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Social justice is not simply an abstract concept for Windsor Law students. It is something to put into practice. To that end, former law student Lily Tekle and Gagan Sangha travelled to Ghana in 2008, with Sangha returning in 2009, to make just such a difference.
They journeyed under the Students for Development Program of the Canadian International Development Agency, to implement the good governance initiative developed by the Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA). The initiative focuses on issues of democratization, human rights, the rule of law, and public sector capacity-building in the developing world.
Gagan returned last summer and co-founded Our Children Africa, a Ghanaian-based non-governmental organization, with fellow Windsor law students Nicole Andreakos and Shannon Kinch. Armed with passion and thirst for justice in the developing world, the three collaborated with Ghanaian law student Kwame Asamoah and strived to find means to empower women and children in Ghana.
From the start, the group’s focus was on removing the numerous barriers that prevent women and children from escaping the cycle of poverty that undermines their meaningful development. These barriers consist of lack of accessibility to primary school infrastructure, shortage of qualified teachers in rural areas, shortage of facilities, teaching resources and learning materials to meet the special needs of students, and lack of adolescent reproductive health education among youth.
The focus is on the above barriers and working to implement projects that promote good governance and raise awareness about their initiatives.
The ultimate objectives are poverty alleviation, empowerment of women and gender equality, access to education, community empowerment, and equal opportunity for self-sufficiency.
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