Village by Village, a charity in Ghana, contacted us in 2023 to request funding from our recent round of donations. We particularly liked this charity because they are virtually a completely local charity to Ghana and pretty much all their funding goes straight into their work. Our trustees decided to support the charity with a £1000 donation.
Background
The charity contacted us via our website to request funding for their handwashing campaigns in rural Ghanaian villages.
The infographic below pretty much sums up the project:
Project
- Rainwater Harvesting on school buildings, water filtration for clean water and providing soap to the schools
- Educate through quizzes, games, dramas and stories
- Washing hands – 88% success rate
Request from the CEO, Neil Kerfoot:
“We would love to spend your donation on children in remote rural villages in Ghana, West Africa. We want more children to wash their hands before eating and after going to the toilet. Not very sexy but if we get it right, and we have a track record of success at this, it is twice as effective at reducing suffering and diarrhoea morbidity than if we dug a well for the community. And it is so much cheaper! I have attached our case for support. The project is called “Clean Hands Saves Lives” Not only do we create a rain water harvesting system at their local school, we also do behavioural change education. Stickers, pop quizzes, handwashing stations, dramas etc etc.”
Good/Usefulness
- Focus on around 8 – 10 villages currently. The charity spends about £46k a year on 8 villages.
- Work with the local communities researching what each village needs
- Transparency at all levels
- Last year the charity interacted with over 52,000 people and they’re about to open their 5th health clinic
- Low overheads – no permanent office in Ghana as they construct buildings that can be converted for a different use such as a health clinic
Funding
- Regular donors
- Money from volunteers – around £1500 each to go out and work for a month
- Work with major donors and small businesses
Future
- Franchise out the idea (obviously not on a commercial basis) and become more consultancy based
- Help other small NGOs in West Africa and train local people
Achievements
Jonathan Fagan, Ten Percent Trustee, said “we could see that our small donation could make a real difference to this charity. Each village they work with costs about £6,000 per annum to maintain, so a £1000 donation can be seen to make a significant difference. Our foundation likes to help charities of this size with identifiable projects established in areas and run by local people. We hope to keep in touch with this charity in years to come and see if we can help further.”
