverty, eradicating ignorance, empowering the vulnerable and shaping lives in general which resulted in the birth of RAINS Ghana. He is a role-model that most of us look up to, especially those of us who aim to become professional social workers.

Thumbs up to all the trustees, staff and partners of RAINS Ghana for your dedicated service to mother Ghana. If I were the President, I would have accorded all of you National Honors for your contributions to the development of mother Ghana especially in northern Ghana.