Dear Partners and Colleagues,
What a year it has been! Learning to navigate the uncertainties of another COVID year as an organization has been a humbling but fruitful experience. While many other institutions in the development space in Ghana have unfortunately witnessed a decline and have even been forced to shut down, PDA is grateful to have thrived in 2021.
Incidentally, we launched the anniversary of our twentieth year of existence this year. The theme for the celebrations has been “Twenty Years of Galvanizing Community Action and Research,” and I am proud to say that this is in fact a truism of PDA. While we are still evolving and adapting to the quickly-changing environment, we are confident that our work has achieved this very thing as we reflect on our journey so far, and plan towards the future.
Our operations have continued all over the country even as we have remained sensitive to the COVID-19 situation. Most of our staff are still working remotely, although there has been slightly more movement as necessary to keep up with our on-field activities. Our Research, Evaluation and Learning Team, as well as our Community-Driven Development Team, have worked hard to keep safe on the ground even as they contribute to making an impact in the various communities and interventions they work on. Indeed, the entire organization has spared no effort to ensure that we play our role in keeping everyone safe.
Some of our major outputs have included a series of reports on the experiences of female-led MSMEs in Ghana especially during the COVID season, the launch of the Youth Business Performance Index, and a study on perceptions of end-users of the GLTV and GLRRP remote learning programme.
I am thankful to the Board for their continuous support, counsel, and guidance throughout this year: it has been invaluable. We are grateful to all of you, our cherished Partners, who have been instrumental in sustaining PDA’s growth for these twenty years. I wish also to express my gratitude to every single member of the PDA family – staff, associates, and friends – who have gone the extra mile in these difficult times to demonstrate their willingness to serve and accommodate inconveniences to their usual workflow, but have still consistently produced excellent results.
I look forward to the next twenty years of PDA, as we work together as a team, growing and causing transformation wherever we go. As we unveil our strategic themes for the next five years, I hope that we can continue to count on your support and participation to make everyone matter in Ghana, Africa, and the world.
Thank you, and have a wonderful new year.