Ghana Without Orphans – GWO is an offshoot of World Without Orphan movement with a shared vision for every child to grow up in a healthy loving permanent family and knowing the Heavenly Father. GWO was born out of the understanding of God’s heart for vulnerable children and His command in Scripture (James 1:27) to take care of them.

VISION

Every child in a healthy loving permanent family

MISSION

Ending orphanhood through helping children to remain in, reunite with or regain families.

CORE VALUE

God’s Mission and the Church– We acknowledge that God is on a mission, and all children have inherent value in God’s eyes and an unconditional right to holistic development, to enable them to live up to the potential that God has given them. God cares in a special way for the fatherless, and we believe he has commissioned the Church, thus every Christian, to do everything in their power to disciple orphan and vulnerable children. We affirm the centrality of the local church and recognize its vital role in accomplishing God’s mission for all vulnerable children.

Family – We believe that family goes beyond biological ties and it is the desire of God for every child to be in a loving family.

Best Practices – As Christians, we aspire to ensure adherence to best practices in all activities undertaken by GWO.

Collaboration and Synergy – We believe in the importance of collaboration with stakeholders and the power of synergy. With our shared vision, we esteem one another and the contributions each member or organization makes to the realization and achievement of a Ghana without Orphans.

Unity in Diversity – We value our diversities and celebrate the differences among our members, believing these distinctions make us stronger as a movement. We will make a conscious decision to pursue unity with one another despite our differences.

Catalyzing Mobilization – We affirm the call of all family-based care organizations and recognize diverse approaches in bringing fulfillment to all children. We aim to inspire and be a catalyst at national, regional, local and community levels.

Partnership – We exist as a movement to foster partnerships, relationship building, ongoing communication, encouraging innovation, learning together- including the sharing of ideas, experiences, research, and resources.

OUR BRIEF HISTORY

The vision of GWO emerged when Rev. George Abaidoo dreamt of building a village called Village of Hope Africa,where orphans and widows could stay together as a family. Upon the recommendation of a friend, he attended the Transform World Global Leadership Summit at Geneva, Switzerland and Macon, France in August 2014 in a quest for knowledge and ideas to make his dream come true. At the conference, a movement by name, World Without Orphans facilitated the Orphan Challenge Workshop which changed Rev. Abaidoo’s perception and shifted his focus to family-based care. He bought into World Without Orphans’ vision and upon his return to Ghana, decided to share the vision at the International Pastors and Ministers Conference- Ghana (IPMC) which he organizes annually in Accra.

Subsequently, upon Rev. Abaidoo’s request, the WWO leadership assigned Rev. Daniel Kaggwa from Uganda to help share the vision on family-based care at IPMC on August 25thto 29th2014atAccra.The vision was embraced by pastors in Ghana and those from other 18 countries who continued to spread this vision in their respective countries. About 30 pastors and church leaders in Ghana showed interest in the vision and helped in the formation of GWO.

An eleven-member steering committee was appointed to lead the formation of GWO. GWO was finally inaugurated on 26thMarch 2015 with about sixty (60) members. Later, there were partnerships from other institutions who shared in this vision. Over the years, GWO movement has slowly taken shape and continues to champion family-based care in Ghana.

CORNERSTONES

Child: Every child has inherent value and the unconditional right to reach their full potential.

Family: Healthy family is the best environment for a child to develop and thrive. The very best environment for all children is a loving and caring family.

Church: The Body of Christ is commissioned to care for the orphan and vulnerable. It has the capacity to lead the effort in ending orphan-hood in Ghana.

Movement: Broad collaboration across all spheres is required to see transformation occur in communities and society.

OBJECTIVE

Deepening care reform in Ghana through capacity building, demonstration, and collaboration with other NGOs operationalizing family-based care models. To establish a steady and stable approach to caring for vulnerable children in Ghana based on prevention, reintegration, foster care and adoption. In accordance with the above, GWO seeks to:

1. Mobilize the church for Action: To initiate movements at the national, regional, district and community level in collaboration with churches, government agencies, NGOs, Civil Society Organisations (CSOs), institutions, corporate bodies and individuals who share GWO’s vision for vulnerable children.
   

1. Prevention: To prevent the disintegration of families through strategies such as community and church sensitization on preservation and empowering of vulnerable families.
2. Building Local Capacities for Family-Based Care: To build the capacity of NGOs, churches, and other stakeholders in the child welfare system, through training on best practices for children in need of care and distribution of evidence-based resources.
3. A paradigm shift from orphanage to family-based care: To promote the care of vulnerable children in the extended family; to orient and motivate churches in initiating ministries or advocacy programs on fostering in the church and community, and to encourage Christians in adopting children who have been permanently separated from their families just as we have been adopted into the family of God.

ANTICIPATED OUTCOME

Ghana Without Orphans becomes a cohesive and organized consortium with the capacity to implement and manage effective community mobilization activities at the grassroots level for the promotion of family-based care.

Transformational Movement: National, regional, district and community movements are initiated through the collaboration of churches, government agencies, NGOs, CSOs, institutions, corporate bodies and individuals who share GWO’s vision.

Strengthen Families/Prevention: Parents know and understand the steps to creating a healthy, safe, and strong family unit where children are living with and being nurtured by loving parents.

Mobilized Church: All Christian communities are mobilized, committed to action, and equipped with the local church in every community standing as the first answer for vulnerable children.

Permanency for Children: A paradigm shift from Residential Home for Children (orphanage) to family-based care interventions. Permanency of children in healthy families is promoted locally and nationwide as the primary goal of caring for vulnerable children.

Building Capacity: There is a comprehensive collection of best- practice and evidenced-based resources available for distribution and training.

ORGANIZATION STRUCTURE

Advisory Board (AB) serves to make policy recommendations and/or provide key information to the Executive Committee. The Advisory Board is made up of 5 or 7 distinguished individuals with proven record of integrity, faith, excellence service and dedication in society.

The Executive Committee (EC) voluntarily serves to provide leadership of Ghana Without Orphans and upholds its core values and ensures the fulfillment of its Vision and Mission. The Executive Committee is made up of 7, 9 or 11 individuals who believe and have proven leadership skills in vulnerable children care ministries. The Executive Committee members are elected for a four-year term with the possibility of re-election.

National Facilitation Team (NFT) coordinates GWO’s activities nationwide. It comprises of the administrator, financial secretary, public relationship officer(PRO)/ fund raiser and regional council teams.

General Membership is a committed core group of advocates, champions, and practitioners of family-based care from across Ghana which serves as a catalyst and support for the growth of the movement, by maintaining its vision and values. Any individual, group or organization who has been registered and approved by the EC is a GWO member.

GWO OPERATING FRAMEWORK

GWO movement is a collective national effort of churches, government agencies, NGOs, CSOs, institutions, corporate bodies and individuals united under a common vision and values.

It is not owned by any one entity but manifest through organizational collaborations, which implement family-based solutions for vulnerable children in their communities and networks. The programs and activities of GWO are implemented by the National Facilitators Team (NFT).

NFT focuses on the following key strategies:

Activate

Engaging advocates committed to catalyzing and supporting systemic change across different spheres that helps children grow up in healthy permanent families.

Connect

Building networks/systems for communication and collaboration, where champions learn from one another and work together to devise solutions.

Equip

Ensuring that practitioners have access to training resources and tools they need to build the capacity of the organization.