Helping working animals in Ghana

SPANA is working in Ghana’s capital, Accra, to deliver animal welfare education lessons to primary school children. In Ghana, many animals have no access to proper veterinary care and welfare standards are often poor. But our animal welfare education lessons are changing the quality of life for thousands of animals, by teaching children and communities about the importance of treat animals with care and compassion.

Our work in Ghana

In Ghana, we promote animal welfare through humane education lessons, working in selected schools in the Ga East region of Accra. The children are taught about the need to provide animals with nutritious food, clean water, and safe and comfortable shelter. Evaluation shows attitudes towards animals have improved markedly, while cruelty towards animals has reduced.

We’re also working to stop the global trade in donkey skins for use in traditional medicine. We are working on a project in Northern Ghana, a region that has been significantly impacted by the trade and donkey thefts, to raise awareness and help local communities protect their donkeys from being stolen.

In 2021, we carried out an emergency project to provide much-needed relief to working and their animals affected by severe flooding in northern Ghana. Working with a local partner, we treated 1,315 donkeys for wounds and ailments; trained 200 volunteers as community first aiders; distributed food and water containers for animals to more than 1,000 owners; and constructed 678 enclosures to protect working animals and livestock.