Functioning Beyond Donor Dependency
“We’ve improved our ways of generating funds locally towards projects instead of depending solely on foreign aid and internally generated funds. This awareness only came about through our participation in the training on Local Resource Mobilisation for Civil Society in Ghana”, confessed Charles Mensah, Deputy Director of the Hope for Children and Aged Rehabilitation Center, a community-based organisation (CBO) located in the Brong Ahafo Region of Ghana.
The Hope for Children and Aged Rehabilitation Center was one of 10 organisations selected to participate in the training.
With development partners shifting their priorities, and in some cases, withdrawing funding support, it is important that civil society organisations strategically position themselves, using their skills and resources to continue their vision of building more resilient communities across the globe.
This dreading trend propelled the West Africa Civil Society Institute and the Change the Game Academy to design a programme to boost the local resource mobilisation capacity of CBOs in Ghana. CBOs were equipped with skills to develop resource mobilisation strategies that create multiple funding streams through utilising local assets and mobilise support for their action.
Before their participation in the programme, the Hope for Children and Aged Rehabilitation Center was unable to generate funds from the community to implement their projects. This they said was because they relied heavily on donor funding and could not effectively communicate their impact to attract the attention of local partners who would support their cause.
Today, they have been equipped to raise funds locally for their Solar Project which costs 25,000 Euros. With the help of action plans which they developed because of the training, they were further supported through mentoring to implement their action plans for improved results.
“We are now able to strategically plan our projects with clearly defined timelines that will help us achieve it”, Charles stated proudly.
“Before the training, we had secured a part of the funds for our solar project from partners in Europe. After the training, we leveraged on the skills we acquired to raise 8,000 Euros from friends, families, and companies”, Charles explained.
“We could never have set these things right without our participation in the Change the Game-WACSI training”, he concluded.
Hope for Children and Aged Rehabilitation Center is situated in Sunyani in the Brong Ahafo Region of Ghana. It was established to provide quality health care for the less privileged and shelter for the physically challenged and aged in the community.
This is aimed at boosting their capacity to become self-sufficient and independent in undertaking their daily activities.
