GWF Partnership Program Overview

OVERVIEW:

The GWF Partnership Program seeks out deserving schools and education-based organization in Ghana. We aim to provide these institutions with assistance so that, together, we may improve the educational opportunities in their communities. GWF actively recruits schools, educators, and students in America to join our partnership and lend their knowledge and skills to help us achieve our mission.

HOW IT WORKS:

GWF locates schools and education based organization in Ghana that we wish to work with. We choose institutions based on their reputation and background checks. Once a mutual interest is shown, the partner school or organization must go through an application process to ensure that they share the same vision as GWF. Generally, schools must meet three basic criteria for a partnership to be considered:

1. They must show a sincere need for assistance. This could be in the form of volunteers, resources, funding, training, or other.

2. They must offer affordable education and/or an extensive scholarship program.

3. They must show a history of dedication toward improving educational opportunities in their communities.

Once a partnership is formed, the school/organization defines its own needs and aims. This is essential to our program's success. Meanwhile, GWF gets to work on the other side of the Atlantic, looking for partners, recruiting volunteers, creating awareness, and organizing fundraisers among many other things. We especially seek out educators and students in America looking to participate in meaningful service-learning projects. These schools and students ultimately join our partnership and strengthen the network surrounding our partner schools in Ghana. The larger this network grows, the more support our partner schools will receive. The more support they receive, the faster they will achieve their educational objectives. Their educational objectives are directly tied to the educational opportunities within the community. Therefore, as they go, so goes the community. This, ultimately, will allow communities to break free from the cycle of poverty that has plagued this region and make way for organic and sustainable growth from within.

The more help we get in America, the more partnerships we can form, and the more communities we can positively affect. This, in a nutshell, is how we plan on making a difference in Ghana.

WHY IT WORKS:

Basic truths: The GWF Partnership Program is built upon five basic truths:

1. Communities in Ghana need assistance.

2. Many Ghanaians are working hard, and doing a very admirable job, assisting their communities as you read this.

3. Education is the key to progress in any community.

4. People in America want to help, but many don't know how.

5. People in America value their hard earned money.

From these truths we have created a system that works efficiently and effectively. Below you will see why...

Foundation of Trust : GWF board members have spent years in Ghana. Our time there has allowed us to establish relationships and build a network in the education and NGO community. We use these relationships and networks to locate deserving schools and NGO's that need assistance.

There are thousands of schools and organizations worldwide that are deserving of donations and outside support. The problem however is finding them or separating them from the less reputable institutions. This difficult task often results in reluctant donors, and deservingly so. GWF does the work for donors and goes out and finds deserving schools that you can be proud to support. We regard this task as one of our most important contributions and we take great care and consideration into our decision making process. In the end, GWF chooses our Partner Schools based on their vision, their work, and their integrity. In order for the partnership to be successful our relationship MUST be built on trust.

School Centered Goals: Donors are also reluctant to part with their money because they are unsure about the effectiveness of their donations. This is a reasonable concern, as many of the large scale aid efforts have failed publicly and miserably. Sadly, it has taken many experts and millions of dollars to realize what may seem obvious to some: aid only works well when the recipients want it to work.

Because we carefully choose the schools we work with, our relationship is founded on trust. Our Partner Schools have a history of successful education practices well before GWF begins working with them. This trust is essential in our relationship. We know that they are more than capable, more so than any outside organization, of defining, evaluating and expressing their own needs and goals. GWF simply offers support to quicken the process in which they have already started. Because we allow our schools to make their own decisions, the money and support we provide is always used effectively and efficiently without any hidden agendas or counter arguments that so often destroy other aid efforts.

Maximum Support: Because GWF has chosen to remain a completely volunteer organization, we are proud to say that your donation goes exactly where you want it to go. In fact, in our five plus years of existence, over 95% of all donations have made it to our schools and education projects. You will be hard pressed to find an organization with similar numbers. Therefore, when you donate with GWF your hard earned money really goes to where you hope it is going.

Role Playing: It wasn't always evident and there certainly was some trial and error, but over the years, GWF has learned how we can be most effective. We have learned to trust our Partner Schools and provide the services that they cannot easily provide. We have learned to listen first and act together. We have worked hard to establish relationships built upon a mutual passion for education and accountability to our donors. Today, we are proud to offer both our donors and our Partner Schools our unique services.

To our donors we provide the certainty that your hard earned money is going to a cause that truly deserves support, as well as a level of transparency and integrity that is unique to GWF. To our schools in Ghana, we offer our growing list of contacts in America and worldwide to help them reach their educational objectives. These clearly defined roles guarantee satisfaction with everyone involved.

Capitalism Works: There is no denying that capitalism increases productivity while valuing the consumers dollar. Therefore, it would be foolish to ignore this basic principal in the world of NGO's and foreign aid. Rather than ignore, GWF embraces it. We hold our Partner Schools accountable for making our donors' money produce the greatest results possible and make it clear that there are dozens of hard working schools and NGO's in Ghana that would happily partner with GWF for the opportunities we provide. We make sure that our Partner Schools understand this before we partner with them, and choose schools based on this understanding. Today, our partner schools work hard to produce tangible results and stretch their donations as far as possible, often times using creativity and ingenuity that would be lost on outside agencies who might be trying to do the same thing.

Sustainable Outcomes: GWF is NOT an emergency aid organization. We do not save dying schools and we do not rebuild schools in the wake of tragedy. We carefully select our Partner Schools knowing that they have the vision, man power and integrity to make a difference in their community without GWF. We simply hope to provide that extra boost that will help them achieve their goals faster and to a greater extent. Our schools share the same vision as we do: that they may one day be able to operate in their communities without any outside assistance; that one day GWF will leave them in search of a new school to help nurture into a sustainable institution of higher education.