Scotland — Child labor remains a critical issue in Ghana, as more than 1.1 million children aged 5 to 7 years old were working in 2023. This accounts for approximately 10% of children in that age group, with the majority from rural areas and often missing school. Nearly 458,000 of these children had never attended school or dropped out entirely. Farming accounts for around 31%, family support around 35% and service roles nearly 92% of child labor jobs across the country. This widespread exploitation, like hazardous work in fishing and gold mining, reveals a cycle of poverty that systematic interventions alone have struggled to break.
Government Response
In June 2023, Ghana launched its Accelerated Action Plan Against Child Labour (2023-2027), a collaboration between the government, United Nations International Children’s Emergency Fund (UNICEF), the International Labour Organisation (ILO) and civil society groups. The plan aims to tackle root causes like poverty, weak societal safety nets and educational barriers. However, enforcement and child protection in Ghana remain uneven, particularly in rural regions where capacity is limited.
Many Hopes’ Survivor-Led Model
Many Hopes, a child protection nonprofit operating in Ghana and Latin America. The organization rehabilitates children from slavery, abuse and abandonment. However, its mission extends far beyond rescue. The organization equips survivors to become adults with the capacity and character to lead change.
A spokesperson from Many Hopes shared that: “We rescue children in Africa and Latin America from slavery and abandonment… and equip them to become adults with both the capacity and the character to help others. Through local partners, we provide rescue, care and education through university or trade school.”
In Latin America, for example, Many Hopes partners with grassroots educators in rural Guatemala to ensure girls rescued from domestic servitude or trafficking are enrolled in local schools, where they also receive nutritional support and gender-based violence prevention training. These programs are staffed entirely by locals, which Many Hopes believes is key to building trust, empowerment and ensuring that interventions are culturally relevant.
Furthermore, Lake Volta in Ghana, the world’s largest man-made lake, is an epicenter for commercial fishing fueled by child slavery. According to Many Hopes, an estimated 21,000 children are currently enslaved on fishing boats; half are under 10 and 25% are under 6 years old. The organization’s partner leader, James Kofi Annan, suffered slavery from age 6 to 13 before escaping. He has now returned to Lake Volta to train and rescue others, with the goal of helping thousands transition from victims of injustice to influence.
Many Hopes’ pattern of facilitating ‘survivor-driven change’ reflects its belief that the capacity for leadership is a measure of success. According to the organization, Many Hopes’ alumni network continues to grow, serving as both peer support and community outreach arms of its mission.
Transition to Leadership
What sets Many Hopes apart is its focus on survivor-driven transformation. Many Hopes takes a long-term empowerment-centered approach, where it works through local partners to provide:
- Immediate shelter and trauma-informed care
- Access to primary and secondary education
- Long-term mentorship through university or vocational training
- Ongoing investment in leadership development
According to an email exchange with a Many Hopes representative, former beneficiaries have become “teachers, therapists, doctors and nurses” and “one beneficiary is finishing law school and plans to work in policy reform to strengthen child labor laws in Ghana, so that what happened to him does not happen to others.” These survivors now serve as advocates and role models for their peers and communities. By placing survivors in positions of advocacy and service, Many Hopes builds a feedback loop of protection, creating empowering leaders who break cycles of poverty from within.
Impact Through Education and Identity
Survivor-led advocacy mirrors Sustainable Development Goals outlined by the United Nations:
- SDG 4 (Quality Education). Beneficiaries are completing school and university
- SDG 5 (Gender Equality). Many Hopes supports and empowers girls who were rescued from sex trafficking or forced labor
- SDG 8(End Child Labor). Beneficiaries reintegrated into society as agents of change
- SDG 10 (Reduce Inequality). Locally-led programming rooted in community resilience
UNICEF reports consistently identify reintegration and education as critical gaps in anti-trafficking interventions, often leading to children slipping back into exploitative situations.
Linking Child Rescue to Leadership
Digital storytelling has become a strategic tool for Many Hopes to amplify its message and attract funding beyond traditional donor pipelines. Creative Director of Many Hopes, Madeline Pahr, is currently leveraging her TikTok account to seek major corporate sponsorships to scale Many Hopes’ child protection work in Ghana and Latin America. Indeed, the organization estimates that a $1000 investment can support one child from rescue through therapy, education and leadership development. With a proven track record of graduates becoming policymakers, health care workers and community leaders, Many Hopes offers a high-leverage impact model that outperforms short-term rescue efforts alone.
According to a 2023 study in the Journal of Economic Psychology, there is a strong positive correlation between social media campaigns and monetary donations among young people, often due to the emotional resonance of videos. By connecting directly to survivor success stories, Many Hopes bridges the gap between empathy and action.
Looking Ahead
Child labor remains widespread globally. According to the 2021 Global Child Labor Report, 160 million children were engaged in child labor. While Ghana’s interventions are underway, the survivor-led model pioneered by Many Hopes can offer a blueprint for policymakers and NGOs worldwide through rescue that builds leaders, not survivors. As governments across Sub-Saharan Africa align with SDG targets, survivor-led models built on local knowledge and identity offer both moral clarity and policy impact.
– Rebecca Lee
Rebecca is based in Scotland and focuses on Good News for The Borgen Project.
Photo: Flickr