Rural Education and Development Programme


Rural Education and Development Program is a volunteer non-profit organization based in the Ajumako Enyan Essiam District in the Central Region of Ghana. The organization was granted NGO status by the Department of Social Welfare in April, 2001. REDEP is engaged in activities that bring hope to the people it serves through community development programs that help fill the needs of the people for Health, Education, Environment and Livelihood.
REDEP's HEEL programs have the goals of:
The members of the board of REDEP and the officers are either current residents of the district or were born and raised there, left to pursue other careers, and have now joined with REDEP in an effort to improve the lives of people in the district.

Funding

REDEP has worked with the Ghana AIDS Commission, in HIV/AIDS education in Ghana, the New England Biolabs Foundation, and Cottonwood Foundation, American Jewish World Service and Nyarkoa Foundation in improving the physical environment of the district through tree planting, cleanup exercises, improving water supply, and revegetation. As a step in improving education in the Ajumako-Enyan-Essiam district, REDEP has embarked on a project to evaluate the needs of children in the district so that they can stay in school. Funds for that effort are being provided by the board members of REDEP.

Vision and mission

REDEP's vision is of a time when positive changes in behavior have taken place among all segments of the population of the Ajumako Enyan Essiam district in terms of their relationships to each other and to their environment. It envisages a healthy population from which HIV/AIDS has been eliminated along with other diseases that are endemic in the area. Finally, it wants its district to be a place where negative cultural practices are things of the past, and the constitutional guaranties of the human rights of all the people of Ghana are respected.
REDEP's mission is to provide resources and leadership to help the people of the Ajumako Enyan Essiam district learn to use their knowledge, abilities and other assets to improve their quality of life and that of future generations.

HEEL programs

As stated above, REDEP has identified four general program areas within which to seek funds for specific projects. The program areas and objective for each are:

Public health

There is a pressing need in the Ajumako Enyan Essiam District to ensure access to good health information and services that can save lives and build healthier families. REDEP seeks to help in both those areas, and also addresses public health issues by working to improve sanitation in public spaces, and by helping communities get access to clean water supplies.
REDEP has had an HIV/AIDS education project since 2002. In January, 2003, it was contracted by the Ghana AIDS Commission to fund the program for one year. The methods developed under that contract were so successful that they were recommended for duplication for use in other districts. In addition, a dynamic group of volunteer instructors was developed within the Ajumako Enyan Essiam District during the program. They are dedicated to the AIDS educational effort and are continually updating their knowledge and skills. The volunteers come from various backgrounds; they are teachers, health workers, artisans, farmers, and others, but all of them recognize that keeping the people of the district safe from AIDS is a process that will not end in the near future, and they are committed to being part of that process.

Education

Education is recognized as one of the keys to fighting poverty, but despite the awareness of that fact too many children in the Ajumako Enyan Essiam District are not in school. There are many reasons for that, not the least of which is poverty itself which forces families to put children to work or into other situations because they cannot afford to keep them at home and in school. In addition, some social customs deny education to girls, and children who are orphaned are almost always placed in situations that reduce their chances for education. Keeping children in school is important not only to the children, but to the rest of the community, and to the nation as well. Education leads to economic growth, social and political stability, declining crime rates and improved social services.
REDEP is committed to helping all children in the district to fulfill their basic rights to the level of education that will help them build a bright future. It seeks to learn the specific needs of the children who are in danger of not being able to reach their educational goals because of their social situations and to find ways to assist them to overcome those barriers. REDEP works with the school district to help organize programs to generate enthusiasm for school, and it works to encourage students to become teachers and return to the district to teach the next generation of students.

Environment

REDEP is concerned about the state of the natural environment of the Ajumako Enyan Essiam district and is seeking ways to address problems in that area. Some obvious concerns in the district are the degradation and erosion of areas that have been deforested, followed in some cases by their being used as dumping grounds. This creates health hazards on-site as well as polluting the local water supply as the runoff from the dumps seeps into the ground water and streams.
REDEP is working through a community-based project for children and youths in cooperation with the local school administration to address this problem. The project includes instruction and activities that teach the need to respect the local environment and the importance of sanitation and clean water to the health of the community. In addition, REDEP maintains a tree nursery, which was started with funds provided by a grant from New England Biolabs Foundation. Currently the project is being funded by American Jewish World service The trees from the nursery are planted by school children along farm boundaries, on institutional and common land, along river and stream banks, around homes and on degraded wastelands. In addition, the children help with projects to improve sanitation by cleaning along stream banks and other areas. Their participation gives them an appreciation of the need to protect the local environment from damage, as well as how to improve it after it has been abused by improper use.

Livelihood

Learning the skills that can lead to employment is certainly part of the educational process. However, REDEP recognizes that many children do not complete their basic education, and leave school without acquiring the skills needed to earn a living. Their reasons for leaving are usually not lack of ability to learn, but rather some combination of the social conditions described above. Children and youths in this group require special efforts to help them because their lack of earning capacity and of knowledge of life skills keeps them in poverty. They then become the source of many of the problems that the rest of society must deal with. REDEP actively encourages this group in particular to work towards becoming self-sufficient, and seeks ways to assist them toward that goal.
Along with the need for improved livelihoods is the importance of making safe drinking water accessible to the people. For this reason, REDEP, with funding from Nyarkoa Foundation, undertakes the repair of broken hand pumps in needy communities within the district. The REDEP/Nyarkoa Foundation Water Program entails a comprehensive package of community engagement, health and hygiene education and financing for sustainability. This is to ensure the continuity of clean water supply and sustained benefits.