Alleviating poverty in Ghana: Ghanaman Trust Fund supporting govt efforts

Often when you travel just few kilometres from Accra, you are confronted with the plight of people living in abject poverty and you think this can be significantly ameliorated by just the provision of potable water, the construction of few classroom blocks or a community health centre, the cost of which cannot be compared to the value of relief, lives saved, economic empowerment and peace of mind brought on by such relief.

Poverty, to a very large extent, has caused expansive and irreparable damage to the lives of people who otherwise could have done a lot for the nation. James Baldwin succinctly puts it that: “Anyone who has ever struggled with poverty knows how extremely expensive it is to be poor”.

In order to contribute to lessening the plight of Ghanaians living in poverty, especially in our rural communities, or assisting those who need a bit of critical financial support to be economically empowered, the Ghanaman Community Reinvestment Grant (CRG) Trust Fund was established in 2009.

The organisation is the direct outcome of the United States African Development Foundation’s (USADF) involvement in Ghana over a period of 10 years during which time, the agency promoted grassroots community-based developments by providing grants and loans to organisations and privately held small and medium enterprises that have direct links to communities (eg rural banks) or farm-based organisations.

The agency provided grants of up to US$100,000 to organisations to establish and strengthen management systems, and thereafter awarded up to US$250,000 in grants to those same organisations to expand their enterprises.

As part of the conditions to the grant provided, the grantees pledged to make re-payments of a small percentage (15-25 per cent) of their expansion grants into a fund to support community development projects and initiatives after a few years of operation.

The story

Over the years, the Trust Fund, under the supervision of its Board of Trustees, has used strict but fair and transparent processes to select projects and initiatives for funding.

The process involves the issuance of a call for proposals, screening of all proposals received, selection of qualified projects/initiatives to conduct due diligence, selection and grant awards. Further pruning is done on the number of projects under consideration for funding after the due diligence report has been submitted by the administrator of the Trust Fund to the board of trustees.

The Trust Fund has put in several measures to enhance efficiency in the project execution. For instance, if it is a project that involves construction, 75 per cent of the grant is initially released after assurance that the counterpart contribution of the project owners is available. When the administrator of the Trust Fund certifies that the key milestones of the project have been achieved, the balance of 25 per cent of the approved grant is then released for the completion of the project.

The fund has successfully supported over 50 projects and initiatives in Ghana comprising construction of classroom blocks, community clinics, computer libraries, public places of convenience, provision of training materials for vocational schools, support for income generating ventures, especially in rural and deprived communities, provision of potable water to certain communities, among others.

In 2011, for instance, Ghanaman CRG Trust Fund provided financial support of GH₵22,058 to equip the Mangu Methodist School’s Information Communication Technology (ICT) Centre in Wa with furniture, computers and other computer-related accessories. The ICT centre provides computer training skills to more than 1,000 pupils in schools within the Mangu Educational Circuit in Wa.

Lessons/challenges

Very successful enterprises have been birthed by the USADF initiative and merit to be congratulated on paying their pledges to the fund. This is a true case of Ghana moving beyond aid where foreign aid has helped to significantly grow local enterprises. Examples of these enterprises are: Tekura Enterprise Limited, SLID Industries Limited, Yenok Wood Processing Limited, Mumuadu Rural Bank, among others.

In order to ensure that the beneficiaries of the intervention from the Trust Fund take full ownership of the project upon completion, all project concepts should originate from their respective beneficiaries or owners.

Ghananman, however, helps in fine-tuning the concept to make it more efficient and to also ensure that there are enough control systems in place to ensure sustainability. In addition, the project beneficiaries are made to provide counterpart funding for the project. This is to ensure the commitment and the interest of the beneficiaries in the project.

However, some of the grantees have to date reneged on their promises to redeem their pledges, while others are making irregular payments. Two rural banks have failed to make any payments although their published annual reports indicate substantive profits. The Trust Fund is, therefore, considering various options to retrieve the pledged amounts.

Coming years

The fund intends to grow its fund base through astute investments and charitable donations. Relevant information for prospective grant applicants and potential donors can be obtained from the website, www.ghanamantrustfund.org.

So soon, it has been 10 years of economic empowerment, poverty alleviation, community development and helping the poor and needy in the society. The success story of Ghanaman should erase the perception that leadership and prudent management are the preserve of very few people.

With minimum financial resources, coupled with inception challenges, the Trust Fund has nonetheless survived the past 10 years. It is proof that when passion, knowledge and altruism are properly deployed in the right environment, most of societal challenges can be solved with minimal resources.

The author is a member of the Board of Trustees of Ghanaman CRG Trust Fund.