Alpha FMC partners with AfriKids as Charity of the Year
Consulting firm Alpha FMC has partnered with charity and social enterprise AfriKids. The aim of the partnership will be to help AfriKids Ghana become self-sufficient from AfriKids UK’s operations, through bolstering its local governance and social business activities. The partnership makes AfriKids the firm’s charity of the year for 2016, with a timeline for AfriKids to become self-sufficient by 2018.
The northern region of Ghana continues to face considerable poverty. The large region is for the most part rural, with around 75% of its population engaged in agricultural work. The region has the third highest poverty headcount in the country, with poverty rates in some of its districts, including East Gonja (84.2%), followed by Bole (79.4%) and Kpandai (76.9%) districts, above 75%. The region has a high level of illiteracy and continues to lag behind the country’s coastal areas; missing key infrastructure, being vulnerable to tropical diseases, as well as to droughts and floods.
AfriKids
AfriKids is a partnership between a UK charity, AfriKids (UK) and a Ghanaian non-governmental organisation, AfriKids Ghana. The organisation operates in the northern Ghana region with the aim to ensure that every child in the region is afforded the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child. The NGO works with a range of stakeholder in the regional society and uses a holistic integrated approach to dealing with human rights issues faced by people under the age of 21. Projects include the protection of children from suffering violence, abuse, neglect or exploitation; access to healthcare; a complete education; disseminating human rights to children; empowering parents in the region to create opportunities for their offspring, by for instance having their financial affairs in order; and establishing social enterprises in the region that are able to sustainably fund the operations of the organisation in the region.
The organisation, which has been operating for more than 13 years, was named Charity of the Year at the 2015 Charity Times Awards. AfriKids was recognised for its work by which, among others, more than 383,500 cases have been treated at the AfriKids Medical Centre; 18,358 people have received IT training at the AfriKids ICT Academy; 1,692 mothers have received micro-finance loans and business training helping them to better support their children; and 10,575 children have become members of AfriKids’ Child Rights Clubs.
As part of Alpha FMC’s support of charity work, the consulting firm recently announced it will support the Ghana arm of AfriKids to become self-sufficient from its AfriKids UK support by 2018. This means that the firm will seek ways through which the social enterprise and local governance side of the charity’s operations can be strengthened to the point that they no longer require support from the UK. According to the firm, “AfriKids will mark itself out as a model for sustainable development, an organisation that is indigenously run and sustained, eliminating dependency on western support and putting itself at the centre of its local economy’s development.”
Alpha chose to partner with AfriKids after a rigorous selection process and an all-company vote. Alpha’s Head of Marketing Nick Fienberg, remarks that “We are thrilled to be partnering with AfriKids in 2016. We were really impressed with the vital work which AfriKids undertakes in Ghana, and are very excited to be able to contribute via fundraising as well as through sharing the business skills we have in our company.”
Amy Parker, CEO at AfriKids UK comments: “We are delighted that Alpha has chosen to partner with us as their national charity partner for 2016. We’re hugely excited by the potential this has to accelerate our business aims, and think Alpha’s staff and skillset will be invaluable to our organisational needs at this moment in time, and we believe this will be a fantastic example of a progressive, shared value partnership. We want to thank Alpha for supporting us at this pivotal time.”
