PwC Ghana, United Way Ghana collaborate to improve literacy

As part of activities to mark this year’s International Literacy (ILD) Day, PwC Ghana has partnered with United Way Ghana, a non-profit organisation, to hold a reading clinic and coaching sessions for pupils at the Aplaku M/A Cluster of Schools in Accra.

At the event which saw volunteers from the PwC Ghana lead small groups of pupils in over three hours of reading and coaching, the company also donated a variety of age-appropriate story books, flash cards and other reading materials to the schools.

This is the second time the two organisations are collaborating to improve reading and learning in the school.

In an interview with the Daily Graphic, an Assistant Manager and member of the PwC Corporate Responsibility and Sustainability (CRS) team, Jennifer Achaa Osei, said in June, her outfit, through the United Way Ghana, donated books to the schools but realised they were inadequate due to the high number of pupils.

She explained that while the CRS wing of the company funded part of the project, some staff also donated books and money to support the project.

Ms Osei said PwC believed in creating continuous and sustainable impact in the society and had over the years embarked on different projects aimed at improving the lives of the people.

“PwC has a global CRS team where we have projects that are rolled out on a global basis and based on that, on a national basis, we now select the project that affects us.

“We have done works in relation to menstrual hygiene, women empowerment, children, literacy, and the disability hackathon,” she explained.

Partnership

She said while the company embarked on some projects independently, it also collaborated with key partners in some sectors to create impact in the society.

“So for this project, we know our partners are focused on improving literacy especially in under resourced schools, so with their support, we were able to source the appropriate reading and learning materials for the schools.

“Aside the reading sessions, staff who have volunteered today will also share their educational and professional journeys with the children and we are hopeful that they will be inspired to study and pick up leadership roles in the future,” Ms Osei added.

The Impact and Operations Lead at United Way Ghana, Faustina Abbey, expressed gratitude to PwC Ghana for supporting the initiative.

She said they believed that education was one of the foundations of community development and sustainability, hence their drive to improve the availability and quality of reading materials and programmes in and out of schools.

For her part, Madam Issaka Hawa, the Head teacher of Aplaku M/A 1 Basic School, expressed gratitude to the two organisations for the intervention.