Map of North Ghana

Tools for Schools Africa Fdn. is based in Red Deer, Alberta while Shine Sisters Society is based in Accra. We work together to support education for girls from north Ghana and have been actively involved in the Damongo community since 2005.

One of the main focuses of TFS-Africa is helping to improve access to education for promising girls. The scholarship recipients come from many different villages and represent almost all of the administrative districts in north Ghana. We work in the north because there is a large divergence in both economic and educational opportunity for girls between the north and the south. Ratings of literacy within the country are examples of these differences. While the 2010 census lists the rate of female literacy for the country as a whole at 65.3%, the literacy rate for women in the Northern Region is under 20%, likely significantly less.

Although we have been asked many times to help in other locations, it is our feeling that we do the best work by staying in one community over time. The Damongo community knows us and we know so many individuals and families in the area. We can make better decisions when we have a greater understanding of families, the community, traditions and the ongoing problems. It is not an understanding that can be developed in weeks or months, but over years. As well, it would be hard to find people as committed to the education of bright girls as are our mentors in Damongo. We have no religious affiliation and do not evangelize.

Below are pictures from the Damongo area.