Support Family-based Care for Children in Ghana

BRAVEAURORA was founded in Ghana in January 2010 to support vulnerable children in the community of Guabuliga in the North East Region of Ghana after seeing the plight of children in the then Guabuliga Orphanage. At this time, the focus of the organization was on improving living conditions of the children in care and expanding their educational, economic and health opportunities. With time, the vision of the organization bourgeoned and the scope was broadened to cover community development and child protection in general.

BRAVEAURORA now works with partners across the northern regions of Ghana to facilitate deinstitutionalization; tracing and monitoring cases, sensitizing RHC to reintegrate children, sensitizing RHC to close the homes, supporting RHC to transform their activities towards family-based care, supporting case management, providing quality assurance, training child protection actors, documenting and sharing best practices among others.

As a non-profit, BRAVEAURORA is purely funded by donations, grants and contributions from members, collaboration partners and our online community. It was therefore a gamechanger for us in 2020 to make it through the GlobalGiving Accelerator Program. Funds raised through the benevolence of BRAVEAURORA’s GlobalGiving community touched several lives in rural Ghana in the last quarter. For the past three months, we worked at pace to support reunification efforts, support deinstitutionalization and strengthen families in northern Ghana. The key activities undertaken are presented below;

After weeks of family tracing and monitoring, BRAVEAURORA worked with the Department of Social Welfare (DSW) in the Upper East Region of Ghana to reunify 14 children from Timaltaaba Children’s Home in the Talensi District. The reunification was done using the case management approach as espoused by the Case Management Standard Operating Procedures for Children in Need of Care and Protection (UNICEF, DSW, MoGCSP; 2018). BRAVEAURORA provided the reunified children with assorted support packages including; food items, hygiene items, school items and dignity kits for adolescent girls. The reunification event was attended by key stakeholders in the municipality. The Regional Director of DSW reemphasized the department’s commitment to ensure that every child grows up in a loving and caring family. BRAVEAURORA continues to provide monitoring support and quality assurance to DSW to realise this.

As part of BRAVEAURORA’s collaboration with Operation Mango Tree/Mama Laadi Children’s Home to support the transition of the home towards family-based care, BRAVEAURORA supported the project to start constructing a two-bedroom accommodation for a reintegrating family in Gowrie, a community under the Bongo District. The 8-member household currently reside in an uncompleted school structure due to the collapse of their accommodation from heavy rains. With the funds raised through GlobalGiving, BRAVEAURORA provided funds to support the construction. BRAVEAURORA also provide continuous monitoring to the family, to support them go through the difficult time and prevent further separation. BRAVEAURORA is working with Operation Mango Tree to link the family to other family support services and provide livelihood opportunities for the care givers.

Working on a recommendation from the DSW Head Office, BRAVEAURORA is supporting five orphaned children in villages around the Bongo District. The children are below five and are currently in kinship care. BRAVEAURORA recognizes the importance for the children to stay within families and it is in this spirit that the organization supports their families to take care of the children. The organization is therefore working closely with the District head of DSW to provide ongoing support to the families. Apart from providing financial support to the families, social workers of the organization also provide them with psychosocial support. Efforts are also been made to put them under national safety net programs.

Within the quarter, BRAVEAURORA also provided direct education to 537 community members from 6 communities in the East Mamprusi and Mamprusi Moaduri Districts of the North East Region of Ghana. Care leavers and caregivers on the Young Ambassadors Program (YAP) reached these communities on the importance of family-based as opposed to the dangers on institutionalization. The YAP is a gatekeeping effort aimed at enlightening communities about the orphanage crisis and empowering them to keep their children within families. Volunteers on the YAP include care leavers, caregives and social workers from BRAVEAURORA and DSW.

The lives BRAVEAURORA has touched over the past months would not have been possible without the tremendous support from our GlobalGiving community. The change you bring about lasts a lifetime. We are grateful for every dollar put into the project and we will continue to advocate and push for family-based care at all levels.