Ford College Community Challenge

GHANA

Ghana

Launched in: 2015
Application Timing: Jan. - Feb.

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In partnership with global nonprofit Enactus, Ford Fund invites student teams to develop ideas for innovative projects that address an unmet social need or problem in the local community—ranging from safety to workforce development to access to mobility, and more. Each year, up to three Enactus student teams are selected to receive a $3,000 USD grant to implement their project. Through this program, students use entrepreneurial action to make people’s lives better and help their community become a more sustainable place to work and live.


2019 Ford College Community Challenge Winning Projects

Falefale

Ghana Institute of Management and Public Administration: Accra

The Falefale Project is dedicated to eradicating open defecation in Ghana by providing areas with little or no toilet facilities, the facilities they need so community members can practice proper hygiene. The project will be carried out in two phases. First, the Enactus team will launch a social media campaign to educate the residents about the need to end open defecation. Second, a toilet facility will be built in Teshie Leesheii. Unlike the ones previously constructed, the toilet facility will be fabricated from aluminum, making it less expensive, faster to build and moveable. The project will be sustained by a service fee plan, where patrons will be required to pay a fee to use the facility. This fee will serve as the main source of revenue for maintenance. In the long term, the team plans on partnering with biofuel fuel firms. These partnerships will serve as a revenue stream that will sustain the project into the foreseeable future.

Reccoplast

KNUST- Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology: Accra

Reccoplast is a water and sanitation project that tackles the issue of plastic pollution in the environment. It involves recycling plastics into paver bricks. The waste generated serves as a source of raw materials to produce the bricks. To ensure a self-sustaining project that can generate revenue, the KNUST Enactus team has placed waste bins in the community, which are supervised by waste bin guards. These waste bin guards deliver waste generated during the day to the production center for a fee. At the same time, waste generated in schools is collected and delivered to the center. The team has trained members of the Nsawam Zongo Youth community to produce the bricks. Each brick is produced at a unit cost of $0.20 and a selling price of $0.40. To ensure the effectiveness of the project, the team divided the training sessions into three steps: production, entrepreneurship and marketing.

Maize

University of Mines and Technology: Tarkwa

In Ghana, maize is the largest staple food. It is the base for several traditional food preparations, and it is a good source of vitamins, minerals and dietary fiber. Despite the nutritional and economic importance, Ghana loses about 318,514 tons of maize annually due to post-harvest loss. To address the issue, the government of Ghana, the private sector and some academic institutions have developed new technologies to help curb post-harvest loss. However, the traditional system is still widely used in all the ten regions of the country due to its low cost and availability. Taking these factors into consideration, the UMat Enactus team aims to improve the situation through an innovative solution called Maize Preservation Project. Their vision is to partner with their university to build an affordable system that will preserve the maize. Then, the team aspires to create employment opportunities and later cooperatives that will allow people to be part of a positive change in their community.