Reading Is Basic

Reading is fundamental for the skills and education needed in a developing society. According to the Ghana Education Service in 2018 78.21% of final year students failed the English language exam. The lack of reading skills is furthermore partly associated with school dropout which can lead to deviant behavior such as imprisonment, teenage pregnancy and the use of drugs. Libraries and learning facilities are scarce across the country and especially in James Town. This condition worsens the dropout rate. Reading Is Basic serves as a solution to empower students and children to read, improve their academic performance, and in the long run reduce school dropout. This project aims to promote reading as a child’s right, improve academic performance, and finally reduce school dropout.

Through our partner Book Aid International UK we are supporting and protecting quality education in some selected public schools. We are also aiming to establish libraries and learning centers in schools for supplemental learning and hope to instil in students the habit and essence of reading by the end of this project.

Grassroot Enteprenueres Empowerment Programme(GEEP)

GEEP seeks to empower the parents/guardians of SCEF beneficiaries and graduated beneficiaries to be economically and financially sustainable to be able to cater for themselves and their families. This is a very relevant program as it tackles, head-on, some of the key contributing factors to why children end up on the street and why their parents and families result to leaving them on the streets – economic and financial stability.
The program seeks to provide capacity building and support in employability and entrepreneurship. Read more

Gender-Responsive Education and Transformation (GREAT)

GREAT is a project by our partners Right To Play that aims to bridge the gap of gender inequalities through supplemental learning. Supplemental Learning is one of the initiatives SCEF employs to create a lasting change in the lives of street-connected children. We use unique techniques to facilitate learning outside of the formal education setting. About 3000 children which include our scholarship recipients have successfully gone through the supplemental learning process. This achievement makes SCEF a model organization for supplemental learning. Currently, Right to Play has consulted SCEF’s expertise especially on training facilitators in the Accra and Volta Region on the development of a structure; and the monitoring and evaluation of the implementation of the developed structure.

The Future is Female

The Future Is Female project was adopted for the teenage girls of SCEF mainly to achieve with the girls the impact we want them to make in their society specifically Jamestown. The rationale behind this project is to empower girls by teaching them how to speak confidently in Jamestown, groom them by teaching them how to use technology to support their businesses, mentor them by keeping each girl in close contact and guide them in process of being a success, and also giving them a comfortable and free environment to share their experiences and challenges they face and help them realize their dream without being limited in any way. The medium of communicating with these girls is by holding training workshops for the girls to learn new things on responsibility, business, finances, education, and technology.

Children In Hazardous Work Program (CHaW)

“Creating an environment and society where children, especially street connected children, are allowed to enjoy their basic rights without any limitations.”

Statistics on the CHAW Project

About 100,000 street connected children have been reported to be on the streets of the capital city of Accra. As an organization, we have been able to rescue close to 450 street connected children in the last 5 years. We have 100 children in street situations signed up on our scholarship program. This number in addition to already rescued children only forms about 0.55% of the current statistic of children in street situations.

THE “100 A YEAR” RESCUE PROJECT

As part of implementing the mission of SCEF, a 5year strategic plan has been introduced, and a rescue plan has been included to achieve the objectives of the strategic plan. Under the rescue plan, SCEF intends to:

Rescue and rehabilitate children in street situations or prone to be in street situations.
Provide full-fledged scholarships to the rescued children.
Develop a sustainable means of funding the scholarship program for children in street situations.

1. RESCUE AND REHABILITATION

SCEF aimed to rescue 100 street connected children in the first year, precisely 2020, of a 5 year strategic plan. The rescue plan drawn to achieve the above goal is outlined below:

Rescue street-connected children in Greater Accra, specifically starting this year in the Ashiedu Keteke sub metro namely Jamestown, Fadama and Agbogbloshie, then moving to other metros in the subsequent years.
3 months rehabilitation of rescued street connected children. SCEF intends to rehabilitate both children and parents for 3 months, under a structured play-based curriculum for children and an “urban savings and parenting” program for parents.
Reintegration of rescued street connected children into mainstream educational or vocational institutions and safe homes.

2. SCHOLARSHIPS FOR STREET CONNECTED CHILDREN:

SCEF started a scholarship program for street connected children since its inception in 2010 till date. The 2020 scholarship program SCEF intends to offer, will be a fully-fledged scholarship program for street connected children with eligibility requirements and what the scholarship covers.

WHAT THE SCHOLARSHIP COVERS:

Tuition fees of the rescued child
Uniform and other related school items needed for school
Health insurance and medical fees of the street connected child
Stipend (if needed).

ELIGIBILITY REQUIREMENTS

Child must be a street connected child from ages 5-18 in Accra
A child who is involved in any form of hazardous work.
Parents or guardians must be willing to be involved in child’s life

We will also achieve this phase through direct contact of street social workers in identified areas noted for street hawking and living using the measures below:

A prospective beneficiary should be with children living below $1.50 a day per a member of the household.
A prospective beneficiary should be making a living off the streets, finding shelter in the streets, or born on the streets.
A prospective beneficiary must have the desire for greatness and to achieve higher standards in education, or society and other fields of endeavors.
A prospective beneficiary’s guardians/parents must be willing to invest in their children’s education, and NOT commit their children into hazardous activities.
A prospective beneficiary’s guardian/parent must be willing to save and raise capital through our Urban Saving and Loans support scheme, and other social enterprises to be capable of offering full support for their child.

3. DEVELOPING A SUSTAINABLE PLAN TO SUPPORT THE SCHOLARSHIP

Some factors have been gathered based on the experiences and reports from the implementation during inception of the Chaw project. The factors below are actions, which when implemented will contribute financially to the sustainability of the Chaw project.

Godparent programme:

The godparent programme has been SCEF’s oldest programme which has contributed to the sustainability of the Chaw project.
SCEF intends to maintain its godparents and increase the godparent population. This will be done by strengthening our relationship with our godparents and sending the required timely updates.

Online fundraising using various platforms and online campaigns:

Various fundraising campaigns will be shared every six months to raise money to support the project. This will be implemented on various online platforms like; Gofundme, GlobalGiving etc.
Online campaigns: Online campaigns such email campaigns and SEO (search Engine Optimization) tools will be used to ensure visibility of our work and organization.

Partnership with schools and Scholarship Schemes:

SCEF will seek partnership and sponsorship offers with educational institutions and scholarship schemes. Some schools may choose to offer slots in their schools while other cooperate bodies may also choose to offer sponsorship for a specified number of children.

Grants and one time contributions.

4. ARE THE PARENTS OR GUARDIANS INVOLVED?

The parents or guardians form an important part of the whole rescue process to also ensure sustainability. Their approval will be sought, their involvement and commitment. How will this be done?

They will be required, as part of the sign up process, to sign up to the urban savings and loans.
The parenting rehabilitation program will be introduced for parents to equip them to meet the needs of their children.
They will also be tasked to be involved in their children’s life by ; attending PTA meetings, reporting to SCEF in situations where they SCEF’s involvement, specifically mediation

5. MONITORING AND EVALUATION OF CHILDREN:

The quarterly school and home monitoring will be continued by social service providers to enquire into the lives of the children signed on the program. The purpose is to monitor, and if any challenges are encountered, it is solved.