“When my stomach is empty, I cannot concentrate. With food at school, I believe I will do better in my exams.”
Rosario, Tantuo Junior High School (above left)
Life is hard in Nandom North, the location of our tenth hub in Upper West Ghana. Impoverished and remote (near the border with Burkina Faso), most of its 11,000 inhabitants survive on subsistence farming – with poverty incidence in some villages as high as 50%. Children arrive at school hungry because their families are too poor to feed them. Many are in torn uniforms and broken shoes. Hunger makes it hard to concentrate or stay in school all day, and many don’t even attend.
But for one hundred and eighty-seven pupils in the remote villages of Bu and Tantuo, everything is about to change. Their schools are going to be Action Through Enterprise’s 14th and 15th partner schools – and a daily lunch, textbooks and educational materials will give them the chance they deserve to learn with dignity.
“Sometimes I come to school without eating, and it is difficult to understand what the teacher is saying.”
Jessica, Tantuo JHS
“This feeding programme will transform our school. Hunger has affected attendance, enrolment and performance for years. Knowing these children will have a meal each day will encourage more children to attend.”
Eusebius Bayuo, Headteacher, Tantuo JHS – where attendance is just 57%
Access to education will change everything. Children will be literate and numerate, more able to find work or run businesses. Girls will avoid early pregnancy or marriage. We have done this before, taking schools with even lower attendance of to over 85%.
We’ve been working with parents, schools, local leaders and the whole community over the summer, laying the groundwork for our launch in Nandom North. This autumn, we’ll start a new disability group. Parents at the two schools will build kitchens, we’ll employ four cooks and we’ll begin providing school lunch in January 2027. And later next year, we’ll launch our enterprise programme for apprentices, entrepreneurs and farmers.
The expansion to Nandom North is the next stage of our careful roll out across Nandom District.
“Spending time in Nandom North Hub, especially in Tantuo and Bu, I have seen such enthusiasm for this program. People are actively involved in everything we are doing and serious when it comes to their children’s education and the development of their communities. They eagerly await us!”
Judith Dery, new Nandom North Coordinator
Find out how you can support pupils at Tantuo and Bu JHS on our Funding Priorities page Fund a Rural School.