Rural Education for Empowerment Programme in Ghana (REEP-Ghana)

Initiator to this organisation, Abukari Abdul-Fatawu, a citizen and a native of Kumbungu district in Northern region, have worked with the local community radio, Simli Radio from 2005 to 2013. To create relevant content for radio programmes, he and other producers from the radio visited rural communities of Kumbungu District, Tolon district, Savelugu municipality and many other areas where he discussed issues affecting community development with the local people. Through personal interviews and observations, it stood evident that children in those areas were deprived of successful education. Due to the poverty situation of the parents, it was difficult for children to get access to quality education. At the same time, many parents did not always understand why and how education could benefit their children. Even if a child makes it to high school level, the support s/he needs is often not there. Therefore, high school dropout was a very common phenomenon in the area. Simli Radio’s interviews and radio programmes, especially with the young people targeted, revealed that only one (1) out of every twenty (20) students were able to proceed to the tertiary level after high school. All those young people who do not succeed usually end up sitting along the roads, doing nothing - or moving to Accra, the national capital, for menial jobs as head porters. Young people could have studied, if not for the economic conditions and their parents’ ignorance towards education especially for girls. But they end up being deprived and feeling left out, tempted to engage in easy gains like criminal activities. Abdul-Fatawu then discussed the issue with good friends and colleagues. With thorough deliberation, they came up with the idea of starting the organisation called REEP to reduce the school dropout rate and have an influence on the reduction of poverty level among young people in the Kumbungu District of northern Ghana, by them creating a better future through education.