Reacting to Early Warning and Response Data in West Africa (REWARD)

Under the auspices of the USAID/REWARD initiative and managed by CREATIVE Associates, RAINS implemented the Promoting Peaceful Elections (PROPEL) project over a one-year timeframe (September 2016 to January 2017) and across an election cycle of Ghana.

This project facilitated young people to ensure the fostering and maintenance of peace in Northern Ghana by curbing the occurrence and their involvement in violent incidences in 4 selected ‘hotspots’ constituencies.

The purpose of REWARD was to mobilize women and youth leaders and build their capacity to undertake civic education and awareness-raising, increasing the participation of civil society groups and strengthening coordination among key electoral stakeholders in selected hotspots of election-related violence. 

The project targeted 1,800 direct beneficiaries and over 2 million indirect beneficiaries in Northern Region

PROPEL achieved the following:

  • Improved capacity of women and youth groups to support peaceful and credible elections in selected constituencies of the northern region
  • Increased participation of civil society groups in promoting peaceful and credible electoral processes in selected constituencies in the Northern region
  • Enhanced coordination between the Election Commission, Election Taskforces, Political Parties and other critical electoral stakeholders in selected constituencies to manage peaceful elections processes

Key Partners

USAID

CREATIVE Associates

National Commission for Civic Education (NCCE)

Electoral Commission

Ghana Police Service

Traditional Authorities

Youth Groups

Community Action and Support for Education (CASE)

Community Action and Support for Education (CASE) Project was implemented between 2017 and 2021 in Ghana by RAINS in partnership with Hope for Children UK and funded by UKAID through the UK Aid Match funding window.

The project sought to improve access and quality of education for 1,400 children in the West Mamprusi and Nanton districts of the North East and Northern Regions of Ghana. Available statistics indicate that the districts basic school completion rates for education are below the national average. Also, there is a high attrition rate and a low level of awareness on the basic rights of children.

The project, therefore, worked towards improving the level of pupil’s retention in school whiles also initiating measures towards enhancing the quality of education for children with a special interest in girls.

This project hinged on the adoption of an integrated approach to addressing the root causes of the low standards in access and quality of education in its operating districts.

This approach entailed the following:

  1. Reducing child labour and socio-cultural barriers to education
  2. Reducing poverty that drives child labour and the financial barriers to education
  3. Improving the quality of teaching in schools
  4. Empowering community members, leaders and children to be the drivers of change in their own communities to protect and promote the rights of children
  5. Strengthening District level government institutions/Assemblies to protect children from exploitative labour and abuse.

Through these strands, the project worked both directly and indirectly with children (especially girls), women, communities, schools and government agencies such as the Ghana Education Service to support children’s access to better quality education, and more broadly to secure their basic human rights of protection, healthcare, participation and opportunities for a livelihood.

Implementing Partners:

  • Ghana Education Service
  • Commission on Human Rights and Administrative Justice
  • Department of Community Development and Social Welfare
  • National Commission on Civic Education
  • Ghana Health Service
  • Eagle FM, Walewale

Improving Educational Governance and Accountability (IEGA)

The IEGA project was a three-year project implemented between 2011 and 2013. It was supported by Strengthening Transparency, Accountability and Responsiveness (STAR-Ghana) with funding from UKAID (DFID), DANIDA, the EU and USAID. The project generally aimed at strengthening educational governance and management in line with educational decentralised systems to ensure quality education delivery in these 4 districts in Northern Region of Ghana

The project achieved the following;

  • Improved educational governance and accountability mechanisms in 4 deprived districts in Northern Region of Ghana.
  • Improved functioning and performance of the District Education Oversight Committees (DEOCs), District Education for all teams (DEFATs), School Management Committees (SMCs) in the education sector
  • Facilitate the formation of district level CSO platforms in education to engage effectively with district service providers in a concerted manner including facilitating dialogue among key stakeholders
  • Increase media engagement and coverage of education issues in northern region.
  • Strengthen advocacy for improved conditions in the education sub sector in the four districts involving all the various stakeholders including the local people themselves

Implementing Partners

  • School Management Committees (SMCs)
  • Parent Teacher Associations (PTAs)
  • The Media
  • Civil Society Organizations (CSOs) in the various District
  • Ghana Education Service
  • District Assemblies

Location

Savelugu-Nanton District

Karaga District                      

Gushegu District          West Mamprusi District

Climate Change Adaptation in Northern Ghana Enhanced (CHANGE)

The CHANGE project was a two-year project implemented by RAINS in partnership with Canada Feed The Children (CFTC) and Farm Radio to simulate smallholder farmers to embrace innovative adoptive measures against climate change to ensure food security and nutrition.

To achieve this result and poverty reduction, the project supported farmers to better adapt to climate variability, weather extremes, and changing agricultural condition by giving farmers access to up-to-date weather forecasts and climate-smart agricultural practices and technologies. This allowed them to make better decisions on the use of new technologies, field preparation and land management.

Over the two-year span, the project reached out to 310 women and 140 men smallholder farmers in five communities in Savelugu Municipal and Nanton District.

As a result of the intervention, beneficiary communities (Kpachelo, Tindang, Langa, Yilikpani and Zoosali) experience an uninterrupted agricultural production bolstering the food security preparedness of households.

The project succeeded in strengthening the resilience of communities in the Savelugu Municipal and Nanton District Assembly through the capacities building of Community-Based Extension Agents who have contributed and continued to support communities to achieve food security.

Through this intervention, communities are well positioned towards achieving global goal 1, 2, 3, 8, 13 and 15 by ensuring the smallholders practice sustainable agriculture while improving their food and nutrition needs and expanding their livelihood.

Key Partners

Canada Feed The Children (CFTC)

Farm Radio

Ministry of Food and Agriculture (MoFA)

Municipal/ District Assemblies

Community Based Farmer groups

Community Radio Stations