i CENTER FOR SOCIAL POLICY STUDIES UNIVERSITY OF GHANA CHURCH – SPONSORED EDUCATION INTERVENTION FOR DEPRIVED CHILDREN: THE CASE OF FULL GOSPEL CHILD DEVELOPMENT CENTRE PROGRAMME BY: SAMUEL NOI MENSAH 10506877 THIS DISSERTATION IS SUBMITTED TO THE CENTER FOR SOCIAL POLICY STUDIES, UNIVERSITY OF GHANA, LEGON IN PARTIAL FULFILMENT OF THE REQUIREMENT FOR THE AWARD OF MASTER OF ARTS SOCIAL POLICY STUDIES DEGREE JULY, 2015. University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh ii DECLARATION I, Samuel Noi Mensah, hereby declare that this dissertation is my own work and that it does not contain any material previously published by another person for an award of other degree at any university. References made to other studies have been duly acknowledged. ......................................................... ....................................... SAMUEL NOI MENSAH Date (10506877) ………………………….. ………………………… MR. RALPH ARMAH Date (Supervisor) University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh iii DEDICATION This thesis is dedicated to the Founder of Full Gospel Church International (FGCI), the Very Rev. Emmanuel Mensah whose work gave birth to the Full Gospel Child Development Centre. This is also dedicated to my wife, Rev. Mrs. Victoria O. Mensah and my staff at the Headquarters of FGCI for their support during the one year of this study. University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh iv ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I am thankful to the Almighty God whose provision and protection have made this work a reality. My sincere thanks go to my supervisor, Mr. Ralph Armah, for his constructive criticisms, guidance and assistance on this study. My family has provided the emotional and physical support. I acknowledge my wife, Rev. Mrs. Victoria Owusua Mensah, and the staff of Full Gospel Child Development Center for their cooperation and support. I am deeply grateful to the National Executive Council of Full Gospel Church International and the Church Board of the Emmanuel Mensah Chapel for their financial support. My appreciation also goes to all those I cannot acknowledge individually but who in diverse ways contributed to this work. University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh v ABSTRACT Incidences of children educational neglect are prevalent in third world countries although children are considered as important future pillars of every nation. The role of Government in providing education has hitherto not achieved total coverage despite several reforms. In recent times, Religious Non-governmental Organisations have augmented government efforts to provide an array of services as development partners and one such critical dimension of services is Education Relief Services. This study examined the contribution of the Full Gospel Church Child Development Centre sponsored education intervention on deprived children. Mixed method research was used to combine qualitative and quantitative methodologies to provide a better understanding of research problems than either approach alone. Findings of the study provided reasonable ground to conclude that the Full Gospel Church Child Development Centre programme outcomes have been relatively successful. A major impact is the improvement in both the quantity and quality of schooling attitude of the beneficiaries after the intervention. Enrolments have increased and gains in educational outputs are directly connected to manifest in the career aspirations of the children to become productive in society such as nurses, educationists, teachers etc. At the time of this survey a total of 248 deprive children had benefited from the education intervention in the form of payment of fees, free medical support, free extra classes and free food and other relief items monthly distributed to the children. To drive the vision to expand beyond the Tema Municipality to cover other needy children outside Tema, it is recommended that the programme board should consider strengthening the administrative and resource requirement. University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh vi TABLE OF CONTENTS Content Page DECLARATION ........................................................................................................................ i DEDICATION ............................................................................................................................... ii ACKNOWLEDMENTS ................................................................................................................. iii ABSTRACT .................................................................................................................................. iv TABLE OF CONTENT………………………………………………………………………………………………………………v LIST OF TABLE…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….. ix LIST OF FIGURE……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………xi LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS………………………………………………………………………….………… ……………..xii CHAPTERONE…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….. 1 INTRODUCTION………………………………………………………………………………………………………..………….1 1.1 Background of the study ............................................................................................. 1 1.2 Problem statement ....................................................................................................... 6 1.3 Study objectives .......................................................................................................... 8 1.4 Research questions ..................................................................................................... 8 1.5 Significance of the study ............................................................................................ 9 1.6 Scope and limitation of the study .............................................................................. 10 CHAPTER TWO ..................................................................................................................... 12 REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE ............................................................................... 12 University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh vii 2.1 Introduction ............................................................................................................... 12 2.2 Theoretical framework .............................................................................................. 12 2.2.1 The capability approach and social justice in education theory ........................ 12 2.2.2 Modernisation theory ......................................................................................... 13 2.2.3 Education and alternative development theory ................................................. 15 2.3 Conceptual framework ............................................................................................. 16 2.4 Policy framework for regulation of Non-Governmental Organisations in Ghana ... 18 2.5 Perspectives of NGOS participation in child-sponsored education intervention in Ghana. .................................................................................................................................. 21 2.6 Framework for education in Ghana ........................................................................... 25 2.7 History of faith-based organisations involvement in education in Ghana ................ 29 2.8 Poverty and inequality ............................................................................................... 29 2.9 Cost of schooling in Ghana ....................................................................................... 35 2.10 Intervention ............................................................................................................... 39 2.11 Education strategy plan (ESP) for 2003-2015 .......................................................... 40 2.12 The free compulsory universal basic education (FCUBE) ...................................... 41 2.13 Ghana school feeding programme............................................................................ 42 2.14 Missions‘ contribution………………………………………………………………………………………....44 2.15 Access to education ................................................................................................... 45 2.16 Orphanhood and access to education ........................................................................ 49 2.17 The nexus of education and level of poverty ............................................................ 50 University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh viii 2.18 Impact of interventions.............................................................................................. 53 CHAPTER THREE ................................................................................................................. 56 METHODOLOGY .................................................................................................................. 56 3.1 Introduction ............................................................................................................... 56 3.2 Research Design ........................................................................................................ 56 3.3 Study Area ................................................................................................................. 57 3.3.1 History of the Full Gospel Church International ............................................... 57 3.4 History of Full Gospel Child Development Centre .................................................... 59 3.5 Population.................................................................................................................. 62 3.6 Sample size and sampling procedure ........................................................................ 63 3.7 Research instruments and data collection ................................................................. 64 3.8 Data analysis, interpretation, validity and reliability ................................................ 65 3.9 Ethical issues ............................................................................................................. 67 CHAPTER FOUR .................................................................................................................... 69 RESULTS AND DISCUSSIONS ............................................................................................ 69 4.1 Introduction ............................................................................................................... 69 4.2 Analysis of demographic characteristics of respondents .......................................... 69 4.2.1: Gender analysis ................................................................................................... 69 4.3 Benefits of the programme ........................................................................................ 73 4.4 Challenges of the Full Gospel Child Development Centre ....................................... 97 University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh ix 4.4.1 Lack of visitation by the project office ............................................................... 97 4.4.2 Lack of adequate staff ........................................................................................ 98 4.4.3 Declining financial resources ............................................................................. 98 CHAPTER FIVE ................................................................................................................... 100 SUMMARY CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS .......................................... 100 5.1 Introduction ............................................................................................................. 100 5.2 Summary .................................................................................................................. 100 5.3 Conclusions ............................................................................................................. 105 5.4 Recommendation ..................................................................................................... 106 REFERENCE ......................................................................................................................... 109 Appendice…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………117 University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh x LIST OF TABLES Table 2.1: Poverty and literacy disparities levels in ghana 34 Table 2.2 Household unit cost per child for public and private schools 39 Table 3.1: Relevant ethical principles and actions to address them 68 Table 4.1: Gender analysis 69 Table 4.2 Age of children 70 Table 4.3 Age of parents/guardians and teachers 70 Table 4.4 Religion of respondents 71 Table 4.6: Income levels vis-à-vis education status of parents/ guardians 72 Table 4.7: Parents /guardians sector of employment 73 Table 4.8: Marital status of parents /guardians 73 Table 4.9: Access to information about the child development center 78 Table 4.10: Access to information about the child development centre 79 Table 4.11:Size of children known to be benefiting from the Full Gospel child development centre 79 Table 4.12: FGCDC expenditure on key areas of support relief 82 Table 4.13: Duration child has benefited from the education intervention 83 Table 4.15: Perception on life activities without the education intervention 85 Table 4.16: Influence of the child development programme on the children schooling 85 Table 4.17: Perception of the crucial intervention of the programme 87 Table 4.18: Career goals of education intervention beneficiaries 88 Table 4.19: Family size 88 Table 4.20: Average household domestic expenditure 89 Table 4.21: Average household expenditure on education of ward 90 Table 4.22: Perception of how challenging respondents find it to meet schooling expenses 90 University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh xi Table 4.23: Relief of financial burden 91 Table 4.24: Parents/guardian opinion on the benefits of the education intervention 92 Table 4.25: Change in attitude of the beneficiaries towards schooling since benefiting from the sponsorship 94 Table 4.26: Challenges of the beneficiaries in accessing education 95 Table 4.27: Reasons why parents are unable to support their ward's/child education expenses 96 Table 4.28: Children education status before being admitted to the church programme 97 Table 4.29: Children respondents‘ claims on how their schooling needs were met 97 Table 4.30: Coordinator‘s visitation 98 University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh xii LIST OF FIGURES Figure2.1: FGCDC education intervention model framework ..................................................... 17 Figure4.1:Pictures showing activities of the child development centre ....................................... 75 Figure4.2: Images of relief times being distributed ...................................................................... 80 Figure4.3: Images of a one bedroom house built for a family that suffered flooding rendering them homeless ....................................................................................................................... 81 University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh xiii LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS AIDS - Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome BECE - Basic Education Certificate Examination CDD - Centre for Democratic Development CRC - Convention on the Rights of the Child CSO - Civil Society Organization CWIQ - Core Welfare Indices Questionnaires ECASARD - Ecumenical Association for Sustainable Agricultural and Rural Development EFA - Education for All ESP - Education Strategic Plan FAO - Food and Agriculture Organization FCUBE - Free Compulsory Universal Basic Education FGCDC - Full Gospel Child Development Centre FGCI - Full Gospel Church International GAPVOD - Ghana Association of Private Voluntary Organizations in Development GDP - Gross Domestic Product GES - Ghana Education Service GLSS - Ghana Living Standard Survey GPRS - Ghana Poverty Reduction Strategy GSFP - Ghana School Feeding Programme ICEAD - International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination ICGC - International Central Gospel Church University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh xiv ILO - International Labour Organization IPD - Infrastructure Planning & Design JHS - Junior High School MDG - Millennium Development Goal NDPC - National Development Planning Commission NGO - Non-Governmental Organization OECD - Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development PNDC - Provisional National Defense Council PPP - Private-Public Partnership PTA - Parent/Teacher Association RNGO - Religious Non-Governmental Organization SPSS - Statistical Product and Service Solutions UNDP - United Nations Development Programme UDHR - Universal Declaration of Human Rights UN - United Nations UNDP - United Nations Development Programme UNESCO - United Nations Educational, Scientific & Cultural Organization UNICEF - United Nations Children‘s Fund UPE - Universal Primary Education WASCOF - West African Civil Society Forum University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh 1 CHAPTER ONE INTRODUCTION 1.1 Background of the study Churches and other faith-based organizations have become essential partners in the provision of interventions including economic, social, financial, physical, psychological, and health relief across multiple religions and populations in various parts of the world (Ridge, 2002 cited in Horgan, 2007). The rationale for these reliefs is the positive effect of social networks and social support provided by fellow members, prayer, beliefs, and religious practices in the well-being of the vulnerable. Faith-based organizations are popular settings for the promotion of intervention programmes that can reach broad populations and have great potential for reducing standard of living disparities. An approach for making use of this principle is the contribution and involvement of churches in programme design essentially for education intervention sponsorship for poor children in society who cannot access the cost of education (Campbell et. al.2008). Most education intervention programmes in Ghana are limited to service-delivery (e.g. lobbying and advocating for educational reforms, working individually and through networks to participate in policy dialogue). In the new paradigm, efforts are being shifted to create new opportunities to assist the needy children access quality education by adopting a new trend where most major interventions are aimed at providing resources directly in the form of fees, clothing, textbooks, exercise books etc. to improve access to basic education (Alhassan and Sulemana, 2014). Children are the future leaders of every nation and their education is considered an important concern for every society and government globally. According to the 2013 UNESCO University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh 2 Education for All Global Monitoring Report, investing in education decreases abject poverty and improves democratic participation and empowerment of citizens. The report however states that obtaining full transformative power of education cannot be achieved in isolation unless all children benefit equally from quality primary education. Educational outcomes include school readiness, retention, drop-out, educational achievement, and years of schooling completed (Engle and Black (2008)). Poverty is found to be related to children‘s education outcomes and school attendance. Poverty has been defined from many perspectives. Some definitions of poverty focus on the context of economic measures typically based on income (Engle and Black (2008); Sowa, (2002). Absolute poverty line is calculated, or defined in that context as part of a broader social disadvantage. To be ―poor‖ means lacking not only material assets and health but also capabilities, such as social belonging, cultural identity, respect and dignity, and information and education. Other social indicators are security, freedom from harassment, dignity and disproportionateness in terms of access to food, water, health, education, housing, or the lack of employment for families (Sowa, 2002). According to UNESCO (2013), 57 million children are out of school and most of them are in less developed and fragile nations. Poverty impacts on the school lives of children and leads them to exclude themselves from school experiences (Ridge, 2002 in Horgan, 2007). The impact of poverty on educational attainment is well documented as Horgan, (2007) observes a link between areas with high levels of deprivation and lower levels of educational attainment. Family income has impact on children‘s ability to learn. And also children who live in persistent poverty have slower cognitive and social development, and poorer physical or mental health (Hirsch, 2007). According to Sowa (2002) poverty entails living in a state of University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh 3 deprivation involving either material deprivation, vulnerability, physical weakness, isolation or powerlessness. In the UK, children from disadvantaged backgrounds perform poorly than those from advantaged backgrounds (Hirsch, 2007). A primary cause of child poverty is lack of opportunities among parents with low skills and low qualifications. To ameliorate the risk of poverty on children‘s school, many Governments have introduced a range of policies to break the link between child poverty and educational disadvantages (Horgan, 2007). Governments‘ policy commitments on child poverty have seen measures to support education, including child education at their early years. As a result, basic education is viewed as a service that must be provided to the populace, irrespective of its affordability and is considered to be the responsibility of the state to deliver primary education (Fielmuaand Bandie, 2012). The 1992 Constitution of Ghana gives impetus to the provision of education as a basic right for all Ghanaians. It is collectively agreed that education constitutes the single most important key to development and to poverty alleviation. Government therefore plays a major role in the delivery of social services including formal education at all levels. The Government of Ghana over the years has shown its commitment through the following: i. Education Strategy Plan (ESP) for 2003-2015 ii. The Growth Poverty Reduction Strategy iii. The Free Compulsory Universal Basic Education (FCUBE) iv. The Capitation Grant (School Fee Abolition) v. Expansion of Early Childhood Development services vi. Promotion of measures to improve Gender Parity in primary schools, and vii. The introduction of Nutrition and School Feeding programmes. University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh 4 In spite of government intervention in provision of education at all levels tied with the various education reforms, analysis of access indicators shows that there are still difficulties in reaching a significant proportion of children for school enrolment. The provision of basic education, like most other services delivered by the public sector, suffers from severe deficiencies in its coverage, effectiveness and quality (Fielmua and Bandie, 2012). Governments, mostly in the least developed nations, face the challenge of making education accessible to all the deserving children. Economic constraints of nations have placed limitations on the provision of school infrastructure and made education even at the basic level unaffordable in most areas. For example, the rural and urban slum areas mostly are underserved in education infrastructure. This kind of development challenge has given occasion to civil society groups and other voluntary organizations such as Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs) to intervene to help deprived communities alleviate the plight of ordinary people in the form of education sponsorship (Sarfo, 2013). According to UNESCO report(2005), access to school for children, especial in Asia and Africa, has been a real huge challenge .The report revealed that one hundred and fifteen million primary school-age children are out of school globally. According to a UNICEF Country study (2012), children who are not in school are more likely to come from the lowest poverty quintiles. The report further stated that children in this category have parents who never attended school. ―While the gap in school attendance rate between rich and poor is decreasing, children from the poorest households are still three times more likely to be out of school than wealthy children‖ (UNICEF 2012:14). Child development has been concerned about the ordered emergence of interdependent skills of sensorimotor, cognitive–language, and social–emotional functioning, which depend on the child‘s physical well-being, the family context, and the larger social network (Engle and University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh 5 Black (2008)). Early intervention programmes often have been interested in the effects of early care and education on children from poor families (Anna, n.d.). Civil society interventions have not just improved access to education but have also resulted into good learning outcomes as well as high completion rates (Kalemba, 2013). Government efforts have often been supplemented by the community schools and private schools which operate in underserved areas, run by non-state actors such as international/local NGOs, churches or local communities. These provide basic education to vulnerable children who cannot afford the cost of education. Church sponsored education is non-state actors‘ initiatives that fill up the gap created by government limitations (Kalemba, 2013). In view of this deficiency all around the world, NGOs and other arms of civil society have found the need to complement Government efforts with resources. In most developing countries, the civil society such as churches, NGOs and other philanthropic organisations have played very important roles in the process of development particularly in supporting literacy, community schools, health education, early childhood care, poor families, skills training and other forms of learning. Studies of sponsored Compassion International children show positive and significant effects on children education in specific areas of their employability and occupational choice (Wydick, Glewwe, and Rutledge, 2011). Moreover, a follow up study in Kenya on adult life outcomes disclosed that sponsored children, when compared with their non-sponsored siblings, scored higher on an adapted Rosenberg Self- Esteem Scale (Ross and Wydick, 2011). A Compassion International study carried out in Bolivia also found that sponsored individuals who had ten years of completed sponsorship have an additional 1.5 points on a life satisfaction scale and a 4.1% or 5.5% increased probability of scoring higher life satisfaction when compared with non-sponsored individuals (Ramirez, 2011). Although foreign NGOs have received much repute for their extensive University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh 6 contribution, the efforts of indigenous or local NGOs in socio-economic development have not gone unnoticed to some degree. 1.2 Problem statement Globally, various efforts have been made to increase children‘s access to education. In spite of these, many children are still living in impoverished circumstances and continue to miss out on their childhood (Kalemba, 2013). While education is theoretically free in Ghana, cost of sending children to school remains relatively high, especially for families who are living on low incomes. Half of the world‘s children are below the international poverty line of $1 a day and suffer from multiple deprivations and violations of basic human rights. Although education is accorded the status of a basic human right by the United Nations there is much to be done to ensure the universal enjoyment of this right (Kalemba, 2013). According to Sarfo (2013), the high levels of poverty in Ghana limits access to quality education and this is a serious developmental concern. Poverty and inequality have far- reaching consequences for children as their impact of poverty on children (with varying needs) differ from adults. Children hardly get a second chance starting education in life. Whereas child poverty can last for a lifetime, an adult may experience poverty temporarily (UNICEF, 2012). The orthodox measure of poverty focus on people living under $1 a day. While between 1999 and 2005 East Asia experienced a decline of five million people elevated below the poverty line, sub-Saharan Africa experienced an upsurge of people living under $1 due to wars, famine, drought, poor economic management and bad governance. The fight against poverty continues to undermine be according to UNESCO as long as policy debates still focus on income. This suggests that until a multidimensional approach to alleviate poverty reflects how and where children experience poverty, present policies will University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh 7 still not address the different deprivation facets of the nature, extend and trends of child poverty. At least if all mothers complete primary education, women could identify early signs of illness, seek advice and act on it, and reduce child mortality by a sixth. This would save almost one million lives each year and reduce child mortality rate caused by pneumonia by 14% and diarrhea by 8%. According to UNESCO (2013b), in sub-Saharan African, voters without primary education are found more likely to express resentment for democracy than those with education at the child stage. If all mothers completed primary education, certain diseases would be preventable. Due to the lack of education among women, the devastating impact of childhood malnutrition preventable is still a major problem among families. This is attributable to the fact that mothers still do not know the nutrients that their children need and the hygiene rules they should follow. If many women just have primary education, maternal deaths would be cut by two-thirds. However, as many women still die because of complications during pregnancy and childbirth. The lack of education has a toll on deaths among women. Women are unable to recognise the danger signs of pregnancy complications and to seek care under trained health workers. The lack of access to quality education also affects job opportunities and hinders economic growth thereby limiting people‘s contribution to the solution of environmental problems. UNESCO data (UNESCO, 2013) shows that education can boost transformational development goals, hence equal access to education by all children could increase per capita by 23% in four decades. Again if all women should have a primary education, child marriages and child mortality could fall by a sixth. University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh 8 The Full Gospel Child Development Centre (FGCDC) adopts the rights and participatory mechanisms of a child-centered programme to seek to reduce child poverty through promoting children‘s right to quality education. The church intervenes for the deprived families in Tema by promoting church-sponsored education for the poor. Against this background, this study seeks to investigate the issue of the church pursuing development and poverty reduction through the promotion of children‘s right to quality education. 1.3 Study objectives The overall goal of the study is to examine the contribution of FGCDC sponsored education intervention programme on deprived children. To achieve this broad goal, the study shall focus on the following specific objectives: 1. To determine the demographic characteristics of the deprived children on the programme. 2. To determine the benefits FGCDC programme has offered its beneficiaries. 3. To identify challenges associated with the implementation of the FGCDC education intervention which could be critical to the improvement of the programme. 1.4 Research questions 1. What are the demographic characteristics of the deprived children on the programme? 2. What benefits have the FGCDC programme offered its beneficiaries? 3. What associated challenges could be critical to the improvement of the FGCDC programme? University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh 9 1.5Significance of the study The impact of education on human development cannot be overemphasized. It has a lot of benefits for the individual in particular and the nation in general. An educated populace is a great asset to a nation. Education comes with the competence to understand issues and analyze them critically for solutions to problems. An OECD report (2013) stresses that education gives the individual the ability to perform better in the labour market, and also helps to improve their overall health, promote active citizenship and contain violence. The implication is that if people are educated, they are able to acquire skills which make them employable. The Constitution of Ghana guarantees the right of every child to free and compulsory access to basic education, yet many children of school-going age are either out of school or have never set foot in the classroom. For the purpose of this study, specific attention is given to churches seeking to achieve human development through the promotion of children‘s right to quality education. Hence the information emanating from this research can be useful to analogous churches as well as international agencies and donor institutions interested in how to deal with development assistance. It will also be helpful to international NGOs who harbour the ambition of operating in Ghana. It is anticipated that the programme which is aimed at alleviating the impact of poverty on children‘s school lives based on the views of children, parents and teachers who will participate in the study would be a useful source of information for the Government of Ghana, the media and other Child-based organizations currently working in Ghana. In addition, the impact that the FGCDC Programme has made to the school experiences of children from families experiencing poverty should be beneficiary to other civil societies to explore how to implement similar programmes in other areas of the country. University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh 10 This work will therefore add to the existing literature on the activities of civil society interest in education sponsorship in Ghana. Finally, the study can be a useful reference point for future research in the area of education- sponsored intervention for deprived children. The era of assumed ―virtue‖ is over and people demand to know how their donations are being used and as there is a growing need for accountability and transparency, the effective use of the funding for the FGCDC development programme from ―grantees‖ will be scrutinized. It is expected that, the impact of the study, thus could in a long way increase transparency of the management of funds and urge contributors to increase their grants towards the programme. 1.6 Scope and limitation of the study Participation of civil societies in education has evolved from the traditional roles of service provision (e.g. the provision of schools, supplies of ‗hardware components‘ and experimenting new approaches of service delivery) to policy advocacy and monitoring government performance and a more direct involvement in the implementation of education programmes, policy formulation process etc. The extent of involvement in the education sector support is wide and significant particularly when taking into account the vastness of the education sector. A number of civil society organisations are involved in education intervention sponsorship in varying ways. In recent times, there has been a more direct change in focus of NGO activity in education from mere construction of schools to care support and financial support to children from deprived homes who cannot afford the cost of education in terms of feeding, uniforms, text and exercise books etc. The study covers the form of education-sponsored interventions programmes that have direct impact on child-care support and financial support University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh 11 to children from deprived homes who cannot afford the cost of education in terms of feeding, uniforms, textbooks and exercise books etc. In this regard limitations are considered. Extensive nationwide study could make this thesis more comprehensive, but some potential difficulties existed in obtaining all the information within the time period scheduled for this thesis; these include lack of adequate financial resources and time. The study therefore has been limited to the Full Gospel Child Development Centre Programme. University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh 12 CHAPTER TWO REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE 2.1 Introduction This chapter discusses the theoretical framework and reviews both published and grey literature on the contribution of church-sponsored education intervention of deprived children. The chapter has been organised thematically to include concepts of deprivation, the importance of education, access to education, missionary contribution to education in Ghana, attempts by government to keep children in school, education; level of poverty and orphanhood, and access to education. 2.2 Theoretical framework This dissertation or study views the two concepts – Capability Approach and Social Justice in Education theories and Modernization theory – applicable to the notions of the FGCDC education intervention programme. The choice of the two concepts is based on the assumption that, participation of various stakeholders in education delivery will help reduce the inequalities brought about by orthodox approaches to development. According to Lund (1994), alternative development does not view poor people as passive recipients of aid but as active partners who should take part in decision-making processes with regard to developmental issues in their areas 2.2.1 The capability approach and social justice in education theory The Capability Approach and Social Justice in Education theories by Sen (2007) stress on the need to involve all partners or stakeholders to assist with education. The capability approach provides a general normative framework for the assessment of human development and also considers what it has to offer specific areas of social policy, such as education (Unterhalter, Vaughan, and Walker, 2007). According to Campbell et. al. (2008), at the heart of the notion University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh 13 of a capability is a conception that a person is able to develop a reasoned understanding of valued lives and deeds. This in itself is a powerful argument for the need for some kind of education, through which an individual can explore her own conception of what it is that he/she has reason to value. If an important normative goal is expansion, then developing education is a part of expanding the capacity to make valued choices in other spheres of life. In this sense education is seen as a link to expand learning and valued choices. To think of this approach to human development opens a space in which we can be critical of school processes. The capability approach provides rich resources for thinking about social justice and education. Is school education always beneficial to an individual‘s overall capabilities in life? Sen‘s (1992) question, ‗equality of what?‘ suggests an answer that involves expanding people‘s capabilities through education. The Capability Approach and Social Justice in Education theories stress the need to involve all partners and stakeholders to promote education in all facets, and churches which operate mainly as Charity Organisations are not excluded either (Sen, 2007). According to Campbell et. al. (2008), faith-based organisations are essential partners in the effort to reduce social disparities by using non-traditional channels to deliver interventions to populations that are sometimes considered hard to reach or who view traditional intervention channels with distrust. Support by many churches also contributes to the social, economic, and political welfare of their congregants, as well as the community at large. Thereby church-based education interventions programmes also have the potential to reduce disparities among vulnerable people in a settlement. 2.2.2 Modernisation theory Modernisation theory in development studies became a useful approach to development after the Second World War. This theory conceptualizes development as a standardizing process in which least developed countries can adopt to accelerate development at par with advanced University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh 14 countries in order to modernise and reduce widespread inequalities (Pieterse, 2010). The lessons provided from this theory indicated that, what the less developed countries lacked could be identified and addressed. For example, just like health, education is seen as an essential component to the development of human capital that would steer up the process of economic growth in the developed countries and could be seen and adopted by the least developed countries (Kalemba, 2013). This theory sees education as a vehicle for transmitting social norms, occupational skills, political views and/or religious values. In addition, an educated person has greater powers to impact positively on development. Zachariah (1985) posits that the notion of a positive relationship between education and economic development created a need for development agents to assist least developed countries improve formal educations systems as a primary strategy towards Modernisation. Thereby conception about education according to the Modernisation theory was identified as an investment in people that would prepare a nation for the next stage of development. To that end, primary education funded programmes were identified as a priority locally and internationally. The shortfall of this theory is its application mainly at the macro level (The State). However, this theory is also applicable and can be adopted at the meso (organisational) level of society to assist the less privilege (individuals who form the micro level) to develop their potential to be able to catch up with the pace of development with the rich or affluent in society and also to contribute to development. Modernization theory looks at the internal factors of a country with the assumption that, with assistance, "traditional" countries can be brought to development in the same manner as developed countries have. Modernization theory maintains that traditional societies will University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh 15 develop as they adopt more modern practices. According to Friedmann (1992) the positive goal of the Modernization theory is the alternative development thinking which brings the notion of new understandings of development focused on social and community development with emphasis on ‗human flourishing‘. This gave rise to the conception of human development (mid-1980s) which portrayed development as capacitation. In this view, the point of development above all, is that it is enabling and defines development in the Human Development Reports of UNDP as ‗the enlargement of people‘s choices‘. In this sense, human development emerging out of the modernization theory gives an opportunity to improve the human condition and to acquire the knowledge needed to optimize life satisfaction. Moreover, Mweene (2006) found out that participatory approaches taken by NGOs to meet people‘s basic needs were more effective than state-led strategies. In this vein, Capability Approach and Social Justice in Education theories and Modernization theory development concepts are relevant to this study as they provide strategies used to meet primary education needs of poor people. 2.2.3 Education and alternative development theory Proponents of alternative approaches to development accept that development efforts are generally more successful if the community participates. Parnwell (2008) posits that top- down approaches to development (modernization theory) face the challenge of uneven development. Hence, the need to adopt an alternative approach to development that works closer with the community it intends to benefit from by adopting a bottom-up approach. This approach encourages community participation, gives people a sense of ownership and is believed to be more sustainable and cost effective. University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh 16 2.3 Conceptual framework The church according to the Capability approach and Social Justice in Education theories is recognized as essential development partner to government in alleviating or addressing government inefficiencies in development. Hence, churches as Religious Non-Governmental Organisations play a vital role in the public-private partnership (PPP) development of a country and one of such development services is the provision of education services (Berger, 2003). The education interventions are provided by FGCDC in the form of feeding grant, payment of school fees, promoting social club activities, and health promotion campaigns, extra classes free tuition among others. These interventions positively affect the child in many ways. For example, increase in school attendance, raising of the child‘s educational achievement, interest to spend more time at school, reduction of short term hunger through the feeding grant, interest to spend more time towards learning, and improve the child‘s cognitive functioning such as reasoning, and quality decision making. Through schooling the child develops his/her human capital and endowed with the potential to develop him/herself to reason and understand the value of life and deeds; thereby enabling the child to explore his/her own conceptual goals in life‘s spheres to become an agent of development to society such as teacher, nurse, doctor, banker etc. University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh 17 Figure 2.1: FGCDC education intervention model framework Source: Adapted from Rostow (1960); World Bank (2004); Sen (2007) Churches as Essential development partners Deliver intervention as component of human capital development  Feeding grant  Extra classes  Schools supplies  Payment of fees  Social club activities  Promoting physical health activities  Increase school attendance  Raised educational achievement  Raise interest to spend more time in school  Reduce short term hunger  Interest to spend more time towards learning  Improved cognitive functioning e.g. decision making etc Develop Human Capital Nurse Doctor Teacher Engineer Banker etc University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh 18 2.4 Policy framework for regulation of Non-Governmental Organisations in Ghana Non-Governmental Organizations (otherwise known as Charity Organisations) are assuming more responsibilities and gaining greater visibility and power at both national and global levels. Non-governmental organization emerged from Article 71 of the United Nations Charter to create a political space for self-appointed representatives of public interests and to interact and organize for the promotion of common goals. The last decade has seen intense activities by organizations such as Amnesty International, Oxfam, Greenpeace, the World Council of Churches, Soka Gakkai International, and the World Jewish Congress, effectively advocating for policy discussions on issues including human rights, sustainable development, the environment, peace building, and governance (Berger, 2003). Government – NGOs relations differ depending on levels of democratization in a country. Command economy regimes are generally suspicious and show little tolerance for independent NGOs; introduce rules and laws to control their activities. NGOs in well- endowed democratic countries have a strong impetus to support alternative government inefficiencies on developmental efforts. Non-Governmental Organisations play a vital role in the public or private partnership development of a country and enjoy privileges such as tax exemption and waiver. According to Gunningham and Rees (1997), Civil Society Organisations in West Africa commonly have the environment to self –regulate their activities by setting standards and rules at the industry - level of organization, rather than at the governments. According to Adjolohoun (2014) West Africa lacks regional framework for the regulation of NGOs although several NGOs are involved in different activities in West Africa. Through coalition (the West African Civil Society Forum, WACSOF) ECOWAS member countries participate in NGOs activities under such umbrella which is aimed at University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh 19 providing a platform for NGOs to compliment the efforts of ECOWAS towards deepening regional integration and fostering stability and development in West Africa (Olugbuo, 2004). Olugbuo (2004) asserts that attempts by the government of Ghana to provide a regulatory framework for Charity Organisations dates back in 1993. Further, the state collaborated with CSOs/NGOs in 2000 to develop a draft policy document on National Policy for Strategic Partnership which was aimed at regulating CSOs/NGOs. In Ghana Civil Society Organisations and Non-Governmental Organisations (charity organisations) operate as companies limited by guarantee and are registered as not-for-profit companies under the Companies Code 1963 (Act 179). Ghana government introduced the Trust-NGO Bill in 2006/2007 to include regulation of CSOs/NGOs. The Trust Bill (proposed by the Law Reform Commission) sought to remove their registration and management from the Registrar-General‘s Department to consolidate all not-for-profit entities under one umbrella, the Trusts Commission. The Bill was however objected to by the platform of the Ghana Association of Private Voluntary Organizations in Development (GAPVOD) (Modern Ghana, 2009). Among the policy framework for the creation of the environment for the operation of CSOs/NGOs is the Ghana Standards Project (2007) that established minimum standards defined by voluntary Organisations and imbibed the principles of good and ethical practice (Commonwealth Foundation, n.d.). The Draft National Policy for Strategic Partnership with NGOs/CSOs forms the basis for sections of the law related to NGOs/CSOs ( Modern Ghana, 2009). The Draft National Policy for Strategic Partnership spells out relationship between CSOs/NGOs and the Government of Ghana. The objectives of the policy according to the Draft National Policy, (2004) includes; University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh 20 1. the creation of an enabling legal, institutional and democratic environment for CSO s to operate independently and contribute effectively to national development ; 2. the establishment of a framework for consultations on issues that affect the effective governance of CSO activities in the non -profit sector and how to resolve them ; t 3. the promotion of collaboration between Government, CSO‘s and other stakeholders to improve relations and enhance the pursuit and attainment of individual and collective national development goals Religious NGOs (RNGOs) have attained recognition following their efforts made to connect to higher levels of decision-making and information sharing. RNGOs are today classified as local, independently run operations, to transnational, hundred million dollar enterprises most of which represent specific constituencies such as denominations, spiritual or political orientations, and sometimes even the entire cluster of a particular religion. Religious organisations are noted to have access to extensive social and resource networks due to their long-standing presence of religious establishments and communities around the world (Berger, 2003). RNGOs are found to master - mind successful campaigns, for example to relieve Third World debt. It also support the establishment of International Criminal Court, and have been a major force in shaping discourse at United Nations conferences; examples of such large RNGOs includes the Salvation Army, World Vision, and Catholic Relief Services etc (Salvation Army, 2001; Catholic Relief Services, 2001; World Vision, 2001). RNGOs are privately funded, with resources provided by members in the form of donations, dues, as well as tithing obligations. RNGOs provide array of services to the community such as network building, advocacy, monitoring, and information provision. Others include spiritual guidance, prayer, and modeling. One critical dimension of RNGOs services for decades is education and relief services. By University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh 21 large, most RNGOs have an educational component which encompasses services directly related to institutions of formal and informal education, the provision of advice, information and educational materials about issues with which the RNGO is concerned. ‗Relief services encompass food distribution, shelter, water, sanitation, and medical care (Berger, 2003). 2.5 Perspectives of NGOS participation in child-sponsored education intervention in Ghana Considering the poverty situation of children from poor families today, the issue of church intervention in sponsoring education with increasing concern on how they are most likely to improve quality and access to basic education cannot be undermined (Alhassan and Sulemana, 2014). Capability Approach and Social Justice in Education theories have stressed the need to involve all partners and stakeholders to promote education in all facets, including charity organisations and churches as well (Sen, 2007). Historical overview of education in Ghana shows that the early missionaries played a key role in the introduction and provision of quality education in Ghana. With the conception that ―integrity without knowledge is weak and useless‖ (http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/quotes/s/samueljohn121576.html Date Accessed 20th April, 2016), the church as an institution sees the need to patronize academic institutions to develop a well-equipped, informed and educated staff for pastoral and other ministry services. Churches also acknowledge that religious instructions through weekly worship in schools are some of the ways to ensure that students are exposed to religious practices and beliefs. Therefore, churches have continuously been deeply involved in the school life of the society and must further offer the needed intervention sponsorship to the children who are likely to be excluded from being reached out to due to their unfavourable economic conditions (Kwarteng, 2013). University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh 22 According to a UNICEF (2012) report, a greater number of NGOs including churches in Africa have played various roles in education service-delivery in both the formal and non- formal sectors. The efforts of churches in promoting universal and equitable quality at basic education level in Ghana received praise even at the Education for All (EFA) meeting recently held in Johannesburg and Dakar in 2013 (Alhassan and Sulemana, 2014). Development literature alludes to many rationales and assumptions as to why churches should play an increasing role in the basic sector of education. Among the arguments are that churches operate at the community-level and primarily aim at affecting social change. As such if churches can effectively be a catalyst for poverty reduction in society, then basic education forms an element many consider critical. It is also believed that to focus on tackling the root cause of poverty, churches should begin to shift attention towards disparity in education, especially at the elementary level where access is compulsory and free in theory but not practical due to its cost (Alhassan and Sulemana, 2014). In this perspective, programmes must begin to address issues of inclusive education to increase the participation of all students in schools. These programmes must focus on all groups which have been excluded from educational opportunities including children living in poverty, those from ethnic and linguistic minorities, girls (in some societies), children from remote areas, those with disabilities or other special educational needs, the gifted and the talented children who are most marginalized within education and society in general (Ankutse, 2014). Vicious cycle of poverty can only be curtailed if the skills of people can be developed. Skilled labour is very important in the economic prosperity of a people due to its impact on productivity. Knowledge is the basic block to become competitive in the present world University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh 23 economy. Yet the quality of an individual‘s skills is influenced by the extent to which knowledge can be utilised to enhance productivity and increase the well-being of people. If the poor can emerge from poverty, then the knowledge base, techniques of production and their skills must be broadened beyond the confines of inherited skills, attitudes and abilities. Formal education is an important part of the skill acquisition process and development. It contributes to the process of molding attitudinal skills and developing technical skills. Education therefore confers on the poor the knowledge to manage resources efficiently and basic education provides the essential building blocks even to continue to higher levels of education. For those who do not continue to higher education, basic education provides the foundation upon which work-related skills are developed (Oduro, 2000). Studies unequivocally have proven that early intervention can reduce crime, delinquency and antisocial behaviour among children and in their later adult lives. The economic conditions of poor children are found to have a link to lack of access to education and illiteracy, particularly negative school outcomes, which greatly influence the future behaviour of these children. Children from low socioeconomic class are more predisposed to antisocial behaviour, delinquency and crime (Athill, n.d.). According to Barnett and Escobar (1987), investments in early educational intervention in the lives of young children potentially can yield both immediate and future returns. The challenge towards establishment of intervention programmes and providing necessary funding for programmes and activities in schools especially in the early years continues to be problematic for governments in the developing countries. Yet crime and other delinquent and antisocial behaviour affect the entire society including churches. Hence to address this problem, Civil Society organisations have recognised the need to complement governments‘ efforts to shape the behaviour and future direction of children. The focus is to assist maintain a culture of good behaviour, peace and University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh 24 stability within the society and the nation at large through education intervention sponsorships. It is anticipated that social interventions investments of this nature by the Church ultimately can influence the future behaviour of these children, harness their talents, channel their energies to community building, limit their antisocial and delinquent behaviours and improve poor children‘s school outcomes positively (Athill, n.d.). Dangers of potential threats to our health such as flu pandemics, mad cow disease, and excessive use of pesticides and antibiotics, primary diseases etc have received many warnings in the media (Rutter, and Quine, 2002). Some interventions have been to use the media and social organisations to educate and encourage people to adopt healthy behaviours and discourage unhealthy ones and provision of secondary health interventions in the form of health facilities in poor communities and in the rural-urban deprived areas (Rutter, and Quine, 2002). The task of persuading thousands or millions of people to change their behaviours may seem daunting and challenging, though not to say this is not an unrealistic task to achieve the overall goal. Another critical health intervention that can promote health and prevent illness is to attempt to influence behaviour at the individual, community, or societal level as action at the societal level represents the broadest level of influence (Thompson, et. al. 2003). New perspectives of promoting healthcare are to target early child education. It is identified to be cost effective even if a tiny fraction of the population is educated and motivated to change their behaviour. Cost savings resulting from the prevention of illness can be significantly greater than the cost of the intervention in supply and provision of medical assistance in the form of construction of health facilities and procurement of expensive medication and medical equipment, not to University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh 25 mention the expensive cost of training healthcare professionals and the rising cost of healthcare workers remuneration (Stokols, 1992). For health promotion campaigns to be successful, one must possess a minimum of information about health issues. Based on the value of key concepts from models in predicting behavioural change through education, early child education has the potential to influence the physiological mindset of people about their health. Although many public health initiatives have been implemented in improving access to quality healthcare, faith- based institutions may partner public initiatives through collaborations to use their capacity and resources to change the knowledge, attitudes, and behaviour of community members concerning health promotion and disease management (Kaplan et.al., 2006). 2.6 Framework for education in Ghana Kwarteng (2012) posits that ‗child education is fundamental in sustaining democracies, improving health, increasing per capita income, and conserving environmental resources of nations; hence education should not be viewed as an end in itself but a productive investment and be justified by the investment of both public and private (NGOs) in the sector‖. The author further posits that basic education has always been an important concern for society and governments because universal literacy and even the success of secondary and post- secondary education largely depend on efficient and extensive basic system of education of a country (Fielmua, 2012). Education is seen as the single most important key to development and to poverty alleviation; and the primary responsibility of providing primary education lies with the state like most other services delivered by the public sector. The UN General Assembly declared Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR, 1948) as a common standard of achievements for all peoples and all nations, such that each University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh 26 individual or nation shall enforce the declaration religiously and strive to promote the respect for these rights and freedoms and to secure their effective recognition and observance (UDHR, 1948). Ghana‘s laws relating to education and children compliment the basic principles of this UDHR declaration. Ghana is signatory to the instruments relating to the rights of the child; i.e. the Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC), ratified in 1990. Ghana is also a signatory to the International Convention on the Elimination of All forms of Racial Discrimination (ICEAD), in 2001; the ILO Convention NO.182 Concerning the Prohibition and Immediate Action for the Elimination of the Worst Forms of Child Labour, in 2001; Optional Protocol on the Involvement of Children in Armed Conflict, 2002 and the Protocol to Prevent, Suppress and Punish Trafficking, Especially Women and Children, supplementing the United Nations Convention Against Transitional Organized Crime, in 2005. The common understanding within all the treaties and basic guidelines concerning children are the fundamental principle that ―in all actions concerning children, the best interest of the child shall be a primary consideration (CRC, Article 3)‖. Education is the key to preparing the child to an individual life, mental and social development (Kenya, 2007). Free and compulsory primary education is a right to all children (CRC article 13) and by article 23 includes persons with disabilities (mentally or physically). The CRC is the most ratified treaty and covers issues such as the definitions of who is a child, parent‘s responsibilities, right to nationality, names, education, health, legal protection and social development to protection against exploitation, and forced military enlistment/recruitments (Kenya, 2007). By extension, in Africa, Ghana is a signatory to the African Charter on the Rights and Welfare of the Child, in July 2000. The second goal of the Millennium Development Goal University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh 27 (MDG) is to ensure that all boys and girls complete a full course of primary education. The Education Act of 1961 which was revised in 1983 and 1992 respectively forms the foundation policy framework for free compulsory primary and basic education for all school going children (World Data on Education, 2006) modified and reinforced in 1983 by PNDC Law No.42. In Ghana, the public sector is the main provider of education from the primary to tertiary level with a minimal participation from the private sector. Presently, preschool is not compulsory but basic education is compulsory for all children of the relevant age group according to provisions of the Free Compulsory Universal Basic Education (FCUBE). The 1992 Constitution gives impetus to the provision of education as a basic right for all Ghanaians. Article 38 of the Constitution enjoins government to provide access to Free Compulsory Universal Basic Education (FCUBE). The Children‘s Act (1998) gives right to every child to life, dignity, respect, leisure, liberty, health, education and shelter. Section 81(2) provides that no child shall be deprived access to education among other things. The education system of Ghana provides for nine years of basic formal education for every child from the age of 6 – 14 years. The Ministry of Education is the statutory body mandated to provide the management of education at all levels in Ghana. In Ghana, Crèches (up to two years), Nursery (3-4 years), Pre-School (4–5 years) and Kindergarten (4 – 6) years are not part of the formal education system but introduced in 2002 as part of recommendation made by the President‘s Committee on Review of Education Reforms (2002) and are encouraged by the Early Childhood Development policy provided by the education sector. Primary and Secondary education from age 6 – 19 is compulsory (World Data on Education, 2006). University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh 28 According to a 10-year work plan for Education in Ghana (Ministry of Education Science and Sports, 2006), The Ghana Poverty Reduction Strategy II, developed in 2005, also as part of its prioritised policy objectives for the education sector, seek among other things to (1) increase access to and participation in education and training; (2) bridge gender gap in access to education; and (3) improve quality and efficiency in delivery of education service. The Mission Statement for Ghana‘s Education seeks ―to provide relevant education to all Ghanaians at all levels to enable them to acquire skills that will assist them to develop their potential, to be productive, to facilitate poverty reduction and to promote socio-economic growth and national development‖. Among the principal issues adopted by the Education Strategic Plan (ESP) for 2003 - 2015 is the strategy to approach education sector development in a manner that focuses on equitable access to quality education (Education Strategic Plan, 2003). Since the mid-1900, Ghana‘s education repeatedly has seen reforms in various attempts to solve the problem of illiteracy, unemployment and under-employment. Notable among these reforms are (1) the Kwapong Review Committee in 1966, which sought to address issues of the lack of access to secondary schools by the introduction of the concept of Continuation Schools; (2) the Dzobo Review Committee of 1974, which introduced the concept of "comprehensive" Junior Secondary Schools to teach academic and practical skills to all pupils; (3) the Education Reform Programme introduced in 1987/88 that paved way for the introduction of the Junior and Senior Secondary School (JSS) concept; and (4) the Free Compulsory Universal Basic Education (FCUBE) 1996 programme (Oduro, 2000). According to the World Data on Education (2006), the cardinal principle for education reforms target of the Education Strategic Plan 2003 – 2015, is to achieve equity and quality in the educational system. University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh 29 Private schools are guided by the Companies Code Act (1963) and the Business Names Act and as such are required to register as a business with the Registrar General. The sector is further governed by the Ghana Education Service Act (1995) which outlines the supervisory role of GES in relation to private pre-tertiary institutions. In addition, the Education Act of 2008 and educational policies, systems and tools guide the operations of the private sector. 2.7 History of faith-based organisations involvement in education in Ghana Formal education was introduced in Ghana by the Western missionaries in the 19th Century as a conduit for propagation of the Gospel. Schools started at mission sites across different parts of the country with the early schools opening between the 1800s and the early 1900s. Missionaries therefor became the first NGOs to be involved in Ghanaian Education and the domineering players in education. Reading and writing was the preoccupation of schooling dominated by teaching of the Bible but schooling system later opened to offer lessons such as reading, writing, counting, carpentry, bricklaying and needlecraft. Missions scattered across the country (e.g. Presbyterians, Anglicans, Baptists and Catholics) and opened schools, expanded progressively to enrol more pupils, engaging more teachers and produced more evangelizers. During the early missionary period, the mission schools operated according to their own code without the central body (government) to coordinate and give direction in matters of policy, standards and curricula (Kadzamira and Kunje, 2002). Missions in the northern and southern parts of the country gained prominence and acclaim in both their religious and educational achievements. According to Kadzamira and Kunje (2002), NGOs extent of involvement in University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh 30 the education sector is very significant especially considering the vastness of the education sector. 2.8 Poverty and inequality Ghana‘s economy has been growing progressively recording growth rate averaging 4.5% between 1983 through to 2000 and recording annual growth rate improvements of 5.6% in 2004 and 6.2% in 2006. Analyses of data show that poverty is reducing. Consumption poverty has steadily been falling considerably from 51.7% to 39.5% and then 28.5% in 1991/92, 1998/99, and 2005/06 respectively. Asset poverty also has fallen from 45.7% in 1997 to 38.9% in 2003. The emerging growth statistics for Ghana depicts a picture that the country is on the verge of reducing poverty by far than that of the 1990 level, and reasonably expect to achieve full middle-income status by 2015. The country has progressed in its development prospects since the 1990s political liberalisation that has delivered heightened political rights and civil liberties (Higgins, 2009). Statistics points out that the economy is growing at the macro level. Meanwhile, poverty levels are substantial and the country is engulfed in various development challenges and the manifestation of its social and human development weaknesses depicted by the Human Development Index (177 countries, in 2003) matching with its rather better, and improving GDP per capita levels (ranked of 123, also in 2003) (World Bank, 2007). Inequality still persists as a development challenge, which has worsened over the last 15 years in relation to the differences in consumption between the rich and the poor. Poverty and inequality are driven by a number of factors. Coulombe and Wodon (2007) posit that the probability of being poor is often prevalent with characteristics such as: i. Living in the northern regions instead of other regions ii. Living in the rural setting compared to the urban area University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh 31 iii. Tendency of household head older and less active iv. Being part of larger households compared to smaller households v. In majority cases, living with a separated or divorced parent vi. Tendency of household head with low level of education vii. Being reliant on agriculture for your livelihood (followed by manufacturing and construction) viii. Being self-employed in agriculture (followed by wage earners in the private informal sector) and ix. Not owning any land (versus land ownership). From a contextual perspective, the starting point to analyze the issue of development, poverty and inequality is from the perspective of gender. Gender is a universal dimension of which the issue of differences in status is defined. According to Sowa (2002) data from various Living Standard Surveys, Demographic and Health Surveys, Core Welfare Indices Questionnaires (CWIQ) and other limited quantitative and qualitative surveys confirm that poverty is pervasiveness in Ghana countrywide. The Ghana Living Standard Survey (GLSS, 1999) reports show that 39.5 percent of Ghanaians are below the poverty line compared to about 51.7 percent in 1992 and 40 percent in 1998/99. Though this picture shows a marked improvement in the living standards of people, the level of decrease is in opposite direction with population growth and this cannot be said to impact favorably on the incidence of poverty reduction among majority of Ghanaians as per data available. A lot more people are being born in poor families and that this data is only meaningful if the rate of decrease over the years has taken into account the population size of the country in general at each time. University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh 32 Boateng, Ewusi, Kanbur and Mckay (1990) conducted trend analyses of poverty using data from the Ghana Living Standard Survey. They set poverty lines (based on methodology adopted from Foster, Greer, and Thorbecke (1984)) for the "poor" and "very poor" and the ―hard core poor‖ in Ghana at GH¢3.3; GH¢1.60 and less than GH¢1.00 per head, per year. The findings showed a trend which was that about 19.2 percent of the "hard-core" poor live in the urban areas while 65.8 percent live in the rural areas. Basically, this pattern was generally the same for all the poor implying that poverty is predominantly prevalent in rural settings, whereas in the urban areas, most of the hard-core poor came from the informal sector. Poverty is found to be a coastal and forest localities issue and as a result from retrenchment policies by both government and the private formal sectors. Trends have shown an ill effect of freezing of employment and wage bills in spite of rising inflation which erodes the real income of lower workers. Poverty reflects in the profile of the different socio-economic groups. Impact of poverty reduction strategy has not been consistent with the assumption that switching terms of trade in favour of the tradable sector should help export farmers. Evidence from the Living Standards Surveys suggests that poverty level among the export crop farmers have not been much different from that of the non-export food farmers. Gender analysis of poverty profiles in Ghana also presents certain outlook with reference to households headed by women and available data has shown that poverty levels in female- headed households have reduced significantly over the years, and poverty levels also have some linkage with literacy levels (Sowa, 2002). Ghana‘s poverty reduction efforts have been successful over the years. Poverty lines are estimated using the cost of basic needs method in order to pay for a food basket providing 2900 kilocalories per adult equivalent, while also covering the cost of basic non-foods needs. Estimates suggest that the share of the population University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh 33 living in poverty has reduced consistently from 51.7 percent in 1991/92 to 39.5 percent in 1998/99 and 28.5 percent in 2005/2006. Migration inflows has shown a substantial impact on rising poverty in the major cities of Accra, Takoradi, Kumasi, Tamale etc. (Coulombe and Wodon, 2007). According to the National Planning Commission (2005) geographic disparities constitute part of the factors in development, poverty and inequality in the country. Human resource development policy has as its priority the objective ‗to ensure the development of a knowledgeable, well-trained and disciplined labour force with the capacity to drive and sustain private-sector led growth‘ (National Planning Commission, 2005), and for this reason education is found to be central to the Ghana Poverty Reduction Strategy II. Ghana is seen to have made greater strides in poverty reduction but an important share of rural men and women in the country still lack decent work opportunities. There are seemingly certain levels of difficulty by the rural people in transforming their labour into more productive employment activities and their paid work into higher and more secure incomes. The youth population (referred here as those between 15 and 24 years of age) suffers shortage of employment opportunities with high unemployment rate (94 percent representing 19 percent of total working population of Ghana). Often higher education levels do not guarantee entry to higher-paid jobs as skilled jobs are not readily available. In Ghana, self-employed work are more likely to fall under the low earnings classification suggesting that self-employment may not be conducive to higher earnings and thus not a way of overcoming poverty and food insecurity (the Gender, Equity and Rural Employment Division of FAO, 2012). University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh 34 According to the Gender, Equity and Rural Employment Division of FAO (2012) inequalities still persist significantly between urban and rural areas, between regions, and between genders. Urban-rural inequalities subsist in the availability of basic infrastructure, such as water and sanitation. The Northern, Upper West and Upper East regions remain the most affected by extreme poverty in regional inequalities and at the same time coastal regions are most vulnerable to food insecurity. In Ghana illiteracy rate is high among the population of 15 years of age and above. The overall literacy rate for women is 46 percent, compared to 67 percent for men and found to be greater within older populations. Data analysis shows that the pattern of the demographic disparities is such that poverty is high in regions where literacy levels are low and vice versa. Regional differences in literacy and poverty rates are illustrated in Table 1 below. Table 2.1: Poverty and literacy disparities levels in Ghana Demographic disparities in Ghana Region Poverty Levels (%) Literacy Levels (%) Ashanti 14 58 Brong Ahafo 21 48 Central 12 78 Eastern 10 54 Greater Accra 8 78 Northern 42 23 Upper East 64 24 Upper West 84 25 Volta 22 53 Source: Gender, Equity and Rural Employment Division of FAO, 2012. Children population in Ghana stood at 8,973,459 as at 2006 (approximately 36%). The number of children considered poor is still significant in Ghana even though there has been a constant drop over the years. According to the Ghana National Report on Global Study on Child Poverty and Disparity (2009), using the national poverty line as a guide, about 52 University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh 35 percent of children were considered as poor in 1991. Since then child poverty rate has been falling moderately from 40.1 percent in 1998 to 29.1 percent by 2006. Dimension of poverty is wider covering factors such as unacceptable physiological and social deprivation including the lack of capacity of the poor to influence social processes through lack of education, vocational skills, entrepreneurial abilities, poor health and poor myths giving rise to anti- social behaviour, according to the National Development Planning Commission (2006). Poverty among children has bearing on non-pursuit of formal education resulting in incidence of school drop-outs, child labour migration and trafficking etc. 2.9 Cost of schooling in Ghana Cost of schooling partly accounts for reasons why child labour persists, besides unfavourable schooling outcomes such as absence of jobs after school. Affordable education will ensure the rise of children in school as reduced costs of education is often associated with high returns and benefits that can help reduce child labour. Evidence (from Brazil, Mexico and India) have proven that reduced high costs of schooling result in increase of households‘ income and have helped reduce child labour. It is a common point of convergence unanimously agreed among politically divided parties in Ghana that to ensuring absolute access to education the nation must strive to make it absolutely free (Karikari, 2012). Cost of education traditionally covers emoluments for teachers, instructional materials, school buildings, classrooms and equipment among others. There is a lack of adequate financing of education in Ghana owing to decline in government revenue for over the past decades and expanded government expenditure on other public sectors. According to the Ministry of Education (1994), by 1985, the government‘s education budget declined to one- third of its 1976 size to support education. The unit support at the same time for a primary University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh 36 pupil‘s education dropped fromUS$41 in 1975 to US$16 in 1983 per pupil. The education sector thus lacked the financial resources needed to expand education services and improve their quality. Lack of growth of infrastructure seems to be causing stagnation of enrolment ratios in public schools (CDC Consult, 2010). Tuition-free basic education was introduced in 1952 and declared compulsory by the Education Act 196 (Alhassan1and Sulemana, 2014). The FCUBE gave rise to rapid expansion of enrolment within a very short space of time. In public schools central government is responsible for teachers‘ salaries, building, tuition, equipment, and maintenance of all public basic and secondary schools, yet budgetary allocation in favour of basic schooling has always been found to be insufficient. Subsidised textbook scheme do run into financial difficulties as the number of pupils increased. Due to challenging financial constraints in the developments of education and to cope with circumstances that have occurred, according to Akyeampong et. al., (2012) and to get round the constraints of insufficient physical infrastructure to accommodate the rising enrolments, a two-shift system at a point in time was introduced to temporary manage the situation. Ghana signed to the six Education for All (EFA) goals developed at the World Conference on EFA in Thailand (1990), and have committed itself to achieving universal access to, and completion of, basic education. To build commitment to this course, the Free Compulsory Basic Education (FCUBE) policy was established in 1995 with the aim of achieving access to quality education for all Ghanaian children at the basic level by 2005. The capitation grant was introduced to schools in 2005 with the goal of increasing enrolment (IPD Foundation Inc., 2012). University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh 37 Despite Government efforts, with collaboration from development partners, to pursue the goal of achieving better access to quality education, it is still foreseeable that targets will not be met within the short term (IPD Foundation Inc., 2012). Although public schools charged no school fees, school attendance nevertheless involved some costs. For example, the Parent- Teacher Associations (PTAs) impose levies on parents to make little financial contributions per child per term, as expenditure on food at school for a child. Create Ghana Policy Brief 3 (2010) studied the behaviour of rural poor households toward fee-free public schools and growth of low fee private schools based on data from a household survey and interviews of three rural communities in the Mfantseman district in southern Ghana and observes the following: i. The marginal cost of paying school fees charged by low-fee private schools may not be seen as high enough to dissuade some poor households from opting for such schools. ii. When one takes into account paying for food, the overall cost of fees increase considerably. iii. It is clear from the study that some poor households are also turning their backs on fee-free public schools. iv. Public schools collected examination fees to conduct special exams for their Junior High School (JHS) or students preparing for the Basic Examination Certificate of Education (BECE) extra classes. v. The study did not find any expenses incurred by households for transport for children in public schools as schools were situated close to the homes of children. vi. Some teachers expressed the need and willingness to conduct extra classes if parents were willing to pay. vii. Households could spread fees over the term or year. University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh 38 In 2003, the Core Welfare Indicators Questionnaire (CWIQ) survey had found that around 25 per cent of children who were not attending school did not do so because it was too expensive (GSS 2005). In fact, the Create Ghana Policy Brief 3 (2010) argues that school fees are fixed costs and constitute smaller percentage of the income of richer households. However, the education expenditure of poorer households as a proportion of their estimated income was found to be relatively high, especially in the cases of households whose average earnings/incomes are much more subject to shocks due to the seasonal nature of their occupations (e.g. fishing, subsistence farming, petty trading etc.). Even though the Capitation Grant introduced by the NPP government is making an impact in terms of food cost, it is important to note that beneficiaries are limited to selected schools. Secondly, as far as households are concerned, capitation does not eliminate the costs of education absolutely; households still have to make provisions for such things as uniforms and other school logistics (Create Ghana policy brief 3, 2010). In 2005, school fees were abolished at basic education levels and the provision of capitation grants started to support schools‘ operational costs (UNICEF, 2016). In spite of this intervention, according to the IDP Foundation Inc. (2012), Ghana government recognises that there is a cost for ‗free‘ education, and estimate that parents pay GHC15.00 per term at the primary level and GHC21.00 per term at the junior high level to cover items such as PTA fees, supplementary books, stationary and printing. Table 2 below shows the components of household unit cost of education per child which provides outlook of the general situation of school cost across the country, although the unit cost may vary from school to school. University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh 39 Table 2.2 Household unit cost per child for public and private schools Cost Item Public Private Transport to and back from school 0.00 5.73 Food at school 18.97 28.39 Tuition fees (school fees) 0.00 9.33 Parents (PTA) contribution 1.30 0.99 Examination fees 0.76 1.77 Extra classes 0.00 7.66 School uniforms 10.02 8.33 Stationery (exercise books, pens etc) 6.05 7.00 Average total cost per child per household 37.10 69.20 Source: Create Ghana policy brief 3, (2010) 2.10 Intervention Since independence, Ghana has made significant strides in its education system. Over the years, successive governments have put certain programmes and policies in place to make education, especially basic education, affordable and accessible to all people and to improve educational outcomes. For example, the first government introduced free education was in the three Northern Regions. Other interventions included the supply of free textbooks, exercise books, pens and pencils to basic school pupils to reduce the financial burden on parents towards their children‘s education. The education landscape in Ghana today is the result of major policy initiatives and interventions in education adopted by past governments as well as the present one. These policy interventions are meant to help in meeting the educational needs and aspirations of the youth (Osei-Fosu, 2011). University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh 40 In order to promote girl-child education, in 1997 the Ministry of Education established the Girls Education Unit of the GES to increase girls‘ enrolment in schools to equal that of boys by the year 2005. It was also tasked to reduce the dropout rate for girls from 30% to 20% in the Primary schools and in the JSS from 29% to 15%. Considerable progress has been made in this area. For example, while in 1990/91 girls‘ enrolment at the Primary level was 45%, the percentage in 2000/2001 was 47.2%. That of the JSS went up to 45.3% in 2000/2001 from 40.8% in 1990/91, while at the secondary education level it improved considerably from 33.0% in 1990/91 to 41% in 2000/2001. The Science Technology, Mathematics Education (STME) clinic for girls was instituted in 1987 to promote the interest of girls in Science Technology and Mathematics education, and also enable them to interact with women scientists and technologists. The clinics were decentralized to the district level in 1997 and have resulted in an increase in the number of girls pursuing science and technology related courses in our secondary schools as well as the universities (www.modernghana.com). Owing to the importance Government of Ghana attaches to education, it has made some interventions to give every Ghanaian child basic education. Some of the interventions are: i. Education Strategy Plan (ESP) for 2003-2015 ii. The Growth Poverty Reduction Strategy iii. The Free Compulsory Universal Basic Education (FCUBE) iv. The Capitation Grant v. Expansion of Early Childhood Development services vi. Promotion of measures to improve Gender Parity in primary schools, and vii. The introduction of Nutrition and School Feeding programmes. University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh 41 2.11 Education strategy plan (ESP) for 2003-2015 The mission of the Ministry of Education is to provide relevant education to all Ghanaians at all levels to enable them to acquire skills that will assist them to develop their potential, to be productive, to facilitate poverty reduction and to promote socio-economic growth and national development. In fulfillment of the Education Mission, The Ministry of Education will provide the following:  Facilities to ensure that all citizens, irrespective of age, gender, tribe, religion, disability and political affiliation, are functionally literate and self-reliant  Basic education for all  Opportunities for open education for all  Education and training for skill development with emphasis on science, technology and creativity  Higher education for the development of middle and top-level manpower requirements In providing these services we will be guided by the following values:  Quality education, efficient management of resources, accountability and transparency, and equity. One of the policy goals of the Ministry of Education is to increase access to and participation in education and training. 2.12 The free compulsory universal basic education (FCUBE) Article 38 (1) and (2) of the Constitution of Ghana guarantees the provision of educational facilities at all levels and promises free basic education for the citizens of Ghana. That led to University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh 42 the Ministry of Education to launch the FCUBE in 1995. The objective of this policy was 4- fold:  Improve the quality of teaching and learning  Improve management for efficiency within the education sectors  Improve access and participation  Decentralise the education management system (Education Strategic Plan, 2003) The Government of Ghana introduced the Free and Compulsory Universal Basic Education (FCUBE) programme in 1995. This policy promised universal education by 2005. Even though the Millennium Development Goals (MDG) state that by 2015 children everywhere should be able to complete a full course of primary schooling, it is obvious that despite the progress that have been made by developing countries towards achieving this goal, there is still more to be done as the end of 2015 approaches, if the goal is to be achieved (UNESCO 2007). Unlike other countries in South Saharan Africa where the fee-free education policy was introduced with a substantial increase in enrolment, the enrolment in Ghana was very slow partly because the FCUBE policy did little to eliminate or significantly reduce much of the schooling costs to poor households (Akyeampong, 2009). The compulsory legislation of the implementation of the FCUBE policy is not the answer. Rather, according to Appleton et al. (1996 cited in Acheampong, 2009), it is the collective influence of local authorities and peer groups which gives real practical meaning to universal achievement and not state coercion. According to Burrus and Roberts (2004), 40% of 16- to 24-year-old dropouts received some form of government assistance in 2001. University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh 43 2.13 Ghana school feeding programme School feeding does not only have the potential to encourage children to get into school but it can also attract new enrolments from marginalized communities, if appropriately targeted on the basis of poverty and food insecurity. It can relieve short-term hunger and tackle micronutrient deficiencies, especially when combined with food fortification and deworming. There is emerging evidence that school feeding can contribute to the enhanced growth of young children, increasing the availability of food or financial resources in the household. When children are fed in school, it encourages them to develop interest in school attendance and attract new other children who are out of school especially in marginalized communities. Since school feeding programmes provide nutritious diets, the programmes tackle deficiencies in nutrients thereby contributing to enhanced growth in children. (http://hgsf- global.org/en/ovc/background/249-how-school-feeding-benefits-orpans-and-vulnerable- children Date Accessed May 5th, 2015). The Ghana School Feeding Programme (GSFP) commenced in 2005 with a three-fold objective:  Increase school enrolment, attendance and retention  Reduce hunger and malnutrition  Boost domestic food production The GSFP is an initiative under the comprehensive Africa Agricultural Development Pillar 3 which seeks to enhance food security and reduce hunger in line with the UN-Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). The programme commenced with 10 pilot schools, selected from each region of the country. By August 2006, the number of schools had been increased to 200 covering about 69,000 pupils in 138 districts (ECASARD/SNV Ghana, May 2009) University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh 44 The achievement of improvement in performance in educational outcomes is hinged on, among other things, the need for attendance at schools and retention in classrooms. These facts give rise to the question as to whether the introduction of the Capitation Grant and School Feeding programme have led to an increase in basic school enrolment, improved attendance and sustained retention (Osei-Fosu, 2011). Osei-Fosu (2011) assumed that the school feeding programme causes increase in gross enrolment, improve class attendance and retain pupils in schools. The idea was that it would release the financial burden on parents, reduce hunger among children and increase school enrolment. It would also entice pupils to stay in school by reducing truancy and improving retention, as well as attendance. After a study to test this hypothesis, he found out that School Feeding Programme caused enrolment to increase significantly for those who benefit. What this means is that a 100% increase in School Feeding Programme will increase enrolment by about 4% point. Primarily, there is no question whether civil society, NGOs and missions should play a role in education, but instead a question arises as to how they are to improve quality and access to basic education most. Typically, churches have resources to conduct promotion such as buildings, supply of study equipment, textbooks, transportation etc. As part of the community, the church has significant responsibilities in creating, constructing, financing, and managing the school, recruiting and paying teachers, and procuring school materials (Alhassan1and Sulemana, 2014). A UNESCO (2011) report explained that in recent years, growing amounts of development resources have been channeled to and through the civil society to assist in education especially in basic education. 2.14 Missions’ contribution The International Central Gospel Church (ICGC) had an interest particularly in the area of education and this increased immensely, resulting in the establishment of the Central University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh 45 University College, the pre-tertiary education unit and the Daniel Institute, which has replaced ICGC‘s ministerial training school. The church established the Central Aid, developed from the ICGC Educational Scholarship Scheme named Central Educational Trust which was inaugurated on the 29th December, 1988. The scheme was set up to aid poor but able students to acquire secondary and vocational education. This Education Trust is the brain child of Rev. Otabil which emanated from his personal experience, wanting to share the plight of needy youth, whose educational attainment could be hindered due to financial constraints (Eshun, 2013). Eshun (2013) indicated that the Life International School was also established by the Miracle Life Gospel Church which consists of Pre-school, Kindergarten, Nursery, Primary and Junior High School. This was established in 1997 with just 14 pupils. Funding for the school was generated from local church resources but Rev. Kisseih admits that once in a while, he received overseas support which was not substantial. The school is today situated on an approximately 5-acre plot of land it acquired from the Tema Development Corporation. 2.15 Access to education Every government invests a very substantial percentage of its income into education. This is an indication of the fact that education is very key to the development of the nation in general and the child in particular. Access to school for children, especially in Asia and Africa, has been a big problem. A UNESCO Report (2005) reported that a joint global estimate revealed that one hundred and fifteen million primary school-age children are out of school. Access to education co-relates with the level of poverty. According to UN Millennium Development Goals Report 2010, children in the poorest families and those in the rural areas are those who bear the greatest brunt of the problem. The introduction of ‗Free Compulsory Universal Basic Education‘ (FCUBE) reforms were aimed to achieve the Universal Primary Education (UPE) by 2005 (CREATE, 2008) but unfortunately, this has not been realised. University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh 46 According to a UNICEF Country study (2012), children who are not in school are more likely to come from the lowest poverty quintiles. The report stated that children in this category have parents who never attended school. A UNICEF report (2012) has established that the gap in school attendance rate between rich and poor is decreasing. According to the report, children from the poorest households are three times more likely to be out of school than wealthy children. According to Akyeampong (2009), Ghana faces a challenge in the achievement and pursuit of education for all by 2015. This challenge is how to increase and sustain attendance from the poorest households. Unless these poorest are identified for enhanced special assistance to remove the direct and indirect costs of education (Boakye-Yiadom, 2011, cited in CREATE Occasional Paper 2), the additional costs which must go into quality improvement will be wasted on many parents who hardly need assistance. The Education Sector Performance Report (2010) questions the logic in the fact that even though Ghana is one of the highest recipients of education aid in sub-Saharan Africa, there has not been a boost in the access to quality education (Education Sector Performance Report, 2010). The report also revealed that there is a growing concern that the pace of progress towards universal primary education has been slowing over the last several years and that school retention was harder to maintain. It is estimated that around 10 million children in sub-Saharan Africa drop out of primary school every year. A UNICEF and UIS (2011) study identified Five Dimensions of Exclusion of out-of-school children. They include: 1. Dimension 1: Children of pre-primary school age (5 years) who are not in pre- primary or primary school (1DE) University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh 47 2. Dimension 2: Children of primary school age (6-11 years) who are not in primary or secondary school (2DE) 3. Dimension 3: Children of lower secondary school age (12-14 years) who are not in primary or secondary school (3DE) 4. Dimension 4: Children who are in primary school but at risk of dropping out (4DE) 5. Dimension 5: Children who are in lower secondary school but at risk of dropping out. In Ghana, access to education is limited by factors including educational level of parents or guardians, socioeconomic status of families, living arrangements, and sibling size (Akyeampong et al., 2007; UNICEF, 2012).. The main factors which inhibit full participation and completion once children enter school and are at risk of dropping out at primary and lower secondary relate to: school readiness, late entry, socio-economic status and some negative socio-cultural practices. Further, Ghana‘s excluded children who are out of school are mainly living in rural areas, from the poorest families (37.8%: quintile 5), mainly girls in the majority of regions at the upper primary and lower secondary level, coming from large families with more than 3 children and having at least one child 0-4 years of age. The children who are excluded from Ghana‘s basic education system are also living within particular household arrangements such as the following, fostered to a close relation, lost a parent/mother, living with grandparents etc. The parents or caregivers who are responsible for these children often have less than 4 years of education and are considered to be in the ―educational poverty zone‖ and/or may only have up to lower secondary level. In addition, the socio-cultural predictors of exclusion from school include, lack of child‘s interest in schooling, lack of parental awareness concerning value of schooling, negative beliefs or values towards girls‘ education, fosterage, early marriage, negative attitude towards the University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh 48 disabled pupils in the school and low value placed on their schooling, teenage pregnancy, verbal, physical and sexual abuse of children in the home and in the community. Some economic barriers also identified to limit access to education (UNICEF, 2012) include, child and household poverty; the direct costs of education including school fees and other basic needs; indirect costs and opportunity costs of schooling such as the need for labour in the household and issues concerning child labour; family livelihood and pressure on resources; and peculiar or seasonal factors such as death of a person, disasters, migration. The capitation grant has increased children participation by reducing the direct costs of education, yet it is inadequate and often irregularly disbursed to schools (CDD, 2010; World Bank, 2007; SEND, 2008). The situation causes some (if not all) head teachers to find means to finance essential school activities which include but not limited to charging of printing of test papers and maintenance fees (Korboe et al., 2011; CDD, 2010). Parental inability to pay schooling costs increases child vulnerability to exclusion and drop out, particularly at the JHS level of education where some direct school fees are still paid (Casely-Hayford et al., 2009). According to UNICEF (2012) a multiplicity of supply side factors, complex and interwoven and grouped into three main areas, also lead to children having limited access to schooling in Ghana. They are the absence of school infrastructure and/or the long distance to school; the unavailability of child friendly resources including sanitation facilities, textbooks and water; human factors such as the proportion of trained teachers, instructional time on task; and the teaching and learning processes involving the type of classroom methodology and language of instruction. University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh 49 2.16 Orphanhood and access to education The absence of the parents of a child impacts negatively on the child‘s upkeep including schooling. Nyamukapa Geoff and Gregson (2003) opine that the death of the mother was found to have a strong detrimental effect on a child's chances of completing primary school education—the strength of effect increasing with time since maternal death. However, they realised that the father‘s death does not have any effect whatsoever. When the mother dies, the child is automatically denied education, especially where there is no one to take over the responsibility of upkeep. Provision of basic education has shown remarkable improvements since governments from 164 countries met in Dakar, Senegal, in 2000 and gave commitment to the goal of Education for All (EFA). Enrolment has, consequently, increased by 36% to the extent that about 14 sub-Saharan African countries have abolished school fees and the gender gap is closing (UNICEF report, 2009). The report further points out that despite this good news, due to the increasing number of orphans from 2000-2006; there has been new challenges in addressing the educational rights and needs of orphans and vulnerable children, which are now further exacerbated by the global financial crisis. The community, family and situation of the country in which a child is born can affect their ability to enjoy their rights. For example, in the face of the HIV/AIDS pandemic in Eastern and Southern Africa, the ability of families, communities and governments to provide all that is needed is severely limited. Lloyd and Blanc (1996), after their analysis of data from a survey they conducted across seven sub-Saharan African countries, found that the characteristics of the household head, and the standard of living in the household where the child resides, were more important determinants of school enrolment and completion than whether the child was living with both parents. Case et al. (2004), examined 19 Demographic and Health Surveys from 10 sub- University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh 50 Saharan African countries, and concluded that orphans are less likely to be enrolled than are non-orphans with whom they live. Orphans face barriers to educational participation that are different from those of non-orphans, including stigma and frequent migration between households, but also point to the need for an expanded definition of child vulnerability that encompasses all children whose lives are affected by the AIDS pandemic. According to Chuks and Badasu (2006), child poverty has various dimensions that are yet to receive much needed attention in the literature. The consequences of poverty among children include non-pursuit of formal education and incidence of school drop-out, child labour migration and trafficking. These are developments that tend to foreclose the socio-economic progress of children. Poverty reduction strategies, such as Ghana‘s, seek to tackle child poverty within the wider context of human development and recognizes child wellbeing as the cornerstone for human resource development which eventually leads to human development. 2.17 The nexus of education and level of poverty Studies have shown that one of the problems parents face in sending their wards to school is financial lack. It is obvious the government has realised that, hence the introduction of the Ghana Poverty Reduction Strategy (GPRSII). The GPRSII instituted by the Government of Ghana aims at creating wealth by transforming the nature of the economy to achieve growth, accelerated poverty reduction and the protection of the vulnerable and excluded within a decentralized, democratic environment (GPRSII, 2003-2005). Evidence from studies conducted by Lewin (2007) and Filmer and Pritchett (2001) cited in Hossain and Zeitlyn (2010), shows that access to education is strongly determined by University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh 51 household income. Similary, Ahmad et al., 2007 and Ahmed et al., 2005 cited in the same paper have also concluded in a research that although primary education is free and compulsory in Bangladesh, there are substantial additional private costs and opportunity costs of education that parents must meet for their children‘s schooling. According to them, fees for examination, private tuition and paying for notebooks in the upper grades of primary school included the extra costs incurred by parents. There is therefore a strong correlation between access to education and income. Interventions targeted at the severely marginalised can therefore make a difference to access to education. Poverty, or low incomes, adversely affect the quality and quantity of education at the macro, country level (See UN Millennium Project, 2005). According to Japel, Normand, Tremblay and Willms, 2002; Sameroff, Seifer and Elias, 1982 cited in Willms (2006), children who are born into high socio-economic status families ―tend to have a better ―temperament‖ than those born into low SES families. The marginalized are normally those who are left out of educational access. A UNESCO report (2006) has is that, children of ethnic and linguistic minorities in America and the Caribbean, and populations living in dispersed settlements or rural areas are identified as marginalized. Also, some additional categories of girls, including pregnant teenagers and orphans, bear the brunt. Globalisation, according to Raffo, Dyson, Gunter, Hall, Jones, & Kalambouka, (2007) has been the result, in particular forms, of social exclusion for particular individuals and communities. This is seen in ―aspects of spatial ghettoisation, health inequalities, high levels of unemployment, poor housing and poor infrastructures for such individuals‖ (p. 11). It is obvious in Ghana, where people living in slum areas coupled with poverty, are either not able to go to school or drop out of school. University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh 52 In estimating the relationship between household wealth and children‘s school enrolment in India, Filmer and Pritchett (2001) noted that ―on average a ―rich‖ child is 31 percentage points more likely to be enrolled than a ―poor‖ child‖ (p. 115). Campbell et al (2010) found that household wealth, gender, and region of residence are all more important predictors of school outcomes than orphan status. Educational expansion policy does not necessarily narrow educational opportunities between the social strata, not even when it is accompanied by reforms designed to modify the allocation of education opportunities within society. According to Hannum and Buchmann (2005) cited in Akyeampong, 2009), education policies do not necessarily reduce the gap of educational facilities between the social strata. Even when disparities in income with regard to access are eliminated or reduced, uneven access is created. They posit that groups with high enough social and economic capital make the most of the opportunities educational expansion offers, leaving poorer members of society still at a disadvantage. These people in the high social stratum also benefit from differentiated access to quality schooling. According to Ofosu-Appiah (2011), majority of people living in rural Ghana fit into the World Bank‘s classification of extreme poverty. Extreme poverty defined by the World Bank as getting by on an income of less than $1.25 a day, means that households cannot meet basic needs for survival. They are chronically hungry, unable to get health care, lack safe drinking water and sanitation, cannot afford education for their children and perhaps lack rudimentary shelter - a roof to keep rain out of the hut – and basic articles of clothing like shoes. Nowhere is this trend as acute as in Northern Ghana. There is a complete absence of credit facilities for the rural poor and many children of school-going age are not in school because they cannot afford to be there, and more so, they lack access to good drinking water, primary health care which makes the situation very alarming. University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh 53 2.18 Impact of interventions Trying to determine what impact interventions in the basic education sector have had on the poor is a complex task. Sutherland-Addy (2009) posits that generally, interventions are on very small scale and too dispersed to act as a critical force. Most intervention programmes have impacted in various ways to address the lack of access to education comprising the out- of-school. According to Sutherland-Addy (2009) indicators used to assess the impact of education interventions in the field show that the key to deepening impact include the economic empowerment of parents, particularly mothers, sustained sensitization and education of parents and communities, support to children who qualify to make the transition to post-basic education and support to officers of agencies working to achieve improvement of poor children‘s education in the field. According to Osei Bonsu (2010) cited in Kwarteng (2013), Churches intervention at great cost and sacrifice have established schools, which have enriched humankind and responded to the needs of every time and place. Basic requirement for any school is its infrastructure. Schools need physical structures like classrooms, good libraries, science laboratories, computer laboratories, dormitories, etc. and church intervention have made significant amounts of investments in various communities to acquire these educational facilities. The educational outcomes have been found favourable because a number of children benefited from education interventions. A major impact is that both the quantity and quality of schooling have improved than before intervention. Enrolments in basic education have increased and gains in educational outputs are directly connected to better school quality, manifested in improved infrastructure and greater availability of school supplies (World University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh 54 Bank, 2004). The World Bank over the past 15 years supported financing the construction of 8,000 classroom blocks and provided 35 million textbooks. According to a World Bank Report (2004) various interventions by civil society to support education over the years have impacted on school level inputs in terms of material, physical, teachers and management. According to Athill (n.d.) deprived and dilapidated neighborhoods fit the descriptions of slums or ghettos because they lack basic facilities, infrastructure, employment, and are poverty stricken, a situation which negatively affects all other aspect of family lives including ability to send children to school. Lack of access to education causes the children to attain a level of education needed in order to gain the kind of employment to get them out of poverty. Later in the adult lives of these children, they indulge in alcoholism, drug abuse and truancy, crime and other social vices. A way to reduce the poor children vulnerabilities is to invest in early education. They would develop skills to help them positively influence their juvenile peers and others, and would also assist them in their later adult lives. According to Chambers et al (1998), studies have shown that beneficiaries of education intervention programmes help lower crime rates, display less delinquent behaviour and have fewer unwanted pregnancies. They sometimes also provide intervention for the parents of these children in the form of improved financial and social status, provide education, training and counselling which would assist in alleviating poverty, combat illiteracy, provide skills for long- term employment stability. This is certainly of significant benefit to the community, the parents and the children These programmes will also reduce the possibility of children and young people in crime and delinquency. Again, these programmes empower participants with life skills which would University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh 55 increase their self-esteem and self-confidence, give them a greater sense of self-worth, respect for themselves and others, and the power to make informed and proper decisions regarding what activities they should participate in or the ability to differentiate right from wrong. University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh 56 CHAPTER THREE METHODOLOGY 3.1 Introduction This chapter presents the methods adopted in carrying out data collection for the survey. In this instance, an outline of the way in which the research was conducted is presented. Details of the research design, the methodology for collecting the data, approach and data analysis are discussed in this section. Specific areas also covered are the research design, Study Area, population, sampling procedure, instruments for data collection and the procedure for analysing the data. 3.2 Research Design This study adopted a mixed method approach (combined qualitative and quantitative methods) to collate data. The mixed research method focus on collecting, analyzing, and mixing both quantitative and qualitative data in a single study. According to Creswell and Clark (2010), the mixed methods approach to research design has an advantage of the use of combined quantitative and qualitative methodologies to provide a better understanding of research problems than either approach alone. To obtain comprehensive perception about the benefits and experiences to both children, parents/guardians and teachers from the Full Gospel Child Development Centre, this study adopted the mixed methods approach to enable the study have a better all-inclusive approach to answering its research questions and also to use the different approaches to supplement, and offset each other approaches weaknesses. University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh 57 3.3 Study Area 3.3.1 History of the Full Gospel Church International1 The FGCI is one of the churches of Pentecostal and Charismatic orientation in Ghana. The church traces its roots to the mainline Presbyterian Church of Ghana established by Basel missionaries of 1828. In recent times, FGCI is increasing emerging as a Pentecost- charismatic in its orientation which blends critically distinctive of both the Pentecostals and Charismatics. The Church began as an independent prayer group in a private house in Tema. This was the brainchild of Very Rev. Emmanuel Ashong Mensah, an employee of the then State Transport Corporation and his wife Catherina Mensah. Very Rev. Emmanuel Ashong Mensah was by then a Presbyter and Lay Preacher with the Presbyterian Church of Ghana (PCG). In 1963, Mr Mensah is reported to have had an ‗encounter‘ with Jesus Christ, which led to his ‗re-birth in Christ‘. The new experience motivated him to begin holding regular worship and prayer meetings with his family in the family‘s residence. Assisted by Mrs. Adelaide Budu Dawson, a neighbour and also a member of the Presbyterian Church of Ghana, they continued the regular prayer meetings. Within a short time, manifestations of perceived ‗power‘ behind Mr. Mensah‘s preaching and the accompanied miraculous signs and demonstrations attracted public attention which led to a rapid increase in the number of adherents. The increasing numbers compelled them to relocate to a playground in front of the Menash‘s family house. The Group was then christened ‗Prayer Group and Evangelistic Association‘ (PGEA) which was popularly known as ‗site 21 Revival‘ with the aim to put together a body of believers who will be prayerful and mission-minded in winning converts into Christianity. 1 This was compiled from a thesis by the author presented to the Ghana Institute of Management and Public Administration (GIMPA) in partial fulfillment for the award of Masters in Governance and Leadership (MGL) in 2011 (unpublished) University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh 58 For fifteen years, PGEA operated in the open park in front of the Mensah family house till it was moved to Padmore Basic Schools at site 21, Community One, Tema and held its first Sunday service on 5th February, 1978. The association extended its meetings to include series of evangelistic activities and made great impact within the Greater Accra Region of Ghana. Due to the evangelistic nature of the Association, it spread very rapidly and made a lot of impact on the Tema metropolis. This situation provoked some antagonism resulting in incessant abuse and isolation from some of the traditional Christian Churches including the Presbyterian Church of Ghana (PCG). Undeterred by these developments, however, PGEA and its leadership continued to deepen their influence and remained the vehicle for church planting for the Presbyterian Church in some of the communities in Tema. The group eventually weaned itself from the Presbyterian Church of Ghana and under a new name Full Gospel Evangelistic Ministry (FGEM) in 1978 with the founder being ordained a Minister of Region in the same year, becoming the first pastor of the new movement. New branches of FGEM were established at Tema New Town, Ashaiman, Ada Foah, Teshie, La, and Abossey Okai all in the Graeter Accra Region, and Koforidua and Hohoe in the Eastern and Volta Regions of Ghana respectively, even transcending the borders of Ghana to Italy and Spain. Following the retirement of the founder, Rev. Samuel Norye Mensah assumed the position of the President and leader following a motion passed at the church‘s General Council meeting on 25th September 1999 and was consecrated into the office of a Bishop in the year 2000. To reflect its new mission, vision and identity, the church, on June 19, 2002, adopted a new name, Full Gospel Church International, at an emergency meeting of the General Council and this new name was registered under the Companies Code 1963 (Act 179) as a Company limited by Guarantee. University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh 59 3.3.1.1 FGCI Vision and Mission Statements 3.3.1.2 FGCI Vision Statement To reach and equip our generation to discover their purpose in life, using contemporary, creative and caring ways that will translate into one million member church of transformed and devoted Christians with 500 branches globally by the year 2033. 3.3.1.3 FGCI Mission Statement To Bring people to Jesus for Membership in His family, Build them to Maturity, and Train them for Ministry in the church and Send them to fulfill their Mission in the world, in order to Magnify God‘s Name. 3.4 History of Full Gospel Child Development Centre In keeping with the tenets of its philosophy, the President of the Full Gospel Church International, Rt. Rev Samuel Noi Mensah grasped an offer from the Ghana Chapter of Compassion International, a globally recognized NGO, for collaborative efforts in seeking the future wellbeing of vulnerable children within the Church‘s catchment area. Since the offer cinqs with the FGCI philosophy to help people discover and develop their gifts and talents in order become useful and relevant to society, the Executive Council of the FGCI gave the greenlight for the collaboration to kick-start, after the President, Rt. Rev Mensah had presented the vision to the Council. Consequently, the Full Gospel Child Development Centre was established in 2006 as a humanitarian and social development department of the Full Gospel Church International. University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh 60 For purposes of this work, the terms centre, project and programme will be used interchangeably to mean the Full Gospel Child Development Centre. Specifically, the Centre was created in rapid response to the festering reports of child abuse in the print and electronic media, which included rape, child trafficking, kidnap, and murder. The over-riding objective of the Centre to this cause was to release vulnerable children from the ravages of poverty that opened them up to the vagaries of negative tendencies, and also offer them life-enhancing opportunities through training and education, to reflect the philosophy of the Church as outlined under 3.2.1.1 above. Having established itself as a viable Centre, after the collaborative linkage with Compassionate International (Ghana Chapter), the Church assumed full control and ownership of the Centre. Thus, the name, Full Gospel Compassion Assisted Project (FGCAP), was changed to Full Gospel Child Development Centre. 3.4.1 Governance To enhance its efficiency and effectiveness in its operational capabilities, a supervisory committee was set up. The 5-member Church Partner Committee (CPC) has the mandate to overseer project planning and execution. It also acts as the intermediary body between the Partnership Facilitator (PF). The Partnership Facilitator (PF) is a representative from the international partner and the Church. 3.4.1.2 Curriculum/Main Activities in the Project The programme provides holistic child development to children captured in each project and other vulnerable children in the community. In view of this, a curriculum was designed to cover the spiritual, physical, socio-emotional, and cognitive developments of the beneficiary children. The focus of their spiritual development was the inculcation of the Church‘s faith and acceptance of the Lordship of Jesus Christ as their personal Saviour. To facilitate the University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh 61 achievement of this goal, activities involved distribution of Bibles, daily devotional guide, embarking on retreats, devotion time and camp meetings. The programme on physical development entailed the encouragement of healthy practices that enhanced the children‘s personal hygiene and healthy living lifestyles. Activities towards the achievement of this goal included health screening, provision of hygiene items (toothpaste and brush, toilet rolls and soaps etc), payment of full medical bills (no ceiling on cost incurred), monthly nutritional support for children and sick parents, health education, provision of treated mosquito bed nets etc. Under the socio-emotional development programme, the beneficiary children were equipped to be mature enough to face the real world as responsible adults. To achieve this, activities such as excursion, sports, drama group, choreography group, choir, and French club were formed to enable the children express their innate potentials. For their cognitive development, Saturday tuition, payment of school fees, distribution of notebooks, exercise books and pens, school uniforms and project uniforms were made available to the children. Further, practical income-generating empowering activities such as Bead-making, Basket-weaving and art work were organized help the children develop their potential for self-realisation. 3.4.1.3 Child Development Workers/Staff Initial project staff strength was three child development workers, including the coordinator, accounts clerk and social worker. The coordinator supervises the day-to-day activities of the Child Development Centre. The accounts clerk ensures financial accountability of the project funds and undertakes the day-to-day project activities. The focus on the health needs of beneficiary children prompted the hiring of a professional health worker to implement project University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh 62 health guidelines and other day-to-day related activities. Volunteers were also recruited to provide tuition and cooking for the children. Many more children came to the Centre for support, adding up to the number of children already receiving support. Fifty (50) more children joined the project in March 2009; another batch joined in March 2010, while a third batch of 34 children joined in February 2013. Currently, the number of registered children is two hundred and seventy (270) under the programme. Their school, health and other related expenditure are fully taken up by the project in collaboration with Compassion International. Officers of the Centre are mandated to visit children in second cycle schools as part of the programme policy. So far, twenty-eight (28) children in Senior High Schools are visited once every term, and are also given provisions (items) for their upkeep. 3.5 Population In this study, the target population consists of direct beneficiaries of the church intervention programme which the children are receiving and also parents/guardians, school management and the Child Development Centre responsible for the project who are considered indirect beneficiaries. Data available indicated that there were two hundred and forty eight children presently benefiting from the Full Gospel Child Development Centre. The 248 children (113 boys and 115 girls) benefiting from the intervention were distributed in about 20 public schools. And the Centre has as among its rules that not more than 2 children from a single parent/ guardian is admitted to benefit from the Centre. Therefore the number of Parents/Guardians were given as about 179 as per records available. Hence, a combined study population consisting 179 Parents/Guardians, 248 Children, 20 each of a teacher from each school and about 5 staff of the Child Development Centre were targeted for the study. University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh 63 This provided a total population of 452 taken as the size of population from which the sample was drawn. 3.6 Sample size and sampling procedure The sampling technique adopted to determine selection of relevant subjects to be included in this study involved first using stratified sampling method and convenience sampling method. Considering the categories of beneficiaries involved in this survey (i.e. pupils, parents, school management and the church itself), the stratified sampling technique was adopted to draw the sample frame to conform to the heterogeneous nature of population. In this respect, their actual distribution among the beneficiaries was considered. The strength of this procedure was that it allowed for inclusion of all beneficial groups directly or indirectly to be represented in the study. The division of the population into strata was guided by recommendation of Nwana (1981) that, to determine and select a sample size of a study population, if a study population is of few hundred, a twenty percent (20%) sample size will do. Therefore, for purposes of the study the sample size selection was represented as follows; 60 children constituting about twenty four percent (24%); 40 parents/guardians constituting about twenty-two percent (22%) were considered. A convenience sampling was adopted to select each teacher/headteacher from each of the 20 schools the children were distributed to be attending school. Also purposive sampling technic was used to select 5 Coordinating Staff from the Child Development Centre due to their role in the project. The overall sample size drawn for the survey then was estimated at one hundred and twenty-five (125) constituting an aggregate percentage of about 26.6% of the total population sample. University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh 64 3.7 Research instruments and data collection According to the UNDP (2009 pp. 4), in a typical research, the data to be collected and the method of data collection is determined by: the evidence needed to address the research (or evaluation) questions; the analysis that will be used to translate the data into meaningful findings in response to the research (or evaluation) question; and judgment about what data are feasible to collect given constraints of time and resources. For purposes of this study, the data required were of two parts; primary and secondary. Primary data pertaining to the research topic was collected through a self-administered questionnaire and use of focus group interview purposely for the Child Development Centre Coordinators. The questionnaires were administered to the Parents/Guardians to complete in the presence of the researcher with support from 5 other Research Assistants employed to assist with data collection. The questionnaires were first piloted to ensure the suitability of the questions to the research population and to ensure that it captured all relevant questions needed for answering the research questions. And also to allow for the Research Assistants employed to gain some firsthand experience in collecting the data in this survey and determine appropriate behaviour required to be effective. The Research Assistants were first trained on how to administer the survey questionnaire and used to conduct a pilot study before the final data collection was conducted. This procedure allowed for the researcher to provide clarity on questions the research subjects‘ found difficult to understand. Secondary data was collected through documentaries such as journal articles, newsletters, and newspaper publications, Internet sources etc. The appropriateness of adopting documentary University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh 65 as a method of data collection for secondary data laid on the fact that those documentaries (e.g. journals, articles (both soft and hard), unpublished information, printed media etc newspapers, published books, Internet) provide data collected, compiled and published already and consisting of documentary evidence that has direct relevance for the purpose of the subject or phenomenon under study and helped recreate baseline data and targets for research (or evaluation) questions. The questionnaires were designed to adopt a format that allowed for a combination of close- ended and open-ended questions to address the three research questions which are stated inter alia in Chapter One. In this regard the study adopted survey questionnaire approach to data collection for this study consistent with Kitchin and Tate (2000) assertion that questionnaires are most common qualitative data gathering technique in social research. Further the researcher adopted a focus group interview involving five of the project office Coordinators and moderated by the researcher elicit information on issues that bordered on challenges of the projects. 3.8 Data analysis, interpretation, validity and reliability Dey (1993) cited in Kitchin and Tate (2000) explains that the core of qualitative data analysis consists of description, classification and seeing the interconnection of the collected data. It is about chopping up, re-ordering, re-construction and re-assembling the data we have so diligently constructed‖. This process as Marshall and Rossman (1999) rightly put it, is all about translating a mass of data into a neat product, bringing order and structure through a written report for readers to get meanings of the study in focus. Based on the above, data for this research work were organized for analysis in the following ways: the completed survey questionnaires first were check for completeness and clarity, sorted out, and coded according University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh 66 to identified themes. The data were organized into such meaningful categories and then interpreted to gain an insight of the inter-connectedness of the field data with regard to the subject under study and research questions. The data analyses were done according to the issues the questionnaires were designed to address. Data collected from the survey was captured into Excel for analysis. With regards to additional information obtained through the focus group interview, the researcher first transcribed the relevant responses, and the findings were analyzed by detection of themes and commonalities visible in the transcribed information obtained. Tables were further generated for reporting on the findings of the data collected from the field out of which discussions on findings were based. Reliability, on the other hand, pertains to the consistency and trustworthiness of research findings. It is often treated in relation to whether a research finding is reproducible at other times and by other researchers (Bui, 2009; Kvale, 1996; Kvale and Brinkmann, 2009). Thus, reliable research results should also be consistent when done by different researchers. However, it is worth noting that reliability of results is more useful in quantitative results and maybe pointless in qualitative research, as Janesick (2000) posits, and that the value of a case study in qualitative research is actually its uniqueness. In view of the above, this study took several ways to ensure that its results are valid and reliable. Firstly, the background of the researcher as a Bishop of the Full Gospel Church International is advantageous as it gave easy access to all beneficiaries targeted in the study. It also made the interviewees more comfortable to interact in an easy atmosphere useful to University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh 67 gain good quality information. Secondly, doing research in a local environment removed issues of language barrier as the researcher could communicate effectively using the local language (Ga) and easier to make follow-ups where necessary. In order to engage all the targeted Pupils and Parents in the focus group discussions, the researcher engaged a research assistant. The researcher also personally and actively participated in the data collection and not depend entirely on the research assistant to give credence to the data collection process and information obtained. 3.9 Ethical issues There are some ethical principles that are addressed by various codes as outlined by Shamoo and Resnik (2009). The author identified certain ethical principles in connection with the study. These are honesty, objectivity, integrity, carefulness, and respect for intellectual property, confidentiality and protection of human subjects. The table shows how the author dealt with them. University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh 68 Table 3.1: Relevant ethical principles and actions to address them s/n Relevant Ethical Issue Responsible action to take 1 Honesty Honest reporting of results, methods and procedures. No data was falsified, fabricated or misrepresented. All these were done to avoid public deceit. 2 Objectivity Considerable effort was made to avoid bias in experimental design, data analysis, data interpretation, and other aspects of research where objectivity is expected or required. Disclosure of personal or financial interests that may affect research was disclosed. 3 Integrity To a large extent, the researcher strove to be sincere, consistent in thought and action in the course of the research. 4 Carefulness The author avoided careless errors and negligence. There was a careful and critical examination of the work. This was done through the keeping of good records of research activities, such as data collection and research design. 5 Respect for Intellectual Property All sources of information that are the other authors‘ intellectual property were duly acknowledged. Where the data was unpublished, a permission was sought before usage. 6 Confidentiality Where sensitive information was obtained, the source was assured of utmost confidentiality and that was duly followed. Human Subjects Protection The population of this study is, to a large extent, vulnerable. Special precaution was taken with the respondents to respect their dignity and privacy. Source: Adapted from http://www.niehs.nih.gov/research/resources/bioethics/whatis/ Date Accessed May 2nd, 2015. University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh 69 CHAPTER FOUR RESULTS AND DISCUSSIONS 4.1 Introduction In this chapter primary data gathered from the field of study are used to extrapolate descriptive statistics providing simple summaries together with simple graphic analyses to interpret the result produced from the data analysis. 4.2 Analysis of demographic characteristics of respondents Table 4.1 shows gender analysis of respondents, and this indicated that females represented 63% constituting majority of respondents whereas males represented 37.3% of the survey respondents. 4.2.1: Gender analysis Table 4.1: Gender analysis Source: Author‘s Survey Data (2015) The age analysis of the children sampled indicated that approximately thirty four percent (34.4%) were found to be of age range 10 and 13 years. Approximately thirty nine percent (39.3%) also fell between age range 13 and 15 years whereas the age range 16 and 18 years were represented by twenty six percent (26.3%). Gender Parent/Guardian Children Headteacher/teachcer Percentage (%) Percentage (%) Percentage (%) Male 30.0 45.0 36.8 Female 70.0 55.0 63.2 Total 100.0 100.0 100.0 University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh 70 Table 4.2 Age of children Age (yrs) Children Percentage (%) 10-12 34.4 13-15 39.3 16-18 26.3 Total 100.0 Source: Author‘s Survey Data (2015) Further analysis of the of ages of respondents among the parents/guardian and teachers sampled showed that majority of the respondents among the parents and teachers were aged between 26 and 65 years of age constituting ninety-six percent (96%) more than any other age group. Age gradient below 26 years formed approximately four percent (3.5%) whereas those above 65 years considered as the Aged in Ghana were represented by approximately one percent (0.5%). It can therefore be inferred that, by this results, it is the case that the deprived children are at large being catered for by the Aged who lack the capacity to engage in income generation activity to be able to responsibly provide for the educational needs of their children; and hence can be said that the parents more than not fall within the active labour force. Table 4.3 Age of Parents/Guardians and teachers Age (yrs) Parents/Guardians and Teachers Percentage (%) 16-25 3.5 26-35 12.8 36-45 32.7 46-55 32.7 56-65 17.8 Above 66 0.5 Total 100.0 Source: Author‘s Survey Data (2015) University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh 71 Table 4.4 showed findings of the religious background of the respondents. Predominantly 86.5% were of Christian faith. Respondents of the Islamic faith constituted 8.4%. The least of other religion including but not limited to traditional religion, Buddhism, Hinduism etc were represented by five percent (5.0%). It is not however clear from the findings of this survey whether the majority of representation of the survey reside in areas predominantly inhabited by Christians or not. However, additional information obtained from the interview pointed out that; “… the Child Development Centre does not only target deprived children of Christian faith but also extended to benefit children of other religion…” R1. Table 4.4 Religion of respondents Religion Parents Children Teacher/Head Percentage (%) Percentage (%) Percentage (%) Islam 12.5 8.3 0 Christian 80 86.7 100 Others 7.5 5.0 0 Total 100 100 100 Source: Author‘s Survey Data (2015) Except for teachers/head teacher, who by virtue of their profession were reasonably educated to the level not below diploma in education, study of the educational attainment of the survey respondents indicated that majority (78.5%) were educated to the level of basic education/middle school status. Respondent with secondary education status constituted 17.7% while approximately two percent (1.9%) each was found to attained a degree and a postgraduate degree. University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh 72 Table 4.5: Education status of parents /guardians and teachers Source: Author‘s Survey Data (2015) According to Horgan, (2007) that there is a link between areas with high levels of deprivation and lower levels of educational attainment; almost all parents/guardians (about 93%) had income levels per month below GHC400.00. Table 4.6: Income levels vis-à-vis Education status of parents/ guardians Income level "GHC" Percentage (%) Up to 100 0.4 Up to 200 25.0 Up to 300 35.0 Up to 400 32.6 Up to 500 0.0 Up to 600 3.5 Up to 700 3.5 800 and More 0.0 Total 100.0 Source: Author‘s Survey Data (2015) According to UNESCO (2013b) assertion that most poor workers with not more than primary education work in the informal economy sectors in sub-Saharan Africa, it was found out that majority (79.5%) of the parents/guardians were employed in the informal sector as traders, craftsmen, artisans and others more than the formal sector of the economy, as observed also Educational background Percentage (%) Basic Education 78.5 Secondary Education/Vocational Training 17.7 Teacher Training 0.0 University Degree 1.9 Postgraduate 1.9 Total 100 University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh 73 by Engle and Black (2008) and Sowa (2002) in Kenya, in Napal, Cameroon and El-Salvador respectively. Table 4.7: Parents /guardians sector of employment Sector of employment Percentage Formal 20.5 Informal 79.5 Total 100.0 Source: Author‘s Survey Data (2015) Studies have demonstrated that children from relatively stable homes, with both parents present have a greater likelihood of staying in formal education, as opposed to those from single parent homes (UNICEF, 2012). The high percentage of 60% from single parenthood among Parents/Guardians respondents was observed as an unfavourable, consistent with Nyamukapa, Geoff and Gregson, (2003) observation that, there is a greater tendency for single parents not to be able to fully provide for the educational needs of their children or wards as compared to situations in which both parents are present Table 4.8: Marital status of Parents /Guardians Marital status Percentage (%) Single 32.5 Married 40.0 Divorced 20.0 Widow/er 7.5 Total 100 Source: Author‘s Survey Data (2015) 4.3 Benefits of the programme Results of the focus group discussion indicated that the objective of the project is to; “…assist children who face likelihood of dropping out of school or likely not to attend school at all due to economic difficulties of their parents/guardians to pay for their fees and provide them with educational materials like uniforms, feeding, books etc…” R2. University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh 74 It was made known that the child development programme of the church therefore is found to offer educational support to deprived children in four key areas; “… first is the physical development encapsulating ensuring that the child has complete and healthy growth by educating the child on personal hygiene and also assisting the child access medical treatment anytime the child is sick or has to be treated of any form of ailment for which the parents/guardians cannot bear the cost apart from organising periodic health screening for the children.. Secondly to ensure spiritual development; i.e. leading them through spiritual growth with the philosophy that the kids apart from the cognitive development must be developed spiritually in terms of their morals and values. Thirdly ensure their cognitive development which has to do with assisting the beneficiaries attain education by way of paying half (50%) of the cost of education, providing them with school uniforms, organising tuition, free extra classes, especially at the basic education level during weekends. And finally ensure their socio-emotional development and social relief e.g. train beneficiaries on how to interact with others and assist the children develop positive and acceptable character that is required for growth as a person and live in harmony with society. Acknowledgement of birthdays, joint celebration of Christmas etc…”R1 University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh 75 Figure 4.1: Pictures showing activities of the child development centre [Free medical screening for children] [Guidance and counseling session] BECE candidates being prepared for exams [Books and educational materials for children] Source: Full Gospel Child Development Centre, 2014. Food relief items been off loaded for the centre University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh 76 It also emerged through the focus group interview discussions that the four key development areas pursued by the church are founded on the philosophy that; “…the church believes that poverty is cyclical and that any attempt to solve poverty through child education programme must encompass strategies to tackle all the four areas”. Giving an example, R4 added that; “…if the child is not healthy, that child cannot go to school even if the fees are paid and that child has been provided the required stationary and educational materials; besides the social development is needed to help the child learn how to interact with the teacher and all stakeholders involved in his/her development process…; while asserting that “…if the child is equipped to go to school and has all he/she needs without spiritual strength, demons can attack the child and frustrate the child’s development in so many ways and being a Christian institution the church takes the child’s spiritual growth important as well..”. The survey results did not find any evidence to show that the project is targeted only at church members. The selection process was evaluated to determine whether beneficiaries were chosen based on their circumstance. To determine the fairness of the selection process, the researcher determined what association the beneficiary or the beneficiary‘s care giver (parent/guardian) have with the church which may influence his/her selection favourably other than persons who really need to be assisted by the child development centre of the church. The researcher‘s rational was to determine if more of the beneficiaries and their care givers are church members, then it may suggest that the programme may be helping more people who have some kind of association with the church either directly or indirectly instead of helping people constrained by economic limitation and have been identified to have real need for educational support. And also to determine if the coordinators are administering the regulations without being biased in the selection process by favouring applicants who have connection with the church than others. University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh 77 It emerged that there are ways of passing on information about the project to the general public i.e. “…announcement in the Full Gospel Church and other Churches; and announcements/letters communicated through public schools around to create awareness of the existence of the child development programme and its mission…” R6 Again R1 intimated that; “…That’s why I said earlier on that we make announcement at church. The church members who know people in their community that are poor and we invite them. The school teachers, because they are in the classroom with the children and know them they inform us that such and such a child needs help…really needs help… So all this is in a written document called the Selection Criteria. So we go by that. We go by that selection criteria; the child should be able to walk to the project site. The child should be able to take part in the project activities. And so this is why we select…” Box 4.1 FGCDC Child Selection Criteria 1. Child must be needy and poor. 50% of children selected must be from the church partner and 50% from nearby community. 2. Not more than two (2) children may be selected from a family. 3. Parents must consent to have child in sponsorship program. 4. Child must be between ages 3 – 9 years at the time of being admitted. 5. Child must not live 3km beyond the centre (10-15min walk). 6. Child’s parent must be willing to let child go to school. 7. Child must be willing to come to the centre-church premises, every Saturday for at least 6 hours for social activities/medical screening/extra classes to be organised for the children. 8. Child must be willing to participate in all social activities. 9. Child must not leave the community immediately when registered. 10. Parents of child must be willing to participate in meetings when invited. 11. Parents must be willing to have child history and photo taken for registration. 12. Parents must agree to have child stay in the program. Source: Full Gospel Child Development Centre, 2015 In this regard, survey results confirmed that fifty-one percent (51%) received information about the child development programme through the schools of their wards. Twenty percent University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh 78 (20%) and nineteen percent (19%) others indicated that they received information of the development programme of the church through friends and family members respectively. And ten percent indicated that they received the information through other sources which include but not limited to posters, church announcements, etc (see table 4.9) Table 4.9: Access to information about the Child Development Center Information about the Child Development Centre Percentage Child school 51 Family 19 Friends 20 Other 10 Total 100 Source: Author‘s Survey Data (2015) The survey findings emerged that, more of the beneficiaries were not necessarily members of the church. Only twenty-six percent (26%) of respondents (parents/guardians) admitted that they were members of the church. The other seventy-four percent (74%) indicated that they have no membership relationship with the church neither before nor after benefiting from the programme. Similarly, sixty-seven percent (67%) more than twenty-six percent (26%) of the respondents (parents/guardians and beneficiaries) did not perceive that they benefited from the child development programme because they had a relation (friend, family member etc) related to the church. University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh 79 Table 4.10: Access to information about the Child Development Centre Church membership status Percentage Yes 26 No 74 Total 100 Benefit from the child development programme due to church membership or a relation in the church Percentage Yes 33 No 67 Total 100 Source: Author‘s Survey Data (2015) At the time of the study, data obtained indicated that two hundred and forty eight (248) of children are benefiting at all levels of the educational ladder with details in table 4.11 below. These are children who probably may not have had any opportunity to go the full cycle of education, but for the intervention, they now have the chance to build a future of their own. Table 4.11: Size of children known to be benefiting from the Full Gospel Child Development Centre Level Male Female Total Lower primary 5 9 14 Upper primary 31 21 52 Jnr. High School 68 60 128 Snr. High School 21 24 45 Vocational School 3 6 9 Tertiary School 0 0 0 Total 128 120 248 Source: Author‘s Survey Data (2015) It was found out that the project was not gender or religious biased. Again the programme has an age limit of 22 years beyond which a beneficiary is expected to graduate. University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh 80 “…the feeding grant aspect of the programme are in two folds (1) the beneficiaries attend weekend classes where they are provided with meals throughout and (2) the programme makes provision of distribution of relief food items such as Sugar, Milk, Milo, Rice etc at a certain quantity every month to the beneficiaries…” R5 Figure 4.2: Images of relief items being distributed Source: Full Gospel Child Development Centre, 2015 The aim of the food items was found helpful to the beneficiaries as it afford them breakfast before attending school. The study also found out that through the medical support aspect of the project, health screening was periodically organised for the children. It was also found out that in other difficult circumstances where the parent has peculiar challenges which even after a ward is admitted to the programme may affect the desired outcome of the intervention, the programme stepped in to provide relief to the affected parent and the family in order that the parent can provide a healthy environment for the child to grow and make maximum utilisation of the development programme relief facilities. A few of such outstanding extra assisted support to a needy family was the construction of a three-bedroom house to a care- University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh 81 giver who had six children under the programme but had no home where the children could stay, learn and develop. Figure 4.3: Images of a one bedroom house built for a family that suffered flooding rendering them homeless Source: FGCDC Newsletter Quarterly Edition 2014 During the survey, available data showed that the following details of expenditure had been incurred for the past three years on the key areas of support given under the child development centre of the Full Gospel Church International. A brief analyses indicated approximately seventy percent (69.98%) increase of budget expenditure from 2013 – 2014 and approximately forty-five percent (44.5%) of 2015 budget expenditure over that of 2014. By cursory analysis, this suggests that perhaps more expenditure is increasingly being injected into the key areas of support as the number of beneficiaries keeps increasing. University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh 82 Table 4.12: FGCDC expenditure on key areas of support relief Statistics on key financing areas of the child development centre Key area of expenditure 2013 2014 2015 Fees 14,385.00 26,202.00 58,166.50 Feeding grant and clothing 32,133.50 42,776.5 47,433.87 Weekend extra classes 5,246.50 1,445.00 9,747.00 Medical support 4,237.30 7,789.70 18,077.50 Family contingency support - 14,100.00 - Total 56,002.3 92,313.2 133,424.87 Source: FGCDC Administration data 2015 Approximately seven percent (6.5%) of the survey respondents was found to have benefited from the programme for a period up to 3 years. Approximately forty-two percent (41.9%) have been catered for under the programme for a period between 4 and 6 years, another forty percent approximately (40.3%) have also been catered for under the programme for a period between 7 and 9 years. Approximately ten percent (9.7%) and two percent (1.6) were also found to have been catered for under the programme for a period between 10-12 years and 13-15 years respectively University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh 83 Table 4.13: Duration child has benefited from the education intervention Years Under programme Percentage (%) Up to 3 years 6.5 4-6 years 41.9 7-9 years 40.3 10-12 years 9.7 13-15 years 1.6 Total 100.0 Source: Author‘s Survey Data (2015) Findings on the benefits of the various intervention package offered under the programme were perceived to be very useful to the beneficiaries. About eighty-nine percent (88.7%) of beneficial respondents perceived they have benefited from the feeding grant element of the programme to the extent that it has improved their nutrition for learning more than the approximately eight percent (8.1%) who disagree. In similar findings, approximately eighty- six percent (85.5%) agree more than disagree that the extra class tuition free weekend school has contributed significantly to their performance in school. Again, about eighty-nine percent (88.7%) agree more than approximately three percent (3.2%) disagreeing that the school supplies (e.g. exercise books, pens, pencils, library books etc) under the programme have contributed to the improvement in the material needs of their education. The programme has reduced the financial burden of beneficiaries‘ education on their parent/guardian as perceived by about seventy-four percent (74.2%) but opposed to about eleven percent (11.3%) who disagree. Also approximately ninety-one percent (91.2%) perceived that they have benefited from the spiritual curriculum of the programme more than any. Ninety-eight percent (98.2%) and ninety-seven percent (96.6%) approximately also perceived that they have benefited from learning a lot from the social club activities of the programme and benefited from the physical (General Health) activities including the medical relief of the programme respectively more than not. University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh 84 Table 4.14: Key benefits of the education intervention Benefit of the education intervention Strongly agree (%) Agree (%) Indifferent (%) Disagree (%) Strongly disagree (%) The feeding grant element of the programme has help improve my nutrition for learning 38.7 50 3.2 8.1 0 The Saturday tuition has contributed significantly to my performance in school 45.2 40.3 8.1 6.5 0 The school supplies by the programme have contributed to the improvement in the material needs of my education 46.8 41.9 8.1 1.6 1.6 The programme has reduced the financial burden of my education on my parent/guardian 40.3 33.9 14.5 9.7 1.6 I have benefited from the spiritual curriculum of the programme 41.2 50 8.8 0 0 I have benefited from learning a lot from the social club activities of the programme 45.2 53.2 1.6 0 0 I have benefited from the physical(General Health ) activities of the programme 50 46.6 1.6 1.8 0 Source: Author‘s Survey Data (2015) Respondents were asked what they would have been engaged in if they were not supported by the scholarship initiative. Thirty-five percent (35%) claimed they would have been doing something else they are not sure of now. Thirty-two percent (31.7%) claimed they would have been engaged in a trade, eighteen percent (18.3%) claimed they would have been at home and might not know what to do and fifteen percent (15.0%) claimed they would have been probably selling on the street. University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh 85 Table 4.15: Perception on life activities without the education intervention Living activities without intervention Percent Selling 15.0 At home 18.3 Learning trade 31.7 Others 35.0 Total 100.0 Source: Researcher‘s survey data 2015 Another notable impact the child development programme has had on the beneficiaries is how the intervention has positioned the children in their future endeavours. Approximately fifty-six percent (56.3%) significantly of respondents perceived that the child development programme has reduced the potential for school dropout among beneficiaries. Approximately twenty-four (23.6%) other respondents also perceive that the child development programme has reduced the potential for child labour among the beneficiaries. Nineteen percent (19.3%) and less than one percent (0.8%) also perceived the programme has impacted on improving the cognitive outcomes of the beneficiaries and improved health and nutrition outcome of the beneficiaries respectively. Table 4.16: Influence of the child development programme on the children schooling Observed impact of the child development programme on the children Percentage Reduced potential for school dropout of children 56.3 Reduced potential for child labour 23.6 Improved health and nutrition outcome of children 0.8 Improved cognitive outcomes of children 19.3 Total 100 Source: Author‘s Survey Data (2015) Further to this finding on the effect on the lives of the beneficial respondents without the sponsorship intervention, it was found out that approximately seventy percent of the beneficial respondents find the intervention crucial in their live development responses more University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh 86 than approximately thirty percent (30.0%) who collectively were indifferent or did not find the intervention crucial. This was summarized by R 3 that; “So what I want to say is that apart from those in formal education, we have some of our children who have been able to identify their talent and skills based on the extra-curricular activities at the project site. Because apart from the teaching, we take them through art work; we do basketry, we do sewing; we do tie-and- dye. So these other things identify their talents as fashion designers etc. …‖Five have completed JHS and one has completed SHS. She even did fashion and designing in SHS, she is taking them through to learn fashion and designing. So they are in the boarding house learning fashion. We provide them with feeding, their medical bills. Every other thing they need is being taken care of. Then we have some who are also learning mechanic things, mobile phones…They have opted to learn skills…We encourage them to identify their skills and make them economically viable and self-reliant. So after this training, they will start making money and even support their extended families. We are supporting them…” R3 University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh 87 Table 4.17: Perception of the crucial intervention of the programme Perception on the role of the sponsorship intervention Percentage Very crucial 20.0 Crucial 50.0 Indifferent 13.3 Not very crucial 1.7 Unnecessary 15.0 Total 100.0 Source: Author‘s Survey Data (2015) Berger (2003) posits that education interventions are crucial to positively lead to the attitude of the child towards raising their educational achievement and to enable deprived children explore their own conceptual goals in life‘s spheres to become agents of development to society such as teachers, nurses, doctors, bankers or any other professional. Consistent to this assertion, the education intervention was found to be shaping the beneficiaries for a brighter life in future as they expressed their life goals through the study. All respondents expressed their life goals as 9.7% claimed they want to become educationist, 22.6% claimed they want to become medical or health professionals, 17.7% expressed interest to work in the media, 8.1% and 3.2% claimed they want to work in a financial institution or become economists respectively, and 4.8% expressed interest to become a scientists. Another 9.7% expressed interest in the engineering profession and 11.3% each expressed interest in artisan/craftsman/trader or to become a musician, actor or actress. University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh 88 Table 4.18: Career goals of education intervention beneficiaries What are your career goals in life Percentage (%) Educationist 11.7 Medical or health professional 23.3 Media professional 18.3 Work in a financial institution 5.0 Economist 3.3 Scientist 5.0 Engineer 10.0 Artisan/Craftsman/Trader 11.7 Musician/Actor/Actress 11.7 Total 100 Source: Author‘s Survey Data (2015) The average mean size of a family for this survey was found to be approximately six (6). Persons attending school of approximately three (3). Other family members in a household to be provided for were approximately twelve (12). This suggests that the majority of the parents/guardians surveyed could be living in the extended family system and probably in a compound house with more shared responsibility towards the upkeep of home in terms of provision of food, utility, shelter etc. Table 4.19: Family size Mean Family Size Analysis Size of family Male Female Total persons are in this household 4 2 6 orphaned(less than18) 0 1 1 persons with ages below 15 years 1 1 2 persons between ages 15 and 65 2 0 2 persons with ages above 65 years 1 1 2 literate/educated persons 2 1 3 persons attending school 2 1 3 Source: Author‘s Survey Data (2015) A study analysis of the trend of household expenditure pattern of the parent/guardian shows that on average a parent per month, on overall basis spends an average of GHC416.7 on the household expenditure. Feeding the family constitutes the largest part of household University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh 89 expenditure approximately fifty-four percent (53.8%) of the expenditure. This is followed by transportation constituting approximately seventeen percent (17.4%) of expenditure. Others such as utility, rent and other forms of expenditure constituted approximately eight percent (8%), eleven percent (10.8%) and ten percent (9.6%) respectively (please see table 420 below). Table 4.20: Average household domestic expenditure Type of expenditure Per Month (GHC average) Percentage (%) Feeding the family 224.0 53.8 Transportation 72.7 17.4 Utility 35.0 8.4 Rent 45.0 10.8 Others 40.0 9.6 Total 416.7 100.0 Source: Author‘s Survey Data (2015) Analysis of the trend of expenditure pattern of the parent/guardian on the persons attending school show that, the average parent spends an average of GHC75.6 per term on a person attending school. Transportation takes approximately forty-six percent (45.7%) which is the largest part of the school expenses. Stationary, PTA and School uniforms respectively take approximately seventeen percent (17.2%), twelve percent (11.9%), and eleven percent (10.6%) of the cost of persons attending school. Other least expenses are incurred on extra classes and examination fee constituting nine percent (9.3%) and five percent (5.3%). University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh 90 Table 4.21: Average household expenditure on education of ward Type of expenditure Per Month (GHC average) Percentage (%) Transportation 34.6 45.7 Tuition fees (school fees) 0.0 0.0 PTA contribution 9.0 11.9 Examination fees 4.0 5.3 Stationery (exercise books, pens etc) 13.0 17.2 School uniforms 8.0 10.6 Extra classes 7.0 9.3 Total 75.6 100.0 Source: Author‘s Survey Data (2015) Considering the expenditure pattern by parents/guardians as manifested in table 4.20 and 4.21 respectively, visa -vis income levels shown in figure 4.6 and in relation to size of family shown in table 4.19, it was expected that parents/guardians may find it difficult to support financing of their wards education. Findings of the study show that as perceived, approximately sixty-eight percent (67.5%) of parent/guardian respondents expressed their view that they find it difficult to fund the education of their wards against insignificantly approximately thirty-three percent (32.5%) who did not find it difficult to fund the education of their wards (see table 4.22). Table 4.22: Perception of how challenging respondents find it to meet schooling expenses Difficult to meet school expenses Percentage Extremely difficult 20.0 Very difficult 20.0 Difficult 27.5 Somehow difficult 17.5 Not difficult 15.0 Total 100.0 Source: Author‘s Survey Data (2015) University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh 91 Due to the difficulty faced by parents/guardians to meet the financing of their wards education, to a large extent, eighty-eight percent approximately (87.5%) of the parent/guardian respondents assert that the programme intervention has taken off a burden and helped them improve on other financial needs of their families. This assertion was confirmed in the words of R1 that; “…When the child’s situation is critical and can endanger the child’s life. For instance, floods…we have to come in and help by supplying household items and give seed capital to the mother to start trading….We also rented houses for some of them and provided them with seed capital given to about…between 5 and 10…” However, more than about thirteen percent approximately (12.5%) did not agree that the programme has relieved them of such financial burden. Table 4.23: Relief of financial burden Sponsorship relief of financial burden Percentage To a very large extend 25.0 To a large extend 37.5 To a moderate extend 25.0 Not really 5.0 Not at all 7.5 Total 100 Source: Author‘s Survey Data (2015) This is understandably among the major benefits of the programme to the parents/guardians whose wards have benefited from the education intervention programme. Therefore the study found out that, fifty percent (50%) constituting majority of the parents or guardians sample find the education intervention most beneficial in the relief of the burden of bearing cost of education of the schooling person in the family. Approximately eighteen percent (17.5%) of the parent/guardian respondents sample find the education intervention programme beneficial University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh 92 in giving their children hope to be educated and enhance the capabilities in the child‘s future life. Another twenty-five percent (25%) asserts that the programme has been beneficial in helping the child become active partner in decision making processes at home. And approximately eight percent (7.5%) find the education intervention most beneficial in helping the child avoid the tendency of becoming wayward in the community if not attending school. Table 4.24: Parents/guardian opinion on the benefits of the education intervention Benefit of the sponsorship to parent/guardian Percentage Relief family from burden of school fees 50.0 Give child hope to be educated and enhance capabilities in life 17.5 Help child become active partner in decision making processes 25.0 Help child curtail the tendency of becoming wayward in community 7.5 Total 100 Source: Author‘s Survey Data (2015) The first point of investigating attitudes of children towards the FGCDC programme involved the use of a Likert scale model to determine levels of agreement of students upon how the programme has helped them change their attitude towards schooling since benefiting from the programme. The Likert scale was adopted for parents/guardians, beneficiaries and teachers/headteacher to indicate by scoring on a scale from how they strongly agree (4), agree (3), disagree (2) to strongly disagree (1) statements. This was in relation to how they perceived the programme has changed the attitude of the beneficiaries positively towards education since benefiting from the education intervention. A mean score was adopted to analyze the direction of respondents‘ perception towards level of perception on the scale. The table 4.25 shows that respondents perceive a positive change in the attitude of the beneficiaries towards education since benefiting from the intervention. The average of the mean score of 3.32 is indicative that respondents agree more than any other opinion that the University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh 93 intervention has raised the schooling quantity interest of the beneficiaries causing them to frequently attend school. Also the average of the mean score of 3.31 shared among respondents indicated respondents agree more than any other opinion that the education intervention has raised the educational achievement interest and the potential future productively and earnings of the beneficiaries positively. The averages of the mean scores of 3.27, 3.16 and 3.02 by the respondents similarly indicated respondents agree more than any other opinion that the education intervention has respectively caused the beneficiaries to be more interested to spend more time in school, interested to spend more time towards learning and that the food component of the intervention has alleviated short term hunger among the beneficiaries during schooling hours. The most significant score as perceived by the respondents related to how the education intervention has improved the cognitive functioning of children (e.g. reasoning, attention and speed of decision making) with the highest mean score of 3.50; pointing towards the direction that the respondents strongly agree that there is observed high positive change in attitude by the beneficiaries having benefited from the education intervention in this respect. Therefore average of the mean score of 3.26 indicates that respondents agree more that the intervention has led to an increase in school enrolment among beneficiaries than before. University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh 94 Table 4.25: Change in attitude of the beneficiaries towards schooling since benefiting from the sponsorship Mean Scores (Scale: Strongly agree =4; Agree =3; Disagree =2; Strongly disagree =1) How has intervention affected child Mean Score Raised schooling quantity interest (frequency of school attendance) 3.32 Raised educational achievement interest (potential future productivity and earnings) 3.31 Interest to spend more time in school 3.27 Interest to spend more time towards learning 3.16 Alleviate short term hunger from the food support from the scheme 3.02 Improved the cognitive functioning of children such as reasoning, attention and speed of decision making from the food provision by the scheme 3.50 Increase school enrolment 3.26 Source: Author‘s Survey Data (2015) Findings from the study show that prior to the intervention by the church development programme, beneficiaries faced imminent challenges in accessing education. In the first instance most of the care givers (parents/guardians) had low educational attainment hence predominantly self-employed as petty traders in the informal sector. This invariably had a tenor on the income level of the care givers to adequately provide for the children‘s education (See table 4.26). It was evident that the level of income made it difficult to manage the size of the families (see table 4.26) considering the trend of expenditure pattern of the families. This was obvious that parents found it difficult to meet the schooling expenditure of the children which confirms that perception in table 4.22 above that the main reason why deprived children have difficulty accessing education is due to the fact that deprived people University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh 95 find schooling too expensive as perceived by approximately fifty-six percent (55.5%) of respondents. Other twenty percent (20.2%) approximately perceived that children of poor people have to help parents to trade/farm/home and that accounts for some of the reasons why they lack access to education. Sixteen percent (16.0%) also attributed the lack of access to education by the deprived to the fact that poor parents do not help their children prioritise schooling in their life, while approximately eight percent (8.0%) had the perception that lack of access to education by the deprived is due to the fact that poor people normally do not have interest in schooling. Table 4.26: Challenges of the beneficiaries in accessing education Why deprived children not attend school Total Percentage schooling is too expensive 66 55.5 poor people normally do not have interest in schooling 10 8.4 children of poor people have to help parents to trade/farm/home 24 20.1 poor parents do not help their children priorities schooling in their life 19 16.0 Total 119 100.0 Source: Author‘s Survey Data (2015) While evaluating why parents are unable to support the education of their wards, it emerged that poor family socio-economic status of some parents affect their ability to afford the educational expenses of their wards as forty-five percent approximately (45.4%) share this opinion. Another twenty-nine percent (29.4%) attributed the situation to lack of poor parents‘ understanding of essence of child education. Thirteen percent approximately (13.4%) attributed the problem to living arrangement by size of family, approximately eleven percent (10.9%) and less than one percent (0.9%) attributed the problem to Poor attitude of children towards education (school readiness) and socio-cultural and religious practices respectively. University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh 96 Table 4.27: Reasons why parents are unable to support their wards/child education expenses Why are parents unable to support their ward’s/child’s education expenses? Percentage Lack of poor parents understanding of essence of child education 29.4 Poor family socio-economic status 45.4 Living arrangement by size of family 10.9 Poor attitude of children towards education (school readiness) 13.4 Socio-cultural and religious practices 0.9 Total 100.0 Source: Author‘s Survey Data (2015) It also emerged through the focus group discussions that in the process of screening and selecting the beneficiaries who apply for the education assistance, prevailing conditions attest clearly that you can visualize the level of deprivation of some families. In some instances before they are even admitted to the programme, the coordinating centre has to provide mattresses to some of the children‘s families to enable them ―have a decent sleeping‖ in the words of the programme coordinator. The challenges of the beneficiaries prior to receiving the church intervention in other spheres according to the beneficiaries indicated that approximately fifty percent (50.0%) of the beneficiaries had dropped out of school or faced risk of dropping out of school going forward, if the church had not intervened. Though thirty-five percent (35.0%) were in school when they got admitted to the church development programme, other fifteen percent (15%) had not stepped in school at all at the time they received the church intervention. University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh 97 Table 4.28: Children’s educational status before admission to the programme Education status before benefiting from the church development programme Percentage Yes 35.0 No 15.0 Had dropped out 8.3 Faced risk of dropping out going forward 41.7 Total 100.0 Source: Author‘s Survey Data (2015) Findings were such that, even for those who were in school and for those who faced risk of dropping out of school going forward, approximately forty-four percent (43.5%) claimed their schooling needs were rarely adequately met. Another forty-one percent approximately (41.3%) claimed that their schooling needs were not being met adequately, while fifteen percent (15.0%) claimed that their schooling needs were adequately met. Table 4.29: Children respondents’ claims on how their schooling needs were met Response on adequacy of meeting school needs Percentage Very adequate 0.0 Adequate 15.2 Not adequate 41.3 Rarely adequate 43.5 Total 100.0 Source: Author‘s Survey Data (2015) 4.4 Challenges of the Full Gospel Child Development Centre 4.4.1 Lack of visitation by the project office The survey findings indicated that as part of the process, coordinating staff were to regularly and periodically visit the homes and the schools to interact with the Parents/Guardians and University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh 98 the teachers. The aim of this process was to allow for discussion on the growth challenges of the child and other areas that need attention of the Coordinators. Such visitation were not forthcoming both on the part of Parents/Guardians and Teachers as well. About Eighty nine percent (89.1%) of respondents were of the perception that the coordinating officer not often and rarely visited the children either in the schools or at homes to follow up on their growth and development, whilst more than about eleven percent (10.9%) perceived otherwise. Table 4.30: Coordinator’s visitation How often do Coordinators visit you? Percentage Very often 0.0 Often 10.9 Note often 43.4 Rarely often 45.7 Total 100.0 Source: Author‘s Survey Data (2015) 4.4.2 Lack of adequate staff The survey also found out through the focus group interview that the present staff capacity is woefully inadequate to operate effectively. In a statement; ―…the current staff level is small to be able to do combined project management and at the same time do proper visitation to all the children in their homes and schools…” R1 4.4.3 Declining financial resources It emerged also through the focus group discussion that over the years, cost of operating the Child Development Centre has risen. Materials support, donations, and budget allocation for staff development has also not been regular thereby affecting efficiency of the project office. In another statement; ―… personal donation by individuals have reduced compared to the former, and also due to a few financial distress of the church in recent times coping with the worst University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh 99 economic conditions, release of funds from the church has not been consistent and this affect sometimes even the regular and timely payment of fees and provision of relief items to the children as compared to the former times…” R1 In a related comment, one of the teachers was apprehensive about the delays in paying the fees of the children from the Child Development Centre to the extent that in some cases some of the teachers volunteer to pay the fees to prevent the children from being sacked from the school until the Centre surfaced to make payment and refund is given to the teachers. University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh 100 CHAPTER FIVE SUMMARY CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS 5.1 Introduction This chapter presents a summary of the findings of the study, draws conclusions and puts forward some recommendations for improving decision making and considerations of future research work. 5.2 Summary The main objective of the research was to examine the contribution of FGCDC sponsored education intervention programme on deprived children. The study is inscribed in five chapters. The problem statement, research objectives and questions, significance of the study are introduced in the first chapter. Literature relating to the study covered issues that set the context for first-hand background information about the research topic. This study adopted mixed method and use of a combined qualitative and quantitative methods of research. By use of open ended and closed ended questions supported by a focus group interview, respondents were administered with questionnaires to obtain data relevant to the research study. Chapter four established identified fall-out pattern in line with the research objectives to discuss the findings from the survey which are grouped into following themes; 1. Demographic characteristics analysis of respondents 2. Benefits of the Child Development education intervention. 3. Challenges of the Child Development Centre. In this study 63.2% of females more than males participated in the survey. The age gradient analysis showed that majority of the respondents among the parents and teachers were aged between 36 and 55 years more than any other age group. In the case of the children or the beneficiaries the age gradient between 13-15 years participated in the survey more than any University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh 101 other aged. Predominantly approximately eighty-seven percent (86.6%) of the surveyed respondents were found to be Christians more than Moslems and other faith. The educational background study of the respondents were such that, among the child beneficiaries majority (39.3%) of the respondents were found to be in the Junior High School; on the part of the parents majority (3%) of the surveyed respondents had Middle School as the highest level of educational attainment. This finding is supported by Horgan, (2007) observation that there is a link between areas with high levels of deprivation and lower levels of educational attainment. Almost all parents/guardians (about 95%) surveyed were found to be working in the informal sector as traders, craftsmen, artisans and others affected by their education attainment and occupation type which in effect had bearing on the income level of the parents/guardians. This findings is also consistent with UNESCO (2013b) assertion that workers with not more than primary education live below the poverty line as it was found out that nearly ninety-five percent of (95%) of the parent/guardian respondents were found to receive income of not more than GHC400.00 per month and could be described as poor consistent with Engle and Black (2008) and Sowa (2002) findings in Kenya, in Napal, Cameroon and El-Salvador. Studies have demonstrated that children from relatively stable homes, with both parents present have a greater likelihood of staying in formal education, as opposed to those from single parent homes (UNICEF, 2012). This study found out that majority of the parents/guardians were single parents. This findings resonates with Sarfo (2013) conclusions that incidence of educational neglect is highly prevalent the world over among children from single parenthood. The average size of a family for this survey was found to be Six (6) with persons attending school of about three (3) suggesting that majority of the parents/guardians surveyed could be living in the extended family system and probably in a compound house with more shared responsibility towards the upkeep of home in terms of provision of food, University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh 102 utility, shelter etc. Household expenditure pattern analysis shows that the parent/guardian on average per month spends GHC416.7 on the household expenditure, and feeding the family constituted the largest part of household expenditure approximately fifty-four percent (53.8%) of the expenditure. While comparing income levels and trend of household expenditure, it emerged that schooling had some cost consistent with Create Ghana policy brief 3 (2010) findings, especially compared to the households average earnings/incomes. Findings on the trend of expenditure pattern of the parent/guardian on the persons attending school confirms UNICEF, (2016) report that in spite of the FCUBE education still has some cost and the average parent spends an average of GHC75.6 per term on a person attending school and on items such as food at school, Parents (PTA) contribution, examination fees, extra classes, school uniforms and stationery (exercise books, pens etc). Owing to the expenditure pattern by parents/guardians, income level and in relation to size of family, it emerged that most of the parents/guardians were finding it difficult to fund the education of their wards. The demographic characteristics of the beneficiaries and caregivers (parents/guardians) clearly show that their emerging environment was not favourable to support their educational development. The effect of the poverty level among the caregivers was found to influence educational neglect among the beneficiaries including the lack of access to education at the early stages of the children, which suffers from severe deficiencies in its coverage, effectiveness and quality. To this effect, the Full Gospel Church International Child Development Centre for the past decade has supported about 248 deprived children who hitherto could not have afforded education. However, the education intervention provided resources directly in the form of fees, clothing, textbooks, exercise books, etc to improve access to basic education. For this cause the Full Gospel Church International Child Development Centre prioritises four key areas of physical development, social development, University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh 103 cognitive development and spiritual development consistent with Engle and Black (2008) recommendation for child development i.e. skills of sensorimotor, cognitive, and social– emotional functioning that is dependent on the child‘s physical well-being, the family context, and the larger social network. The study found out that until the intervention of the Child Development Centre majority of the parents/guardians a greater percentage of the parents to a large extent faced difficulty to meet financing of their wards‘ education. Therefore over fifty percent (50%) of the total respondents described the education intervention as most beneficial in relieving parents/guardians of the burdens of cost of education of the schooling person in the family. To the extent that the over sixty percent (60%) of the respondents perceived the intervention as very crucial giving the child hope to be educated and enhance capabilities in life and become an active partner in decision making processes, underscoring the impact the FGCDC programme is making in enhancing the education of the deprived children. Consistently, data provided by the coordinating accountant indicated steady increases in the annual budget expenditure by 69.98% from 2013 to 2014 and by 44.5% from 2014 to 2015 on key areas of expenditure such as fees, feeding, medicals, social programmes etc. This findings is consistent with Campbell et. al. (2008) capability theory which asserts that education is a linkage to expand learning in a way beneficial to an individual‘s overall capabilities in life and valuable to human development. Through the FGCI child development programme most of the beneficiaries have now been able to identify their potentials and developed a career path as some have harnessed the vision through the Guidance and Couseling sessions of the programme to become Engineers, Medical Professionals, work as Media Broadcasters, Scientists etc. This development is welcomed as positive as the intervention potentially reduces the tendency for crime, delinquency and antisocial behaviour among the children in their later adult lives consistent with assertion by Athill, (n.d.). The impact of this programme University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh 104 is that the intervention has become a vehicle to transform the 248 children who were likely to have dropped out of school or never obtain education but now can grow-up to become useful members of society rather than becoming wayward in society. There was sufficient evidence from over eighty-nine percent (88.7%) in all cases to suggest that the feeding grant, the extra class tuition free weekend school, and that the school supplies (e.g. exercise books, pens, pencils, library books etc) elements of the programme have contributed to improving their nutrition for learning, performance in school, and reduced the financial burden which could not be adequately provided by their caregiver as claimed by about approximately eighty-five percent (85%) of respondents. There was evidence to suggest that over fifty percent (50%) of respondents find schooling expensive. Therefore the intervention relief was found to have favourable impact on schooling outcomes. Some of the positive schooling outcomes were that in all cases, over ninety percent (90%) of respondents agreed more than disagreed that the interventions had raised schooling quantity interest of the beneficiaries, raised their educational achievement interest, and influenced them to be more interested in spending time in school and in learning. Other outcomes were that the intervention was found to have alleviated short term hunger from the food support of the scheme thereby improved the cognitive functioning of children such as reasoning, attention and speed of decision making and increased school enrolment, consistent with World Bank (2004) report. The process of selecting or admitting beneficiaries were found to be generally fair. The survey found established adequate pattern of disseminating information about the child development centre throughout the community using school announcing system, church announcement etc. There was no findings to suggest that the children benefited from the child development programme because they were members of the church or had any form of association with the church through friends, family relations etc.; eroding perception of biases University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh 105 in the selection as over 95% of the beneficiaries were found to be Christians more than any other faith. 5.3 Conclusions Findings of the study by evidence of the data analyses suggest that the Full Gospel Church Child Development Centre programme is achieving its objectives. Moreover the findings confirmed assertions made by Ridge, (2002) cited in Horgan (2007), that poverty impacts on the school lives of children and leads them to exclude themselves from school experiences. Consistent with available findings from the survey, most of the children were from single parents whose educational background was low and predominantly petty traders in the informal sector thus having a low income. Findings also from available survey data suggested that majority of the beneficiaries if not for the intervention of the children development centre programme would not have been able to attend school, or dropped out or faced the risk of being dropped out even for those who were in school before receiving the intervention. Sutherland-Addy (2009) postulates that generally, most interventions address the lack of access to education comprising the out-of-school support to children who qualify to make the transition to post-basic education and support to officers of agencies working to achieve improvement of poor children‘s education in the field. Consistent with this, the study found evidence of the benefits the beneficiaries are receiving in terms of improvements in schooling outcomes; except that the support to officers of the coordinating officers working to achieve improvement of poor children‘s education in the field desires to be strengthened in terms of emoluments and logistics. Therefore on be basis of the forgoing findings it is reasonable to conclude that the Full Gospel Church Child Development Centre programme outcomes have been relatively successful. A major impact is the improvement in both the quantity and quality of schooling attitude of the beneficiaries after the intervention. Enrolments have increased and gains in educational outputs are directly connected to University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh 106 manifest in the career aspirations of the children to become productive in society such as nurses, educationists, and teachers etc. 5.4 Recommendation Although the Full Gospel Church Child Development Centre programme is attaining some appreciable level of success, it is also faced with some challenges. The following are recommendations put forward to be considered by the board managing the project to (1) strengthen internal capacity operation and (2) drive the vision to expand beyond the Tema Municipality to cover other needy children outside Tema. 1. Administratively, the project coordinators should strengthen visitation and establish relationship with the caregivers of the beneficiaries to enable them acquaint themselves with the growth and developmental challenges of the child. It became a common compliant that the programme officers‘ seldom visit the schools or caregivers to interact with them. 2. The church should also consider recruiting additional staff for the Child Development Centre so that as many as children are admitted to the programme; adequate personnel may be available to manage a separate visitation department to establish healthy relation with the schools and the caregivers. 3. It is observed that the programme is expanding to cover more people as possible. However, with time the cost of education increases. It emerged during the data collection that the commonly expressed challenge by parents and teachers was that some parents still find it difficult to bear the 50% cost of fees. If resources available cannot increase the child development centre contribution of fee paying to about 70% then management should consider restricting admissions so that the few can better be catered for. University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh 107 4. From the interview with the programme coordinators, it emerged that in recent times the programme has suffered dwindling financial inflow from private donations thereby making it difficult to meet budgets. Meanwhile the church‘s contribution to the resources of the child development centre has also suffered some setback. It is therefore advised that the church should strengthen its financial contribution to the centre in order that it may not be stifled of funds to curtail operations. 5. The office accommodation for the project, according to the coordinators, was also too small for the logistics and staff. Hence, they requested that where possible the church should relocate the office to a much bigger office space to help them deliver their mandate effectively. 6. There is a need for the outreach activities of the FGCDC programme to be modified so as to engage non-Christian communities in the Tema locality. The over 95% of Christians being beneficiaries do not suggest that the programme is achieving the objective of helping also the needy from other religious backgrounds. Therefore, the outreach programme should also be expanded to the predominantly non-Christian faith communities, which not of may also need such support. 7. Since most of the children are becoming adults, more skilled training should be included in the programming. 8. It is observed that from the recent records available, medical screening is also taking a huge percentage of the budget and therefore it is recommended that the medical professionals in the church can organize a team to do the screening at a reduced cost. 9. It is recommended that there should be a community based project that will enable the children to meet regularly at their communities after school to have a smaller and very effective learning environment. University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh 108 10. 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The researcher also wishes to assure respondents of confidentiality of information provided for the research as intended. 1. Contact of respondent: [……………………………………] 2. Sex of Respondent 1=Female 0=Male 3. Age of Respondent […………………] 4. Highest level of formal education of respondent:[ ] 0=None 1=Basic (Primary/JHS/Middle 2= Secondary (Secondary/Vocational) 3=Tertiary (Training college/Polytechnic/ University) 5. What is your Religion? [ ] 1=Moslem 2=Christian 3=Traditional (If none of the above, skip to question 7) 6. What is your Denomination? [ ] 1=Catholic 2= Protestant 3= Pentecostal/Charismatic 4=Orthodox 5=Islam 6=Other (Specify): ............................................. 7. Marital Status [ ] 0= Single 1=Married 2= Divorced/Separated 3=Widowed 8. Occupation (if employed) 0=Unemployed; 1=Student; 2=Trader; 3=Artisan/Craftsman; 4=Salaried Worker; 5= Pensioner; 6= Other, please State……………………………………………. 9. Size of income? 0= Less than GHC100monthly 1=Less than GHC200monthly University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh 118 2=Less than GHC300monthly 3= Less than GHC400monthly 10. Estimate of the expenditure of the Parents/Guardians on beneficiary 11. Size of Family (Household composition) Male Female Total a. How many persons are in this household? b. How many are orphaned (less than18 & have lost 1 or both parents)? c. Number of persons with ages below 15 years d. Number of persons between ages 15 and 65 e. Number of persons with ages above 65 years f. Number of literate/educated persons g. Number of persons attending school 12. Which of your relations is a member of FGCI church? 0=None; 2=Family(s); 3=Friend(s); 4=Myself 13. How did you know about Full Gospel Child Development Centre? 1=Child School 2=Family 3=Friend(s) 4=Notice 14. How long has your ward been on the FGCDC programme?............................................... 15. Was your ward in school before enrolling on the FGCDC programme?[ ] 1=Yes 0=No 16. Did your ward benefit from this sponsorship because you or your relation is a member of the church? 1=Yes 0=No 17. Do you agree that the sponsorship has had a positive impact on your ward education and future potential for job and income? 1= Strongly Agree [ ]; 2=Agree [ ]; 3=Indifferent [ ]; 4=Disagree [ ]; 5=Strongly Disagree[ ]; 18. What would your ward have been engaged in without the FGCDC sponsorship? 1=Selling [ ]; 2=At home[ ]; 3=Learning a trade[ ]; 4=Other (Specify)………….................... Type of Expenditure Daily Weekly Monthly Annual Total Food Transportation Water School Fees Total University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh 119 19. Prior to the sponsorship what were the average education expense as in the following? Description of expenses Per term (GH¢) Per annum (GH¢) Transport Food at school Tuition fees (school fees) PTA contribution Examination fees Extra classes School uniforms Stationery (exercise books, pens etc) Others (…………………………………….) Average total cost per child per household 20. Until you benefited from the sponsorship for your ward how difficult did you find it to meet these schooling needs? 1=Extremely difficult [ ]; 2=Very difficult [ ]; 3=Difficult [ ]; 4=Somehow difficult [ ]; 5=Not difficult [ ] 21. Has the sponsorship relieved you and taken a burden from you and helped you to improve on other financial needs of your family? 1=To a very large extent [ ]; 2=To a large extent [ ]; 3=To a moderate extent [ ]; 4=Not really [ ]; 5=Not at all [ ]; 22. What in your view is the greatest impact of the sponsorship for your child? 1=Relief my family of the stress of school fees burden [ ] 2=Given my child hope to become educated and enhanced his/her overall capabilities in life and transformed occupational skills [ ] 3=Help my child (ren) become active partners who can take part in decision making Processes with regard to developmental issues in our communities in future [ ] 4=Helped curtail the tendency for my ward to grow and become wayward committing crime, law- breaking and develop antisocial behaviour in his/her later adult live as a result of lack of education [ ] 23. What is your observed contribution of the sponsorship on the children in terms of the following? Please rate effect Strongly Agree=4 Agree=3 Don’t Agree=2 Strongly Disagree=1 University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh 120 1. 2. Reduced potential for school dropout [ ] [ ] [ ] [ ] 3. Reduced potential child labour [ ] [ ] [ ] [ ] 4. Improved their health and nutrition outcome [ ] [ ] [ ] [ ] 5. Improved their cognitive outcomes such as reasoning, attention and speed of making decisions [ ] [ ] [ ] [ ] 24. What in your opinion account most for why deprived children do not attend school or fears risk of drop out? (please tick one) 1=Because schooling is too expensive and poor people cannot afford by their economic status... [ ]. 2=Because often poor people normally do not have interest in schooling… [ ]. 3=Because often children of poor people have to help parents to trade/farm/home... [ ]. 4=Because poor parents do not help their children prioritise schooling in their life... [ ]. 25. What in your view is the most serious factor why parents/guardians are unable to support their ward‘s/child‘s education expenses? (please tick one) 1=Lack of good education and understanding very well on the essence of child education…. [ ] 2=Poor family socio-economic status….. [ ] 3=Living arrangement by size of children…. [ ] 4=Poor attitude of children towards education (school readiness)….. [ ] 5=Socio-cultural and religious practices….. [ ] 26. How has the sponsorship affected the attitude of your child towards schooling in terms of the following? (please rate) Please rank effect from scale from 4=strongly agree - 1= strongly disagree Attitude of beneficiary towards sponsorship Strongly Agree=4 Agree=3 Disagree=2 Strongly Disagree=1 Raised their schooling quantity interest (frequency of school attendance) University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh 121 Raised their educational achievement interest (potential future productivity and earnings) Interested to spend more time in school Interested to spend more time towards learning Alleviated short term hunger from the food support from the scheme Improved the cognitive functioning of children such as reasoning, attention and speed of decision making from the food provision by the scheme Increase school enrolment Increase school attendance 27. How often do sponsorship office staff interact with you to find out how the children are developing in the schools and at home? 1=Often [ ]; 2=Not often [ ]; 3=Sometimes [ ]; 4=Never [ ] 28. What changes in programme so far is necessary to help enhance the impact of the sponsorship on children‘s school lives 1. ............................................................................................................................ ...... 2. ............................................................................................................................ ..... 3. ............................................................................................................................ ...... 4. ............................................................................................................................ ...... 29. What changes in programme implementation so far is necessary to help enhance the impact of the sponsorship on children‘s school lives 1. ............................................................................................................................ ...... 2. ............................................................................................................................ ...... 3. ............................................................................................................................ ...... 4. ............................................................................................................................ ...... University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh 122 APPENDIX II BENEFICIARIES’ QUESTIONNAIRE TOPIC: CHURCH – SPONSORED EDUCATION INTERVENTION FOR DEPRIVED CHILDREN: THE CASE OF FULL GOSPEL CHILD DEVELOPMENT CENTRE PROGRAMME Dear Sir/Madam, The researcher is a graduate student at the Centre for Social Policy Studies, University of Ghana, and Legon. This questionnaire is designed to help ascertain the contribution of church sponsored educational interventions on deprived children of Full Gospel Child Development Centre (FGCDC). The researcher would be glad if respondents respond to this questionnaire. The researcher also wishes to assure respondents of confidentiality of information provided for the research as intended. 1. Contact of code of respondents…………………………. 2. Sex of Respondent?........................................................... 3. Age of Respondent [……………………..] 4. Highest level of formal education of respondent:[ ] 0=None 1=Basic (Primary/JHS/Middle 2= Secondary (Secondary/Vocational) 3=Tertiary (Training college/Polytechnic/ University) 5. Occupation of parent/guardian 1=Unemployed [ ]; 2=Student[ ] 3=Trader[ ] 4=Artisan/Craftsman[ ]; 5=Pensioner; [ ] 6=Other, please State……………………………………………. 6. Which of your relations is a member of this church? 1=None [ ]; 2=Parent(s) [ ]; 3=Guardian(s) [ ]; 4=Family/friend(s) [ ] 5=Myself [ ] 7. How did you know about the sponsorship? 1=Parent(s) [ ]; 2=Guardian(s) [ ]; 3=Family/ friend(s) [ ]; 4=Notice[ ] 8. How long have you been on this sponsorship?...................................................... 9. Have you benefited from this sponsorship because you or your relation is a member of the church? 1=Yes 0=No University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh 123 10. Were you in school before enrolling on the FGCDC programme?[ ] 0=No 1=Yes 2=had dropped out 3=face risk of dropping out 11. If you were in school before benefiting from the sponsorship were your school needs adequately met? 1=Very adequately [ ]; 2=Adequately[ ]; 3=Not adequately[ ]; 4=Rarely adequately [ ] 11. Until you benefited from the sponsorship how difficult did you find it to meet the needs of schooling? 1=Extremely difficult [ ]; 2=Very difficult [ ] 3=Difficult [ ] 3=Somehow difficult [ ] 4=Not difficult [ ] 12. How do you agree that the sponsorship have impacted on your schooling as in the following? Impact of Sponsorship Strongly Agree (1) Agree (2) Indifferent (3) Disagree (4) Strongly Disagree (5) The feeding grant element of the programme have help improved my nutrition for learning The Saturday tuition has contributed significantly to my performance in school The school supplies by the programme have contributed to the improvement in the material needs of my education The FGCDC programme has reduced the financial burden of my education on my parent/guardian I have benefited from the spiritual curriculum of the programme I have benefited from learning a lot from the social club activities of the programme I have benefited from the physical(General Health ) activities of the programme University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh 124 13. Now that you have gotten the sponsorship, what do you hope to do in life?...................................................................... 14. What in your opinion account most for why deprived children do not attend school or fears risk of drop out? (please tick one) 1=Because schooling is too expensive and poor people cannot afford by their economic status [ ]; 2= Because often poor people normally do not have interest in schooling [ ] 3= Because often children of poor people have to help parents to trade/farm/home [ ] 4=Because poor parents do not help their children prioritise schooling in their life [ ] 15. Does Religious freedom exist in this sponsorship scheme? 1=Yes [ ] 0= No [ ] 16. What in your view is the most serious factor why parents/guardians are unable to support their ward‘s/child‘s education expenses? (please tick one) 1=Lack of good education and understanding very well on the essence of child education[ ] 2=Poor family socio-economic status [ ] 3=Living arrangement by size of children [ ] 4=Poor attitude of child towards education (school readiness)[ ] 5=Socio-cultural and religious practices [ ] 23. How has the sponsorship affected the attitude of your child towards schooling in terms of the following? (please rate) Please rank effect from scale from 4=strongly agree - 1= strongly disagree Attitude of beneficiary towards sponsorship Strongly Agree=4 Agree=3 Disagree=2 Strongly Disagree=1 Raised their schooling quantity interest (frequency of school attendance) Raised their educational achievement interest (potential future productivity and earnings) Interested to spend more time in school Interested to spend more time towards learning Alleviated short term hunger from the food support from the scheme Improved the cognitive functioning of children such as reasoning, attention and speed of decision University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh 125 making from the food provision by the scheme Increase school enrolment 24. How often do sponsorship office staff interact with parents/schools to find out how the children are developing in the schools and at home? 1= Often [ ]; 2=Not often[ ]; 3=Sometimes[ ]; 4=Never[ ] 25. What changes in programme so far is necessary to help enhance the impact of the sponsorship on children‘s school lives 5. ............................................................................................................................ 6. ............................................................................................................................ 7. ............................................................................................................................ 8. ............................................................................................................................ 26. What changes in programme implementation so far is necessary to help enhance the impact of the sponsorship on children‘s school lives 1................................................................................................................................ 2................................................................................................................................ 3................................................................................................................................ 4................................................................................................................................ University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh 126 APPENDIX III INTERVIEW GUIDE FOR FGCDC MANAGEMENT TOPIC: CHURCH – SPONSORED EDUCATION INTERVENTION FOR DEPRIVED CHILDREN: THE CASE OF FULL GOSPEL CHILD DEVELOPMENT CENTRE PROGRAMME Dear Sir/Madam, The researcher is a graduate student at the Centre for Social Policy Studies, University of Ghana, Legon. This questionnaire is designed to help ascertain the contribution of church sponsored educational interventions on deprived children of Full Gospel Child Development Centre (FGCDC). The researcher would be glad if respondents respond to this questionnaire. The researcher also wishes to assure respondents of confidentiality of information provided for the research as intended. PART A: DEMOCRATIC BACKGROUND 1. Contact of respondent;[……………………………….] 2. Position of respondent?………………………………….. 3. Gender of Respondent? 1=Female 0=Male 4. Highest level of formal education of respondent:[ ] 0= Secondary (Secondary/Vocational) 1=Training college 2= Diploma/Professional 3=Degree 4= Postgraduate PART B: STAFF INVOLMENT 5. What specific assistance do you give? 6. What are your strategies for making this happen? PARTC: ORGANISATIONS PERFORMANCE 7. What are your organization's capabilities for doing this? 8. What have you and haven't you accomplished so far? 9. How are you sustaining the programme? 10. Does Religious freedom exist in Mission Schools? University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh 127 APPENDIX IV TEACHERS/ HEAD TEACHERS’ QUESTIONNAIRE TOPIC: CHURCH – SPONSORED EDUCATION INTERVENTION FOR DEPRIVED CHILDREN: THE CASE OF FULL GOSPEL CHILD DEVELOPMENT CENTRE PROGRAMME Dear Sir/Madam, The researcher is a graduate student at the Centre for Social Policy Studies, University of Ghana, Legon. This questionnaire is designed to help ascertain the contribution of church sponsored educational interventions on deprived children of Full Gospel Child Development Centre (FGCDC). The researcher would be glad if respondents respond to this questionnaire. The researcher also wishes to assure respondents of confidentiality of information provided for the research as intended. 1. Contact of respondent;[……………………………………] 2. Type of school? 1= Public 2= Private . 3. Position of respondent?………………………………….. 4. Gender of Respondent? 1=Female 0=Male 5. Highest level of formal education of respondent;[ ] 0= Secondary (Secondary/Vocational) 1=Training college 2= Diploma/Professional 3=Degree 4= Postgraduate 6. Do you have any idea about FGCDC education sponsorship?................................ 7. Are there any other areas the sponsorship can cover other than what beneficiaries currently receive to fully help them develop their future? .......................................................................................................................................... .......................................................................................................................................... ............ 8. Prior to the sponsorship what were the average education expense as in the following? Description of expenses Per term (GH¢) Per annum (GH¢) University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh 128 Transport to and back from school Food at school Tuition fees (school fees) PTA contribution Examination fees Extra classes School uniforms Stationery (exercise books, pens etc) Others (…………………………………….) Average total cost per child per household 9. What in your opinion account most for why deprived children do not attend school or fears risk of drop out? (please tick one) 1=Because schooling is too expensive and poor people cannot afford by their economic status [ ]; 2=Because often poor people normally do not have interest in schooling [ ] 3=Because often children of poor people have to help parents to trade/farm/home [ ] 4=Because poor parents do not help their children prioritise schooling in their life [ ] 10. What in your view is the most serious factor why parents/guardians are unable to support their ward‘s/child‘s education expenses? (please tick one) 1=Lack of good education and understanding very well on the essence of child education [ ] 2=Poor family socio-economic status [ ] 3= Living arrangement by size of children [ ] 4=Poor attitude of child towards education (school readiness) [ ] 5=Socio-cultural and religious practices [ ] 12. How has the sponsorship affected the attitude of your child towards schooling in terms of the following? (please rate) Please rank effect from scale from 4=strongly agree - 1= strongly disagree Attitude of beneficiary towards sponsorship Strongly Agree=4 Agree=3 Disagree=2 Strongly Disagree=1 Raised their schooling quantity interest University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh 129 (frequency of school attendance) Raised their educational achievement interest (potential future productivity and earnings) Interested to spend more time in school Interested to spend more time towards learning Alleviated short term hunger from the food support from the scheme Improved the cognitive functioning of children such as reasoning, attention and speed of decision making from the food provision by the scheme Increase school enrolment Increase school attendance 13. What is your observed contribution of the sponsorship on the children in terms of the following? Please rate effect Reduced potential for school dropout [ ] [ ] [ ] [ ] Reduced potential child labour [ ] [ ] [ ] [ ] Improved their health and nutrition outcome [ ] [ ] [ ] [ ] Improved their cognitive outcomes such as reasoning, attention and speed of making decisions [ ] [ ] [ ] [ ] 14. Apart from terminal exams, how often do your sponsorship office staffs interact with teachers/heads to find out how the children are developing in the schools? 1= Often [ ]; 2= Not often[ ]; 3=Sometimes[ ]; 4=Never[ ] 15. What changes in programme so far is necessary to help enhance the impact of the sponsorship on children‘s school lives 1................................................................................................................................ ...... 2................................................................................................................................ ...... 3................................................................................................................................ ...... Strongly Agree=4 Agree=3 Don’t Agree=2 Strongly Disagree=1 University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh 130 4................................................................................................................................ ...... 15. What changes in programme implementation so far is necessary to help enhance the impact of the sponsorship on children‘s school lives 1................................................................................................................................ ...... 2................................................................................................................................ ...... 3................................................................................................................................ ...... 4................................................................................................................................ ..... University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh 131 APPENDIX V FULL GOSPEL CHILD DEVELOPMENT CENTRE INTERVIEW TRANSCRIPT Interviewer: Good morning. Thank you for your audience. I think a few weeks ago we met to pick some few data from you concerning the Compassion International assistance that is given to the poor and the needy in this society to help them in their education. I must admit we appreciated the time you gave to us very much and the information you supplied us. But that was on a pilot project as explained earlier on. Now is the time to go into details…eh…data collection. We hope to spend a few minutes with to gather this information again. I think Madam Akorfa will lead in the focus group for us in trying to provide answers to the few questions we have. But any time someone wants to add any additional information to what Madam Akorfa has already said then you are probably welcome to come in. Also, any area you don‘t understand clearly, please do ask so I can explain so that you can give us the right information we need. Now, the first one is, eh, kindly tell us what specific assistance you give under this programme? R1: What we do is that Compassion is the…Compassion is based on four developmental areas so that….[inaudible] emotional development, spiritual development and physical and cognitive. Physical is about the health of the child…so health issues we pay their medical bills no matter the amount. We do screening…health screening, the project bears the cost of the screening. Then we give out hygiene items to promote the health of the children. We give out hygiene items like soap, toothbrush, paste, sanitary towels, soap, T‘rolls, towels, sponge. The cognitive development is about their academic work. So we pay their school fees, give them stationery…pens, pencils…[cell phone rings]…we buy school uniforms for them…we buy school uniforms for them, we visit them at school…[swing door creaks]…to know how they are progressing academically. Then with the sociological development we train them on how to interact with each other and other people in the community …[inaudible]…so we give them tuition on [inaudible] social aspect. We take them on excursion…[trap door creaks again; silence]…when we take them on excursion the project bears the cost of transport…the cost of transport and everything. On the spiritual aspect, we take them for camp meetings, pay for the cost of stay at wherever they are. We buy Bibles for them, devotional guides for them, provide counselling for them. In all of this, the cost is provided by the project. So in giving this assistance, with the school fees, we around to pay ourselves. With the…like Christmas gifts and other things, we [inaudible] and take pictures. We go to the market with them and come and take pictures. At every point in time we have pictures to show that we‘ve University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh 132 really given the items out to the children. So I think… [a male voice interrupts]…yeah, so I think this is what we do to support the children. Interviewer: But the main focus is on their education but because they need these other items to support them… R1: Well, the main focus…well Compassion or the Full Gospel Child Development Centre believes that poverty is cyclical, so you don‘t have to tackle one side; you must tackle all areas. You see, when the child is not healthy the child cannot go to school even if you provide the stationery. And if you provide the stationery and the child is healthy but cannot interact with the teacher and her friends in a healthy manner, then you will not make full benefits of the tuition he or she is receiving. [inaudible]…the child goes to school, the child is healthy but the child is spiritual poor Satan too can attack the child at any time. And since we are also a Christian institution, we have to provide a holistic child development. So…every aspect is important to us. Interviewer: So what are your strategies that you adopt to make these happen within the larger society you operate? So now let‘s look at the scope of your programme; is it nationwide or it is only restricted within the Greater Accra Region or within Tema? What is the scope actually? R1: Is it Compassion in general? Compassion is now in four (4) regions…yeah four regions: Greater Accra, Volta, Eastern and Ashanti…Ashanti Region…Are you writing? Interviewer: Go ahead.., R1: So we have Greater Accra, Eastern, Ashanti and Volta Region. And they…[inaudible]…in Northern Region. So now they are fully operational in four regions. Interviewer: You said…What goes into the feasibility studies? R1: It is a Christian organization. They partner with churches. They go and sell the project out to churches…[inaudible]…we sell the project to churches and if they are ready to get on board…So the church sends out announcement through the members. So children who come from poor backgrounds and need help are brought in. So when they come we attest to it that these children are really poor and they need help. So that we target the right children who really need help. So this is how it is done. The children should live within a distance close to the project site, so that they can walk in to get the assistance they need. Interviewer: So how do you select your beneficiaries; how do you identify the real beneficiaries… R1: That‘s why I said earlier on that we make announcement at church. The church members who know people in their community that are poor and we invite them. The school teachers, because they are in the classroom with the children and know them they inform us that such and such a child needs University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh 133 help…really needs help. And so this how the selection is done. So all this is in a written document called the Selection Criteria. So we go by that. We go by that selection criteria; the child should be able to walk to the project site. The child should be able to take part in the project activities. And so this is why we select… [inaudible] Interviewer: Please whilst you are in the selection process do you actually visit the community, the home directly to assess their condition before you take final decision or… R1: Yes, yes. We do that. We visit them at home. When the people give us the list, because we‘ll visit them in future, we have to know where they are staying now. So we have to know where they are living before we start the programme with them. Interviewer: This one, just, eh, in addition. So far with your experiences how would you describe the conditions of the people you have selected in your selection criteria? R1: Oh, some they need help. The children really need help. Of course, where they sleep…the sleeping environment some are very poor. We even have to buy mattresses and bed sheets because they are sleeping on the bare floor which is not good. Interviewer: In their homes? R1: Yes, in their homes. [inaudible]…more to their pressing needs; yes, their pressing needs. Interviewer: Ok, ok. So what has been your achievement so far? Before then can you just briefly tell us for how long the programme started…the period the programme started, number of years you have chalked so far, some of the strides you have made so far since the programme started? R1: Well, the programme started in February 2006. So we are 9 years old. Eh, some of our achievements are in physical development, which sports fall under, we won trophies from our cluster competitions. We also have children who have completed SHS and 4 are going on to the tertiary institutions. We have about 50 children in the SHS now. Interviewer: The 4 are in tertiary institutions? R1: No, there are now going. Interviewer: I want you to tell us; in that batch what is the percentage of those with the ability to excel and proceed to tertiary institutions? R1: They were 7…and so… Interviewer: Four out of the seven. Are you going to give them full sponsorship to the tertiary institution… R1: Not full sponsorship. We‘re giving then half sponsorship. University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh 134 Interviewer: Kindly tell us, in terms of the strategy, how you administer the packages. Is it for education, full scholarship or half scholarship, or how do you distribute these resources for the beneficiaries? R1: Is…eh…it‘s part scholarship. The funds we give also depend on the school you are attending. Because some schools what we give covers every cost; other schools it doesn‘t so the parents top up…[inaudible] Interviewer: So the parents bear 20% of the cost. Is it challenging to the parents in bearing the 20% cost with your experience so far? R1: Sometimes. Interviewer: Sometimes. Are you now thinking of giving them full package? R1: We are still working on it…[creaking door drowns voice] Interviewer: With the scope…are you only targeting basic schools or as far as the person can reach in his education career, may be a PhD, if the person wants to do a PhD? Is the institution still willing to support the person? R1: We…[interjection] Interviewer: What is your ceiling? R1: When the child is 22 years old we graduate you. You will not be receiving assistance from us, but you will be part of us. Our intention is that by age 22 you would have completed SHS, at least. You become part of us by what you do to impact other beneficiaries of the project. So by age 22 when we graduate you, you don‘t receive any financial assistance, but we form an alumni and you‘ll be part of the project. But if a child is in the tertiary institution before he turn age 22, you can still be there and we can arrange a special arrangement with the school so that we can top up…we can find ways and means to support you. Interviewer: With the achievement so far, you only made mention of those who have gone on to the SHS level and moving up to the tertiary level. Are there any other areas… R1: Other areas, just as I mentioned, provide…[inaudible] environment for some children. So we‘ve been able to provide accommodation for some children. We‘ve given seed capital care-givers and some parents to do some trading so that they become…[interjection] Interviewer: What do you mean by ―care-givers‖? R1: These are parents… Interviewer: Parents? Ok. That means you are looking at children who are not living by their own biological parents or…. R1: We refer to every biological parent or guardian as a care-giver. Interviewer: Under what circumstance do you give…eh, eh, the resources to the care-giver? University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh 135 R1: When the child‘s situation is critical and can endanger the child‘s life. For instance, floods…we have to come in and help by supplying household items and give seed capital to the mother to start trading…. Interviewer: All these under the programme? R1: Yes. Interviewer: So you were able to provide accommodation, that is, putting up a new building…you already had the land… R1: We already had the land. Interviewer: You put the building, you supplied them with household items, the seed capital…how often do these things happen since you started this programme? R1: We also rented houses for some of them and provided them with seed capital given to about…between 5 and 10 Interviewer: And how much seed capital have you given so far? R1: You mean the amount? Interviewer: Yes. R1: I can‘t give it off-hand. Interviewer: At least, give us an estimation. Do you have records to that effect that you can refer to? R1: Yes, we have records. Interviewer: Ok. R1: We have an effective record system…[inaudible] Interviewer: Ok. Ok. What are your capabilities for doing this, in terms of how you are able to raise funds then the staff capacity and all those things…What is the organization‘s capability? R1: [inaudible]…The church as its local contribution raises funds during our…[not audible]. Individuals in the church also…[inaudible]. With the staff, the mother organization organizes training for us. Our Bishop, who is also a leadership training consultant, has been organizing training for us to build our capacity…[inaudible]. Individuals are educating themselves. Interviewer: So, hmm, let‘s move to the next question. How do you know whether you‘re making progress or not? Do you have any benchmark you have set for yourself to evaluate your progress? R1: The overall output of the children is an indication of whether we are making progress or not. We also have other tools; we are audited every 18 months. So these show whether we are making progress or not. Recently, we also attended a training on…[not audible] which is also a tool to assess our progress. University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh 136 Interviewer: Mr. Vincent can you educate us about the involvement of the church, the children and what the project is all about and its relevance to the project? R2: [Long silence] R1: The …[not clear] …the involvement of the church, the involvement of the children; how much impact are we making on them, the output and the way forward… Interviewer: Have you used it before or… R1: We used it…we have other ones…the Audit II…is used to measure the project. Interviewer: In terms of the Audit II, what has been the result so far? Are there areas you are doing well and areas where you need some improvement? R1: Yeah, I think in terms of the assistance provided we‘re doing well. The current involvement is about 60%. We organize parents‘ meetings, tell them the need to get on board. I also forgot to tell you that we have parents‘ meetings, train them and empower them to also help in bringing up the children. It is a partnership, it is not an orphanage. The capacities of the children have been built; we‘ve been able to identify their talents during activities and during other programmes at our mother office. For instance, just two days ago, one of our children was invited to attend a Strategic Plan for the Adolescent with the mother project. With the capacity of the adolescent we‘re doing well. Interviewer: Now let‘s go to the next question. With all that you have achieved so far, are there some things you wish you could have accomplished? Definitely once a human institution, there will be eh, eh, backdrops…so what are some of the things you wish you could have accomplished but now you haven‘t been able to achieve with the vision of the project? R2: Thank you very much. The main focus for bringing the children is to make them responsible adults…to be a responsible Christian adult. There are so many things that [inaudible]. For example, the children attending church, we are really working on that. Most of the children lose focus and so that is one of the key areas we‘re thinking about; how to mobilize them and get them into churches, even though some of them are attending churches. It is about time that we worked on that. We have to get buses in the various communities; get them points of collection and then bring them to church. And then we have a re-generation in the church. That is one of the major areas that we are looking at. Interviewer: In our earlier discussions, you mentioned something about the fact that you wish you had built a school. Can you throw a little more light on it? You mentioned that there is an aspect the church had to contribute which the church has not been able to deliver, so in a way you have been short changed in accomplishing certain general objectives that you set for yourself. University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh 137 R2: As the saying goes, ―A sound mind in a sound body‖. When you have a place of rest that‘s when you can really do great things. So having a space to have a school and to have a conducive or a congenial environment for the children to have their studies is one of my burdens. The church, as we speak, does not have classrooms the children. Any time there is a programme in the church we have to move to a location. So moving to and from can distract teaching and learning activities. Yes, there was an opportunity Compassion gave that there could be a classroom. What they said was that they can build the classroom on the ground floor, so the church must raise the pillars and then they can build on. That was what…[inaudible]…so the church can also have space and park their cars and there wouldn‘t be any interruption. But the church could not at that moment…at that material moment handle the project any more… Interviewer: It was just about raising the pillars and Compassion would have continued with the classroom and raise the building up? R2: Yeah. Interviewer: But the church…Did you pursue it and what actually were the problems? Did you pursue that vision? R2: Well, eh, because it stayed on for some time…you know with time things change, and Compassion came up with a new policy that they are coming up with designs and quotas for every classroom that Compassion will put up on every church building. And when they came with that, I think that was what brought up the gap between… Interviewer: Oh, ok. So the church could not accept the design that was brought or… R2: The design really delayed and because of time we all lost contact. Interviewer: So apart from that, are there any other things you want to talk about, may be staff capacity, increase in staff numbers or even how you want to expand the programme to cover more people…Do you wish you could have done more than you are doing now? R2: Out of the belly shall flow springs of living water. We wish we could do more when assistance comes in and when…Personally I wish the staff strength could have been increased to say 5. Compassion really thinks about building capacity and when you are attending training it stalls your work in the project and that impedes a successful flow. So we can have the staff strength increased. And then we can also increase local resources to add up to what Compassion is bringing and then we can have enough substance to extend to the community. You give what you have, so if you don‘t have enough it disturbs you in roping in more beneficiaries. Interviewer: Madam, he mentioned that you need more resources, but I remember in our last discussions there was a statement of the contribution of the church is not forthcoming and that in a way also affect the pace of the project. Can you shed some light on this for us, please? University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh 138 R1: Ok. What I can say is that…we have been able to do so many things… Interviewer: Like what? R1: Like computer labs. Other projects have computer labs which they have been marketing to the local communities. It is earning another resource. They have a full classroom. It is built by the church. If we have land… Interviewer: Why? Is it that the church is not focusing on this project? R1: They have their own plans for the land. Interviewer: Madam Akorfa, I think we can move on from here. So how are you sustaining the programme? The programme sustainability…the next ten years, the foreseeable future, the next 20 years, the next 50 years… R1: We are working feverishly on local contribution. We are targeting strategic church members, companies in our catchment area to support us financially…We can write to Lever Brothers, Unilever and all those companies to supply us the hygiene items so that the money which would have been used to buy those items would be used for other things. So this is how we are planning to sustain the programme. Interviewer: So what do you do in generating income? R1: Well, we are looking at other things… Our location and space is constraining us… Interviewer: Like what other things? R1; We were looking at, may be, farming – mango farming or tilapia and then piggery or grasscutter. In all of these, the mother…is the sponsor…but supervision will be a constraint since these things will be outside our location. So we are also looking at a bookshop. Interviewer: As religious freedom exist here in this programme, as a Christian organization, are you also targeting children with other religious backgrounds? R1; Yes, we give help to every needy child in the community… the Child Development Centre does not only target deprived children of Christian faith but also extended to benefit children of other religion…So we have Muslims and children from other religious backgrounds in the project. Interviewer: Ok. So the selection process does not only target Christians? R1: It cuts across. Interviewer: But you mentioned that you have spiritual development for the kids. But as a Christian organization how do you help these Buddhists, Muslim and other children from other religious backgrounds with their spiritual development, because everything will be based on Christian…So how you manage your way? University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh 139 Interviewer: Well, we…When we have such programmes and they are not around, fine. We don‘t force any one to join any Christian activities. Some of them go willingly with us to Christian activities. R2: If by God‘s grace someone joins our activities, why not. Interviewer: So you are also using it as an evangelistic tool to win more souls into Christianity? R2: Yes. Interviewer: But don‘t you think it will affect those who are religious extremists to say that oh, they are likely to convince the children so I will not allow my child, because you are teaching Christian values; they will not allow that…Don‘t you think it‘ll affect….the child? R2: Well, we never force our religion on anybody. And if you‘re hungry and I give you food, will you ask me where it‘s coming from? I‘m not sure you‘ll ask me. So we don‘t force our religion on anybody. And to add to that, I‘ll also say that when a child will [inaudible] and a parent says I‘ll not bring the child, I don‘t think that parent or that care-giver is doing the child any good. We‘re not imposing our faith on the child, and so why do you stop the child from getting what he deserves? If by circumstances you can‘t support your child and an organization is doing that without infringing on the rights of the child, then that project is for the benefit of the child and not the project. Interviewer: Madam Akorfa, some education interventions for the needy poor for the deprived people it is gender targeted. Some focus specifically on ladies…females because they think females are more deprived when it comes to education. Is that the situation with Compassion? R1: No, no, no. Ours is not gender biased. We treat every child equally. We treat every child equally; we don‘t discriminate on gender. Interviewer: So it is not that your preference is for females…once a person falls within your criteria they will be enrolled on the programme. Ok. Please, my last question: In which area has the intervention been felt most by the kids and their families? So far 9 years have‘t been…[not clear] R1: I think every aspect has performed…We even paid for a heart surgery for a child…[interjection] Interviewer: Heart surgery for child? R1: Yes, for a child…For health it is 100% sponsorship. Interviewer: So once the child is ill and attends hospital, Compassion takes care of the financial bills? Regardless of the disease… R1: Yes. Even sometimes when the child cannot get the treatment in Ghana, the child is flown abroad. University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh 140 Interviewer: Wao! Under this programme, under instances where we don‘t have the facilities or the professionals to take care of the ailment the programme undertakes to fly the child outside the country for treatment. R1: Yes. Interviewer: Oh, wao! So if we are looking at…[door creaks, makes loud noise]…So if we are looking at specifically how much it costs to meet such treatment, can you give us an estimate…let‘s say per annum? Interviewer: Ok, ok. R2: It‘s extremely huge, extremely huge. Interviewer: How many children do you have so far? R1 & R2: 260 children. Interviewer: 260 children. Ok, ok, ok. The assistance is not only for the children, but sometimes you extend it to the extended family. R1: To the extended family…Yes, yes. At times the children even bring their friends to the programme activities, so they benefit. We also provide feeding… Interviewer: You also provide feeding? Under…[interjection] R1: Every project they…once a week…by giving them lunch and snacks. Interviewer: You feed them once a week. Ok, ok. R1: We provide additional nutritional support for children we consider vulnerable. So currently every month we provide food items worth GH¢ 90 to these children. Interviewer: For vulnerable children. Why do you call them vulnerable? R1: Because they are extremely poor and need additional nutritional attention. Some are permanently sick and so for them we give additional food supplement to the tune of Ghs 120 every month. That one goes to the parent, who is a care-giver, and the child. I‘ll give you the exact amount later, the exact amount…but it‘s huge. Ok. So far, looking at the impact of this project how would you describe it and then what request would you make to the public? What are your expectations that if you are able to do, it would help improve the impact you are making now? R1: [inaudible]…many parents bring their children to us for the programme; we are limited in taking on additional children. Interviewer: So you have a ceiling? R1: Yes. University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh 141 Interviewer: Ok. So there is the need to mobilize more resources… R1: So that we can get more [faint voice]… Interviewer: So you are saying the society is not doing much to help needy children in the community? R1: Yes, because it‘s only the rich in the community who can take care of their own children and other children in the community. But they are not doing it, so if you can use your platform to sensitise the community and other persons who are capable to do that. This is the heartbeat of God, so that the burden on us could be reduced. Interviewer: I think it‘s been a healthy and nice interaction I‘ve had with you, and I have to thank you very much for time. Today is a weekend but you‘ve taken time off your busy schedule to be with me. The information you given me is very, very vital and I hope that we‘ll produce a report and bring you a copy of the report. Thank you. I think a week ago we had time with the children and the parents as well as, and we‘re grateful for that. Once we‘re finished with the report we‘ll let you have a copy for you to know what has really gone on. Thank you very much for this nice opportunity. R3: So what I want to say is that apart from those in formal education, we have some of our children who have been able to identify their talent and skills based on the extra- curricular activities at the project site. Because apart from the teaching, we take them through art work; we do basketry, we do sewing; we do tie-and-dye. So these other things identify their talents as fashion designers etc. Five have completed JHS and one has completed SHS. She even did fashion and designing in SHS, she is taking them through to learn fashion and designing. So they are in the boarding house learning fashion. We provide them with feeding, their medical bills. Every other thing they need is being taken care of. Then we have some who are also learning mechanic things, mobile phones…They have opted to learn skills. We have one who has opted to do barbering, but he has plans to go to a vocational school. But he wants to acquire an income-generating skill and we are happy about it. We encourage them to identify their skills and make them economically viable and self-reliant. So after this training, they will start making money and even support their extended families. We are supporting them…we are supporting them. University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh 142 Code: R1…………..Programme coordinator R2……………Management staff R3……………Management staff R4……………Management staff R5…………….Social worker R6……………..Accounts officer University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh