An overwhelming majority of S2S participants parents/ guardians are day traders who rely on footfall of the public to make their income. With the nationwide lockdown in place, this means of income was totally halted and placed a huge financial burden on families. This caused both parents and children to become quite desperate and the need for a holistic approach was needed beyond our usual scope.  

There were concerns that some of the children may even succumb to participating in looting closed shops if there was no intervention in place. 

Over 100 S2S participants’ and families were provided with food and hygiene packages including salt, cooking oil, bags of rice, gari (ground cassava), pasta, beans, a range of vegetables and some tinned goods including sardines and tomato paste. In addition, hygiene products such as sanitisers, soap and face masks were also distributed. 

We ensured to educate and advise families about all protocols issued by the government and also gave some reiterated some important prevention methods such as frequent hand washing, social distancing and wearing masks. 

During this exercise, our S2S colleagues became enlightened about more extensive areas for delivery that needed to be incorporated into our objectives. Through the home visitations, we strengthened our relationship with parents/guardians, gained a better understanding of S2S participants and realized the integral need for collecting both qualitative and quantitative data of our participants with consent. 

Meeting these healthcare needs often required us to raise funds on short notice, which proved unsustainable and left us unable to respond effectively in emergency situations. While healthcare wasn’t part of S2S’s original mission, the growing demand within the La community and among our participants highlighted the necessity of providing some level of healthcare assistance. 

In January 2024, we hosted a mass National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS) enrollment session in partnership with healthcare professionals and administrators from the local hospital. We were able to enroll nearly all S2S participants across all age groups. 

This initiative has provided them with access to basic medical care at no additional cost, as well as significant subsidies on procedures and medications. 

The need for this intervention and support for the children came about due to one or more of the following reasons:  

The children’s guardians and families were unable to meet the costs associated with their education at school.  

The children were at risk of child labour/exploitation/anti-social behaviour in the community if unable to continue to progress with their education.  

The children were performing below their age-related academic targets.  

S2S has successfully supported the cohort of S2S participants with the education scholarship package for the past two academic years. The children being supported through the education scholarship package: 

Have been enrolled in their most appropriate local schools.  

Have excellent attendance levels at their respective local schools.  

Are meeting or performing above their age-related academic targets.  

Continue to regularly attend the S2S after school homework club where they receive additional support including mentoring and counselling.  

As in other countries around the world, schools in Ghana were disrupted by the COVID 19 pandemic and this had a negative impact on the children’s education and ability to meet their learning objectives. As a result of this disruption on their learning our participants in the homework club felt overwhelmingly anxious about their ability to succeed in their upcoming BECE’s.  

After consultation with the local schools and parents/guardian of the S2S participants we sought to address the issue by providing additional tuition for the teenagers to help remedy some of the gaps in learning caused by the pandemic so they could feel better prepared for and more confident about their upcoming exams.  

For a period of three months S2S was able to provide funds to support the teenagers discussed with an appropriate learning facility for additional tuition classes and specialist tutors to support the candidates with the preparation for their BECE’s.  

After three months of regular and consistent support via the additional tuition classes, the S2S participants that engaged in the additional tuition classes were able to sit their BECE finals feeling better prepared and with an increased level of confidence.  

After completing their exams in October 2022, all participants who engaged in the additional tuition classes passed their exams successfully and were placed in their Senior High Schools of choice (link to Instagram post).   

After the success of the additional tuition support offered for the BECE candidates, S2S has incorporated this process within the ‘Education’ pillar of impact to ensure that participants undertaking their Junior High School exams will be provided with a better opportunity to progress and succeed in securing a place at a Senior High School of their choice.  

The 2024 season entailed various challenges for the S2S participants/players at Bila Future Stars Academy.  

A notable disruption arose following the sale of a local park (where the team had trained for several years) for the use of commercial purposes.  

This resulted in a period of instability and uncertainty for the players as the team were unable to train as often and consistently as they usually do. During this time, S2S was able to support in liaising with other institutions and organisations in enabling the team to make use of alternative grounds for training and competitive matches before eventually relocating to a pitch at  La Girls School –owned Presbyterian church of Ghana.  

This period of instability and uncertainty resulted in some challenging behaviours emerging from some of the players who were upset and frustrated after finding themselves no longer able to make use of their local park for playing football.  Mentoring and counselling was provided by the S2S team to support the players through this challenging period.  

Furthermore, the players train and play on a varied terrain of outdoor surfaces ranging from dusty football pitches/sordid grass pitches to more contemporary synthetic 3g/4g surfaces.   As such the players are required to adapt their style of play and tailor their technique and skillsets to adjust to the various types of pitches they play on.  

In summer 2024, the U17 boys’ BFSA team filled with S2S participants successfully won the GFA Ga East District Juvenile league winning all games with only one loss.  

The notable partnership between S2S and BFSA with Volta Sports in the delivery of exceptional coaching/training sessions including the provision of equipment/facilities certainly played its role in the success of the team.   

This feat served as a great piece of evidence and inspiration for the squad and greatly increased the self-esteem of the players.  Their efforts were clearly infectious as the U13 Boys team also had a commendable season by coming 2nd place and only falling short of winning by 1 point.  

The unprecedented trophy presentation for this league etched the S2S-Billa team into history. Their reputation as both athletes and individuals with the La Township also improved as previously there was and still is an unfortunate stereotype of children of that socio- economic background being stigmatized for truancy and vice.  

When Adjei began to express his interests in becoming a referee he did not have appropriate clothing or equipment.  S2S were able to support Adjei in providing him with the appropriate resources needed such as; appropriate referee attire, whistle’s, notepads, red/yellow cards, footballs, offside flags, football boots etc.  

The coaches were able to provide Adjei with mentoring and emotional support. This was particularly important as the role often involved Adjei being required to make decisions that would not be favourable for both teams and would be met with hostility from one side or another.   

Through S2S’s partnership with Bila Future Stars Adjei was able to officiate several matches in the Juvenile league and gain much practical learning experience. 

Adjei was able to progress successfully on the Catch them young programme and at the young age of 17 Adjei became a professional referee in Ghana and continues to work as a referee under the CAF regulatory body.  

Community integration that allows ‘S2S’ to gain awareness and meet the needs of the environment that the participants are in. 

Safeguards against attempting to use foreign strategic planning to solve local issues.  

An overwhelming majority of S2S participants parents/ guardians are day traders who rely on footfall of the public to make their income. With the nationwide lockdown in place, this means of income was totally halted and placed a huge financial burden on families. This caused both parents and children to become quite desperate and the need for a holistic approach was needed beyond our usual scope.  

There were concerns that some of the children may even succumb to participating in looting closed shops if there was no intervention in place. 

Over 100 S2S participants’ and families were provided with food and hygiene packages including salt, cooking oil, bags of rice, gari (ground cassava), pasta, beans, a range of vegetables and some tinned goods including sardines and tomato paste. In addition, hygiene products such as sanitisers, soap and face masks were also distributed. 

We ensured to educate and advise families about all protocols issued by the government and also gave some reiterated some important prevention methods such as frequent hand washing, social distancing and wearing masks. 

During this exercise, our S2S colleagues became enlightened about more extensive areas for delivery that needed to be incorporated into our objectives. Through the home visitations, we strengthened our relationship with parents/guardians, gained a better understanding of S2S participants and realized the integral need for collecting both qualitative and quantitative data of our participants with consent. 

Meeting these healthcare needs often required us to raise funds on short notice, which proved unsustainable and left us unable to respond effectively in emergency situations. While healthcare wasn’t part of S2S’s original mission, the growing demand within the La community and among our participants highlighted the necessity of providing some level of healthcare assistance. 

In January 2024, we hosted a mass National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS) enrollment session in partnership with healthcare professionals and administrators from the local hospital. We were able to enroll nearly all S2S participants across all age groups. 

This initiative has provided them with access to basic medical care at no additional cost, as well as significant subsidies on procedures and medications. 

The need for this intervention and support for the children came about due to one or more of the following reasons:  

The children’s guardians and families were unable to meet the costs associated with their education at school.  

The children were at risk of child labour/exploitation/anti-social behaviour in the community if unable to continue to progress with their education.  

The children were performing below their age-related academic targets.  

S2S has successfully supported the cohort of S2S participants with the education scholarship package for the past two academic years. The children being supported through the education scholarship package: 

Have been enrolled in their most appropriate local schools.  

Have excellent attendance levels at their respective local schools.  

Are meeting or performing above their age-related academic targets.  

Continue to regularly attend the S2S after school homework club where they receive additional support including mentoring and counselling.  

As in other countries around the world, schools in Ghana were disrupted by the COVID 19 pandemic and this had a negative impact on the children’s education and ability to meet their learning objectives. As a result of this disruption on their learning our participants in the homework club felt overwhelmingly anxious about their ability to succeed in their upcoming BECE’s.  

After consultation with the local schools and parents/guardian of the S2S participants we sought to address the issue by providing additional tuition for the teenagers to help remedy some of the gaps in learning caused by the pandemic so they could feel better prepared for and more confident about their upcoming exams.  

For a period of three months S2S was able to provide funds to support the teenagers discussed with an appropriate learning facility for additional tuition classes and specialist tutors to support the candidates with the preparation for their BECE’s.  

After three months of regular and consistent support via the additional tuition classes, the S2S participants that engaged in the additional tuition classes were able to sit their BECE finals feeling better prepared and with an increased level of confidence.  

After completing their exams in October 2022, all participants who engaged in the additional tuition classes passed their exams successfully and were placed in their Senior High Schools of choice (link to Instagram post).   

After the success of the additional tuition support offered for the BECE candidates, S2S has incorporated this process within the ‘Education’ pillar of impact to ensure that participants undertaking their Junior High School exams will be provided with a better opportunity to progress and succeed in securing a place at a Senior High School of their choice.  

The 2024 season entailed various challenges for the S2S participants/players at Bila Future Stars Academy.  

A notable disruption arose following the sale of a local park (where the team had trained for several years) for the use of commercial purposes.  

This resulted in a period of instability and uncertainty for the players as the team were unable to train as often and consistently as they usually do. During this time, S2S was able to support in liaising with other institutions and organisations in enabling the team to make use of alternative grounds for training and competitive matches before eventually relocating to a pitch at  La Girls School –owned Presbyterian church of Ghana.  

This period of instability and uncertainty resulted in some challenging behaviours emerging from some of the players who were upset and frustrated after finding themselves no longer able to make use of their local park for playing football.  Mentoring and counselling was provided by the S2S team to support the players through this challenging period.  

Furthermore, the players train and play on a varied terrain of outdoor surfaces ranging from dusty football pitches/sordid grass pitches to more contemporary synthetic 3g/4g surfaces.   As such the players are required to adapt their style of play and tailor their technique and skillsets to adjust to the various types of pitches they play on.  

In summer 2024, the U17 boys’ BFSA team filled with S2S participants successfully won the GFA Ga East District Juvenile league winning all games with only one loss.  

The notable partnership between S2S and BFSA with Volta Sports in the delivery of exceptional coaching/training sessions including the provision of equipment/facilities certainly played its role in the success of the team.   

This feat served as a great piece of evidence and inspiration for the squad and greatly increased the self-esteem of the players.  Their efforts were clearly infectious as the U13 Boys team also had a commendable season by coming 2nd place and only falling short of winning by 1 point.  

The unprecedented trophy presentation for this league etched the S2S-Billa team into history. Their reputation as both athletes and individuals with the La Township also improved as previously there was and still is an unfortunate stereotype of children of that socio- economic background being stigmatized for truancy and vice.  

When Adjei began to express his interests in becoming a referee he did not have appropriate clothing or equipment.  S2S were able to support Adjei in providing him with the appropriate resources needed such as; appropriate referee attire, whistle’s, notepads, red/yellow cards, footballs, offside flags, football boots etc.  

The coaches were able to provide Adjei with mentoring and emotional support. This was particularly important as the role often involved Adjei being required to make decisions that would not be favourable for both teams and would be met with hostility from one side or another.   

Through S2S’s partnership with Bila Future Stars Adjei was able to officiate several matches in the Juvenile league and gain much practical learning experience. 

Adjei was able to progress successfully on the Catch them young programme and at the young age of 17 Adjei became a professional referee in Ghana and continues to work as a referee under the CAF regulatory body.  

Community integration that allows ‘S2S’ to gain awareness and meet the needs of the environment that the participants are in.  

Safeguards against attempting to use foreign strategic planning to solve local issues.