Givology - give to learn, learn to give

By focusing their efforts on a single area of rural Ghana -- currently, five small towns with a combined population of about 12,000 – the Yonso Project tackles some of the largest problems facing the developing world on an effective, manageable scale. The Yonso Project exists to address the needs of the people in the towns they serve by implementing and funding programs that serve both the community as a whole and each individual or family.

The Yonso Project differs from most other nonprofits and non- governmental organizations working in Africa in several important ways:

First, the Yonso Project is a grassroots, volunteer-ran organization. The Yonso Project grew out of a meeting of two groups of American and Ghanaian college students at the University of Ghana in 2005. The Yonso Project today is administered by some of those former students who continue to sacrifice their time without pay.

Second, they are truly a partnership effort. Their work is to assist developing communities on their own terms, not to impose their terms upon them. The fact that their operations are focused on a single group of small towns in rural Ghana allows them to stay in constant contact with the community and attuned to its needs. All of their program operations are managed by their Country Director, Kwabena Danso, who grew up in the town of Yonso and is one of the Yonso Project's founders.

Third, the Yonso Project is built out of individuals. Their organization is made of a handful of extremely dedicated people in the United States and Ghana working together to create profound change on a human scale. In place of an administrative bureaucracy, the Yonso Project is run by volunteer members who divide fundraising and administrative functions among one another; each member is also encouraged to pursue his or her own vision and innovate new projects. Their paid Ghanaian staff is drawn from dedicated community members who are likewise individually passionate about tackling the educational and economic challenges facing their country and who bring their own innovative ideas to the table.

The idea behind the Yonso Project is simple -- that real, valuable improvements to communities can be achieved by just a few dedicated people working across continents and cultures to address people's needs. To learn more about what exactly we are achieving, please visit their web site.