Borgen Project

What problem is being addressed?

Ghana seeks to reduce poverty levels through the use of financial "hand-ups" to improve living conditions and access to social assets such as education, training and opportunities.

What is their innovative solution?

• Actions: The Borgen Project provides financial transfers to the poor to allow them access to food, education, and healthcare. The poverty-fighting packages include some combination of microcredit financial aid, public works, training, agricultural extension services, financial literacy and links to credit units. The work has enabled Ghana to overcome major economic societal hurdles to become the first country to achieve the Millennium Development Goal to reduce poverty and hunger in sub-Saharan Africa.
• People: Sergiy Kulyk, the World Bank Country Coordinator for Ghana, Liberia, and Sierra Leone and the World Bank
• Resources: World Bank’s financial support

How is this relevant to Meadville?

• Problem: Low-income individuals and families in Meadville could benefit from a "hand-up" that would allow them to move beyond meeting minimum daily needs and therefore invest in education, transportation, housing or healthcare that could help advance their future. There are three trade schools in town, however improving access for lower income people could provide better paying jobs in the future.
• Partners: State and private funding, as well as grants and donations could help people pay for schooling. Kiva Loans, which has a group established here in Meadville, could also contribute to covering the costs of attending school.
• Significant: Improving people’s lives through the increase of accessibility to attend a secondary education institution will have a positive effect, allowing people to receive higher paying jobs and pull themselves out of poverty.

https://borgenproject.org/ghana-poverty-success-story/