Twenty-five orphan care leaders from 12 countries of West Africa met at WAWO Collaborate in Shai Hill, Accra to share and pray together how to work strategically in countries of the West Africa region.

For three days this dedicated group of people collaborated intensely on topics including the role of church in orphan care, cornerstone values of the without orphans movement and helpful principles of orphan care for their own countries.

Speakers included George Abaidoo from Ghana Without Orphans, Lubo Hlavacka from World Without Orphans, David Hennessey from CAFO.  Fred Sakyi Boafo, member of the Ghana Without Orphans (GWO) Facilitation Team and Deputy Director from the Department of Social Development of Ghana presented “Ghana Care Reform Initiative and How the Church Can Partner”.

God is moving in powerful ways in Ghana and GWO is mobilizing key stakeholders in the country - government, churches, NGOs and even traditional chiefs and engaging them in dialogue, strategizing and implementing best practices in orphan care.

As part of WAWO Collaborate, leaders worked with passion together on practical aspects of strategic long term plans and launch plans for the movements in their own countries. With the clear understanding that without the work of Holy Spirit, it will be impossible to see change in the lives of thousands of vulnerable children in West Africa, one of the most powerful parts of Collaborate was prayer time for each individual country in the region.

As a practical outcome of Collaborate, the Alliance for West Africa Without Orphans Facilitators team was established with George Abaidoo from Ghana as a Coordinator and Jean-Baptiste Yameogo Ouango from Burkina Faso as Assistant Coordinator.   The team is planning launch of the the Alliance for West Africa Without Orphans comprising 18 countries in the region for September 29th, 2016.