We have a new site www.g-lish.org where you can read all articles from This is Ghana in a much more organised fashion. Read Volunteering in Ghana - from a volunteer's perspective there.
Having volunteered and worked in Ghana for the past 2.5 years, and having met many volunteers burnt by corrupt and inept NGOs, I felt it was about time to acknowledge those that are genuine, don’t use volunteer funds for dishonest means, are doing a great service in the field in which they work, and give volunteers the best opportunities to make a difference.
Hand in Hand – Nkoranza
Hand in Hand is a Dutch-run NGO based in Nkoranza in the Brong Ahafo region. It is primarily an orphanage for children and young people with mental and physical handicaps.
Hand in Hand provides a rare opportunity for orphans and those ostracized young people with mental disabilities to live and grow up in a safe, caring and open-minded environment. It is envisaged that those living at the site will live their for their entire lives, unless their village agrees to take them back.
Volunteers work with the managers to take care of the children, educate the public, and are involved in the day-to-day running of the project. An income generating workshop was set up when I visited. Many of the Downs Syndrome teenagers participate in the workshop and produced some of the most impressive beaded necklaces I have seen anywhere in Ghana.
I visited this site a couple of years ago when I was a volunteer with Global Mamas and was overwhelmed by the genuine compassion and kindness that staff and volunteers displayed. Most carers in orphanages physically abuse their charges or, at best, have no physical contact with them. Hand in Hand is, thankfully, a model that could be emulated at other institutions in Ghana.
3 hours north of Kumasi on a trotro. The closest large town is Techiman, a stopover on the journey between Kumasi and Tamale. If you go to Kumasi, don’t miss Kejetia market, the largest (and scariest – but be brave) open air market in West Africa.
Village Exchange International - Ho
VEI is based in Ho, the capital of the Volta Region. I first heard of VEG last year when they began discussions to partner with Global Mamas (the organisation that I work for) in 2007.
Established by a French national living in Ghana, it is one of the most well-organised, open, and inspiring NGOs I have come across.
VEI'sprojects are focused in three different areas:
Poverty alleviation strategies including microcredit schemes and small-entreprise development
Reproductive and sexual health programs
Research including quantitative and qualitative research methods applied to women's and health issues
The staff are great and they attract a high quality caliber of volunteer.
If you do choose to volunteer here, you’re blessed with some of Ghana’s most beautiful landscapes and cultural heritage a short bus ride away. Wli waterfalls, the largest waterfall in West Africa (according to the Bradt Guide) sits on the border between Ghana and Togo in the stunning village of Wli. Best time to visit is May – September during the rainy season when the Volta is lush and green. You’re also close to Kpetwe, an Ewe weaving village about 10 minutes outside of Ho.
Prices are average - lower than I-to-I and other volunteer "factories".
Work the World, Ghana
I've heard good reports about this UK-based international volunteer organisation through friends that worked with them in Ghana. If you're a doctor or nurse, this is the org to run with. Slightly on the pricey side though.
Global Mamas / Women in Progress
Yes, I work for Global Mamas and I volunteered when they were Women in Progress. I'm biased. But I can not NOT mention them in a fair assessment of the best volunteer programmes and managed NGOs in Ghana.
Based in Cape Coast in the Central Region and Odumase-Krobo in the Eastern Region, and a central office with living quarters in Accra, volunteers are fortunate in that they have 3 good bases in which to live and stop over on their travels around Ghana while they volunteer. They have an opportunity to see two very different types of projects in practice and transfer if they feel passionate about the work in either location.
What Global Mamas offers (and what volunteers continually tell me drew them to the NGO) is an opportunity for those in areas one might not associate with development in Africa an opportunity to put their skills to great use in the developing world. As a business person I thought I’d be of no use until I discovered GMs on idealist.org (great resource – though lists some of the more disreputable volunteer NGOs in Ghana alongside the very good ones). I wondered what on earth my international business experience could do here. A lot, it turns out.
There is a strong trend towards enabling businesses to better manage their businesses in developing countries and sustain themselves long into the future. This helps them get a higher income which has a marked effect on standard of living, enabling those entrepreneurs access to health, education and other opportunities that most of us take for granted – and that significantly improve quality of life. Teaching a woman to fish and all that…
GMs is a fair trade NGO with a vision to enable Ghanaian women to become economically independent. It focuses on helping women business owners and women craft producers at its various projects in different parts of Ghana to sustain, manage and grow their businesses.
The producers are batikers, seamstresses and beadmakers who produce thousands of hand made fair trade – GMs is a member of IFAT - products every month that are exported to the USA, Europe, and Australia.
In the day to day operations there are numerous opportunities for those with business, accounting, finance, management, graphic design, art, fashion design, writing, photography, teaching and counseling skills to assist and make a difference.
An accountant may assist in the book keeping training as part of the capacity building programme that every Global Mama – the producers – participate in. They may help analyse data for the annual report or for the results tracking survey that is undertaken annually.
A graphic designer may create new labels for the numerous products in GM’s range, help design and layout the annual catalogue, help the clothing production staff layout patterns to best advantage, among numerous other opportunities to make a difference.
An artist would certainly be welcome to create new batik designs and patterns with the women batikers that would be used to create new products that are included in each successive catalogue.
I ended up coming back to work after volunteering for 7 months in 05-06 and I do know that it is one of the most honest and transparent NGOs around and that fees (mine included) contribute to the ongoing operations and that they are used well.
If you volunteer in Cape Coast you’re at the heart of the former British colony and surrounded by some of Africa’s most significant and heartrending memorials, including Elmina Castle – the oldest European building in sub-Saharan Africa (c. 1482) and centre of the trans-Atlantic slave trade.
Prices are average and good value when the accommodation, especially in Accra, is taken into account.
Best months to volunteer: For a quiet experience, September – May when most of the northern hemisphere is in school or working. For a more convivial (and sometimes hectic) experience, June – August, when students from the northern hemisphere come to undertake internships during their summer break.
JUST IN CASE: Email me if you’d like to avoid disappointment when spending thousands of dollars and traveling across the world to try and make a difference and I'll give you the list of the NGOs that should definitely be avoided.