Records of YMCA international work in Ghana

The YMCA was one of the earliest voluntary organizations in Ghana. It was started by Wilkins Micaber Abbey in 1890 in Accra and was initially named the Accra United YMCA. During this same time the Bremen Missions in Togoland were also encouraging the growth of the YMCA movement. A number of YMCAs grew up in Ghana, though they were mostly attached to churches and missions and did not come together to form a movement.

During World War II the British YMCA extended work for its armed forces in Ghana and the YMCA began to come into the public eye. After the war, efforts were made to further develop YMCA work in Ghana with financial and staff assistance from Great Britain, Germany and the United States. The National Council of Ghana headquarters was established in Accra and became the location for all YMCA functions. The Ghana YMCA soon operated actively within seven separate regions, Greater Accra, Ashanti, Brong Ahafo, Western, Central, Eastern and Volta, each of which had a full time secretary. By 1961 the Ghana YMCA was a full member of the World Alliance of YMCAs and by 1981 there were 36 local YMCAs operating within the country, consisting of 12,000 adult members and 6,000 youths. Each association was autonomous, had its own board of managers, and designed its own programs.

Major program areas common to all of the YMCAs in Ghana focused on formal and non-formal education and rural work. Educational programs included adult education and literacy programs; a vocational training center in Accra that provided training in carpentry and masonry; a Rural Enterprise Guidance Association (REGA) project in Ashanti, where craftsmen and women in kente weaving, adinkra printing, clay pot making and wood carving industries were organized in cooperative societies and assisted in basic small business management; and the Family Life Education and Counseling (FLEC) program; which was designed to inform the youth and adults about the significance of married life, parenthood and to relate information about family planning. Rural work programs included health clinics, day care centers, family planning, model farms, leadership training, primary schools, and a program for the development of rural market cooperatives. The latter were focused on the Eastern region of Ghana and designed to upgrade existing methods of distribution and marketing of foodstuffs and agricultural products of farmers on a cooperative basis, create permanent or temporary employment opportunities through cooperative ventures, encourage the spirit of initiatives and self help, and provide leadership training on farm management and cooperatives.

The Ghana YMCA in the 1980s hoped to extend development projects to all regional YMCA centers, consolidate YMCA work, improve the financial base of the movement and develop new programs that could meet the needs of Ghana's young people. It developed a program with Sister Cities International and Goodwill International in the United States in order to get assistance in determining what vocational training services and/or job creation activities were required to meet the needs of the Sekondi-Takoradi area. The program was also used to determine how existing government and private agencies might provide training opportunities to youth, especially youth with disabilities in the communities of Sekondi-Takoradi.

In the early 1990s the Ghana YMCA re-emphasised the need for the further development of Ghanaian society. The YMCA continued to assist Ghana in facilitating development processes through community development, self-help programs and neighborhood collaboration. In the early 2000s the Ghana YMCA expanded their scope to also focus on the educational campaign against HIV/AIDS. The YMCA National Council of Ghana also strove to maintain the forest resources in their country. This was necessitated by the fast approach of the Sahara Desert in Northern Ghana and the country's loss of their natural resources. The Ghana YMCA also adopted a Women Empowerment Program that allowed for self sufficiency and financial independence among Ghanaian women.

(Historical information largely adapted and quoted from "YMCA International- World Alliance of YMCAs: Ghana" (http://www.ymca.int/where-we-work/ymcas-country-profile/africa/ghana/, 2010; retrieved August 8, 2012), and from the collection.)