OUR PILOT
THE HOPE EDUCAtion project pilot
In early 2025, the Hope Education Project launched its first pilot delivery of a five-module anti-trafficking education program in Tamale, Northern Region, Ghana. This pilot was designed to test the effectiveness, accessibility, and relevance of the curriculum in junior high schools serving students aged 11 to 15. Working closely with local partners, Teacher Patrons, and Head Teachers, the pilot aimed to build a foundation for expanding trafficking prevention education across Northern Ghana.
Alongside the schools human trafficking education program, we also ran a community program for out-of-school girls and women in the community surrounding each school. The women who attended these sessions had either not been to school or had not completed their education beyond Junior High School.
Program Goals and Context
Tamale, like many regions across West Africa, faces significant challenges linked to human trafficking, particularly involving children and adolescents. Poverty, social media exposure, peer pressure, and family instability create vulnerabilities that traffickers exploit. Despite Ghana’s robust child protection laws, awareness and understanding of trafficking tactics remain limited among young people.
The pilot project was designed with the following goals:
Equip students with the knowledge and confidence to recognise trafficking risks.
Promote personal safety strategies through rights-based education.
Encourage peer-to-peer learning and discussion.
Provide a culturally relevant, accessible, and scalable education model.
By focusing on prevention through education, the Hope Education Project seeks to empower young people to become informed advocates for their own safety and the safety of their peers.
The pilot was delivered across three public junior high schools in Tamale: St. Paul’s JHS (Gumbihini), Bagabaga Annex JHS (Sagnarigu), and Darul Haddis JHS (New Gbolo).
The program was structured around five modules, each delivered weekly:
Children’s Rights and Recognising Trafficking: Introduction to children’s rights & responsibilities and the basic concepts of labour and sex trafficking.
Traffickers, Victims, and Staying Safe: Understanding trafficking tactics, grooming, risk factors, and personal safety strategies.
Online Safety and Digital Trafficking: Identifying digital grooming methods and learning how to stay safe online.
Rehearsing Resistance Through Theatre: Developing and rehearsing plays based on trafficking scenarios to practise assertive responses.
Performance and Peer Advocacy: Students performed their plays for their peers, reinforcing learning and extending messaging beyond the classroom.
Delivery Approach:
Sessions were delivered by trained facilitators in a mix of English and Dagbani, tailored to student language needs.
Interactive activities, role-play, storytelling, and participatory theatre were central to student engagement.
Each session encouraged open dialogue, creativity, and critical thinking.
The content and delivery methods were carefully adapted to reflect the realities of Tamale’s predominantly Islamic, community-based context.
Monitoring and Evaluation Approach
Monitoring and evaluation (M&E) processes were embedded throughout the pilot to measure program effectiveness.
M&E activities included:
Pre- and Post-Session Testing: Short quizzes assessed students’ understanding of key concepts before and after each module.
Facilitator Observations: Facilitators recorded student engagement levels, confidence in discussions, and grasp of safety strategies.
Focus Groups: Small group discussions with students and Teacher Patrons gathered feedback on content relevance, language accessibility, and perceived usefulness.
The focus of M&E was to assess both immediate knowledge gains and qualitative indicators such as changes in student confidence, critical thinking, and willingness to share learning with peers and family.
Early Outcomes
While a full impact evaluation will be completed after extended delivery, early observations from the pilot were encouraging:
Students demonstrated clear knowledge gains in identifying trafficking risks and grooming tactics.
Many students were able to confidently describe trusted adults they would approach if they felt unsafe.
Digital safety concepts, including managing friend requests and online messages, resonated strongly, particularly with older students.
Peer discussion flourished; students frequently applied learning points to hypothetical or real community examples.
Students expressed strong pride and excitement when receiving their printed handouts, often sharing them at home and discussing content with family members.
The high levels of engagement, participation, and community sharing suggested that the approach was effective, culturally relevant, and scalable.
Next Steps
The pilot delivery of the Hope Education Project has laid a strong foundation for future expansion. Building on the success of the pilot, the program will continue to refine content, delivery methods, and evaluation processes.
Future phases will aim to:
Expand the Schools Program to additional schools in the Tamale area and beyond.
Deepen community engagement through the Community Program, targeting out-of-school girls and their families.
Strengthen partnerships with local education authorities and child protection agencies.
The Hope Education Project remains committed to empowering young people with the knowledge, skills, and confidence they need to stay safe and to lead conversations about trafficking prevention within their communities.
HEP Programs Manager Mariama Adam and Founder Angus Thomas sat down to reflect on the pilot project following it’s successful completion in April 2025.
Early Outcomes
While a full impact evaluation will be completed after extended delivery, early observations from the pilot were encouraging:
Students demonstrated clear knowledge gains in identifying trafficking risks and grooming tactics.
Many students were able to confidently describe trusted adults they would approach if they felt unsafe.
Digital safety concepts, including managing friend requests and online messages, resonated strongly, particularly with older students.
Peer discussion flourished; students frequently applied learning points to hypothetical or real community examples.
Students expressed strong pride and excitement when receiving their printed handouts, often sharing them at home and discussing content with family members.
The high levels of engagement, participation, and community sharing suggested that the approach was effective, culturally relevant, and scalable.
Next Steps
The pilot delivery of the Hope Education Project has laid a strong foundation for future expansion. Building on the success of the pilot, the program will continue to refine content, delivery methods, and evaluation processes.
Future phases will aim to:
Expand the Schools Program to additional schools in the Tamale area and beyond.
Deepen community engagement through the Community Program, targeting out-of-school girls and their families.
Strengthen partnerships with local education authorities and child protection agencies.
The Hope Education Project remains committed to empowering young people with the knowledge, skills, and confidence they need to stay safe and to lead conversations about trafficking prevention within their communities.
Read about the delivery of each module
