Real life in Ghana

Students will be asked to consider the global agreement ‘Agenda 21’ and how this has been translated into a local agenda for their community. Having considered how international and local level change happens they will then draw on statistics and first hand accounts of Ghanaian children’s diaries and social commentaries, to consider the impact of changes taking place in Ghana and the positive and negative development potential of these changes.  

Background:
Ghana, situated in West Africa, gained independence from the UK in 1957. It is the world’s second largest producer of cocoa, however nearly half the population lives below the poverty line. In Asesewa, the area on which this resource is based, life is changing: new roads, the rise of communication technology and changes to education policy are all having an impact on those who live there.
 
Based on the original project ‘Ghana Diaries’ which linked schools in the UK and Ghana to share these changes, these new lesson-plans have been designed to bring the wealth of information collected from this project into the classrooms of pupils across the UK.

About Plan:
Plan has programmes in 46 countries and is committed to supporting communities to create and administer their own solutions for improving lives. Children are at the centre of everything we do, so play an essential part in the process of planning and implementing projects within their communities.

In Ghana this means that children are working to overcome gaps in their education provision by spreading key educational messages between their peers about issues such as hygiene and HIV and Aids.

Through education resources such as this one, Plan UK aims to help young people in the UK gain not only a better understanding of the world that they live in, but also to inspire them to play an active part in making it a fairer place.

Resource information

‘Real life in Ghana’ includes:
- 4 Key Stage 4 cross-curricular lesson plans with clearly stated curriculum links.
- 4 accompanying activity sheets (photocopiable)
- Information sheets on society in Ghana
- Related photos (with access to a bank of over 100 others through website)
- Downloadable country files
- Web links for further research