Statistics:
Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations:
-men: 52% literate, 59% no primary education
-women: 29% literate, 71% no primary education
OEC(2014):
- 2.27 billion dollars in Cocoa production; farmers not benefiting to manufactures
-Average daily earning for the typical cocoa farmer: >$2.00 a day.
-Women farmers: 0 recognition, 0 savings/credit, and 0 land ownership
Studies have shown that when young girls are educated it enables them to develop a range of skills, such as: literacy, critical thinking, and communication skills. These lay a foundation for a decent livelihood and allow for beneficial relationships in adulthood. If all girls had a secondary education, there would be two-thirds fewer child marriages, lower cases of domestic abuse, and chances of teen pregnancy would decrease by 60%. This opens doors for better paid work, which in turn reduces poverty. Women’s rights, education equality, and health, create interest in developing a project that targets young women and encourages them to succeed and continue representing their rural communities.
In 2015, this organization was officially founded by Shadrack, who is still the head of the organization today. Born in Tarkwa Breman, Ghana, Shadrack grew up in an underdeveloped village which had little resources for basic human needs and rights. He witnessed women held back from continuing their education, ultimately leading to an increase in life-threatening health consequences. Shadrack was inspired as he studied at an American university, hoping to enact positive change regarding healthcare and girls’ education in his village. In spring of 2015, Shadrack was awarded a prize of $10,000, which he used towards achieving 100% health equity that is self-sustainable and creates cycles of prosperity. He moved back home to Ghana and created a plan to establish a healthy agro-campus, which comprises a community hospital and girls' school that is self-sustained by proceeds from a community farm plantation. Proceeds from crops on the 100-acre plot designated for the organization are used for long term funding. Additionally, a traditional healer partnered with the organization and offered trusted cultural practices. They have been working overtime to expand the school and hospital, while keeping the flame lit to inspire transformation.
The Campus: Focuses on the two biggest social determinants of health in Ghana: gender inequalities in education and healthcare inaccessibility. The model girls' school is tuition-free and not only accessible to the young girls in Tarkwa Breman, but to the surrounding 7 villages as well. The school will eventually serve K-12th grade. The hospital serves as the first point of access to the communities around it. The staff treats farm and occupational injuries, as well as prevalent diseases like malaria and Hepatitis B. The developing project has already seen inspiring prevention methods that have impacted over 120 enrolled girls and more than 240 immunized children. In a couple years, the cocoa plantation will be ready for harvesting and these programs will be self-sustained.
1. Fundraising goal : $700
2. June- August 2017 targeting blogs and online communities
Upon arrival at the campus, Jimmy, Anika, and Jennifer, will be working closely with Shadrack and other employees and teachers.
3. Storytelling marketing for the organization
Short 3-5 minute clips covering specific areas of the school, hospital, and cocoa farm. Each will illustrate the different components of the organization and how it is improving the lives of the girls, their families, and the country.
4. Student storytelling project
We will give each of the girls a smartphone to film what they consider “their story”. Self expression through film and art will expand their creativity and give them a space where they interpret imposed expectations and reason with their own desires. They will also learn tech skills to film production and editing files.
4. Social media film display
Upload these videos onto the organization's website and all major channels (Youtube, Vimeo, etc.).
5. Digitizing its files
A CRM, or constituent relational management system, makes tracking information, and connections simple and efficient. For students this means evaluating their progress in the classroom. Furthermore, alumni files will help in the future for both students' and the organization's progress assessment. An implemented CRM also will protect information from being lost or damaged more than paper files.
6. Sustainable, long lasting effects - involving the community
Older women can also benefit, if we are able to hold weekend classes. Mothers and older girls can also learn from these tech and confidence skills, applying them to their everyday lives. If we can generate enough attention, this will raise awareness about the importance of education and gender equality globally to other organizations and multi-national funders.
We will survey the girls before and after implementing our confidence curriculum in order to gauge their baseline level of confidence and any changes that may take place. We will plan activities to gauge their problem solving (e.g. brainstorming, detective games, hypothetical situations), decision making (e.g. schedules, what would you do situations, identifying problems in books and movies), time management (e.g. calendar, agenda, steps in time), communication skills (e.g. group projects, telephone/ charades games), stress management (e.g. time for yourself, art, games). With our impact, 60 girls will have the confidence and skills to open opportunities to higher education. Using civiCRM, we will evaluate the student's skills with these activities and record our findings. Throughout the year we will learn with the girls about their learning styles and how they can succeed. During August, a second survey and test will be conducted. At the same time, the video project will be conducting in-depth exit interviews with the girls and the teachers for feedback.
The Teaching Fellows will also be working closely with the teachers. Brainstorming together, we can create the best curriculum for the students. Already established teachers can give constructive criticism on our lesson plan to improve for future students. Evaluations at the end will generate conversation on improvements. With the limited access to internet, we will utilize our resources to assist and encourage teachers to find their own lessons to integrate. Although there are only two teachers, we hope to train more staff with the technological skills from the Everett Program.
The marketing fellow will use the same strategy by sending questionnaires to sponsors. Some social media outlets also allow polls for followers. We will be evaluating the most effective marketing tactic. Our goal is to increase their follower counts on social media by more than 1,000. Not only do we want to increase the followers and likes, overall, we want to increase the follower engagement activity that some social media sites track by percentage. Each account will be updated about our partnership, including a countdown to the launch of our video. We hope to generate more sharing with the video, but are unsure of specific view goals. Additionally, we will monitor along the way, the rates of donations. With the circulation of the video we hope the organization will generate more funders.
Higher paying contributors will receive a copy of students' artwork from the confidence activities and sent as a thank you gift for supporting these confidence workshops.
Contributors donating up to $25 are welcome to meet with us after our trip for exclusive one-on-one discussions and to see extra footage. We will provide updates to Blogs and the Crowdfunding site, but this opportunity provides more detail and insight to the collaboration with Cocoa Cares and the project with personal stories.
While there is limited internet access, we want to keep our top contributors updated! We will schedule a video chat in Ghana to share live updates and a look at our experience.
All of the perks are available for our Premium Contributors, plus homemade chocolate chip cookies :)