ABOUT US
African-led and world class, we are levelling the playing field for our next generation.
ABOUT US
Since 2002, our work has been entirely designed and delivered by local people, for local people. Our Ghanaian team work hand in hand with communities to design and deliver programmes that help protect children’s rights.
We believe profoundly in the power of local communities to drive effective and lasting change for children, and our philosophy has always been to listen to local people and support them to make sustainable changes themselves.
Our experience has shown that ensuring education offers the most sustainable route out of poverty and makes the biggest difference to children’s lives. It is also the critical first step in tackling many other issues at the root – from gender equality to climate change, which is why helping communities ensure quality basic education for every child is our focus today.
- OUR VISION: A prosperous and thriving world without poverty, where every child grows up in a community that champions their rights and helps them thrive.
- OUR MISSION: We support communities to lead lasting changes themselves that help ensure every child’s rights—especially to quality education—so that they can thrive now, and as the leaders of tomorrow.
- OUR VALUES: Integrity, Unity, Impact.
THE AFRIKIDS WAY
(HOW WE DO THINGS AROUND HERE)
What sets AfriKids apart is that we are truly locally-led, with an unwavering commitment to community-driven solutions for deep and lasting change.
Our values of Integrity, Unity and Impact mean we are committed standards of excellence, supporting everyone in our community to thrive, and making the biggest difference we can for children.
Our HISTORY
In the late 90s, in remote rural villages of northern Ghana, 83% of people lived in poverty and 1 in every 7 children were dying before their 5th birthday. When a British backpacker asked what she could do to help, the reply was simple: listen to local people and empower them to deliver their own ideas for change.
With this simple goal, AfriKids was born; to support local heroes already working hard to support vulnerable children in their communities, to hopefully do a little more.
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With a little extra resource, those local heroes proved they had solutions to some of the toughest challenges children can face. They rescued children from mining, sexual exploitation, living on the streets and saved the lives of so-called “spirit children”. They built schools, children’s homes and health clinics. They helped women lift themselves out of poverty. Year on year, their work evolved and grew to take on more challenges and fight for more children to survive and thrive.
AfriKids formally registered as a charity in 2002, and our founding principle to be locally-led has never changed. All of programmes continue to be designed and delivered entirely by local people, for local people. We are now the leading organisation for children in northern Ghana, delivering award-winning programmes that drive systemic change for children, in partnership with governments and world-leading agencies. Because of our work and the support of partners all over the world, more than a million people’s lives are improved. Their lives are our story so far.
Today, 71% of people in northern Ghana are multidimensionally poor and 1 in 15 children die before their 5th birthday. Change is happening, but we still have much more to do. With more than two decades of experience, we have proved the power of locally-led development and are now achieving change faster than ever before. It took us 10 years to end harmful practices against “spirit children” in the first 7 communities we worked with. In 2021, we celebrated this being achieved with 40 communities in 3 years. There are many more communities on our waiting list in need of support, and with your help, we can reach them.
OUR PEOPLE
Collectively, AfriKids’ staff have more than 300 years’ experience making life-changing projects for children happen. 90% of our global team are Ghanaian (with 7 staff in the UK helping to raise funds) and 100% of the staff designing and delivering our programmes are from the country they serve.