Out of AfriKids - August 2010

Out of AfriKids

August 2010

AfriKids is a Child Rights Organisation working to improve life for Ghana’s most vulnerable and disadvantaged children in a holistic, inclusive and sustainable manner

The data held by AfriKids shows that 95% of the 160 children covered by [Operation Fresh Start] will successfully complete their training and go on to use their skills to earn a living. Pauline Wilson, on Operation Fresh Start

Comic Relief funds evaluation of AfriKids’ core projects Pauline Wilson, an independent agent, travelled to Ghana to evaluate the success of the work done on our core projects.

David and Charles, AfriKids Ghana staff, talk to a beneficiary’s father

In January 2010 Comic Relief offered AfriKids a grant of £20,000 over six months to conduct an independent evaluation of our work with street and working children in northern Ghana. Between April and June we worked with Pauline Wilson, a respected and experienced evaluator to undertake this work. Pauline went out and spent two weeks with a team of four AfriKids Ghana staff to evaluate the impact of our three major core projects for the period 2005—10.

The evaluation covered various areas including relevance, effectiveness, coverage, sustainability and history of AfriKids. The write-up of the evaluation is very positive and credits AfriKids with achieving goals and making effective, valuable changes in rural Ghana.

Here are just a few points pulled from the evaluation:  AfriKids has coordinated well with beneficiaries, families, local opin-

ion leaders and district officials  All work carried out to date by AfriKids is relevant  The biggest change cited by everyone we met both at village, district and regional level is a change in attitudes and practice related to the spirit child phenomenon in Kassena Nankana District Quotes from Pauline Wilson follow on overleaf.

To view the full evaluation, please follow the link—Comic Relief

Both agencies are committed to working towards AfriKids Ghana’s financial sustainability and are taking steps together to ensure this happens. Such an undertaking is rare among development agencies and it will be watched with interest by others.

AfriKids’ contribution has been to work closely with children that were working in exploitative conditions and with their families to ensure that a child is educated either formally or vocationally.

This has been transformative for the child.

One man we interviewed claimed that, ‘It was the songs by the children that produced a change in attitude and practice about treatment of spirit children in this district.’

While larger public awareness campaigns were able to build awareness, it was the smaller discussions with concoction men and opinion leaders that were instrumental in identifying ways to change the practice.

All quotes from Pauline Wilson’s evaluation report

Out of AfriKids inside stories AfriKids Medical Centre As most of you will have read in last month’s newsletter, our GAS Partnership (Ghana Health Service, AfriKids, Southampton University NHS Hospitals Trust) is now underway and making constant improvements to our medical centre.

The second quarter of 2010 is now over and we can report to you all that it has been a fantastically positive quarter.

We are building new wards in our medical centre and the building completion is on course for this month. The expansion itself is providing work for over 25 local men and women. Their daily rate of pay is approximately £5 which is very competitive. Two days work is enough to insure their Madam Valeria, above, works with AfriKids in the medical families’ healthcare for a year. One week’s work is enough to centre, having retired from Bolgatanga Regional Hospital. put a child through one year’s primary education.

On retirement I decided to join AfriKids because I still had energy and wanted to continue to use my skills to help patients for as long as I was able. I find the Medical Centre a rewarding place to work... The main reasons for this are the consistent availability of medicines, the availability of a doctor for outpatient consultations, the availability of a wide range of laboratory investigations and generally polite staff, receptive to patient needs.

The construction has been overseen by an expert structural engineer, making sure we have top quality buildings that are roofed, plastered and wired.

The new wards will bring with them much needed basic equipment such as suction and oxygen machines which we now have to borrow from the theatre when possible. We will also be able to hang mosquito nets, so avoid our patients developing malaria whilst in hospital.

We look forward to sending you more pictures as the wards come together!

Georgie Fienberg is a popular speaker at the Institute of Fundraising On 6th July, our International Director, Georgie Fienberg, attended the Institute of Fundraising’s National Convention. The convention, which takes place annually, is ‘put together by fundraisers for fundraisers’ and combines networking events, sessions within specialist areas of fundraising, workshops and debates.

Georgie was invited to speak about AfriKids’ experiences in corporate fundraising, specifically the AfriKids/Deutsche Bank corporate partnership. The event was a prime opportunity for Georgie to get AfriKids’ name and methodology out there and since speaking, Georgie has received a wealth of really positive feedback from a whole different range of organisations that attended.

Thank you so much for putting together such an informative presentation and for sharing your gems of knowledge and experience. I left feeling totally inspired.

I really enjoyed your presentation. I found it to be very inspiring and what you’ve achieved with AfriKids as a whole, as well as your partnership with Deutsche Bank is remarkable.

Congratulations to Georgie on successfully spreading the word of AfriKids and reaching out to others, who will hopefully one day follow in AfriKids’ footsteps.

The sky’s the limit for fundraising!

There really are no limits to how to raise money for AfriKids—we have runners, swimmers, climbers, trekkers, cyclists and now sky divers! Rakeb Sile (left) is jumping out of a plane to raise money for one of our projects that she heard about... The School of Night Rabbits. In her own words, Rakeb describes the cause and why she wants to raise money for AfriKids, I heard about this project from a friend of mine who runs DawnAfrica, an amazing fundraising initiative which supports the work of AfriKids from the UK. She has just been out there to witness the impact of the project first hand and the stories she brought back inspired me to support. I hope it does the same for you!

The School of Night Rabbits, or Nyongo Sunna as it is said in FraFra, is a night school managed by two local teachers; Dennis and Gabriel, and held in a school house in Bolgatanga every Tuesday and Thursday.

The ‘school’ has 80 regular members all of whom are children living or working on the streets. They are led through an academic syllabus informed by the national curriculum as well as being given lessons on social issues including healthcare and personal hygiene. The children are given a bucket of water and soap to wash and a piece of fruit or some money for food at each session. A nurse visits to dress their sores and assess any medical needs which may require a hospital visit. There are also fun sessions dedicated to sports and games and each child is rewarded with a t-shirt when they have attended regularly for three months.

You can visit Rakeb’s JustGiving page to read more here.

We hope Rakeb actually enjoys her skydive and everyone at AfriKids appreciates all her fundraising efforts!

Fundraising Our Football Tournament update...

The AfriKids and Greenhouse Charity 5-a-side football was a real success, raising £8122. We made our record raffle ticket sales of over £800, thanks to the persuasive Katie Arnold and Lana Whatley (AfriKids staff).

We had a guest appearance from Lee McQueen, the winner of the hit TV show, The Apprentice in 2008. Unfortunately his team did not make it to the final stages, but it meant he was able to enjoy the BBQ and flowing bottles of beer.

A fantastic night enjoyed by all, so look out for another tournament next Summer, we hope to see you there!

A Fabulous Fashion Show Do you love fashion, entertainment, Champagne, canapés and goody bags?!

Then come to our fashion show!

Deutsche Bank are kindly sponsoring this event that rounds off London Fashion Week with true glitz and glamour.

Located in the heart of London, One Mayfair is a breathtaking location that guarantees a professional yet quirky show. We have England rugby stars coming along to model underwear and numerous celebrities lined up to watch them strut their stuff.

Please contact lissawallington@afrikids.org for your tickets and look out for your official invitations!

Standard: £75 Includes fashion show, Champagne, canapés and goody bag VIP : £90 Includes front row seats, entrance to a top London night club, fashion show, Champagne, canapés and goody bag Discounted group ticket: £70 For groups of five or more. Same as standard.