Project Code: GHPT- 1200008 | Project Location: Bolgatanga, Ghana
This video tells Caroline's story and how the CCD helped her
The Centre for Child Development (CCD) is located in Bolgatanga, the capital of the Upper East Region, where high poverty and unemployment rates make it especially hard for young people to gain an education and earn a living. Child homelessness is also a particularly big issue in the area, with children who live on the streets more likely to take up dangerous jobs, endure tough working conditions, and be vulnerable to exploitation or trafficking.
In Bolgatanga, it is common to see children working as head porters in the local marketplace. Carrying heavy loads, they may walk at least 3km and might only make $1.50 on a good day.
Set up by the Navrongo-Bolgatanga Diocese, to help protect child rights and contribute to sustainable community development in the Upper East Region, the CCD is home to children of all ages, from those in early primary school through to late high school. The CCD not only provides shelter, food, healthcare and education for vulnerable children from across the large diocese, but it also seeks to reintegrate children from the streets back into their families and home communities.
The Centre's Director, Felix Frederick Amenga-Etego, a local social worker known by all as “Fred”, works tirelessly to make sure each and every child who comes through the doors knows that they always have a home at the CCD.
As well as providing services daily to over 200 children, the CCD facilitates the enrolment of children in local schools and delivers intervention programs, including vocational training and the ‘Drop-in and Child Trafficking Support Program’. The ‘Drop-in’ initiative allows children and young people who live on the streets to visit the Centre for shelter, a shower and a hot meal, as well as providing protection from the dangers of living on the street. The vocational training program offers a selection of apprenticeships and gives participants the tools and skills to gain employment. It is designed for young people who may have left school early with no option of return, or those with no formal schooling.
To build future sustainability, the CCD is establishing a farm, located thirty minutes’ drive from its Bolgatanga premises. The farm will raise pigs, goats, guinea fowl and cows to sell. In turn, the proceeds from the farm will support the work of the CCD, while also benefiting the local community.
Felix, one of the farm managers
Through the farm, young people at the Centre will have the opportunity to learn agricultural skills and traditional farming practices, which will prepare them for their eventual return and reintegration to their home communities. While they may see the importance of education, families in the region living with the pressures of poverty are often reluctant to send their children away for schooling when they could be helping at home instead. By returning and contributing to their communities, these young people will demonstrate the long-term value of education and open doors for successive generations.
A local woman milks a cow on the farm
Project activities include:
This project aims to:
A child from the CCD at a local school
By contributing to this project through Catholic Mission, you will be playing a vital role in ensuring the continuation of the Centre for Child Development (CCD) and its life-changing work. This project will help the CCD realise its sustainability plan, as it aims to secure self-sufficiency into the future.
This project will support the CCD to continue to provide its existing assistance and intervention programs for vulnerable young people across the Navrongo-Bolgatanga Diocese, as well as enable it to innovate and respond to the changing needs of the community it serves.
