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Home > The Sunshine Hope

The Sunshine Hope: unearthing potentials, fulfilling dreams, safeguarding the future!
Accra, GhanaCape Coast, Ghana

Ester Korsah

Year Founded:
2015
Organization type:
nonprofit/ngo/citizen sector
Project Stage:
Idea
Budget:
$1,000 - $10,000
Facebook:
https://www.changemakers.com/The%20Sunshine%20Hope%20Ghana

Employment
Youth development
Poverty alleviation
Vulnerable populations

Project Summary
Elevator Pitch

Concise Summary: Help us pitch this solution! Provide an explanation within 3-4 short sentences.

We are dedicated to removing barriers that obstruct children from reaching their full potentials in life. 1 of 3 families in my village is headed by
an unemployed single parent. This is the root of many vices in the world today.

WHAT IF - Inspiration: Write one sentence that describes a way that your project dares to ask, "WHAT IF?"

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 What if skilling unskilled single parents today can save tomorrow from stress?

About Project

Problem: What problem is this project trying to address?

The foundation seeks to end streetism, armed robbery, teenage pregnancy and poverty. All these problems are linked in a chain. Poverty
prevents children from reaching their potentials. This makes them end up on the streets and others getting pregnant in their attempt to feed
themselves. When grown, these will unleash their anger on society by picking up their guns against society. This is what Sunshine Hope seeks
to address with a passion.

Solution: What is the proposed solution? Please be specific!

Sunshine Hope believes that the family is the basic unit of society. The training and support a child receives from home determines who he will
be in future. This means that the financial status of the family is very important. unfortunately, most families in Ghana are headed by
uneducated, unemployed single parents who can hardly support their families. This sends most children out of school onto the streets, some
becoming violent and others getting pregnant. To break this chain, Sunshine Hope will provide free vocational training in bead making and fabric
dyeing to single parents and uneducated youths. Sunshine will employ them after and pay them salaries. Surplus funds from their work will be
used to support their children's education.

Awards

No awards yet.

Impact: How does it Work

Example: Walk us through a specific example(s) of how this solution makes a difference; include its primary activities.

As a child growing up with a single mother in a community where no one cared, i did a lot of farm work trying to survive. I got help from a
philanthropist who took me through the senior high school. My financial burdens reduced drastically when a friend introduced me to bead making. It
took me 3months to learn the craft. After, i began making bead necklaces and bracelets on my own. I saved up to 2,000Cedis within a year and
that is what paid my university fees for the first year. I am able to support my younger sibling through school, thanks to the bead making business.
I now care less about school fees.

Impact: What is the impact of the work to date? Also describe the projected future impact for the coming years.

Imagine a society where no child drops out of school because his or her parent has no money to support him, a society where no teenage girl out
of financial constraints gets pregnant and where brutalities for survival on the part of the attacker is unheard of. this is the impact Sunshine Hope
seeks to create. A single mother of five will have her own source of livelihood out of which she will be able to support all her children through
school. No child will grow up bitter because society neglected him. I am now in the university because i learnt a bead making. We hope to sustain
the dreams of 100 children in my village within two years. This will reduce teenage pregnancy and other vices by 70%. This is because the children
will be in school and well catered for so will not fall prey to irresponsible adults.

Spread Strategies: Moving forward, what are the main strategies for scaling impact?

Sunshine Hope will provide opportunities to single parents and youths in Cape Coast for the start. After a year, it will spread to the greater Accra
region and the northern regions of Ghana. Sunshine Hope will provide scholarships to children in the next five years. We hope to empower the
parents and youths through seminars and conferences. We will partner other organizations fighting the same course to assist more families
international. The parents would sell their arts and use the money to take care of their families.

Sustainability

Financial Sustainability Plan: What is this solution’s plan to ensure financial sustainability?

The Sunshine Hope will depend on grants, donations, personal savings and fundraising for its start-up. The center will manage its own affairs after
six months of start-up. It will pay workers and volunteers from the sale of their wares. It will set up an educational support fund from its surplus
returns. Donations and grants will be accepted no matter the stage of the project.

Marketplace: Who else is addressing the problem outlined here? How does the proposed project differ from these
approaches?

There are many projects on the market. Some are Plan Ghana International, Project Hope Ghana, Aglow Women's Movement and 31st December
Women's Movement. These organizations give scholarships and feed children on some occasions. Some also provide training to some women.
Unfortunately, most of these trainings require huge start-up funds that the women are not able to raise. Sunshine Hope will provide a source of
livelihood to their parents so they will be feed all the time. The craft will require less money to practice. Those who are already out of school will be
given skills and be employed.

Team

Founding Story

I am the fourth child of an uneducated, unemployed single mother. I lived in a community where that was a common thing to find. I suffered untold
pains trying to defy the norm to get myself through school. Many of my friends couldn't and gave birth a long the way. Stealing was a common
practice and the health issues were untold. I saw nothing wrong with them until I came to the university.A pathetic child approached me one
morning and requested for food. I had none so he walked away sadly, turning back all the time.This scared me.What will this child become in
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 society if nothing is done to help him? What will the whole world be if everyone behaves like youths and children in my community?

Team

The project has 7 team members, three full-time and two part-time members. Three members are undergraduates and products of single parent
homes whose life experiences have made them very passionate about the course they are pursuing. These are youths who can talk their youth
targets into joining the project. The rest of the team are a single mother and a single father. These are faces who will convince their colleagues that
the project is real. They are all volunteers. We also have two university professors who will provide counsel when need be. We have as a vision to
see all children fulfilled.

Source URL: https://www.changemakers.com/uconn-susi-student-leaders-social-entrepreneurship-2015/entries/sunshine-hope