YM Lab 1 Yamoransa
YM Lab 1 Yamoransa
A modern digital learning centre in Yamoransa, the Cape Coast village that gave the Yamoransa Model its name, to improve access to technology and provide hands-on experience in Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts, and Mathematics. Developed by the Helping Africa Foundation, TECHAiDE, the Yale Alumni Service Corps, and local leaders, the lab will serve 8 schools and benefit over 2,000 students in the community.
A community partnership begins
In the summer of 2012, 150 members of the Yale Alumni Service Corps visited Yamoransa, a village along Ghana’s Cape Coast, for ten days of volunteer service. Working alongside local partners, members of the group helped begin construction on a new two-story building envisioned as an Information, Communications and Technology Centre and a gathering place for wider community activities. The land on which the Centre is located was donated by the Catholic Church. The Yale Alumni Service Corps returned to Yamoransa in 2013, 2014, and again in 2016. Over time, the ICT Centre grew beyond its original purpose and became the flagship project of what is now known as the Yamoransa Model for Sustainable Development.
Technology designed for local learning
Dr. Deborah Rose, President of the Helping Africa Foundation and a member of the original Yale Alumni Service Corps group, together with Japhet Aryiku, Executive Director of the Helping Africa Foundation, moved the project into its next phase by working with Kafui Prebbie, CEO of TECHAiDE. Mr. Prebbie and TECHAiDE served as the implementing partner, bringing technical expertise and the ASANKA device, named for the Ghanaian word for “Ghanaian earthenware or clay grinding bowl,” to connect offline learners with locally relevant educational content. ASANKA is an acronym for "All Subjects And New Knowledge Access". Through this partnership, 35 specially designed desktop computers were installed and wirelessly connected to the ASANKA device pre-loaded with the Ghanaian junior high school curriculum, making digital learning resources available to students without requiring internet access.
The 2016 dedication
The Centre was dedicated on August 13, 2016, by U.S. Ambassador to Ghana Robert P. Jackson, assisted by the Catholic Archbishop of Cape Coast. The ceremony was attended by Dr Deborah Rose; Japhet Aryiku, Executive Director of the Helping Africa Foundation; Kafui Prebbie, CEO of TECHAiDE; members of the Yale Alumni Service Corps; representatives of the implementing partners; Chief Nana Akwa II; Professor Kofi Awusabo-Asare; Comfort Gabrah, one of the few women representatives to the Assembly; and Kwame Otchere.
Expanding the flagship lab
As the Yamoransa Model continued to evolve, the original flagship lab needed to expand. The vision for the upgraded facility included a 100-seat conference room for events and workshops, a Home Economics Centre with catering and sewing facilities, and a Makerspace equipped for robotics, 3D printing, and augmented and virtual reality learning.
Impact today
Today, nearly 2,000 students from eight schools rotate through the Center each month to build computer skills and access practical, future-focused learning opportunities. What began as a community ICT project in Yamoransa has become the foundation for a sustainable development model that continues to connect education, technology and local partnership.
The Yamoransa name
Several years after the Centre first opened, permission was sought from the local council to use Yamoransa as the name for the broader development approach that had grown out of the original community lab. That decision formally connected the place where the work began with what is now known as the Yamoransa Model for Sustainable Development.
Impact in action
Changing lives
Watch how Yamoransa Model labs turn access into opportunity.
