The Jirapa Project was involved in the construction of the St. Joseph Knowledge Centre, an orphanage housing up to 40 children, combined with an internet centre. The knowledge centre aims to:

• reduce current rates of orphan mortality by providing modern housing equipped with satellite-internet schooling facilities;
• integrate pupils' national curricula with vocational courses in rural enterprising, thereby facilitating orphans' acceptance into village communities;
• provide the orphanage with the means of financial self-sustenance, i.e., a space equipped with 40 computers, copiers, printers, audio-visual equipment, training classes, etc. that sell affordable services such as:
  • email, internet, and voice over internet protocol (VoIP) for students and framers (distance courses, weather forecast, new markets or suppliers, etc.);
  • video teleconferencing for local businesses and entities (government, private, clerical);
  • diagnostic telemedicine; and
  • telecom and document management support for long-haul commercial transport (between the Sahel and maritime ports of Ghana).

Economic Development, Children, Technology, Youth.

Jirapa is a town located in the Upper West Region of Ghana. The town, with a population of 30,000 inhabitants, is second only to the regional chief town of Wa. The St. Joseph Orphanage hosts newborn orphans coming from local hospitals, giving them shelter for their first six years of life. After this period children are returned to their relatives in their native villages, but 80% of them die because of poor living conditions. According to the Ray Foundation, a majority of them also die in villages due to the stigma derived from a superstitious belief that orphans are omens of the gods. The organisation believes that this superstition can be tackled by empowering orphans through knowledge and job creation.

The Ray Foundation Onlus believes that orphans are fundamental resources to creating human capital knowledgeable enough to stimulate and sustain a village. The Foundation's activities include:

• building orphanages equipped with modern schooling facilities, including AC generators, access to drinking water, and telemedicine programmes.
• integrating children's national curricula with vocational training programmes in village enterprise and management. This is made possible with distance-learning programmes received via satellite internet connection.
• creating micro-credit opportunities for students holding a diploma, in order to encourage them to start their own business in their respective villages, making it also possible to limit rural emigration.