Women in Africa are essential to thriving local and global economies. Yet, their critical contributions, in the home and in their communities, are undervalued.

Violence, lack of access to education, gender discrimination and denial of opportunity fuel women’s poverty. These threats prevent women and girls from building stability and independence.

Appomense Hope For Africa and our grassroots partners create greater economic opportunity for women. With our support, women learn skills to raise income and provide for their families, from catering and weaving workshops to chicken farming. What’s more, women learn about their rights to work in safety and in dignity.

Appomense Hope For Africa Influences Decision Makers

At Appomense Hope For Africa, we advocate to end violence against children and women. We combine our programs with efforts to encourage local and national leaders to prioritize the protection and well-being of children,women and youth.

Appomense Advocacy Focus: Ending All Forms of Violence Against Children

More than half of Africa’s children, up to 8 hundred thousand, endure violence every year. Violence comes in many forms ¬— including abuse, neglect and exploitation — and can be physical, sexual or emotional. Appomense Hope Africa is recognized as a leader in the fight against violence towards children. Learn more about our child protection efforts.

Our programs address a wide range of child protection issues, including combating the harmful practices of child labor; unnecessary institutionalization; violence in schools, homes and communities; corporal punishment; child marriage; and lack of birth registration, among others. Violence against children not only harms children, but it also undermines progress in other areas, including health, education and economic livelihoods.
We Advocate at All Levels — from Local to Global

Appomense Hope For Africa conducts advocacy through our national offices in the countries where we work, our local and international partner organizations, Ambassador in Maryland in the united State of America(USA) and our Verona-Italy Office.

Children in Africa, across all ages, religions and cultures, suffer violence, exploitation and abuse every day. Those in the world’s poorest communities are especially vulnerable — and, because of their poverty, less resilient.

Often children in violent or abusive environments are unable to exercise their other important rights — to food, shelter, adequate health services, education — which further impairs their development and perpetuates the cycle of poverty.

Working together — sharing resources, knowledge and experience — we can have greater impact in the short term and work to build stronger communities and institutions for the future.

Harm to Children Takes Place In Many Forms:

Abuse can be physical, psychological, emotional or sexual. It may be harsh, humiliating corporal punishment, incest or female genital mutilation. Early and forced marriage can set the stage for a variety of abuses.

Neglect is the failure to provide for children’s basic emotional and physical needs, whether deliberately or carelessly. Abandonment leaves children vulnerable to institutionalization, exploitation and other hazards.

Exploitation is the use of a child for another person’s advantage. This includes child labor; child trafficking; sexual exploitation, including child pornography, child prostitution, early marriage and sex tourism; and, in many countries, recruitment into armed forces.

Violence can come to a child through individuals, groups or the state and takes many forms: forced displacement and separation, torture, mutilation, physical punishment, rape and other forms of gender-based violence.

At Appomense Hopr For Africa, we focus our work on children’s right to protection throughout their lives, tailoring our efforts to the distinct needs of each age group. For infants and toddlers, the primary risk is violence in the home. School-age children often face violence in their schools or are forced to work in the worst forms of child labor. Before they reach young adulthood, girls face the likelihood of child marriage and dropping out of school, and boys are at increased risk for gangs, violence and suicide.

Appomense approach to keeping children safe and protected envisions children and their environment as a series of rings of protection with the child at the center. The family is the first ring, surrounded by the community and then local institutions, which are encompassed by national and then international structures. (AHFA)efforts touch all of these levels of protection, because each environmental support reinforces the others and because protecting children requires all these levels.

We help children to understand the law and their own rights and responsibilities. We help children become agents of change, advocating for themselves and others.

We work to strengthen families’ abilities to promote their children’s well-being within safe environments. This means educating caregivers about how to help advance their children’s development, and it also includes social and economic strengthening to build family stability.

We educate members of the community and help raise awareness in communities by creating and strengthening mechanisms that support children’s well-being and protection, such as child protection committees, guide mothers and parent-teacher associations, teaching them to make effective use of local institutions responsible for preventing and responding to abuse, neglect, exploitation and violence that may affect their children. We work with decision makers at the national level to support governments in upholding international treaties, laws, services and organizations in promoting the best interests of the child.

We advocate for international policy changes, calling upon world leaders to make protecting children a global priority.

We educate people on their personal hygiene,health and environmental related conditions including mode of transmission,signs and symptoms and treatment ,rehabilitation and management aiming at early detection and treatment

Besides the operational costs of the children’s/Orphanage homes, education is the greatest expense for Orphan’s Lifeline International. Most of our children’s homes pay monthly school fees, while others are required to pay the annual lump sum at one time. Education breaks the cycle of poverty and hopelessness and it enables the children to look forward to a bright future with good careers. We send the children to good schools, or, if the area lacks a good school, we hire qualified teachers to teach at the children’s home.

The National Scholarship Program (NSP) is the flagship initiative for the Appomense Charitable Trust. This project will fund opportunities and training for disadvantaged individuals in the West Africa (Ghana) to allow personal development, team work, leadership and open up further opportunities. The program is also focused upon creating a sense of responsibility both locally and globally and offering beneficiaries the tools to make a difference to their own lives, their community and impact upon global issues.

Challenge

Our National Scholarship Program provide opportunities and training for underprivileged youth and adults in the regions where we work. Beneficiaries receive support and access to education, training and opportunities, aimed at creating long term improvements in their lives, their local community and their environment.

Solution

The project will fund scholarships for disadvantaged individuals in Wes Africa (Ghana) which will include training, qualifications and experience. Scholarships range from volunteering, work experience with socially responsible organisations and internships, both in Ghana and West Africa, often including formal qualifications as well as nonformal skills such as accountability, responsibility, teamwork and leadership. Beneficiaries will work as part of a dynamic, professional team, learning from experience.
Long-Term Impact

These scholarships will provide the opportunity for beneficiaries to learn about and directly contribute towards critical projects with long term sustainable goals. Within our community beneficiaries will learn about and work alongside truly inspirational people and contribute towards important achievements. These scholarships offer experience, training and qualifications and aim to offer beneficiaries the tools and confidence to change their own lives and their communities in the longer term.
Resources