Focus on out-of-school children and improving the quality of public Ghanaian schools are the two most pressing needs for achieving Education for All in Ghana. A focus on girls is also particularly important since closing the gender gap and ensuring basic education/literacy among females will not only help realise the Education for All goals but ensure that poverty is reduced for the next generation of children. Very few agencies have been able to achieve significant impact in the areas of girls’ education despite the emphasis at national level, this is coupled with little government resourcing targeted towards girls’ education over the last ten years.

Ibis is through its integrated approach within the EfE programme, focussing on reaching children out of school; on improving the quality of education; and on increasing the opportunities for girls, as it can have a tremendous impact in deprived areas where basic formal education is often not functional.

The most pressing need for Ghanaian children remains their ability to “break through to literacy” in well tested programmes such as those offered by EfE’s Complementary Education Programme and Accelerated Learning Programme. The target age group is also important since this is the group being considered the “window of hope” to break the poverty circle e.g. through reducing poverty and reducing the spread of HIV/AIDS.

Such processes require that a critical mass of educated girls reach SSS level or equivalent in order to translate the socio-economic outcomes of education within the family level and to the next generation of children. In other words; breaking the poverty circle in northern Ghana will require a significant emphasis on girls’ participation within the EfE programme in order that they reach higher levels of education.

The introduction of complementary approaches will not be enough. Female teachers acting as facilitators and role models, guidance and counselling along with a significant shift in improving the quality within the school will also be key.

Finally, since the Government's capacity to deliver quality education is limited particularly in rural deprived areas of northern Ghana, they will need cost effective models, which allow children in poverty endemic areas to participate in flexible education systems in order to be convinced of their efficacy.

The Government will also need well-tested and evidence based approaches to empower their teaching force and provide teachers with requisite skills for teaching literacy to needy children. The emphasis of the EfE programme on empowering civil society to hold government accountable for education promises remains a significant need particularly at the district and national levels.

Ibis Ghana’s long term work in supporting coalition building particularly within the education sector has produced tremendous results with organisations such as the NNED now being recognised by national and district stakeholders as a source of important information concerning the needs of the rural poor.

Ibis works for a just world, in which all people have equal access to education, influence and resources.