SOS Children’s Villages in financial crisis; seek public intervention

Decline in foreign donor support is taking a heavy toll on the management of the four SOS Children’s Villages in Ghana.

National Programs Development Manager, Anthony Owusu Gyamfi says the villages are presently in dire financial crisis.

The continuous operations of the orphanages, he noted, now depends on the benevolence of Ghanaians.

“Ninety-eight percent of our funds come from foreigners but we’ve gotten to a point that we can’t rely on foreign donors because the gradual decline in foreign support is likely to jeopardize the future of the children in the village,” Mr. Gyamfi told TV3. “It has now become critical that we source for funds in Ghana so that we stop over-relying on foreign support”.

Management of the Villages has instituted an annual fundraising event to source for funds locally in its quest to sustain the running of the homes.

The fundraising officer of SOS Village, Edris Sarah Asiedu, is worried plans of expanding the scope and activities of the village to six other regions in Ghana have to be put on hold because of the limited resources.

“Currently, we have the SOS children’s village in Greater Accra (Tema), Ashanti (Kumasi), Eastern (Asiakwa) and Northern (Tamale) but we have plans to cover all the ten regions in the country in order to cover more children who are under-privilege. It is prudent for us as Ghanaians to assist ourselves,” she said.

At a fundraising event at the Calvary Charismatic Centre in Kumasi, Mrs Asiedu said the event is to create awareness of society’s responsibility to support the vulnerable to become independent and useful citizens.

“SOS Children’s Village Ghana wants to be self-reliant, we want to create a society where every child belongs to a family, and we want to reach all the ten regions in Ghana,” she said.

The institution has appealed to Ghanaians to contribute in giving good quality care to orphaned children.