Hope Education Project Launches Pilot to Combat Human Trafficking in West Africa, Tamale, Ghana.

Hope Education Project Launches Pilot to Combat Human Trafficking in West
Africa, Tamale, Ghana.

26 February 2025. The Hope Education Project (HEP) announces the launch of a pioneering pilot project in Tamale, Northern Region, Ghana, aimed at preventing human trafficking
through education and community empowerment.

HEP will deliver trafficking awareness
programming to three Junior High Schools in the following communities of Tamale: Gumbihini, Sagnarigu and New Gbolo.

The HEP program aims to disrupt the flow of vulnerable Ghanaians exploited by traffickers both within Ghana and internationally, in line with its slogan – ‘Be Smart! Be Strong! Say No When Things
Feel Wrong’.

HEP hopes to achieve the gold standard for human trafficking education and awareness programmes to be deployed across Ghana.

The pilot project which commenced in February 2025, has been implemented in partnership with local organisation Norsaac who have designed the monitoring and evaluation program. The program educates participants about their rights and obligations, trafficking recruitment techniques, online safety, how to report trafficking and crucially the concept of three trusted adults.

Data collected from the pilot project will allow HEP’s research partners to study participants’ awareness of trafficking risks, recruitment patterns and child exploitation through pre and post testing, structured focus groups and community engagement.

The programme targets three key demographics in Tamale: JHS1 school students aged 13-16, out-of-school girls aged 17-20, and parent groups.

Tamale was chosen as the pilot location due to its rapid growth, emerging as West Africa’s fastest-growing city, with its population doubling in the past decade to nearly 800,000 residents.

With the Northern Region facing severe economic challenges, young people in Tamale contend daily with all of the risk factors associated with vulnerability trafficking.

The International Labour Organisation estimates that 50 million people are trapped in modern slavery worldwide, with human trafficking being one of its most pervasive forms.

West Africa has long been a hotspot for these crimes, where individuals are lured by fraudulent job adverts promising lucrative opportunities abroad.

After months of careful preparation with Norsaac, HEP has secured crucial Institutional Review Board approval from the Navrongo Health Research Centre.

This milestone enables HEP to proceed with the research component of the pilot, which is essential for developing evidence-based interventions and securing future funding.

The research will also help HEP measure the impact of the educational programmes and refine the approach for maximum effectiveness.

HEP was founded by Angus Thomas, an activist who also established Stop Trafficking Africa (STA) to repatriate African women trafficked to the UAE for sexual exploitation. HEP was born out of Angus’s ambition to not just rescue victims, but to educate vulnerable communities so that they could protect themselves from being trafficked.

“Human trafficking is fuelled by poverty, unemployment, economic and gender inequality, and lack of education—all of which are prevalent in Tamale and across northern Ghana. This is why we have chosen the region for the launch of our pilot project.

The Hope Education Project (HEP) is a critical step in disrupting the exploitation of vulnerable Ghanaians.

By equipping young people and parents
with the knowledge to protect themselves from traffickers, we aim to empower them to make safe, informed migration decisions.

The program’s materials will be delivered in both Dagbani and English to ensure full accessibility and engagement for all participants. We are eager to implement this initiative and gather valuable research data in collaboration with Norsaac and the University of Texas at Arlington.

This data will enable us to refine and further develop the program, maximising its impact in the fight against human trafficking”, explains Angus Thomas, founder of HEP and STA.

For more information about the pilot program or to support HEP’s educational initiatives, visit
hopeeducationproject.org/donate or visit @Hopeeducationghana (Instagram) and
@hopeeducatioproject (TikTok).

CONTACT
For more information, please contact:
Ophelia Allotey
+233 54 505 8124
ophelia.shika@gmail.com