Access to Portable Water

Overseas Relief Organization has recognized and agreed on the comprehensive normative content of access to water and sanitation as human rights issues essential for survival and dignity.

Our Water and Sanitation Projects on the ground do not only support human rights issues but also build the foundation for achieving a wealth of other human rights, including the Right to health, the Right to Development, and the right to Education since children(especially girls)are often kept home from school because of inadequate hygiene facilities, especially in underserved communities.

According to the Ghana Living Standards Report 2019, the total population of Ghanaians without access to water stands at 36.5 percent with only three regions namely Greater Accra (82.2%), Central (58.1%), and Ashanti (53.6%) having good access to pipe-borne water. While the remaining 13 regions, use well water mainly for drinking and cooking in their rural communities which ranges from 12.6 percent to 26.7 percent.

This can be translated to mean that, rural residents use water from wells and other related sources as their main sources of water for general use, while urban residents tend to use pipe-borne water for general use.

In view of this, Our efforts include building wells, providing water purification systems, and educating communities about safe water practices and sanitation.Clean water is not just a basic necessity; it’s a foundation for a healthier life.

Access to Healthcare

In Ghana, the average travel time (minutes) to access a healthcare facility ranges between 30-60 minutes  on  average

Within the urban setting. While their counterpart in the rural area Percent spent more than 181 minutes  (more than 3 hours)  on average to health facilities. But access to healthcare is also a fundamental human right where there is a need for us at Overseas Relief Organization to partner with local healthcare providers considering preventive care, maternal and child health, and disease prevention to make healthcare services more accessible for all communities.

Gender Inequality

By thriving to improve Gender Inequality at Overseas Relief Organization using evidence-based data, we have realized a very strong linkage between poverty and gender which establishes that living conditions and life circumstances among women are more associated with the characteristics of poverty than that of men, leading to a conclusion that poverty is gendered, and that men and women experience poverty differently, with women being more adversely affected.

Overseas Relief Organization also thrive to improve Gender Inequality because we work in hard-to-reach rural communities where the population is more affected by poverty than their urban counterpart in Ghana.  This has allowed us to adopt sustainable livelihood programs and gender-positive strategies that aim at improving women’s access to economic and social resources to enhance their capabilities and capacities.

Furthermore, We promote and deploy sustained poverty reduction strategies in the Growing inequality household consumption and regional disparities that require a commitment to reducing the inequality gap while improving access to opportunities for all citizens. 

In spite of very moderate achievements in economic growth and poverty reduction, evidence suggests that the gains are not evenly distributed across regions, localities, genders, and abilities.

The Ghana Statistical Service has estimated that rising inequality actually increased poverty by 4 percentage points  –  representing almost 1 million additional people consigned into poverty.

Rural women in particular face greater difficulties in transforming their labour into more productive employment activities and their paid work into higher and more secure incomes.

Food Security and Agricultural Advancement

In Ghana, the Agricultural sector remains the major backbone of many rural women and men with the majority of farmers;77 percent involved in subsistence farming, characterized by smallholder farms of less than five acres in which its productions result in limited market-oriented activities.

Overseas Relief Organization has discovered the disparities existing in land holdings, with men holding 3.2 times more of the total farms than women and 8.1 more of the medium-large farms (five acres and more).

However, Household heads who are farmers are the poorest and contribute the most to Ghana’s poverty Incidence. Households with uneducated household heads are also among the poorest.

Ultimately, such efforts are intended to ensure that all Africans are able to live productive and fulfilling lives and to uphold the SDGs’ pledge to “leave no one behind.”

As a result of this, Overseas Relief Organization would provide farmers with the tools, knowledge in sustainable farming practices, and resources they need to improve crop yields and increase their income.

Empowering Education

Education plays an important role in the socio-economic development of Ghana as it equips individuals with the necessary knowledge and skills to fully contribute towards the development of society.

At Overseas Relief Organization, We believe education is the key to breaking the cycle of poverty through our commitment to the provision of Quality Education for children in rural areas.

However, In Ghana, only 32.5 percent of the children population (6-11 years) of the gross school attendance rate have access to primary education. Only about  24.3 percent of the JSS Population (12-15 years) have access to education.

The pattern is, however, different in the urban-rural areas as the proportion of the population attending basic school is low in the rural areas.

It is for this reason that we are committed to the realization of the Sustainable Development Goal which seeks to ensure inclusive and equitable quality education and promote lifelong learning opportunities for all.

We do this through working closely with local schools, teachers, and families to ensure that every child has the opportunity to learn, grow, and dream of a brighter future.

Economic Empowerment

Overseas Relief Organization is an essential partner of governments in the pursuit of economic empowerment.

Inequality has become a defining issue of the present time that must be addressed.

Nearly two billion people lack access to formal financial services and approximately 90% of these people live in developing countries including Ghana. This is why we believe in the power of entrepreneurship and self-sufficiency. We can do this by providing training and support to individuals and groups interested in starting their own businesses or micro-enterprises aimed at reducing unemployment and increasing income opportunities in the country.

Climate Change

Our Climate Change policy Concentrates on the link between human development and environmental protection, particularly focusing on vulnerable ecosystems such as natural forests, special reserves, and areas of important scientific interest, which is of noteworthy conservational importance but is under threat from population growth, habitat destruction, or changing weather patterns.

Ghana’s deforestation pathway is characterized by incremental degradation over time and the pattern of forest degradation to deforestation has been driven first by logging, followed by smallholder agricultural expansion, and finally encroachment into reserves.

While, the cost of soil erosion is estimated at about US$0.54 billion, or 0.9 percent of the country’s GDP, at the same time, the cost of environmental degradation in Ghana due to the unsustainable use of land for agriculture, forests, and mining stands at 2.8 percent of national GDP (2017).

Land degradation harms Ghana’s most vulnerable population, the rural poor, entrenching extreme poverty even more deeply in their community.

As a result of this, Overseas Relief Organization in this theme seeks to establish or strengthen a virtuous circle of human well-being with habitat or species conservation, underpinned by a system of sustainable livelihoods that would ensure conservation outcomes.

Rural-Urban Continuum

Sustainable change requires community involvement and leadership. We work closely with local leaders and community members to identify their needs and develop tailored solutions. Our projects are community-driven, ensuring that they are both effective and culturally sensitive.