Awareness Into Action: Social Support Foundation

This series of posts documents two ordinary folks attempting to get out there and do good. Over the next few months, we’ll follow them through the setbacks and triumphs of their endeavor to take the inspiration of Mountainfilm and turn it into something tangible. (To catch up. start here.)

As you’ve read, we connected with Free The Slaves, a U.S. based NGO, and through them the Ghanaian organization we are currently working with, the Social Support Foundation (SSF). A little about the organization: Back in 1999, a consortium of local groups banded together to raise HIV/AIDS awareness and provide counseling to those living with the virus. Included in the coalition were religious groups, youth groups, tribal groups, civil groups, etc. They had been brought together by CARE International to cooperate on addressing HIV/AIDS issues across disparate interests and stakes. The idea was to provide a non-partisan forum that recognized all Ghanaians were in the same boat when it came to the HIV/AIDS epidemic. As the project came to a close, a few dedicated individuals recognized the necessity of sustaining the actions of the group. Thus, the Social Support Foundation was founded. As SSF grew, it began to address other issues affecting Ghanaians, including slave labor and human trafficking, upon which much of their current efforts are focused. This is the organization as we encountered it upon our arrival: a core group of arduously dedicated individuals striving to stretch a shoestring budget as far as possible. Jenny and I are inspired by them, and are determined to help in any way possible. As Jenny has a background in operations, I have a background in finance, and we both have dabbled in web design, we began to accumulate projects.

The first project we dug our claws into was designing a website for SSF. We hope this will provide a platform to promote the organization’s goals and assist in fundraising. It’s nearly finished; check out the work-in-progress here. We’ve also begun to help them revise their HR policy and develop a simple yet comprehensive accounting system. (Sexy, we know...) We’re hoping that the combination of clarity of goals and transparency of operations will help them cogently express their message to a larger audience who will then feel comfortable supporting the organization. Along with these projects, we are also working on documenting their projects through video, photography, and writing. We’ll get more into this project on subsequent posts, but suffice it to say we’re really looking forward to this part of the gig. Check back next week to learn about SSF’s efforts to combat child slavery in galamsey (small scale mining) operations in the area. Thanks again for checking in!