Welcome to the Yonso Project
We are a registered 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization devoted to increasing educational and economic achievement in the developing world. Our programs operate in partnership with rural communities in the West African nation of Ghana.
The Yonso Project is the combined effort of a local Ghanaian staff and an all-volunteer fundraising team in the US who work together to sponsor student scholarships, administer microloans, improve local schools, and pursue other innovative projects to provide opportunity to families and individuals in rural Ghana.
Enjoy our website and please consider supporting our programs with a donation by clicking on the button to the left!
Yonso Project News:
May 28, 2010
Read about our new Teach Abroad program
Thanks to the hard work and careful planning of YP board member Anthony Caccavo, our Teach Abroad program is getting off the ground. The YP will be recruiting undergraduates, grad students, and professionals from the United States to spend a semester or more teaching in a rural Ghanaian school. Click here to read about this exciting new addition to the Yonso Project!
May 8, 2010
Thanks to all of our Mother's Day donors!
Our Mother's Day fundraiser was a great success! Thank you to everyone who donated, and thanks especially to the Yonso Project interns who made this fundraiser happen.
The holiday is passed, but you can still buy a box or a card from the Yonso Project for any occasion. Click here to read more.
April 28, 2010
Give a Mother's Day gift with the Yonso Project
Mother's Day is coming soon, and what better way to give a memorable gift than to make a donation to the Yonso Project? We are sending Mother's Day gift cards and gift boxes in return for a donation of any amount to our microlending program. Please click on the flyer at right for details, or click here to buy your card or box now. If you would like more information about our microlending program, please read more here.
April 2, 2010
Training from Ghana's National Board of Small Scale Industry
Yonso Project staff in Ghana recently hosted a four day educational session for YP microlending clients. The women in our microlending program received valuable business training from a representative of Ghana's National Board of Small Scale Industry. Providing instruction to our clients about how to effectively manage and sustain their businesses enhances the Yonso Project's microlending program and further improves the quality of life of our clients and their families. Please click on the photo to the right to view other scenes from the training.
February 28, 2010
Thank you to the World Geography students of Valley Academy!
Recently, we received an unexpected letter in the mail from Wenatchee, Washington. We were thrilled to find it was a donation from a group of second, third, and fourth grade students who have been studying Ghana in their geography class at their school in Wenatchee, Valley Academy of Learning. In December, the students raised over $150 by holding a bake sale at their school, and are donating the proceeds to the Yonso Project! Please click here to read their letter to the Yonso Project.
Our thanks goes out to the students at Valley Academy and to Mrs. Page -- not only for your generosity and hard work, but also for your willingness to learn and care about Ghana. Keep up the great work, and keep learning about the world! Your donation will help families in Yonso and other towns to make a better life for themselves.
February 5, 2010
In Honor of Donna Louise Kuhn
The Yonso Project would like to thank Sue Dupre for her generous donation of $950 in honor of her mother, Donna Louise Kuhn. The donation will fully fund tuition for one graduate student in the Yonso Project's Teach for Rural Ghana program, which allows young Ghanaians to enter the field of teaching. In return, the teacher will spend several years teaching in the underserved schools in our communities in rural Ghana.
Donna Kuhn was a board member of the Ohio Committee of the Church World Service and an active Hospice volunteer into her mid 70s. She also sponsored several children through the Christian Children's Fund. Thank you to Mrs. Kuhn, and thank you again to Sue Dupre!
January 25, 2010
A Visit to Yonso
Michael Berino is a Peace Corps volunteer serving in Burkino Faso (which borders Ghana to the north). While visiting Ghana over the holidays, Michael stopped by Yonso to check out the Yonso Project. Click here to read his blog post about his visit, complete with great pictures of the YP bike project and more.
November 3, 2009
In Memory of Florence Billingsley Ricks
The Yonso Project has just received a donation in the amount of $2,000 in memory of Florence Billingsley Ricks. This generous gift was made by Dottye Ricks to honor her grandmother. Dottye is a long-time supporter of the Yonso Project, and we are all extremely grateful for her wonderful generosity -- as are the families in Ghana who will benefit from her donation!
About half of the donation ($1,100) will be used to support a promising entrepreneurial venture in our communities. Last month, a group of workers from our communities attended an intensive training session near Yonso where they received instruction about bicycle building. The workshop was sponsored by American entrepreneur Craig Calfee, who hopes to employ residents of Yonso and our other communities to build bikes out of bamboo. Expect more news about this project in the near future.
October 23, 2009
Thank You Letters from Scholars
The YP's scholarship program has touched the lives of hundreds of young students. The scholarships that we award to needy children in Ghana are small by US standards (from $100 to $300 per year), yet they open the door to education for the students who receive them. The program is made possible by the generosity of donors in the US, especially those who sponsor an individual Ghanaian student's education.
Scholarship and Public Relations Director Sonja Good Stefani has compiled a sampling of "thank you" letters written by some of our scholars to their sponsors. These remarkable letters reveal the gratitude of the students receiving scholarships and the urgency of their desire to to go to school. Please take a look.
October 23, 2009
YP Annual Meeting
On October 2nd, the Yonso Project held its 2009 Annual Meeting in Rutland, Vermont. As with all operations of the YP in the United States, 100% of the cost of the meeting was paid out of pocket by those of us in attendence, including travel expenses. Every dime the YP receives in donations is used to fund programs in Ghana rather than for organizational overhead.
The Annual Meeting marks the beginning of a new fiscal year for the Yonso Project. The YP Board reviewed fundraising, expenditures, and program operations for the past year. The Board also revised and approved a budget for the coming fiscal year that was submitted by YP staff in Ghana. Decisions made at the meeting include the following
- the Yonso Project is no longer affiliated with YOSU, the Yonso Students' Union
- the YP will begin issuing larger microloans to groups of first-time borrowers and will attempt to offer health insurance to our most senior borrower groups
- members of the YP Board will be required to raise a larger amount of money per individual