Right To Play in Ghana - 2024

For more than 20 years, Right To Play has worked with local partners in Ghana to deliver high-quality programs in the areas of quality education, girls' empowerment, and health and well-being in the country.

Right To Play began working in Ghana in 2001 to support children’s health and well-being, particularly through vaccination campaigns, and to address child protection needs. In that time, we have reached more than 3 million children and youth, 80,000 teachers, 100 community leaders, and 10,000 parents and caregivers.

In Ghana, Head Prefects are usually boys. 18-year-old Dzidzornu defied the odds and contested for this position. Her win as the first female Head Prefect of her school was a win for all girls.

Right To Play Ghana’s 2024-26 program priorities:

• Making sure more children can go to school and get quality education;
• Helping children and youth have improved well-being;
• Giving girls access to sexual and reproductive health education and linking them to services so they are empowered to make healthy choices and stay in school;
• Making schools safer and training teachers and parents to support children's mental health and emotional well-being;
• Showing how play helps children and working with government and other organizations to make a bigger impact.

[GRAPHIC NOT FINAL]

Challenges and Opportunities in Ghana

The Government of Ghana has invested heavily in education to transform the country into a “learning nation”. Since introducing free compulsory basic education in 1995, Ghana has made great strides in ensuring more children, including girls and four-to-five-year-olds, can go to school.

However, many challenges remain. Thousands of children are still not in school and many students are not meeting expected learning outcomes due to the poor state of educational infrastructure, overcrowded classrooms and inadequate teacher training and learning materials. Children with disabilities face unequal access to education. Kindergarten enrolment is low. Girls face significant barriers to education, including pregnancy, forced marriage and poor menstrual hygiene management. Many children in farming and fishing communities also miss out on education.

Aisha is an aspiring journalist and advocate who found her confidence and voice through the games and playful activities her teacher started using in the classroom. Watch her report on child labour and streetism in Ghana.

Key Statistics:

• Only 37% of children in basic 4 are literate, and 24% are proficient in mathematics. The goal is to reach 38% literacy and 53% numeracy by 2025/2026.
• In rural areas, only 79% of girls attend primary school, compared to 86% in urban areas.
• 18% of girls in rural areas are teenage mothers, compared to 11% in urban areas.
• About 51% of children live in agricultural households, and 55% are involved in child labour.

Key Program Activities in Ghana

We train teachers to create safe, inclusive and engaging spaces for learning and playing. In the Greater Accra Region, we help education officials integrate play-based learning into teacher training programs for pre-primary and primary schools. We also collaborate with teachers to build children’s leadership and socioemotional skills through Junior Leaders clubs.

We work with partners to improve literacy skills for children aged 4 to 15 in the Volta Region. We deliver programs in schools and communities that develop socio-emotional skills and support the psychosocial well-being of children and young people using play-based methods.

“Before our teacher learned to play with us in class, it was very boring. We would fall asleep because the subjects were hard to understand. Then we started playing, and learning became easier.” - Aisha, grade six student

In the Northern and Upper East Regions, we raise awareness about Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights (SRHR) for adolescents, especially girls. We also partner with parents, caregivers, community leaders, healthcare providers, and other organizations to improve knowledge and attitudes about SRHR and ensure adolescents and young people have access to SRH information and services.

Learn how using play-based learning in curriculum and teaching practice energizes the classroom, making learning fun and engaging.

Program Impact

We invest in children and young people to ensure they get high-quality education, develop the skills and confidence to reach their full potential and become leaders in their communities.

In four regions, we have collaborated with the LEGO Foundation to help more girls read fluently and demonstrate leadership. After our programs, 92% of girls demonstrated high levels of leadership, up from 75%. We reached more than 30,000 children from kindergarten to basic 6 with play-based learning. Teachers in our partner schools provided higher-quality lessons, scoring 10% better than those in non-partner schools under the Partners in Play Project (P3).

We partnered with Global Affairs Canada, through the Gender Responsive Education and Transformation (GREAT) project, to incorporate gender-responsive play-based techniques into the classroom and engage parents and caregivers to be more involved in children's learning. Under the GREAT project (2018-2023), girls improved their reading fluency from 19 words per minute at the start of the project to 73 words per minute at the end. The reading fluency of students was increased by 51 words per minute.

[FORM WILL BE PLACED HERE ON MOBILE, WILL BE FLOATING TO THE RIGHT ON DESKTOP]

Key Supporters and Partners

Support for our programs in Ghana comes from the Government of Ghana through the Ministry of Education; the Ministry of Gender, Children, and Social Protection; Ghana Education Service; Ghana Health Service; National Council for Curriculum and Assessment; National Inspectorate Authority; and the National Teaching Council.

Other partners include the Colleges of Education; the University of Education, Winneba; LEGO Foundation; Global Affairs Canada; Elma Foundation; the European Commission FAWE; FHI360; Sabre Education; The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints; UNICEF; Barry Callebaut; Innovation for Poverty Acton and Water Aid and supporters like you.

Throughout most of her career, Freda's approach to teaching was a one-way street: Freda taught, and her students listened. In 2021, Freda received training from Right To Play on how to make learning more engaging through play.

Country Office Address

No. 5 Potato Avenue,

East Legon,

Accra.

[RELATED ARTICLES WILL BE LISTED HERE]