Our client had recently started exploration work in Ghana and held a 90% interest in an offshore block in the Takoradi area on the south coast of Ghana. This signified a potential long-term presence in Ghana and a scale-up of operations.
As such, the client was laying the groundwork for a social responsibility programme focusing on the coastal area of Western Region.
Solution
Montrose carried out an in-depth diagnostic of the health and education sectors in the client’s area of influence and outlined programmatic options that could be supported under the client’s corporate social responsibility programme. The diagnostic included a:
Regional overview and evaluation: review, analysis and presentation on the current regional status and outlook for health and education, current funding and programmes, as well as potential target communities and beneficiaries.
Review of development gaps and opportunities in the region: review and analysis of existing health and education programmes and programme beneficiaries.
Review of capacity of potential regional development partners: identification of Community Based Organisations (CBOs), Non-Governmental Organisations (NGOs) and local government partners (district health and education teams) and their involvement and capacity to implement and/or support health and education programmes.
Impact
Programmatic options for the client’s social investment programme were then developed, including recommendations on scope, beneficiaries and focus, as well as the timeframe and indicative budget of proposed activities. Options comprised:
Support to educational institutions in the area – this option targeted schools and proposed offering a performance-based assessment and incentive rewards to schools to improve the two main challenge areas currently facing the education system: quality of teaching and school environment. This would be done through four key elements: community engagement, teaching quality, pupil-led advocacy and a safe school environment.
A scholarship programme – this option proposed providing scholarships to local children whose families are unable to pay fees to attend secondary schools, vocational training centers and health worker training. Communities would select bright but disadvantaged children through a voucher scheme while the scholarships would be administered by the vetted institutions.
A HIV and STI prevention programme – this option presented an innovative way of combining inside-the-fence HSE with outside-the-fence interventions in high risk populations. It was envisioned that a HIV and STI prevention project in the Takoradi-Sekondi area could help stem a resurgence of the diseases. This would be particularly strategic for this urban area where the composition of the population was rapidly changing as a result of the influx of migrant workers seeking work in the oil industry, among others.
