NABA Life Foundation is a not-for-profit organisation in Ghana that was started by Dorcas Aba Annan, a hardworking young lady who is passionate and focused on making an impact in the lives of young people in her home country and beyond. In 2010, with the help and support of her parents, siblings and Danko Ferenac (co-founder), Dorcus set up NABA Life Foundation (then called NABA Foundation). Her mission, then and now, is to create a hub for the poor and orphaned children of Ghana. The organisation currently has 7 executive members, 4 team members and 4 Board of Directors who constantly provide technical advice and support, they are also responsible for decision making and activity planning. Dorcas aims for the organisation to incentivize the use of its facilities and resources by poor and orphaned children. Her hope is that the organisation will help these children become great leaders and achieve their lifes’ goals.

While growing up, Dorcas says she observed that most young people who did not have any parental support went through a lot of difficulties, especially in acquiring and accessing facilities that could benefit them in future. In addition, she says that many children are also seen on the street with no care and support. Some of these children end up with no form of medical treatment if they fall ill. Others have no education due to financial issues or no access to educational materials. All these issues and the passion to help people urged Dorcas to kick start her organisation.

“Our vision is to create a platform where less privileged and orphan children will have access to a better life, be able to achieve all their set goals and coach them to become great future leaders in Africa. The progress of establishing NABA Life Foundation has not been easy at all since it does not have any external organisation that supports its activities financially.”, says Dorcas.

Some of the other focus areas of work for NABA Life Foundation are:

• Providing care and support for less privileged young people, especially children
• Promoting the significance of education in the rural communities, especially among the young girls
• Creating awareness and campaigns on outbreaks and significant health issues in the country
• Advocating for support to achieve all activities and mobilize resources
• Researching on relevant problems that people face in rural communities and submitting to officials to support

The organisation has also gone ahead and donated several items to some young orphans and those who are less privileged in the orphanage homes as well as some individuals who need support. ElleAfrique had the opportunity to talk more with Dorcas about fulfilling  her organization’s mission and its reception in Ghana.

Salha: What’s the response from Ghanaians about your organization and mission?

Dorcas: Ghanaians have accepted and embraced this organisation and are always supporting us by sharing the activities and programmes we do. Even though there are different non-governmental organisations in the country working in a variety of focus areas, some not so different from our own, most Ghanaians have showed interest in joining so they can also help accomplish all the objectives set by the NABA Life Foundation.

Salha: Does the Ghanaian government support your organization’s efforts?

Dorcas: No, NABA Life Foundation does not get any support or help from the Ghanaian Government. In view of this, all funds used for all the several donation drives we’ve conducted were personally sponsored by the Founder & CEO, as well as the Co-Founder Danko Ferenac. Due to this the organisation is soliciting support from all stakeholders in Ghana, Africa and over the world for support.

Apart from being the Founder and CEO of NABA Life Foundation, Dorcas Abba Annan is also the Co-Founder of World Founders Project and Co-Founder for NGO Community Awards in Ghana. Dorcas also has skills and experience in writing, editing and TV and Radio production; she has written several articles on developmental and disability issues in Ghana, oil and gas production and much more. She is also a human rights advocate and has skills in researching, project planning, media monitoring, writing, editing and designing, among others. Her hardwork and leadership skills have gotten her two awards to date: the Leadership Excellence Award (2014), sponsored by DataBank, and Overall Best Journalism Student (2014) at the African University College of Communications.