Leading With Grit

Dear Lead For Ghana Community,

Welcome to this week’s edition of Briefings From Lead For Ghana, brought to you by OFI. Here’s what to expect:

1. School Spotlight: African Faith Basic School - Laying Foundations, Shaping Futures.

2. Alumni Spotlight: Mohammed Napare - Leading with Grit, Purpose, and Vision.

3. Education News in Africa: Ghana’s Education Ministry assured Ga Adangbe communities that their language will be included in an expanded AI pilot, while Eduwatch urged the government to cancel foreign undergraduate scholarships and redirect students to local tertiary institutions.

School Spotlight: African Faith Basic School - Laying Foundations, Shaping Futures

African Faith Basic School sits quietly within the Jerusalem Community, a place where access to quality education is limited but hope persists. Established in 2012 through a partnership between Mondelez International, CARE International Ghana, and the African Faith Church, the school began as a modest primary institution before expanding into a full basic school in 2018. Today, with 102 pupils learning in temporary wooden structures and a Junior High School block slowly taking shape, African Faith Basic School reflects both the challenges and the possibilities of community-rooted education.

Yet beyond infrastructure, one issue stands out sharply: low community involvement and a limited sense of school ownership. Teacher commitment fluctuates, attendance is inconsistent, and many learners struggle with foundational skills. But inside these same classrooms, two Lead For Ghana Associates Mary Quainoo and Patience Achambeh are planting the seeds of long-term transformation.

Rebuilding the Basics: Mary Quainoo’s Journey With Early Learners

When Mary began teaching Basic One and Two, what she encountered was daunting. Learners struggled to identify simple letters and numbers, and English instructions were nearly impossible to follow. Lessons had to be delivered almost entirely in the local language just for learning to begin.

But Mary refused to let the enormity of the gap overshadow what was possible.

She introduced structure. Consistent classroom routines that brought order where there had been none. And in a community with limited learning resources, she turned to the little technology available: her personal phone. Educational videos, nursery rhymes, and simple action-based clips helped students understand instructions like “run” or “clean the board,” building comprehension step by step.

Slowly, progress emerged.

Learners who once stared blankly at the alphabet began identifying letters confidently. Some learned to spell their names for the very first time. And in one of the school’s proudest moments, Mary and a colleague trained learners for a week ahead of a circuit quiz and the lower primary students won, bringing home the first cup the school had ever received.

For Mary, the Lead For Ghana experience has been a journey of leadership as much as teaching. She speaks candidly about moments she nearly gave up, but credits the program for strengthening her patience, empathy, and belief in the long game of education.

“Foundational skills take time,” she shared. “But if we do this well, these children will grow, and they will succeed. That’s my hope.”

A Different Set of Challenges: Patience and the Combined Classroom

While Mary works with the youngest learners, Patience teaches Basic Three and Four even though she was originally assigned to Basic Two. Staffing shortages meant combining classes was the only way teaching and learning could continue.

Her learners were energetic, bright-eyed, and eager but their foundational gaps were deep. They could recite alphabets and numbers from posters on the wall, yet struggled to recognise specific numbers like 21 or 27 when asked to point them out.

Patience decided that repetition alone wasn’t enough.

She implemented daily warm-up routines where learners recited numbers from 1 to 100 before lessons began. She intentionally brought struggling pupils to the board each day, guiding them to move beyond memorisation into true recognition.

Progress was slow. Sometimes painfully so.

“There are days I wonder if what I’m doing matters,” she admitted. “Some students forget as soon as you teach them. But then I remind myself growth is like a seedling. With the right nutrients and attention, it will sprout.”

And in that belief lies her quiet strength.

Through the Fellowship, Patience has seen her leadership evolve into something steadier, more resilient. She has learned to stay consistent even when results lag behind effort. Her hope is unwavering: that the children she teaches today will one day look back and see this as the moment their dreams began.

Alumni Spotlight: Mohammed Napare - Leading with Grit, Purpose, and Vision

A graduate of the University of Ghana with a major in Philosophy and a minor in Sociology, Napare proudly embraces the identity embedded in his name, a reflection of his Northern roots. His introduction to Lead For Ghana began in 2018, long before he entered the classroom. Moved by the literacy challenges he observed among some university peers, Napare set his sights on teaching in an underserved community. Though his first application was unsuccessful, he remained resolute. During national service, he reapplied and earned a posting to Queen’s Girls Senior High School in the Western North Region.

Napare describes his fellowship experience as “bittersweet”, a blend of challenge, exposure, humility, and deep growth. Immersed in a setting far different from his upbringing, he learned to navigate limited resources, embrace cultural differences, and strengthen his adaptability. The experience sharpened his mindset and affirmed his conviction that education must be understood as both a classroom and community pursuit.

Today, Napare serves as an Emerging Public Leader within the Ghana Education Service, a highly competitive fellowship that he creditably secured through the growth mindset instilled by Lead For Ghana. Despite coming from a general arts background, he now works in the National Science Unit, confidently facilitating engineering and robotics sessions guided by the belief that “impossible is nothing.”

His leadership extends beyond the classroom. Napare currently represents a cohort of 44 fellows across 12 public sector institutions. The role demands diplomacy, emotional intelligence, and resilience, especially when navigating diverse and often strong opinions. He attributes his success in this role to the interpersonal skills built through his LFG experience, particularly learning to engage with people from varied cultures and perspectives.

Looking ahead, Napare is driven by an ambitious mission: introducing 10,000 Ghanaian students especially those outside the country’s most resourced schools to STEM and STEAM education this year. His plan includes partnering with Lead For Ghana schools, conducting outreach programs in rural communities, and bringing students to the National STEM Center in Accra for hands-on immersion. A standout achievement so far. He has been leading an all-girls team from Teshie Technical to victory in an exhibition competition organized by Timeless Women of Wonder in late 2025.

When advising current Associates, Napare speaks with conviction. “Change is difficult, but entirely possible if you act. Good intentions mean little without deliberate effort. Document your stories, embrace the small but meaningful moments, and use your voice. Explore your community fully, because the fellowship is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity meant to be lived wholeheartedly.”

Education News In Africa

Ghana: Ministry of Education reassures Ga Adangbe communities over inclusion in AI language project

The Ministry of Education has responded to concerns raised by Ga Adangbe communities regarding the perceived exclusion from a pilot project with Google to develop an artificial intelligence-powered education tool in selected Ghanaian languages. In a statement, issued by the Press Secretary to the Minister for Education, Hashmin Mohammed, the Ministry clarified that the initial selection of four languages is strictly for pilot testing and will later be expanded to include all twelve approved Ghanaian languages. (Source: GraphicOnline)

Ghana: Cancel foreign undergraduate scholarships - Eduwatch

Africa Education Watch (Eduwatch), a CSO, has petitioned the government to cancel all foreign undergraduate scholarships under the University of Memphis agreement, since they have no legal basis. In line with that, it said necessary measures should be put in place to ensure beneficiary students in the UK and US universities continue their education at local public tertiary institutions in the country. It also urged the government to halt further accumulation of scholarship arrears to foreign universities and reduce Ghana’s exposure to foreign-denominated educational debt. (Source: GraphicOnline)

Announcement

Connect With Us
For all the latest updates and behind-the-scenes scoops that don’t always make it into our newsletter, be sure to follow us on our social media platforms. By connecting with us, you'll receive regular updates, gain insights into our initiatives, and get a closer look at the impact we're making. Plus, it’s a great way to engage with our community and share your thoughts and ideas. Join us on Facebook, Instagram, X, TikTok, WhatsApp Channel, and LinkedIn to ensure you never miss out on any of the action!

Join The Movement

The work we do is made possible by generous donations and grants from well-wishers and individuals who strongly want to see Ghana and Africa thrive. For us to continue the work we do and expand educational opportunities to all children in Ghana, we are counting on you to support our work by becoming a donor to our cause. Thank you so much, and we look forward to you joining our donor community.

About Lead For Ghana:
Lead For Ghana is a movement of solution-driven leaders expanding educational opportunities to all children in Ghana. We are a Ghanaian not-for-profit organization with a firm conviction that education is the most powerful solution to all societal problems and the medium to provide equal opportunities. So we commit people, funds, and ideas to ensure that all children in Ghana can attain an excellent education.

_____________________