Baptist Relief and Development
The Convention, in line with its aims and objectives, established the Baptist Relief and Development Agency (BREDA) in March 2000. It was registered as a body corporate under the Companies Code 1963 (Act 179) to implement the socio-economic activities of the Convention. The establishment of BREDA was in fulfillment of the Convention’s mission of reaching the lost for Christ through a holistic ministry in partnership with local churches to meet the socio-economic needs of believers.
Per the constitution of BREDA, the Agency is to serve as an umbrella body for all other NGOs operating within the Ghana Baptist Convention.
Mission Statement
Reaching the needy and the lost for Christ through a holistic ministry in collaboration with local Baptist Churches and other partners.
Core Mandate
- Assist underprivileged communities in the fight against poverty.
- Empower underprivileged persons, particularly women, to be self-supporting through income-generating activities.
- Assist with emergency relief and rehabilitation.
- Assist and educate rural communities in the areas of sanitation, health, and nutrition.
- Assist in the fight against injustice, unfair competition, and the violation of human rights.
Functions
a. Initiate and develop social intervention programmes in line with the strategic direction of the Convention and the core mandate of the Agency.
b. Conduct research and identify gaps where the Convention can lead the way in making a positive difference by sharing God’s love through the provision of social intervention programmes.
c. Develop project proposals for external funding of social intervention programmes.
d. Manage social intervention projects and programmes to support the holistic ministry of the Convention.
e. Monitor and evaluate all social intervention programmes/projects to ensure milestones/targets are met cost-effectively.
f. Partner with other NGOs to implement socio-economic projects that reflect the core mandate of the Agency.
g. Supervise the following programmes/projects of the Convention; (i) Baptist Vocational Training Centreh, (ii) Mafi Early Childhood Development Centres (Mafi Project, (iii) Mafi Early Childhood Development Centres (Mafi Project), (iv) Baptist Child Development Programmes (Tamale and Tahima).
h. Train and equip local churches to engage in holistic ministry, i.e., evangelistic social ministry.
i. Coordinate activities of Baptist Schools until such a time when a full-fledged educational unit is established.
Programmes & Projects of the Convention supervised by BREDA
An institution that trains and equips ex-Trokosi girls to gain employable skills. Trokosi is an age-old cultural practice in the south-eastern part of the Volta Region and some parts of the Dangme area of the Greater Accra Region of Ghana. With this practice, people, mostly girls, are sent to some fetish shrines to atone for the crimes of their relations. Mysterious deaths in families are sometimes attributed to the wrath of the gods as a result of offenses (ranging from petty thefts to murder) committed by a member of the family. It is believed that the only atonement acceptable to the gods is a member of the family being sent to the shrines to serve as a slave. The unfortunate victims, who are mostly innocent of the crimes, are often virgin girls. At the shrines, the girls are subjected to all sorts of human rights abuses and in most cases become wives of the fetish priest at a very tender age. Since 1998, the Convention has engaged shrines to release many of the girls for training at BVTC. The centre is also open to other less privileged girls to enroll.
Six Mafi towns are benefiting from this project: Atitekope, Adave, Anfoe, Meyikpor, Mafi Zongo, and Mafi Adiekpe Korpedeke. The salaries of the teachers in these schools are paid by the Convention. From time to time, the Convention, through BREDA, provides teaching and learning materials for these centres. BREDA is soliciting assistance to construct decent classroom accommodation for these centres.
Started in 2010, brilliant but needy girls within the Baptist fraternity are supported to pay their school fees at the Senior High School level.
This is a child-sponsored project being funded by the Christian Children’s Fund of Canada (CCFC). About 2,338 children are being sponsored under the two projects, which are being implemented on behalf of the Convention by the First Baptist Church, Tamale. Aside from the sponsorship, the programme focuses on the following intervention areas – education, health and nutrition, water, sanitation and hygiene, sustainable livelihood development, and cross-cutting issues (gender, child protection, environment, and disaster relief).
PREVIOUS PROJECTS
Relief Support
Assistance was extended to victims of the 2007 Northern Ghana flood disaster. About $10,000.00 worth of relief items were donated to NADMO to support their effort. Donations of food items were also made to Baptist Churches that were affected by the floods. This was made possible with support from Baptist World Aid (BWAid).
Health Advocacy
BREDA successfully implemented an HIV/AIDS advocacy project from 2003 to 2006 with funding from the Ghana AIDS Commission.
Agriculture
BREDA operated a 178-acre farming land facility of the Convention at Agona Asafo in the Central Region to cultivate food crops as an income-generating venture to support the work of BREDA and the Convention. However, it was discontinued in 2008 due to operational challenges. The South West Sector is currently running the farms.
Income-generating Projects
These included the Bolgatanga Basket Weaving Project, Wa Cashew Project, Cape Coast Gari Processing Project, Bawjiase Cassava Project, Agona Asafo Vegetable Farm, and the Women Empowerment Project. Most were funded by BWAid.
Advocacy Against Trokosi
This project was initiated in May 2011 with the hope of creating awareness about the Trokosi practice through human rights advocacy to effectively reduce the indulgence of the practice. The project ended in April 2015. It was funded by the Danish Mission Council Development Department (DMCDD) through the Baptist Union of Denmark and International City Baptist Church, Copenhagen, Denmark.
Mpakadan Water Project
BREDA commissioned a borehole facility for the people of Mpakadan, a resettlement community in the Asuogyaman District in the Eastern Region, in June 2015 to resolve their perennial water problems. This project was funded by First Baptist Church, Raleigh, NC, USA, in commemoration of its 200th Anniversary.
Christian Children Fund of Canada (CCFC) Buruli Ulcer Project
With funding from the Christian Children Fund of Canada (CCFC), BREDA in March 2015 commissioned a feeding program for the people of Obom and its surrounding communities at the Obom Health Centre. This is an area endemic to the Buruli Ulcer disease. The project also provided funds to help a young boy who suffered from an ulcer to undergo plastic surgery and the fixing of a prosthetic arm.
