Global charity Right To Play and LFC Foundation – the official charity of Liverpool Football Club – have launched a new project to improve early childhood education for hundreds of thousands of children in Ghana, as part of the long-term partnership between the two organisations.
The three-year project will strengthen national and district kindergarten education systems through the delivery of high-quality, play-based teacher training across Ghana. This will help improve teaching practices in the country, ensuring better learning outcomes for children aged four and five. The project will support around 652,500 young children across eight regions of Ghana.
Through the project, more than 14,500 kindergarten teachers will benefit from training, coaching and mentoring designed to embed play-based learning in classrooms across the country. The project will also support the professional development of education officials responsible for supporting teachers in delivering and sustaining quality early years education.
Play-based learning is fundamental to early childhood education, supporting children’s cognitive, social, emotional, language and physical development during the early years and helping to establish strong foundations for future learning and growth.
Running until May 2029, the new project will be delivered in collaboration with the Ministry of Education and other key education stakeholders, helping to ensure long-term sustainability and alignment with Ghana’s national education priorities.
Ghana has made significant progress in expanding access to early childhood education, with free and compulsory kindergarten education now available for all four- and five-year-olds. However, many teachers lack training in the use of effective play-based teaching methods needed to fully implement the national kindergarten curriculum.
National assessments show that almost two-thirds of nine-year-old children in Ghana lack early reading skills and more than one-third lack early numeracy skills by Grade Two. Children living in rural and northern regions, those from poorer households and children with disabilities are disproportionately affected by unequal access to quality early learning opportunities.
Matt Parish, chief executive of LFC Foundation, said: “Every child deserves the opportunity to learn, grow and reach their full potential.
“Through partnering with Right To Play we are investing in children during these crucial early years to help create stronger foundations for lifelong learning and future success.”
Gillian McMahon, Executive Director at Right To Play UK, said: “We are incredibly proud to be working with our partners LFC Foundation on this ambitious and impactful project in Ghana. The early years are critical to a child’s development, and play-based learning is one of the most effective ways to help children build the literacy, numeracy, social and emotional skills they need to thrive. Together, we are supporting the Government of Ghana’s vision for quality kindergarten education while helping ensure that hundreds of thousands of children have the opportunity to learn in safe, inclusive and engaging environments.”
LFC Foundation and Right To Play have been working in partnership since 2019, delivering transformative projects to thousands of children across Thailand, Senegal, Tanzania and Ethiopia.
In Tanzania, the partnership has helped reduce barriers to education for girls and improve academic performance in the rural Serengeti and Tarime regions. In Senegal, Right To Play and LFC Foundation have supported vulnerable girls and young women to build life skills and challenge gender norms through sport and play. In Thailand, the organisations have renovated community play spaces and delivered sport and play programmes that have empowered thousands of children and young people with essential life skills. Most recently, the partnership expanded to Ethiopia, where it is helping improve reading outcomes and mental well-being among vulnerable children affected by conflict and displacement.
Right To Play has been working in Ghana since 2001, delivering programmes focused on education, child protection, health, gender equality and inclusion. The organisation has a long history of collaboration with Ghana’s Ministry of Education and is one of three civil society organisations supporting the Government of Ghana’s flagship initiative to train kindergarten teachers nationwide.
Previous Right To Play programmes in Ghana have resulted in significant improvements in children’s literacy, numeracy and social-emotional development, contributing to improved reading outcomes and school attendance.
In season 24/25 LFC Foundation supported 145,617 people with a further 19,000 people outside of the UK having also benefitted from an LFC Foundation programme, in Tanzania, Ethiopia, United States, Republic of Ireland and Japan.
For more information about the LFC Foundation and Right To Play project/partnership, please visit: https://righttoplay.org.uk/en/national-offices/national-office-uk/whats-new/launching-early-childhood-education-project-ghana-lfc-foundation/
