Country: Ghana
In partnership with:Self-Help Initiative Support Services
Funded by: Comic Relief
Period: January 2007 - Aug 2011

Agbogbloshie is the most densely populated slum in Accra. The project aimed to improve the appalling living conditions of Agbogbloshie residents who lack basic amenities such as clean water, shelter and employable skills, by establishing an informal grassroots 'community college' to train local people with new skills in computing, batik making, catering and hairdressing. It also influenced policy makers to prioritise slum regeneration and provide improvements to basic services.

1,546 people in Agbogbloshie were trained in vocational skills in computing, batik making, catering, and hairdressing. Some of these former students went on to increase their incomes by working in hotels, offices or set up their own businesses, in the process leaving the slum for better homes in Accra.

In addition to the skills training, over 1,000 more slum residents participated in the project's community outreach programme. This offered public workshops on housing, HIV/AIDS, health and safely issues.

Maternal health care clinics and HIV/AIDS testing were set up in collaboration with community nurses from the local hospital. These services were not available to Agbobloshie residents before and were a breakthrough in delivery services to some of the most vulnerable people in the capital.

The project also collaborated with the fire service to establish a team of local fire wardens.

Residents were also equipped to research data through a slum mapping initiative.

Read the former trainee, Barakisu Sumara's story

Find out more about our ULP-GIS Mapping Project.