History

The Ghana Education Project originated in 1999 after several years of field research and program development. It traces its roots to the summer of 1997, when an American student spending the summer in the village of Komenda, Ghana (pop. 5000) was petitioned by a local village leader for assistance in building a community library. The following summer that student and one other returned with books and materials, and the small Komenda Community Library was established. Over the course of the next year, support for the program grew on the campus of Princeton University and during the summer of 1999, a group of six students began working in Komenda to solidify the Komenda Library project. These students recognized the potential that other educational projects would have for the betterment of the community; drew up the basic structure of the existing Ghana Education Project; created a formal corporate structure; recruited additional volunteers; and sought relationships with Ghanaian government officials. In June of 2000, the Ghana Education Project was recognized as a 501(c)3 Non-Profit Organization.


In the summer of 2002 the GEP president, Arthur Whitman and UCLA African Studies Masters Candidate Adam Gilman created a comprehensive system of partnerships with existing stakeholders in Ghana. This system is the Africa Partnership Initiative. Various aspects of the Initiative have been adopted for study and implementation by the government of Ghana. The relationships developed between the GEP and the government of Ghana during this development period have enabled the extremely robust vision and application of the current Ghana Education Project.