Human Trafficking Charities Ghana
A Registered UK Charity Supporting Anti-Trafficking Work in Ghana
Hope Education Project: Now a Registered UK Charity Supporting Anti-Trafficking Work in Ghana
Among human trafficking charities in Ghana, few are working at community level to disrupt exploitation before it happens. Hope Education Project has been doing exactly that since 2022 and in October 2025, it formalised its UK presence by registering as a charity with the Charity Commission for England and Wales (no. 1215347). Registration was not the beginning of the work; it was the moment the infrastructure finally caught up with it.
The UK charity was formed for a specific purpose: to share the operational and fundraising burden with the Hope Education Project NGO in Ghana, and to build the structures that allow the Ghana program to grow sustainably and at scale. For the Ghana team, that means being able to focus on what they do best – delivering education in schools and communities in Tamale – while the UK entity takes on the weight of UK fundraising, grant applications, governance, and institutional development. HEP is now one of the leading human trafficking charities in Ghana.
REGISTERED CHARITY DETAILS
- Charity Name:
- Hope Education Project
- Charity Number:
- 1215347
- Legal Form:
- Charitable Incorporated Organisation (CIO — Foundation)
- Registered:
- October 2025 with the Charity Commission for England and Wales
- Charitable Purpose:
- To advance education in Ghana on human trafficking, gender-based violence, personal rights, and sexual and reproductive health.
Why We Registered as a UK Charity
The Hope Education Project Ghana NPO has been registered and operating since 2022. It has run a successful schools pilot across Tamale’s junior high schools, launched the SOMA Girls’ Empowerment Program, recruited a survivor advocate with lived experience of trafficking, and established active research partnerships with three US universities. The program works. The evidence is building. The demand to scale is real.
But scaling an NGO in Ghana is hard. The funding landscape for international development work has shifted significantly – UK trusts and foundations, corporate donors, and institutional funders increasingly require a regulated UK organisation to award grants to. Gift Aid alone – the ability to reclaim 25p on every £1 donated by a UK taxpayer – makes a material difference to a small charity’s income.
Registering the UK charity was therefore a deliberate strategic decision: to remove the structural barriers that were limiting our ability to raise money in the UK, and to create the platform from which we can grow the Ghana program to the scale the need demands: one charity, two entities, one mission.
Who Is Building the UK Charity
Since registration, we have moved quickly to put the right people in place. Our UK senior team currently includes a Strategy and Governance Director, an Income Generation and Grants Director, a Social Media Strategy Director, and a Grant Research Volunteer, as well as a small team of social media volunteers led by our Youth Engagement Advisor. We are in the final stages of appointing a Chairman of the Trustees, and our Board of Trustees, five members with backgrounds spanning international development, education, and program delivery, provides governance oversight of the charity’s direction.
The charity is founded and led by Angus Thomas, a British practitioner who has worked on human trafficking in West Africa since 2019. He currently divides his time between Tamale, embedded in the community where our programs are delivered. Behind him is an advisory panel of specialists in trafficking, migration policy, data intelligence, and survivor advocacy – including an Obama Foundation Fellow, a University of Warwick research fellow, a Cambridge PhD, and the former Head of Data and AI at the global anti-trafficking charity STOP THE TRAFFIK.
Built on Evidence
Academic research sits at the core of the Ghana program. We are partnered with the University of Texas at Arlington, the Brown School at Washington University in St. Louis, and the Global Centre on Human Trafficking at Montclair State University on five active research projects. Three research papers are currently out for peer review.
The UK charity structure strengthens our credibility with academic partners and institutional funders who expect the organisations they work with to meet recognised governance standards.
What Comes Next
The UK charity’s immediate priority is building a sustainable funding base for the Ghana program, covering facilitator salaries, training, curriculum development, and the research costs that generate the evidence our funders and partners need. Beyond that, the structure we are building is designed to support geographic expansion: the Hope Education Project model has already attracted interest from Uganda and Nigeria, and the frameworks we are putting in place now are intended to carry that growth.
We are at an early and formative stage. The people joining us now, as donors, volunteers, or trustees, are joining a charity that is small enough for their contribution to be directly visible, and early enough to genuinely shape what it becomes.
Get Involved with the UK Charity
Frequently Asked Questions
Is Hope Education Project a legitimate registered charity?
Yes. Registered with the Charity Commission for England and Wales on 14 October 2025, charity number 1215347. You can verify this on the Charity Commission public register.
What is the relationship between the UK charity and the Ghana NGO?
They are legally independent entities operating in alignment. The Ghana NPO (registered 2022) delivers the frontline education program in Tamale. The UK CIO exists to fund those operations, raise money in the UK, and provide the governance infrastructure that enables the Ghana program to scale sustainably.
How does the UK charity use donations?
Donations fund the operational costs of the Ghana program: facilitator salaries, training, curriculum and materials development, survivor advocacy, and research partnerships. As a UK-registered charity, eligible donations from UK taxpayers attract Gift Aid, adding 25p to every £1 donated at no cost to the donor.
What volunteer roles are currently available?
We are actively seeking a Treasurer to join our Board of Trustees, a governance role for someone with a financial background who wants a meaningful trustee position. We also welcome approaches from people with expertise in fundraising, bid writing, communications, safeguarding, or international development.