Our Mission
At Project Ascend Africa, advocacy is at the heart of our mission to build a world that ensures that street
children feel safe and are cared for.
Who we are
At PROJECT ASCEND AFRICA, we strive to make a positive impact on the lives of street children who are at a high risk of being harmed and are often denied a voice due to systemic discrimination. To achieve our goals, we collaborate with civil society organisations and expert researchers to identify the most effective ways of supporting street children.
Our mission is to provide a stepping stone for street children to turn their lives around. We recognise that child rights for street children are often overlooked locally, which is why we advocate for the rights of these vulnerable members of society.
We are dedicated to providing reliable and trustworthy support to street children with transparency and accountability in all of our operations.
The total population of children in Ghana under the age of 15 is 38.01%. The youth constitute the most important human resource potential to the overall development of a nation. The very concept of children on the streets is against our values as a society but much more can be done to avoid children under 15 having to work and fend for themselves on the street.
Furthermore, the global view of street children is unfairly negative due to the methods some of them need to resort to in order to survive day to day – but who can say they wouldn’t steal food when they are starving. The real tragedy is putting children in a situation where they must commit a crime to access food. Combating the deprivation and social exclusion that compounds their suffering is the first step in helping them.
Despite their physical visibility, living and working on the streets and public squares of our cities, street children remain some of the most vulnerable and ignored members of our society. The social stigma and exploitative people they endure leads to distrust making them one the most difficult groups to reach with the provision of vital services such as education and healthcare.
Once on the street, aside from being exposed to the mercy of the weather, they are vulnerable to all forms of exploitation and abuse, a life far removed from the childhood envisioned in the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child. Street children represent one of the most marginalised groups of children worldwide and fight for survival daily.
According to the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child , outlined that all children, regardless of their circumstance or background, have the rights to:
- Life, Survival & development.
- Protection from violence, abuse or neglect.
- An education that enables them fulfill their dreams.
- See a doctor when ill.
- and many more.
Despite the high level of support for the Convention since it’s adoption, street children continue to be left out.
To counteract this, PROJECT ASCEND AFRICA will join forces with other organizations to ensure that street children receive the needed care and nutritional needs.
We understand that child hunger is a complex issue that cannot be generalized into a single category. Each child has a unique personal history and reason for being on the street, making it essential that our care for street children is tailored to their individual situation. By analyzing different “child profiles”, we can better understand the relationship each child has with their situation on the street, allowing us to provide more effective care.
In order to gain the trust of children living and growing up on the streets, we work to establish positive relationship with them with key institutions and individuals who can help us understand the structural causes of their situation.
Our primary focus is on battling child hunger by providing nutritious meals on select days, which are focused on children at known gathering points , such as traffic lights throughout cities at these gathering points. The food is prepared in hygienic conditions, packed and distributed at these gathering points. Our aim is to build trust with the children on the street by being transparent, reliable, and trustworthy, so that we can alleviate some of the hardships they face.
Rebecca Yaa Tweneboah
Yaa is a trained lawyer and has helped companies in the US and Ghana reach their potential by creating efficient systems, crafting operational processes, training employees, developing legal processes, driving product development, reducing costs and improving communication between organizations and their customers.
Sydney A. Ackuaku
Sydney heads the Logistic Division of NewCap Partners. He has amassed 30 years of experience in Facility Management and Logistics. Sydney’s years of expertise in understanding the commodities market and haulage systems is unique. He is an alumnus of Stratford School and Newham Business College.
Lois A. Okudzeto
As a philanthropist by nature Lois, who was born in 1938, had her undergraduate studies in music school in Chicago. She taught in University of Chicago Laboratory School before coming to Ghana in 1972. She has had the opportunity to live in Nigeria, America and United Kingdom with her husband Raymond K. Okudzeto.
Together with her husband they played active roles in diverse ways to bring development in the Volta region through the establishment of Volta Foundation. She was made the Queen Mother of Atorkor and worked closely with Togbui Adjorlolo, the Dufia of Atorkor.
For two decades she was the Administrative Director and a founding member of Infant Malaria Prevention Foundation along with First lay, Mrs. Rebecca Akufo-Addo. She presently is a founding member of the middle passage, a foundation concerned in projects
with sustainability and the environment.
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With your help, we can make a world where street children have the same rights and the same chance of reaching their potential as any other children.