MTN Heroes of Change Special COVID Edition:  10 Awardees Honoured

The MTN Ghana Heroes of Change “Special 25^th Anniversary Edition” programme has been held in a grand style in Accra as 10 finalists were awarded as the winners of this year’s edition.

The MTN Ghana Heroes of Change Season 6 was launched to recognize individuals and institutions who have made a significant impact in the fight against the COVID-19 pandemic in the country.

This season, the recognition was done in the three focus areas of the MTN Ghana Foundation which are Health, Education, and Economic Empowerment.

Four winners-Madam Cecilia Gifty Fiako, Henry Assumeng Ankrah, Madam Patience Munayatu Agana, and Madama Rhoda Kadoa Wedam won prizes in the Economic Empowerment category of the programme.

Under the Health category, Professor Kofi Bobi Barimah, Madam Gloria Sarkodie Addo, Professor William Kwabena Ampofo, and David Hagan, were awarded in that category.

As Mrs Portia Gabor of TV3, and Isaac Ofori received prizes in the Education category.  These awardees received GHC20, 000.00 each, citations, certificates, and others.  The GHC20, 000.00 cash prize was meant to cushion the projects of the 10 awardees.

In all MTN Ghana Foundation has received over 500 entries for the sixth edition of MTN Heroes of Change dubbed: ‘The Special 25th Anniversary Edition.

Entries were received from all 16 regions of Ghana, showing projects of individuals and institutions implemented during the peak of COVID-19. The entries received were initially pruned to 100, and further reviewed to 30 entries.

A team was dispatched to the communities to authenticate the stories, after which 10 finalists have been selected.

The MTN Heroes of Change sixth programme also highlighted the humanitarian activities of the 10 finalists in the areas of health, education, and economic empowerment on GTV, TV3, UTV, and other channels for 13 weeks.

The Chief Executive Officer of MTN Ghana, Selorm Adadevoh speaking at the ceremony, noted that during the COVID-19 pandemic people defied the odds, step up to the challenge, and gave give out a memorable experience.

“The work of these Heroes of Covid was evident in the heartwarming stories we have highlighted over the past 12 weeks.

Every story is unique – from the researchers and scientists, the education mobilisers, economic empowerment initiators, and the health advocates – all these reflect the resilience of the Heroes. Our COVID Heroes exemplify selflessness and patriotism, supporting their local communities in Ghana’s fight against the pandemic.

Indeed, the selflessness of the MTN Heroes of Change in their day-to-day activities reflects MTN’s values of leadership and “can do” of everyone in their communities,” he stated.

Stressing that the work of their COVID Heroes will encourage other Ghanaians to emulate their laudable examples.

However, he applauded all MTNers who have taken on their own Community improvement projects and are using their own resources to champion community change and growth.

“I am aware that a respectable number of our Employees are either volunteering their time and resources to make people’s lives better. We appreciate all of you and we encourage you to keep going.

Some of our employees also served as volunteers for some of MTN’s interventions. As we appreciate the efforts of our COVID Heroes, I would like to use this platform to thank them, the government, and all health workers who have been at the forefront of this fight against the COVID-19 virus. Your commitment and dedication to duty during these difficult times are deeply appreciated,” he commended.

Prof. Franklyn Manu, Board Chairman of the MTN Ghana Foundation, stated that over 50 heroes have been honoured since the inception of the MTN Ghana Heroes of Change program in 2013.

This he said, most of the heroes are doing wonderful humanitarian services in their various communities across the country.

MTN Heroes of Change was launched in July 2013 with the aim of identifying and recognizing selfless people who continue to sacrifice their time and resources to improve their communities and brighten their lives.

As a result of its impact, MTN Heroes of Change has won several awards which include the 2016 IPR Best Community Relations Programme of the Year and CSR Program of the Year 2015 by the Head of State Awards (HoSA) Scheme.

Profile of the awardees and their projects

Economic empowerment category

Madam Cecilia Fiaka is a social entrepreneur who left her banking career to set up the Nneka Foundation, a non-profit organization aimed at providing social support, literacy, mentoring, career development and empowerment opportunities to the youth and women as well.

Through her outreach and economic empowerment projects, she supported in mitigating the impact of COVID-19 pandemic by empowering the people of Ve Agbome community with education and vocational skills training.

She mobilised resources through her foundation to train community members in producing PPEs and tippy taps for hand-washing.

She also equipped several women and girls with vocational training to provide income for them. She secured a ready market in Accra for beneficiaries to sell their products because it was difficult transporting their goods during the peak of the pandemic.

To prevent students from being idle because schools had been shut down, Cecilia organised coding and ICT training sessions for them.

Through her COVID-19 pandemic awareness project over 900 households within Afadjato South, Jasikan District, Shai- Osudoku District and Ningo Prampram had benefitted from the initiative.

Henry Assumeng Ankrah, who is a businessman, drilled mechanised boreholes in many deprived communities including Abrodien in Suhum-Koforidua, Nii Abradja in Assin Fosu, and Kpeve in the Volta Region to provide water for better COVID-19 management.

He also distributed hot meals and water to about 600 aged people in Taifa market and Bukom.

Mr. Ankrah again shared personal protective equipment (PPE) which were necessities during the COVID-19 crisis in Mallam market, Regent University, to inmates in Airport police station, Dansoman, and Weija in the Greater Accra Region, as well as Kpeve in the Volta Region.

Madam Patience Munayatu Agana extended relief items to the distressed in Kolipigo Village in Bawku District of the Upper East during the COVID-19 pandemic.

She distributed funds to the poor in some communities she visited within the district.

Madama Rhoda Kadoa Wedam, a development worker by profession has played an instrumental role in providing skills training and economic empowerment opportunities to young girls in the Vittin village in Tamale through the Song-BA Empowerment Center.

At the beginning of the pandemic, she mobilised resources and trained 20 head porters in dressmaking, smock weaving, and nose mask production among others.

The nose mask production created alternative employment for the youth and helped to make masks available in the community during the Covid pandemic.

Health category

Professor Kofi Bobi Barimah who is an Associate Professor at the Ghana Communication Technology University (GCTU) donated PPEs to educational institutions and educated the students about the need to observe the COVID-19 protocols.

During the COVID-19 crisis, he was the Acting Executive Director at the Centre for Plant Medicine Research at Mampong Akwapem.

However, Prof Barimah collaborated with the Faculty of Public Health, KNUST, for the Clinical Trials of COVID-19 patients using NIBIMA, one of the products at CPMR, to find a cure for COVID-19 and launched two new products (Immunim and Ampoforte) during the 45th Anniversary of the Centre in November 2021.

Immunim and Ampoforte are showing potential signs for anti-viral activities at Noguchi Memorial Institute for Medical Research to have a cure for COVID-19.

Prof William Kwabena Ampofo, who is the Coordinator for the National COVID-19 Testing is a trained virologist.

He brought his expertise to bear at the on-set of the COVID-19 pandemic in Ghana. He and his team procured logistics and reagents to set up and start testing for COVID-19 within the first week the virus was detected in the country.

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Prof Ampofo also led his team to innovate the pooling sample system to test about 10,000 samples a day.

David Hagan is the founder of Galaxy Foundation Ghana, a non-government, non-profit organization which seeks to bring smiles to the medically hopeless and poor people living in rural Ghana.

Through his Journey From Despair To Hope Project, he has transformed over 320 lives. The project corrects anomalies and deformities such as cleft lip and palate, post-burn contractures, keloids, syndactyly, tumours, and other swellings for free.

Education category

Portia Gabor is the reigning Ghana Journalists Association’s Journalist of the Year, played a major role in reporting on the pandemic when it broke in Ghana in March 2020.

She risked her life together with her cameraman reporting on happenings at the Ga-East Municipal Hospital, Ghana’s first infectious disease Centre to provide coverage and tell stories of patients, the treatments they were receiving, survival rate, and unfolding events, among others.

Portia also used her media channel to launch a fund-raising initiative to support COVID-19 patients in the country.

Isaac Ofori has educated and sensitized persons with hearing disabilities about the COVID-19 pandemic by forming a group that embarked on educating and creating awareness campaigns in all regions of Ghana.

Editorial

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