Integrated Community Empowerment (INCOME)

The Integrated Community Empowerment (INCOME) program is a CFTC (Canadian Feed The Children) funded program which aims at contributing to the realisation of the global CFTC’s outcome of: “A world in which children thrive, free from poverty”. The Ghana program however has an outcome: ‘Children in Vibrant, sustainable communities in Northern Ghana have foundations to build a prosperous future and this will   be achieved through the realisation of specific sector outcomes;

• Women and Men in project communities can meet the basic nutritional needs of their families
• Girls and boys in project communities in Northern Ghana have access to quality formal primary and kindergarten education supported by strong community engagement
• Strong, sustainable local organisations drive community development that benefits children in Northern Ghana.

The program is integrated and is being rolled out in phases; phase one was implemented between January 2013 and December 2019 in four communities in three districts. These were Sang in the Mion district, Bidima in the West Gonja municipality, Kpachelo and Zoosali in the Savelugu Municipality. Phase two of the program which is currently being implemented covers the period January 2020 to December 2023. Under this phase, a total of 1548 children (Boys = 771 and Girls= 777) in the basic level and 1200 women engaged in crop production, apiculture, rearing of ruminants and the Village Savings and Loans scheme are being supported. The latter set of activities targeting women has been designed to help improve household income levels and ensure biodiversity conservation.

RAINS believes that every child, no matter where they are born, deserves a chance to receive a quality education. Thus under the INCOME program, RAINS and CFTC pay particular attention to early childhood development, targeting children from ages four to five years as well as those at the basic school level. This is because though, Early Childhood Education is part of Ghana’s basic education system, this level of education has largely been underserved with teachers, school facilities, and teaching and learning materials among others.

The INCOME program is thus contributing toward the following:

• Increase enrolment and retention of children especial girls within its operational communities
• Increase in access to nutritional food at the household level
• Providing alternative sources of income and livelihoods for women and men
• Improving biodiversity and the impacts of Climate change on smallholder women farmers

Implementing Partners

• Canadian Feed The Children
• Ghana Education Service
• Municipal and District Assemblies
• Ghana Health Service          
• Ghana Red Cross Society      
• Community Stakeholders

School Pedagogy Project (SPP)

The School Pedagogy Project is implemented by RAINS in partnership with AXIS and funded by DANIDA through CISU

This project aims at improving the quality of education in schools in Northern Ghana through the introduction and use of participatory teaching and learning methodologies. This project is premised on the fact that despite the remarkable successes witnessed in improving access to education to basic education in Ghana, however, the educational system is still grappling with issues related to the quality of teaching and learning received by children.

It focuses on teacher capacity building, strengthening PTA/SMC, and enhancing supervision and advocacy as vehicles for achieving its goal.

The project also entails a component of active citizenship. This component is geared at ensuring that children know their rights and responsibilities and are encouraged to participate in actions that are intended for the good of society.

The first phase of the project stretched between July 2017 and August 2018. Within this period, the project concept of using school gardens as tools for teaching and learning was piloted in two (2) schools in the Savelugu Municipality. The successful completion of this pilot phase ushered the project into its second phase with the addition of four (4) more schools in the municipality.

Currently, this project covers 12 basic schools all in the Savelugu Municipality and is expected to reach a target of 150 teachers and over 4500 children between January 2022 and December 2025.

Key Partners

• AXIS, Denmark
• Ghana Education Service
• Traditional authorities/Community Leaders
• PAs/SMCs
• Saint Vincent College of Education, Yendi
• Youth Advocacy Groups

Pathways to Sustainable Employment for Women and Youth (PASEWAY)

RAINS is implementing the PASEWAY project in partnership with Plan International and funded by the Federal Ministry for Economic and Development Corporation (BMZ). The PASEWAY project seeks to empower young people with skills to find formal and decent employment or set up their businesses in the construction sector.

RAINS is targeting to reach 1,200 beneficiaries in the Tamale Metropolis and Sagnarigu Municipality of the Northern region.

The PASEWAY Project will support young people in four different areas:

• Technical and Soft Skills (for unskilled youth with a career interest in the construction sector)
• Soft Skills Only (targeting youth people with formal training who are searching for formal employment in the construction sector)
• Certification of prior knowledge and Soft Skills (targeting youth with skills acquired in the informal training spaces with no formal certification of skills)
• Support with the formalization of Youth-led Construction and Business Development Services (targeting young construction entrepreneurs)

To achieve this, a combination of various approaches are being pursued that includes taking into account the technical and social requirements of employers in the value chain of the construction sector.

PASEWAY contributes substantially to the realization of SDGs 1, 8, 9 and 11 by enhancing the skills of young people to improve their livelihood and participate effectively in creating sustainable growth and society in Ghana.

Key Partners

• Plan International Ghana
• Ghana Education Service
• National Youth Authority
• National Vocational and Technical Institute
• Metropolitan and Municipal Assemblies
• Business Advisory Centres of the NBSSI

Strategic Approaches to Girls Education (STAGE)

The Strategic Approaches to Girls Education (STAGE) is a 5year intervention that provides young girls with non-formal education and skill training as a direct response to the high illiteracy and unemployment rate in Northern Ghana. Despite growing numbers of literate at the national level (76.6%), the Northern region still records low rates of literacy (32.5%) and is far behind the national average.

In effect, STAGE aims at lowering the barriers that girls in Ghana face in achieving education and skills training by providing non-formal education opportunities to create more diverse and empowered marginalized young girls towards improving their life chances.

The project is funded by Foreign Commonwealth and Development Office () and jointly implemented by a consortium of 9 local NGOs led by World Education Inc. RAINS goal in this project is to reach out directly to over 2,300 marginalized out-of-school young girls in 94 communities in Nanumba South and Kpandai districts of the Northern region of Ghana.

The first year of the project witnessed the empowerment of over 500 vulnerable young girls with numeracy and literacy skills in their local dialect and livelihood skill training in 20 communities in the two districts. STAGE is committed, and contributing substantially, to the realization of SDGs 1,4, 5 and 8 which ensures that we end poverty, improved literacy and sustainable economic empowerment for gender-responsive and inclusive growth.

Key Partners

• Funding: Foreign, Commonwealth
  & Development Office (formerly Department for International Development- DFID)
• Consortium Lead: World Education, Inc.
• District Level Partners:
• Community Leaders and District Assemblies
• Non-Formal Education Department (NFED)
• Association for Persons with Disabilities
• Ghana Education Service
• Department of Social Welfare and Community Development

Building Resilience and Inclusive Dialogue Against Extremism (BRIDGE)

The BRIDGE project seeks to increase the participation of communities including women and youth and other key stakeholders in peacebuilding and the prevention of violent extremism in the Nanumba South and Kpandai districts of the Northern region.

The project seeks to achieve this by mobilizing and strengthening key community stakeholders to support in reducing threats of conflicts; strengthening the capacity of youth and women to take leadership in promoting awareness of C/PVE and peacebuilding initiatives. The project will also achieve its objectives by bridging the gap between citizens and security authorities. This will be crucial to support the reporting of early warning signals for action. The project is targeting two districts in the eastern corridor with a history of inter and intra-community violent conflicts. By targeting these districts, it is expected that its vulnerabilities to the activities of Violent Extremists Organizations (VEO) will be reduced. 

This project is a component of the Preventing Electoral Violence and Providing Security to the Northern Border Regions of Ghana (NORPREVSEC) programme. This programme is implemented by COGINTA with funding support from the European Union.

The overall goal of the project is to increase the participation of citizens in promoting peaceful coexistence and reducing the threats of Violent Extremist Organizations (VEOs) through enhanced civic engagement. The specific objectives include:

Specific Objective 1: To increase awareness of civil society groups in promoting and leading awareness among relevant stakeholders to reduce the threats of violence and extremism in the Nanumba South and Kpandai districts

Specific Objective 2: To strengthen the capacity of women and youth groups to participate in reducing the threats of violence and extremist activities in Nanumba South and Kpandai districts.

Specific objective 3: To strengthen the coordination between Security Agencies, District Assemblies and civil society for enhanced community-led early warning systems that minimize the incidence of violence and the threats of Violent Extremist Organizations (VEOs).

Key Partners

• National Commission for Civic Education
• Ghana Police Service
• Regional House of Chiefs
• District Assemblies
• Traditional Rulers
• Religious Leaders