ADRA - The Adventist Development and Relief Agency (Ghana)

The Adventist Development and Relief Agency (ADRA) is a global humanitarian organization of the Seventh-day Adventist Church with a mission to work with people in poverty and distress to create just and positive change. ADRA Ghana, though a member of a network of 134 international supporting and implementing country-offices, is an autonomous entity with its own 17-member Board of Directors. The board comprises professionals such as Educationists, Agriculturalists, a Medical Doctor, Ministers of Religion, Economists, Chartered Accountants, a Legal Practitioner and Development Professionals. ADRA Ghana’s greatest asset is its staff. The agency has a fully staffed Administration including a Country Director, who reports to the ADRA Ghana Board and supported by Directors for various core portfolios. ADRA Ghana staff members are highly qualified nationals with extensive in-country and international experience.

The agency has an advantage of pooling together a highly competent and well-motivated workforce with most of them holding a minimum of a first degree or a professional equivalent. About 70 % of the staff members are professionals with academic degrees from Bachelors to Doctorate and/ or equivalent professional diplomas. These include Agriculturists, International and Rural Development Practitioners, Health Professionals, Information Technologist, Economists, Chartered Accountants, Teachers, etc.

ADRA has a great wealth of experience in community mobilization and sensitization. The Agency implements projects with its own staff that go to the remotest parts of the districts where most NGOs refuse to operate. Due to this close touch with the beneficiaries, ADRA’s name has become a household word in many remote communities. ADRA forms groups to work with in the communities, elect leaders and train them in group dynamics and leadership. A crop of volunteers in target communities are also trained in Agriculture and health principles and empowered to support their neighbors.