A street child
There is a lot of good news in Ghana. Ghana is politically stable compared with other African nations. It has just completed its fifth consecutive peaceful democratic election. Economic growth has been expanding steadily since 2000 with annual GDP increasing from 3.7% in 2000 to 7.3% in 20081. Poverty is falling! In 1991/2 the national poverty rate was 52%. By 2005/6, this was down to 28%2.
However, these impressive achievements obscure the huge differences within the country. The three northern regions tell a different story. People in these regions suffer grim hardship, experiencing poverty levels of 88%, 84% and 70 % in the Upper East, Upper West and Northern Regions respectively3. The main occupation is rain-fed subsistence farming which is limited to the short rainy season, leaving most people vulnerable to persistent food insecurity and no creation of livelihoods for a large part of the year.
Youth Alive is working with some of the most vulnerable groups within these three regions. Please click the links on the left to learn some of the serious problems stemming from this poverty.
1.(Ghana Ministry of Finance and Economic Planning, 2008)
2 (Ghana Living Standards Survey 2005/6)
3.(VSO Country Briefing Info for Ghana 2009)
Youth Alive Ghana 