The Communities

Beyond Eight focuses on impoverished rural areas in Ghana and Kenya. Beyond Eight has partnered with local grassroots organisations in both Kenya and Ghana to implement and run the Program.

To ensure that we understand the educational needs and requirements of the community, the local Educational Committee is responsible for identifying and prioritising the most needy and dedicated students within their community.

An Educational Committee has been established to enrol students into the program. The Educational Committee consists of a balance of varied community stakeholders, including (but not limited to) the local village chief, the Chairman of the School Board, the Headmaster of the school, members from the Parents and Teachers Association, local teachers, the Beyond Eight Country Director and a Beyond Eight delegate.

Ghana

The rural regions of Ghana have been identified as a suitable communities for the Program. In this region, a third of the population have never attended school. Nearly two-thirds of the population aged 15 years and older are literate, but less than half are literate in both English and a Ghanaian language. The levels of literacy, attendance and educational levels are significantly higher for males than for females.

Only 2 per cent of the population have reached the tertiary level of education. Of the total enrolment of 513,068 in schools in the region, 62.4 per cent are at the primary level, 23.1 per cent at the junior high school and 6.9 per cent at the senior high school levels. Should all the pupils at the primary school level qualify to enrol in junior high school, there would be insufficient staff to accommodate all students. Furthermore, many families cannot afford to send their children on to senior high school.

This attests not only to the stiff competition at the points of entry to the junior high school and senior high school levels (in addition to the tertiary level) but it also explains the significant proportion of students who terminate their education at the primary and junior high school levels. As students progress in their education, dropout rates increase and consequently so does the overall level of education in the region.

Kenya

The Beyond Eight Program was established in Kenya through two partnerships: one with an orphanage and another with a primary school in rural Kenya. These affiliates were chosen for their contrasting cultures, lifestyles and locations. The state of poverty and lack of education in Kenya widely varies between localities, tribes, religions, and the degree of modernisation. The communities in rural Kenya where the program is based represent two very different instances of education deprivation. The diversity of the partnerships will allow the Program to benefit and bring together these two communities which are set apart by tribes, location, and lifestyle, but deal with very similar issues.

The primary school, in collaboration with the local Educational Committee, represents the rural branch of the Program in Kenya. The primary school is located in a barren and highly impoverished small town several hours from the capital city, Nairobi. The town’s local population consists of farmers and petty traders who are battling with a persistent drought. Being far from the somewhat more prosperous environment in Nairobi, the community’s families struggle to earn enough money to care for their often very large family unit. This means that most families cannot afford to provide basic necessities such as food and shelter, let alone to send their children to school beyond the government-subsidised level.

The orphanage supports young people from the age of two until the age eighteen who may have been orphaned owing to HIV/AIDs, domestic violence, and various other causes. The centre receives occasional donations from international individuals and businesses, but this is rarely enough to provide for every child. The centre receives no government funding and relies entirely on donations for its food, clothing, staff and school fees. It is the objective of the centre to provide the necessities of life (food, shelter, clothing, and medical attention) and an education to homeless street children. These children attend local school in a nearby town and many are becoming the top students in their class. The centre's aim is to help the children become morally, spiritually, economically and socially self-reliant. It brings together children from different backgrounds, tribes, clans and family circumstances with the hope that they can join together in a single family unit. It is hoped is that they will become role models to help other vulnerable children.