Enhancing Health Access and Preventing Water-Related Diseases

Water-Borne Illnesses

The Village Girl Foundation aims to help eradicate water-borne illnesses. Water supply, sanitation and hygiene—given their direct impact on infectious disease, especially diarrhea—are important for preventing malnutrition. Both malnutrition and inadequate water supply and sanitation are linked to poverty. The impact of repeated or persistent diarrhea on nutrition-related poverty and the effect of malnutrition on susceptibility to infectious diarrhea are reinforcing elements of the same vicious circle, especially amongst children in Ghana and other developing countries.

Access to Quality Healthcare

Our Foundation aims to ensure healthy lives and promote well-being for all at all ages. Working with volunteers and health professionals, we plan to foster advancements on many health fronts and accelerate progress in medical coverage, in particular in regions with the highest burden of disease. Our work focuses on

  • Reproductive, maternal, newborn and child health,
  • Infectious diseases,
  • Non-communicable diseases and mental health, and
  • Other health risks (domestic abuse, road traffic injuries, unintentional poisoning, etc.).

Empowering Children Through Education

Overall Vision

Going to school—and not dropping out—is absolutely essential to building a future free from poverty. By helping kids finish secondary school, they are in a much better position to take advantage of opportunity and find employment in the future. The Village Girl Foundation’s education programs support the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) for 2030. No. 4 is: Ensure inclusive and equitable quality education and promote lifelong learning opportunities for all. (Learn more about SDG No. 4 here)

Operational Programs

We intend to;

  • Fund scholarship programs and develop educational opportunities aimed at disadvantaged children by collaborating with academic institutions in Ghana and elsewhere,
  • Increase the average percentage of rural schools with access to computers and the Internet for teaching purposes, both for primary and secondary education,
  • Help increase the number of trained teachers in pre -primary, primary and secondary education—and improve the condition of schools in rural Ghana—in order to improve prospects for quality education for all, and
  • Work with public officials and local authorities to increase the percentage of educated children and ensure they acquire basic skills (and ultimately increase proficiency levels) in reading and mathematics.

Fostering Poverty-Reduction Initiatives for Women

Win-Win Partnerships

The Village Girl Foundation collaborates with various stakeholders in Ghana and beyond in order to establish win-win programs that empower poor and uneducated women and families. The key goal is to create workshops and resource guides to assist village-based teachers and others involved in the design and implementation of skills and livelihoods training programs for two social categories: (1) illiterate, underprivileged women; and (2) children in or at risk of child labor. Our initiatives teach women on such essential concepts as micro-finance, entrepreneurship, contraception and human rights. These initiatives also aim to eliminate child labor and to support children in the age of compulsory education to stay in school—or, in case of children who have already dropped out of education, to support them to reintegrate in formal or transitional non-formal education.

The Power of Micro-Finance

We understand that micro-finance is not a panacea for poverty and related development challenges, but rather an important tool in the mission of poverty eradication. Poverty in Ghana (and elsewhere) is a multidimensional problem, embedded in a complex and interconnected political, economic, cultural and ecological system. Our initiatives align with the four principles of the Micro-Finance Model developed by the United Nations Office of the Special Coordinator for Africa and the Least Developed Countries (UN/OSCAL):

  • Pooling together people’s resources,
  • Relying and building upon what people know (tradition),
  • Reinforcing microfinance to empower the African private sector, and
  • Striving for efficiency, which include maintenance of tools and better working habits.

Building Basic Infrastructure to Improve Everyday Life

Targeted Improvements

Our Foundation aims to partner with public officials, donors and private businesses to build basic infrastructure that enhances daily lives for disadvantaged communities. In developing countries like Ghana, steady improvements and renewed investments in infrastructure—such as efficient transportation, well-equipped healthcare facilities and clean public faucets—can make a significant, positive impact on the well-being of local communities. We aim to gradually erase poverty by shifting the focus from outside assistance to local, self-sustained initiatives that provide jobs and economic growth.

Sustainable Development

Our volunteers and partners make rural and underprivileged cities and human settlements inclusive, safe, resilient and sustainable. Our work focuses on improving everyday life, utilizing local knowhow and leveraging local resources. For example, we plan on executing initiatives that foster the safe removal and management of solid waste, which represents one of the most vital urban environmental services—as uncollected solid waste blocks drains, causes flooding and may lead to the spread of water-borne diseases.

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